Mapopolis GPS Software to be Discontinued

Posted By: Kris Keilhack Friday, January 19, 2007 10:27:09 AM

A member of the GPSPassion forums recent posted an excerpt of an e-mail from Matt Kuenzel of Mapopolis stating that the company was going to discontinue sales of their "PDA Software products". A subsequent post (2nd in this thread) by "lamar" from Mapopolis confirmed this and added a considerable amount of additional information.

Mapopolis seems to have a very reasonable and sincere plan in place for gradually winding their business. They will continue selling new activations of their product until March 31st 2007. Their map server and customer service departments will continue to be operational for another year past this date so that all current customers' terms can be completed in full. Upon the conclusion of the final customers' 1-year term in March of 2008, Mapopolis will cease operations. Their software technology will be assimilated into the product line of another firm whose name is currently not being disclosed.

Mapopolis was one of the original stalwarts in PDA-based GPS navigation and mapping. The past two years have seen eroding profit margins in the personal GPS market as well as the entrance of a slew of new competitors for both handheld-based and dedicated GPS solutions. In addition, Palm themselves have been making a strong push with some high quality GPS hardware and software bundles as reviewed here.

Mapopolis is not the only handheld GPS solutions provider facing hard times: Garmin has phased out nearly all of their traditional Windows Mobile and Palm OS-based PDA/GPS hybrid units in favor of Bluetooth-based receivers and multi platform software solutions.

Permalink |

Article Comments

(4 comments)

The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PalmInfocenter is not responsible for them in any way.
Please Login or register here to add your comments.

Not dead, exactly...

gregjsmith @ 1/19/2007 4:08:19 PM #

Glad to hear something from them. I bought Mapopolis many years ago but have delayed updating my maps due to lack of updates of the Palm app. I wonder who bought the map software?

Speaking of mapping software, what happened to Activemap? <http://www.activemap.com/>

http://homepage.mac.com/gregjsmith

Bummer.

mhollis @ 1/19/2007 5:31:27 PM #

My brother used to work for Mapquest back before AO-Hell purchased and ruined them. While working there, he recommended Mapolis for my Palm (then a m505). It was great and I created a very detailed map of known places to eat and party in my neighborhood in NYC.

Mapping applications have become very important these days with the proliferation of the TomTom and other guides both for foot travel as well as by automobile.

It's clear to me that Mapololis was purchased by one of these companies -- but I'll bet the end product will be a navigation tool that only works on a SmartPhone. That's the end of mapping as we know it on regular Palm devices.

Gods don't kill people, people with gods kill people.

RE: Bummer.

justauser @ 1/19/2007 10:02:58 PM #

I am just hoping the roads won't change too much in the UK before I get another chance to use Mapopolis (what am I saying? I have maps from the 80s that are still good over there!). Oh well, it was a great product at the right price that has served me well in the past.

Here in Australia I am still clinging to Navman for Palm (another discontinued Palm GPS solution) with its 5 year old maps. Still points me in the right direction so it's all good.

Stand alone GPS devices are becoming so cheap now so it's no big deal to see Palm based solutions disappearing.

cocacola

JPT|X @ 1/22/2007 2:01:55 PM #

Mapopolis stopped working for me when I upgraded to the T|X. At that point, the costs of their maps had jumped, so I did not upgrade.

I loved the program but not quite worth another 40 dollars.

Account

News Higlights

Latest Comments

My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000