[Coyotebc]

if you are looking at price points or ideas for apps, check out what is available on the android market.
There are so good ones

[z_scorpio_z]

currently using mapdroyd with OS 2.0 beta, it works well. Shows the GPS marker on the map, but no search, direction, navigation, voice turn-by-turn etc.

[KermEd]

How many people here have macs that they use and would really want/need a mac version of such a program?

I'm an analyst by trade so let me help on this one.

My company has approx 2,000,000 downloads per release of our main software package for teachers. About 85% of our customer base is in the USA.

Of those just under 13% are Mac OS X users with 10.5+.
42% percent are Windows XP users.
7% are Windows Vista users
34% are Windows 7 users
... and the last 4% is Linux and other.

On Corporate side
7% are Mac OS X users (sorry apple fans but they really are only popular in coffee shops)
of that 7%,
---52% report needing a Windows VM/Boot Camp
---27% report using boot camp and never touching the Mac side
---82% expect lack of parity between mac and windows apps
XP is at about 32%
Vista is about 12%
Windows 7 is about 48%
Linux and other is the remainder.

But that business segment us much smaller sample size.

So i always assume a Mac users are at 13% (high estimate).
I assume XP and 7 to be about the same about 40%.

Ed.

[FF22]

KermEd - interesting that that many are still using XP. I'm sure MS is not amused.

[meltbox360]

I'm an analyst by trade so let me help on this one.

My company has approx 2,000,000 downloads per release of our main software package for teachers. About 85% of our customer base is in the USA.

Of those just under 13% are Mac OS X users with 10.5+.
42% percent are Windows XP users.
7% are Windows Vista users
34% are Windows 7 users
... and the last 4% is Linux and other.

On Corporate side
7% are Mac OS X users (sorry apple fans but they really are only popular in coffee shops)
of that 7%,
---52% report needing a Windows VM/Boot Camp
---27% report using boot camp and never touching the Mac side
---82% expect lack of parity between mac and windows apps
XP is at about 32%
Vista is about 12%
Windows 7 is about 48%
Linux and other is the remainder.

But that business segment us much smaller sample size.

So i always assume a Mac users are at 13% (high estimate).
I assume XP and 7 to be about the same about 40%.

Ed.

Hah thanks you! Mac will require support then. I will need a mac user for testing. Now...

I have an unfortunate bit of news. I am putting this project on indefinite hold to work on another app. I am afraid if I try to undertake this app I may never quite bring it to a truly competitive state. When I have completed my other app I will consider reviving this project. I may however release some sort of a demo app or source code for someone to use if I have time. Hopefully someone will take this info and make something of it. I apologize for any excitement I may have generated. I may be back. Thanks to everyone who gave me useful data. I appreciate the communities help.

Edit: Heh reading over the thread i realized that in a few cases I was being pretty dumb. Sleep is necessary!

[Wolfgan]

I have an unfortunate bit of news. I am putting this project on indefinite hold to work on another app. I am afraid if I try to undertake this app I may never quite bring it to a truly competitive state. When I have completed my other app I will consider reviving this project. I may however release some sort of a demo app or source code for someone to use if I have time. Hopefully someone will take this info and make something of it. I apologize for any excitement I may have generated. I may be back. Thanks to everyone who gave me useful data. I appreciate the communities help.

No worries Meltbox, developers willingness is always appreciated, and you may come back with doubled up energy and ideas!

Just as a heads up for other users with offline maps needs, I was testing the latest Trekbuddy android app on the PlayBook and it seems to work ok, with offline maps generated by Googleak.net, GPS tracking and the other functions I use on the BB side.
Regards, Wolf.

[FF22]

Where does one find the googleak.net stuff? I have not used Trekbuddy in years.

[Wolfgan]

Where does one find the googleak.net stuff? I have not used Trekbuddy in years.

From my previous post:

The apps mentioned at Trekbuddy tools (I used Googleak.Net and worked well) allows the end user to generate their maps as they see fit from different sources (I don't recall if terrain maps are also allowed, but will try to check)

[Zip92]

I bought Topo Maps for iPad last weekend and was using it in Ontario in Algonquin park. The topo maps were your standard Government Canada Topo maps, but just being able to download an entire area that you want and save it, then wander outside sans wi-fi or 3g, it was awesome to see your gps location move with you on the trails.
I have a couple of Garmin GPS units (Oregon and Montana) and they are so small and unfriendly to use/navigate.
I paid $9 for the app on iPad and it let me download as many area maps as I wanted. (I only needed 3 or 4 to complete the radius I was interested in). The downside of that app, was the seams in the maps.
I would love this for Playbook as its more portable. Atlogis seems to have something for Android. But not ported. BTW, to buy a topo map for your Garmin handheld, $90!!!

[Zip92]

And, if you had Google Earth, you could cache your area as well. (worked on the iPad.) I would love Google Earth for Playbook.

[Boight]

BTW, Trekbuddy offers an Android instalable apk. Did anyone tried to convert it to .bar for testing?
Wolf

I have the .bar, for some reason it's not installed. Probably had issues.
Settled on Viewranger for this type of thing. The one serious issue is the GPS stops when the screen blanks.
To the OP, check out Viewranger before you spend too much time duplicating it.

[felixcbb]

I recently purchased the Magellan GPS app. It uses tiles from Mapquest and Openstreetmaps. I have not fully tested it yet, lotsa tweaking of parameters, but apparently if you use it at home for directions, the map tiles are cached so afterwards you can use the PB as your offline car GPS but also as your map. Don't forget to bring the charger along, as the battery has depleted rather quickly the only time that I've used it.
But offline maps would still draw my interest.

[ralfyguy]

I have Magellan and it does a good job with caching tiles. The problem however is that at some point the PlayBook refuses to back up and fails after a certain amount is cached. Let's say you get to about 1GB of cache size, every attempt to run a backup fails.