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wiyosaya · 31-07-2008, 05:49 PM

I thought I would follow-up with some comments after having purchased the software and used it a bit.

I would have loved it if CoPilot 7 Live allow me to use it in the way that I have been used to using Mapopolis; however, this is not the case. In fact, I dislike CoPilot 7 Live so much that I am returning the software. I bought it from directly from ALK, and as such, they have a 30-day no questions asked return policy.

Firstly, I used to pan using the stylus in Mapopolis quite a bit. However, pans in CoPilot are an arduous task that are extremely slow in comparison to Mapopolis. At one point, I had to reset my PPC. I was zoomed in all the way on an area in Newfoundland, and trying to pan slowed the system (my Pocket Loox N560) down so slow that I had to reset. I had nothing else running in memory. After the reset, I went back to the same location in the map and the same thing happened.

Next, zooming is just as arduous. It is possible to set CoPilot so that the stylus either pans or allows you to draw a zoom box. You cannot use the stylus to both pan and draw zoom boxes. You could with Mapopolis since it allowed you to select zoom tools from its tool bar. When the stylus is set to pan mode, the only means to zoom on the map are "+" and "-" icons on the screen. Pressing either of these changes the zoom level by what I consider an extremely small amount, and it also takes a long time to do this. So, zooming in goes something like this. Press "+", wait, recenter by panning (if necessary) and wait for the pan to complete, and repeat this process until you reach your desired zoom level. For me, it is hard to describe just how slow this is.

Third, it is not possible to set a route start, end point, stop, or waypoint using the stylus. You have to set these by address, POI, favorite, or by direct coordinate entry using the keypad. With Mapopolis, you could simply scroll the map, zoom, tap the screen, hold the stylus on the info box that popped up, and select any of Set Start, "Route To" or "Route Through."

Next, CoPilot has no indication of park boundaries, e.g., Allegheny National Park, or the boundaries of large complexes like US National Wildlife Refuges on its map. For one park, I saw simply "Park" in type on the map with no indication of the actual boundaries of the park.

Maybe I had been spoiled by Mapopolis (which is no longer available), however, I found CoPilot to be a bare-bones navigation package which is not worth my money.

Thus, I have decided to give "OnCourse" a try. This is a North American variant of iGo. It sounds like OnCourse has most of the features of Mapopolis and is just as fast in panning/zooming. I reviewed the manual and did not see a "draw zoom box" feature, however, if this is the only thing it is missing in comparison to Mapopolis, I'll be happy.

So, if anyone else out there is using Mapopolis and is considering replacing it with CoPilot, you may be highly disappointed unless you are just using it for basic functions.

31-07-2008, 05:49 PM	#78 (permalink)
wiyosaya Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 18	Re: CoPilot Live! (7) Review I thought I would follow-up with some comments after having purchased the software and used it a bit. I would have loved it if CoPilot 7 Live allow me to use it in the way that I have been used to using Mapopolis; however, this is not the case. In fact, I dislike CoPilot 7 Live so much that I am returning the software. I bought it from directly from ALK, and as such, they have a 30-day no questions asked return policy. Firstly, I used to pan using the stylus in Mapopolis quite a bit. However, pans in CoPilot are an arduous task that are extremely slow in comparison to Mapopolis. At one point, I had to reset my PPC. I was zoomed in all the way on an area in Newfoundland, and trying to pan slowed the system (my Pocket Loox N560) down so slow that I had to reset. I had nothing else running in memory. After the reset, I went back to the same location in the map and the same thing happened. Next, zooming is just as arduous. It is possible to set CoPilot so that the stylus either pans or allows you to draw a zoom box. You cannot use the stylus to both pan and draw zoom boxes. You could with Mapopolis since it allowed you to select zoom tools from its tool bar. When the stylus is set to pan mode, the only means to zoom on the map are "+" and "-" icons on the screen. Pressing either of these changes the zoom level by what I consider an extremely small amount, and it also takes a long time to do this. So, zooming in goes something like this. Press "+", wait, recenter by panning (if necessary) and wait for the pan to complete, and repeat this process until you reach your desired zoom level. For me, it is hard to describe just how slow this is. Third, it is not possible to set a route start, end point, stop, or waypoint using the stylus. You have to set these by address, POI, favorite, or by direct coordinate entry using the keypad. With Mapopolis, you could simply scroll the map, zoom, tap the screen, hold the stylus on the info box that popped up, and select any of Set Start, "Route To" or "Route Through." Next, CoPilot has no indication of park boundaries, e.g., Allegheny National Park, or the boundaries of large complexes like US National Wildlife Refuges on its map. For one park, I saw simply "Park" in type on the map with no indication of the actual boundaries of the park. Maybe I had been spoiled by Mapopolis (which is no longer available), however, I found CoPilot to be a bare-bones navigation package which is not worth my money. Thus, I have decided to give "OnCourse" a try. This is a North American variant of iGo. It sounds like OnCourse has most of the features of Mapopolis and is just as fast in panning/zooming. I reviewed the manual and did not see a "draw zoom box" feature, however, if this is the only thing it is missing in comparison to Mapopolis, I'll be happy. So, if anyone else out there is using Mapopolis and is considering replacing it with CoPilot, you may be highly disappointed unless you are just using it for basic functions.