Am I missing something?

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 18:46:32 +0000, Barry Samuels
<[email hidden]> wrote:

Hi there,

Quoted message said:

I saw mention of digital maps on this newsgroup recently and, out of idle
curiosity, looked up a few web sites in the U.K.

If I have interpreted the information correctly a digital equivalent of a
2.5 inch scale paper map is 4 times the price. Why on earth would anyone
want to pay that sort of money for a digital map for personal use?

I can't help feeling I've missed something here.

Which sites have you been looking at? Anquet is the one I'm most
familiar with, although there are similar products. See
www.anquet.co.uk.

Is that the sort of thing you saw? I've not worked out the prices in
any sort of exact sense, but I've not got the impression that the
digital maps are anything like as expensive as you suggest.

I'm actually v. impressed with what I've used so far, which is the
Anquet Harvey's Lake District. Not only can I print out custom maps,
which I find much easier to use and carry than large maps, but there's
also the 'virtual landscape'. This enables you to essentially fly
around the area of your map, looking at a very realistic 3D rendition
of the ground beneath you. Although I've had the map for about 6
weeks, I only actually got to grips with the virtual landscape a
couple of days ago, and it's absolutely amazing! In the space of only
a couple of days I've developed a much clearer mental picture of how
things link together in the Lakes than I'd developed during more than
20 years of (intermittent) walking there.

Anquet isn't the only product to do this stuff - Memory Map does it
too, and there's a third that I've often seen mentioned but I've
unfortunately forgotten the name.

Good luck!

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 18:46:32 +0000, Barry Samuels <[email hidden]>
wrote:

| I saw mention of digital maps on this newsgroup recently and, out of idle
| curiosity, looked up a few web sites in the U.K.
|
| If I have interpreted the information correctly a digital equivalent of a
| 2.5 inch scale paper map is 4 times the price. Why on earth would anyone
| want to pay that sort of money for a digital map for personal use?

So they could pay more for the ink and paper every time they use it?

--
Dave F

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 19:03:28 +0000, Peewiglet <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

also the 'virtual landscape'.

Mine doesn't work. I get an error message about DirectX 9 and display
drivers. Afaik everything on my PC is up-to-date with the latest
drivers etc., but it still doesn't work in virtual landscape mode.
--
R
o
o
n
e
y

The message <[email hidden]>
from Barry Samuels <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

I saw mention of digital maps on this newsgroup recently and, out of idle
curiosity, looked up a few web sites in the U.K.

Quoted message said:

If I have interpreted the information correctly a digital equivalent of a
2.5 inch scale paper map is 4 times the price. Why on earth would anyone
want to pay that sort of money for a digital map for personal use?

Hobsons Choice. It is very convenient to have and paying through the
nose is the only legal way to get it.

Quoted message said:

I can't help feeling I've missed something here.

Only the rapacious nature of OS pricing policy and their questionable
judgement in preferring to use the left hand end of the supply/demand
curve rather than the righthand end.

--
Roger Chapman so far this year 89 summits
New - 61 (Marilyns 14, Sweats 5, Outlying Fells 49)
Repeats - 28 (Marilyns 11, Sweats 21, Wainwrights 16, Outlying Fells 1)

Rooney said:

Quoted message said:

also the 'virtual landscape'.

Mine doesn't work. I get an error message about DirectX 9 and display
drivers. Afaik everything on my PC is up-to-date with the latest
drivers etc., but it still doesn't work in virtual landscape mode.

Bizarre... I hope you can get it sorted out, because you're *really*
missing out!

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 20:09:52 GMT, Roger <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I can't help feeling I've missed something here.

Only the rapacious nature of OS pricing policy and their questionable
judgement in preferring to use the left hand end of the supply/demand
curve rather than the righthand end.

Hmm... I assumed that some more mathematically aware person would come
along and blow those numbers into oblivion, but it hasn't happened
yet, forcing me to get back to the Anquet site and take a closer look.

I think I probably had in mind the GB North map, as that's the one I'm
currently plotting to buy. It costs £120, and the site says
"Landranger maps 1-107 are covered by this product". It looks from a
quick glance on amazon.co.uk that the Landranger maps are about £5
each. If so, that clearly doesn't equate to anything like digital
being 4 x as expensive as a paper map. I assume the smaller areas are
proportionately more expensive, but even so....

So, Roger - were you looking at the wrong thing, or have I got the
maths wrong?

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \

Peewiglet said:

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 18:46:32 +0000, Barry Samuels
<[email hidden]> wrote:

Hi there,

Quoted message said:

I saw mention of digital maps on this newsgroup recently and, out of idle
curiosity, looked up a few web sites in the U.K.

Which sites have you been looking at? Anquet is the one I'm most
familiar with, although there are similar products. See
www.anquet.co.uk.

Is that the sort of thing you saw? I've not worked out the prices in
any sort of exact sense, but I've not got the impression that the
digital maps are anything like as expensive as you suggest.

http://www.tracklogs.co.uk is where I was looking.

Quoted message said:

I'm actually v. impressed with what I've used so far, which is the
Anquet Harvey's Lake District. Not only can I print out custom maps,
which I find much easier to use and carry than large maps, but there's
also the 'virtual landscape'. This enables you to essentially fly
around the area of your map, looking at a very realistic 3D rendition
of the ground beneath you. Although I've had the map for about 6
weeks, I only actually got to grips with the virtual landscape a
couple of days ago, and it's absolutely amazing! In the space of only
a couple of days I've developed a much clearer mental picture of how
things link together in the Lakes than I'd developed during more than
20 years of (intermittent) walking there.

Anquet isn't the only product to do this stuff - Memory Map does it
too, and there's a third that I've often seen mentioned but I've
unfortunately forgotten the name.

The software wouldn't be of much use to me anyway as I don't use Windows.

--
Barry Samuels
http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk - The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

My real email address is barry (AT) realbritain (DOT) plus (DOT) com

"Rooney" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 19:03:28 +0000, Peewiglet <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

also the 'virtual landscape'.

Mine doesn't work. I get an error message about DirectX 9 and display
drivers. Afaik everything on my PC is up-to-date with the latest
drivers etc., but it still doesn't work in virtual landscape mode.

You need to have DirectX 9 installed on your computer. IIRC I downloaded it
from the M$oft site. It's free.

--
Theo
www.theosphotos.fotopic.net
[email hidden](we'll.leave.the.house.and.read.the.mail)

"Barry Samuels" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I saw mention of digital maps on this newsgroup recently and, out of idle
curiosity, looked up a few web sites in the U.K.

If I have interpreted the information correctly a digital equivalent of a
2.5 inch scale paper map is 4 times the price. Why on earth would anyone
want to pay that sort of money for a digital map for personal use?

I can't help feeling I've missed something here.

Barry Samuels
http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk - The Unofficial Guide to Great
Britain

My real email address is barry (AT) realbritain (DOT) plus (DOT) com

If you take as an example the Anquet 1:50000 (I know that's not 2.5 inch but
just as an example) It covers the same area as around 80 landranger maps and
you can get the software for about £80 if you shop around. Look at it that
way its not a bad buy. You can print off any number of A4 maps with your
walks at the centre of the page for a few more pence. this is very
convenient as you don't have to wrestle with map folding in the wind. You
can easily measure route distances and climbing which is also pretty good.

bob watkinson said:

If you take as an example the Anquet 1:50000 (I know that's not 2.5 inch but
just as an example) It covers the same area as around 80 landranger maps and
you can get the software for about £80 if you shop around. Look at it that
way its not a bad buy. You can print off any number of A4 maps with your
walks at the centre of the page for a few more pence. this is very
convenient as you don't have to wrestle with map folding in the wind. You
can easily measure route distances and climbing which is also pretty good.

And then there's the virtual landscape.

;-))

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \

Peewiglet said:

bob watkinson said:

If you take as an example the Anquet 1:50000 (I know that's not 2.5 inch but
just as an example) It covers the same area as around 80 landranger maps and
you can get the software for about £80 if you shop around. Look at it that
way its not a bad buy. You can print off any number of A4 maps with your
walks at the centre of the page for a few more pence. this is very
convenient as you don't have to wrestle with map folding in the wind. You
can easily measure route distances and climbing which is also pretty good.

And then there's the virtual landscape.

;-))

I can't help but get the impression that that's all you've got it for :-)

Barry Samuels
http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk - The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

My real email address is barry (AT) realbritain (DOT) plus (DOT) com

* The air of uk.rec.walking was filled with the delicate perfume
* of violets, as Barry Samuels <[email hidden]> descended on a shaft
* of golden sunlight, and announced:

Quoted message said:

If I have interpreted the information correctly a digital equivalent of a
2.5 inch scale paper map is 4 times the price. Why on earth would anyone
want to pay that sort of money for a digital map for personal use?

I did the same thing and came to the same conclusion! You also get maps that
run with the slightest hint of damp.

Regards: Jim Ford

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the
wonderful person Dave Fawthrop <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 18:46:32 +0000, Barry Samuels <[email hidden]>
wrote:

| I saw mention of digital maps on this newsgroup recently and, out of idle
| curiosity, looked up a few web sites in the U.K.
|
| If I have interpreted the information correctly a digital equivalent of a
| 2.5 inch scale paper map is 4 times the price. Why on earth would anyone
| want to pay that sort of money for a digital map for personal use?

So they could pay more for the ink and paper every time they use it?

Actually 90% of the time I use it I'm sat in the computer room - I only
use ink/paper when I want one to scrawl on, or to carry out into the
field. What can it do that paper can't .. hmm, basically everything ..
3d views, loading GPS systems, storing/viewing tracks and routes, cut
and paste into other applications....

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the
wonderful person Barry Samuels <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

Peewiglet said:

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 18:46:32 +0000, Barry Samuels
<[email hidden]> wrote:

Hi there,

Quoted message said:

I saw mention of digital maps on this newsgroup recently and, out of idle
curiosity, looked up a few web sites in the U.K.

Which sites have you been looking at? Anquet is the one I'm most
familiar with, although there are similar products. See
www.anquet.co.uk.

Is that the sort of thing you saw? I've not worked out the prices in
any sort of exact sense, but I've not got the impression that the
digital maps are anything like as expensive as you suggest.

http://www.tracklogs.co.uk is where I was looking.

I assume you were looking at just ONE 1:25k sheet equivalent then ..
yes, that's an expensive way to buy the data (plus the software, and the
elevation data and the mini-map, etc.). Now if you get a bit more

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.

The message <[email hidden]>
from Peewiglet <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I can't help feeling I've missed something here.

Only the rapacious nature of OS pricing policy and their questionable
judgement in preferring to use the left hand end of the supply/demand
curve rather than the righthand end.

Quoted message said:

Hmm... I assumed that some more mathematically aware person would come
along and blow those numbers into oblivion, but it hasn't happened
yet, forcing me to get back to the Anquet site and take a closer look.

Quoted message said:

I think I probably had in mind the GB North map, as that's the one I'm
currently plotting to buy. It costs £120, and the site says
"Landranger maps 1-107 are covered by this product". It looks from a
quick glance on amazon.co.uk that the Landranger maps are about £5
each. If so, that clearly doesn't equate to anything like digital
being 4 x as expensive as a paper map. I assume the smaller areas are
proportionately more expensive, but even so....

Quoted message said:

So, Roger - were you looking at the wrong thing, or have I got the
maths wrong?

The OP was referring to the cost of 1:25000 scale maps which are still
extortionate. The cost of 1:50000 has come down remarkably since the OS
started licensing other suppliers but not so long ago the situation was
very very different. The quote below is culled from a ng message I have
saved from 1998.

******************************************************************************

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

No, and certainly not from the OS :-( who charge a fortune for their
electronic data.

About £75 per Landranger 50,000 series map I believe. (on CD)

I think you'll find that this has just gone up again :-(

******************************************************************************

Buying a large lump is all very well but what you actually get is 5% (or
less) of what you want and 95% of not what you want. When the OS
eventually twigged they were happy to sanction such bulk sales on the
confident expectation that very little of the 'not wanted' would leak
into the hands of the entirely different population who want a paper map
of their home territory or random holiday destination.

--
Roger Chapman so far this year 89 summits
New - 61 (Marilyns 14, Sweats 5, Outlying Fells 49)
Repeats - 28 (Marilyns 11, Sweats 21, Wainwrights 16, Outlying Fells 1)

"Jim Ford" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

* The air of uk.rec.walking was filled with the delicate perfume
* of violets, as Barry Samuels <[email hidden]> descended on a
shaft
* of golden sunlight, and announced:

Quoted message said:

If I have interpreted the information correctly a digital equivalent of a
2.5 inch scale paper map is 4 times the price. Why on earth would anyone
want to pay that sort of money for a digital map for personal use?

I did the same thing and came to the same conclusion! You also get maps
that
run with the slightest hint of damp.

Regards: Jim Ford

Put 'em in a map case, or if you're running a bit of cling film they last
fine. If they get a bit tatty chuck 'em away when you get home. How much is
an a4 print, 10p? If your worried print two copies and keep one in your sack

Quoted message said:

Barry Samuels said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

If you take as an example the Anquet 1:50000 (I know that's not 2.5 inch but
just as an example) It covers the same area as around 80 landranger maps and
you can get the software for about £80 if you shop around. Look at it that
way its not a bad buy. You can print off any number of A4 maps with your
walks at the centre of the page for a few more pence. this is very
convenient as you don't have to wrestle with map folding in the wind. You
can easily measure route distances and climbing which is also pretty good.

And then there's the virtual landscape.

;-))

I can't help but get the impression that that's all you've got it for :-)

Heh... wheeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 22:18:39 +0100, "theo" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

"Rooney" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 19:03:28 +0000, Peewiglet <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

also the 'virtual landscape'.

Mine doesn't work. I get an error message about DirectX 9 and display
drivers. Afaik everything on my PC is up-to-date with the latest
drivers etc., but it still doesn't work in virtual landscape mode.

You need to have DirectX 9 installed on your computer. IIRC I downloaded it
from the M$oft site. It's free.

I have it, and the latest display driver. I can't figure out what the
problem is.
--
R
o
o
n
e
y

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the wonderful
person Jim Ford <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

* The air of uk.rec.walking was filled with the delicate perfume
* of violets, as Barry Samuels <[email hidden]> descended on a shaft
* of golden sunlight, and announced:

Quoted message said:

If I have interpreted the information correctly a digital equivalent of a
2.5 inch scale paper map is 4 times the price. Why on earth would anyone
want to pay that sort of money for a digital map for personal use?

I did the same thing and came to the same conclusion! You also get maps that
run with the slightest hint of damp.

Depends what you print them on .. some colour laser printers are pretty
close to waterproof. However the 1p plastic sleeve and some magic tape
will render even the cheapest inks resilient enough for use in the
field.

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.