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Thankyou for your interest in HandMap. This page is intended for companies who own vector map content, and wish to rapidly enter the mobile/handheld market.
We have a number of options we can offer, some of which are already being used by 3rd party map vendors like yourselves.
Creating Maps
We have a free Windows software tool, called MapIt which can create professional maps for HandMap. (It's actually the tool we use ourselves!) You can import your data (ESRI Shapefile format), edit and/or optimize it for low-rez screens, then export maps to HandMap format, and distribute these maps without any royalties to us. The only catch is that users must pay for our handMap viewer software (for Palm or PocketPC), which we sell through our online store for US$16 for a single user. Of course, existing owners of HandMap can purchase subsequent map products without the need to re-purchase the software.
Regarding MapIt, you can create good quality maps using the free version (MapIt Light). You can optionally purchase MapIt Enterprise, which gives you many more capabilities to produce quality maps, like:
- Easier data import: dynamic type queries, (setting up of query tables), commonly used "profiles", etc
- Better export options: Can export maps up to 2Mb in size. Better compression options.
- Better editing functions: select/move/copy objects by spatial size, type, or within specified boundaries.
- Create 'free' demo maps (users don't need to have paid for the viewer software)
- and more...
Selling Maps
To offer a map/software "bundle" to your local customers, you have two independent options. (ie. you can go for both, or either one):
- We can host your HandMap map file collection on our server, and include it as a separate map product in our online store. In this arrangement we keep a small percentage to cover support costs and you receive the rest of the map sales revenue. Our online order processing service is provided by www.eSellerate.net. You need to sign up for a SplitPay account. You will be paid directly via eSellerate and have access to full sales data online. An added bonus to this option is that you get our Web-based map distribution for free. We distribute all of our maps via a Web browser, ie. customers log-in using a unique ID/password which we assign to them, and the maps they download are copy-protected to them, so they can't share them with their friends/colleagues. You just supply the maps and forget about the rest.
- You can sell your map product totally independently, which a number of HandMap vendors already do, but also sell the HandMap viewer software Direct to your customers (as a "bundle", or separately). This is achieved by our HandMap Enterprise Licensing Center -- a web-based system which a vendor, like yourself, can log into, and purchase volume licenses for HandMap. You can then allocate these licenses over time to your customers, again by logging in through a Web browser with your vendor id/password, and generate unlock codes Instantly! (with a license credit being deducted). You can then purchase more licenses to 'top up' your account at any time.
As an extra bonus, you receive considerable volume Discounts the more licenses you purchase. See our special Corporate Store below for details - Corporate Store
I hope this is of interest to you. I believe the options above can accommodate most handheld mapping ventures, either small or big, with virtually no startup risk. Please note, however, that all of our distribution, be they for software licensing or for map content, is strictly electronic, i.e. via the Internet. At present, we do not offer any CD distribution, or physical boxed-packaging, although this is something you can pursue independently, but with our software licensing still, in the end, being authorized through an Internet gateway.
Limitations
Please also note the following current limitations of the HandMap viewer product range. This can affect your venture decision, and is best known at this stage:
- HandMap/MapIt does not currently support any "auto-routing" functions, i.e. topological map attributes.
- HandMap/MapIt does not currently support address ranges, for street segments, nor an associated address search function.
- HandMap does, however, support search for streets/features by name, and also street intersection search.
- HandMap/MapIt also supports the importing of Detailed Points of Interest, which are represented by a wide range of icons on the map display, and can be search for by category and sub-category, and sorted by proximity to the user's present location.
- HandMap/MapIt supports the importing/defining/rendering of multi-layered thematic data, supporting all fundamental spatial object types: point, poly-line, and filled-polygon. (NOTE: polygons, currently have to be 'Decomposed', for viewing on Palm devices. MapIt Enterprise can do this for you automatically).
- HandMap/MapIt supports custom color schemes, for map rendering, which can adapt automatically to the target handheld device. (MapIt Enterprise only)
- HandMap/MapIt uses coordinates represented in Decimal Degrees (longitude/latitude), and viewed in the Geographic projection. Also, coordinates are assumed to be in the WGS84 Datum.
- We currently only support the Palm and PocketPC platforms. Within the Palm platform, we support most of Palm's range of devices (PalmOS 3.5 or higher) and external storage card support.
- Regarding our GPS add-on software, it supports any NMEA 0183 compliant receiver, with a serial interface, which can be either through an external cable, or through 'virtual' serial ports, (like CompactFlash GPS adapters).
- HandMap is not intended for car navigation. There are too many necessary technological components, like voice activation, text-to-speach, etc, which make it too prohibitive, especially for the Palm platform.
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