Web site allows Satmap owners to access OS mapping for the entire UK for planning purposes.
Satmap is
due to unveil its long-awaited
Online
Route Planner and Route Share Network today enabling
Satmap users to
plan
routes on the web using full Ordnance Survey mapping and
then download them for use with their Satmap Active 10 GPS.
The idea is that you can use the online planner to, well, plan your
routes with a bigger screen area than is possible on the Active 10 unit
itself and without having to use a separate mapping software package.
You can also save your routes and edit them later or choose to print
them out for easy reference.
Alongside the OS mapping of the UK in both 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 form,
there's also full road mapping and satellite imagery.
We've been playing with the new planner - above - and we're generally
impressed. The click to click route planning works pretty well
seamlessly and neatly, as you go an elevation profile is generated
beneath the planning map. Neat.
There are few flies in the ointment however. For some reason, while the
planner generates an elevation profile, it doesn't seem to tell you
your total height gain over the route as a whole.
Mac Compatability
And then there's the ongoing issue of Mac compatibility. There's still no Satsynch software available for Mac users, so while it's possible to plan a route and download it to a Mac, there's no obvious way of transferring it from your Mac to an Active 10.
We asked Satmap about the situation and it says that a Mac compatible version
'will be available later this year'.
Access To The Planner
Right, listen carefully. If you have bought / buy an
Active 10 GPS unit
before
Monday 23 March 2009 and
register it before 1
April 2009, access to the Online Route Planner is
completely
free.
If you fall outside those criteria - ie: you buy after next Monday or
forget to register the unit, then there's a one off subscription charge
of
£79.99.
We've asked Satmap to explain the charge and we'll let you know.
Update Satmap tells us that the thinking behind the charge is to ensure that the route planner is continually improved and updated.
What we can tell you, is that for PC-based Satmap users, the new
planner makes huge sense and is pretty much the missing piece in the
route-planning jigsaw. On top of that, it will also allow Satmap users
to share routes with others and to archive their routes on line.
More information when we have it. You can find out more at
www.satmap.com
where existing owners can register their units and get instant access
to the route planner.
