[aprssig] Canadian maps and ops

[Stephen H. Smith]

Joe Della Barba wrote on 8/18/2004, 7:17 PM:

 > Are there any mapping programs with good coverage of Canada?
 > Do any of them work with APRS+SA?
 > Anyone know the regs for operating APRS in Canada?
 > Thanks,
 > 73 De N3HGB
 > Joe

Nothing works with APRSplus except the now-discontinued classic version 
Street Atlas Ver 9 or earlier (Ver 9 data is now about 4 years old).

The only apps that can provide fully zoomable, interactive street-level 
display in Canada are APRSpoint  (or UI-View32 combined with the 
UI-Point add-in).

Both programs depend on also having Microsoft MapPoint 2002 or 2004. 
This application provides street-level detail for all of the US and 
Canada and major roads (but not local streets) in Mexico.  It is a 
massive, sluggish, resource-hogging typical Microsoft application, but 
the detail, accuracy of the road database, and user interface are very 
good.  I wouldn't suggest trying to use it on anything less than a 500 
or 600 MHz P2 or P3 with at least 128MB RAM (Win98) or 256 MB RAM (Win 
2K or XP).

APRSpoint is actually an add-in for MapPoint, while UI-View runs 
MapPoint as an external separate application and passes data to it via 
the UI-Point add-in.

UI-View can also use Undertow Precision Mapping for it's zoomable map 
database.  Currently UI-View only supports PMap Vers 5 and 6 (both now 
discontinued) which only cover the US.  PMap 7.0 just released this 
month does cover Canada as well as the US, but UI-View doesn't yet work 
with it.  Rumor has it that an UI-View update is forthcoming  to make it 
work, but the time frame is uncertain.

When UI-View is enabled to work with PMap 7.0 it will be by far the 
least expensive appoach to full Canadian mapping since MapPoint costs 
several hundred dollars while PMap is only about $50 or $60.



Stephen H. Smith                   wa8lmf (at) aol.com

Home Page:                            http://wa8lmf.com