What happened to the EOTopo comment thread?

It wasn't the negative feedback so much, as the less than diplomatic manner in which was delivered by the nomadic one. :-)

Bob

Traveller said EOTopo was crap, I totally disagree I think it is great and an asset to the self drive traveller, and posted so. Suggest you look at the product and if I suits your purposes then buy it, if you do not see a benefit to you then do not buy it.

Was the points about POI's covering road intersection etc. valid or not? I would rather had this point explained rather than the post being deleted.

Chris,

There was a lot of carry on (personal attacks and flaming) in the thread but as a community feedback developed product set, if the POI detail is a problem then we will simply create a second sheet at 200K without it. Anyway from my point of view and I have only been using Topo maps forever for traveling, cycling and adventure racing, the features are fine, there maybe two spots in the whole of the the Australian sheet that I think it is not 100% right and this will be addressed in a future release.

You should also take note that a 200K map at 200dpi has an effective on screen scale of 1:100,000 yes 100K not 200K. The POI features we have added are around 6500 across the whole country and are shown at around 15x15pixels on the 200K map of 170,000x165,000 pixels. So in effect they are almost nothing, sure some areas in towns have many in close quarters, but in towns topo maps are poor in feature details anyway as most of the feature details is covered by an area definition called Built Up Areas a polygon of generally solid colour thus masking contour and relief rendering anyway. If a few sections of road are covered then maybe we can address the layer order or symbol opacity or maybe you will just love the detail provided.

Some people wonder about the validity of topo maps showing some features however camping areas and other such features are on-ground visible in nature data elements and as such have every right and place to be on a topographic map. There is not much difference from a building point (standard topo element) to a camp area so in terms of pure topographic element the display and rendering of these elements is actually an enhancement to the map.

Anyway we can argue these points all day, we put a lot of thought into the placements and symbol sizes. If the symbol was for a canal, water body, building point, wind pump, wind farm, mine, cave or other there would be no discussion. We have just placed camps, caravan parks and some specific tourism POIs (like CSR wells etc) as important topographic elements (on ground visual features) of the map and used symbols for each.

To see what the maps look like simply look at the sample images in the shop page for the EOTopo 200K product. The EOTopo Online system shows the elements but they are a little different as they cluster and are click-able but the elements shown on the Online are shown on the 200K - zoom all the way in for a view that is close to the 200K product.

Again if feedback states they are not right or wanted we will simply create a 200K sheet without them. There is and should be no issue. If you buy it and dislike the symbols, styles or layout tell us and we will be driven by the feedback as always. With the new download services we have the ability to deliver updates and/or new sheets easily and these are all covered by the Lifetime Upgrade plan.

Hope this helps.
David

Thank you for the very detailed follow up David,

I have been using the previous version of EOTopo over the last few months for a Cape trip, the Canning and Simpson Desert. My only real complaint, except for a few minor alignment problems, was the lack of distance markers, but understand it this has now been addressed in the latest release?

Thanks again and look forward to trying the latest update.
Chris

This says it all. ExplorOz are trying to produce for us the best possible product. Complaining achieves nothing. If you believe that improvements can be made (and there will always be improvements that are possible) then explain them clearly and they will be considered. It is constructive feedback that will improve and keep relevant, EOTopo.

Chris,

Yes as stated in the documentation and visible on the sample images (one copied below) there are now distance markers on the map, you can also see some POI markers at 100% scale on this image:

[Image cannot be loaded]

David

Real suss (Troll) looks like he's posted at least under two names.

Yes I'm pretty sure I know who he is. Has a long history of doing that. Caused a lot of grief over on a few of the caravanner and GPS forums. Used to peddle his own mapping product a few years ago. Poor old Dave A, Dave W, Sir John Paul - lots of aliases. A lot of time spent creating false personas and then flaming people.