Quote:
Originally Posted by saua
I don't think access to the SD Cards and/or GPS are what's holding offline maps back, because that is already accessible (I already use the APIs that would be required in bbTracker).
In my opinion there are multiple factors: - Know-How: It's hard to get navigation right
- Processing Power: Doing it on the server is more managable
- Selling Stuff: Server-Based navigation can be used for better copy protection
- Map Data Licensing Terms: The producers probably have special terms for the map data, where they have to pay less if it's only streamed and not stored on the client
- Updating: Traditional Standalone GPS do offline maps, but they are not particulary good with updates
- Market: Producers of traditional Standalone GPS units still want to sell their hardware and if offline maps become available for smartphones, then this will get much harder.
I'm sure that some reasons are missing and I might be wrong with some of them, after all that's just my opinion. |
Great info. I was under the impression that access to the SD cards was more limited and now of course with ATT messing with the GPS that changes the dynamic but we will have to see how that is implemented.