I purchased a few days ago for £2 a trial of Anquet maps for two months with the option to subscribe on an annual basis thereafter.
The quality of mapping is excellent. Communication and help by phone and email was first class. However, using the software did was not intuitive to me. At my age I am proud at having kept up modestly with technology, but perhaps now I just want an easier life, so I was not prepared to battle on and learn new tricks, and I have cancelled the annual subscription offer.
I have had Memory Map for over ten years - my 1:50 and 1:25 OS maps are out of date. That has been evident from changes of footpaths etc. shown on latest versions BC has downloaded for free having been included in the purchase of the paper Land Ranger maps. On top of obsolescence I had a Windows error message preventing me saving GPX routes, and all that prompted me to try Anquet.
My Memory Map runs on a Windows PC in Parallels partitioned from my iMac because MM was not previously available for Mac but it is now. Windows then miraculously "restored the missing file from backup" and so MM is ok again (for the moment.) I will probably now purchase the latest OS map updates from MM for 1:50 and 1:25 to run on the Mac. The associated MM app performs well on my iPad and my iPhone and I would hope that would continue with the new purchase.
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Our Thursday walk continued on the Lindsle fell road from where we left off last week in pleasant but still chilly weather.
Here are some photos:
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| This mixture of rocky outcrops and sheep cropped turf, gorse and a modest dose of old woodland typifies what I call "Edge of the Lake District Scenery" and I love it. |
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| Just off the road - maybe just enough to occupy a couple of hours bouldering? |
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| My first bluebells this year - the English variety of course |
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| Wood anemones |
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This and below - tractors for AR.
I don't think they are particularly rare but they may pose some challenge with views restricted by cramped locations - suggest click to enlarge
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| We walked past this waterwheel (see next photo) without noticing on the way out only finding it on the way back, hence endorsing Pete's claim that it makes a different walk coming back the same way |
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| From one kilometre away my car was unsurely identified from a tiny white spot. This full zoom confirmed it was my car. But not good enough to see if there are broken windows - I am a born worrier - fortunately all was intact |
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| Route there and back |
That road was one of my mother's favourite walks and blackberrying expedition sites - the 'upper' section you were on yesterday is indeed tranquil, full of quaint interest, both natural and artefact.
ReplyDeleteGimmer - yes, we intend to continue northwards - we have walked on the forthcoming roads on other occasions, but some while ago.
ReplyDeleteTalking of typos in our exchange on the previous post, I am having terrible trouble. Wen I type an "a" I am inadvertently hitting the "s" key and can only overcome it by concentrated effort. I usually manage to correct the typos anyway, but unfortunately the "a" looks similar to the "s" and is easily overlooked. There was one missed in my reply which I can't alter without deleting the whole reply and starting again.
typos are one thing, but the complete changing of the word and hence not only the whole meaning of the sentence but quite possibly affecting the recipient's health - or at least his/her opinion of one - is potentially much more serious (or interesting) !
ReplyDeleteHello Conrad.I may have misunderstood your intention regarding new mapping to run on your Mac, but I would strongly advise against downloading the Mac version of MM. The functionality is appalling.
ReplyDeleteafoot - that is a bit off-putting. I would be interested to hear more detail.
ReplyDeleteI have had MM for years and I am now so familiar with it I have little problem. In the esrly days support was poor but it has improved recntly. I can't find any unbiased reviews of MM for the Mac specifically. Other reviews of MM complain about the difficulty of finding one's wsy around the software, and the poor support, but I have had it so long now that it's no longer a problem for me - it does everything I want with very little trouble. My recent hiccup was more due to a glirch in Windows 7 rsther than MM itself.
Sir Hugh - think of just about everything you can do with the Windows version and you mostly can't do it with the Mac version. I can find no way to get ascent or descent data; it's clunky when plotting a route. Right click a route and none of the options you get on the Windows version appear. It is essentially the MM app you have on your iPad or iPhone and that's about it as far as I can see. Cloud Syncing routes to a phone is easy but you have to pay for it if you use more than 2GB a month I think, but that might also be the case on Windows - it wasn't available when I was on Windows. I can't get GPX files to work either but I haven't continued to experiment with that. When I switched to a Mac and queried MM customer service about that version of the software they did warn me of its 'limited functionality', but I never really expected it to be so poor. I, like you, have used MM for years and like it but when I decide to upgrade my maps I'll be moving away from MM.
ReplyDeleteIn the end it depends on what you want, but if you want what you've got on Windows you'll be very disappointed. If anyone out there can tell me I'm wrong I'll be more than happy to hear from them.
Afoot - Wow! Thanks a lot for the warning. Itl sounds dreadful. I think my long-in-the-tooth Windows 7 is past its best but I think I will just carry on with what I've got for the moment until it misbehaves beyond redemption. Have you any other thoughts on alternative mapping software?
ReplyDeleteSir Hugh - Anquet is the only alternative I’ve considered but I haven’t trialled it as you have done. I assume your trial was on your Mac. Good to see you’re still getting out regularly.
ReplyDeleteafoot - With GPX files I right click on the route or track then "save as". That gives you a box showing where to save it, but you must click on the bottom row box for the drop down menu to save it as a GPX, not a Memory Map file. then go to the ssved file and click on "Share" and select email. I then email it to myself and when received on my iPad or iPhone click on the saved file and select "Open in Memory Map." Sometimes the route or track appears on the map and other times you have to go into the menu department and find it and then say "view." I may well be patronising you with all this and apologise if so, but I think there are different ways of doing it and this, although cumbersome works for me.
ReplyDeleteYour blue tractor is the Leyland 270. A popular workhorse from 1972-1976. Two wheel drive and around 80hp I think. The other one could also be a 270 but I can’t see enough of it to say for sure.
ReplyDeleteAs for mapping why not download the OS mapping app, pay £20 per year for the premium version. You can do pretty much everything with it and it syncs with whatever devices you want it to. Just a thought.
Good idea Alan and thanks for that.
ReplyDeleteSir Hugh. No need to worry about patronising me - I’m sure there will be things I’ve been doing wrong. However, last time I tried using GPX on the Mac the saved file couldn’t be opened l, but it’s worth another go. I used GPX files when I had Windows but gave up on the Mac and just used Cloud Sync.
A Mac with Quark Express used to be the standard package for DTP work in publishing. A new version of Quark for PCs was developed in the early nineties and the company that bought my magazine made a very expensive mistake when it decided to opt for this new package, thereby standardising on PCs throughout the company. After a year they had to junk probably thirty to forty Quark PCs used by the editorial staff and replace them with Quark Macs. I used both and it was clear Macs were superior to PCs. Not surprising really since Quark - a very complex and horribly expensive bit of software - was originally developed for Macs.
ReplyDeleteThis in my opinion was the only occasion when there was a clear-cut advantage for going Mac, that had nothing to do with the thing Apple are really good at - marketing. Nourishing the belief that their products are sort of lovable and worth the extra money.
Obviously the success of the Iphone would seem to suggest that some Apple products are lovable. But when I learned that Iphones used charger leads that were incompatible with other phones and - more recently - that the company appeared to be practising what used to be known as "planned obsolescence" I felt entitled to my Mac-less way of life. Your commenters appear to support this view. No doubt I'm missing out on certain techno-advances but at least I am shorn of the no doubt prejudiced belief that I am being made a fool of.
AlanR - You rise to the occasion as always with the tractors - thanks. I think the OS download sounds good. Fpr the moment I have the remainder of two months trial on the Anquet so will let that run out first. It does give me up to date OS mapping at both 1;25 and 1:50 on my iPad and iPhone, and I still have my MM maps there as well so I am covered for the moment.
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afoot - My requirements with the mapping are pretty well satisfied for normal day walking. For planning long distance walks I use things like "track split, and "track join" and distances on the route or track, and copying to my gadgets amongst others, and none of this seemed to be intuitive with Anquet, along with it forcing me into unwanted attributes like "segments" of routes and the like - I just coouldn't get on with it, but for just looking at the maps on the gadgets and using the GPS while walking it is fine.
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RR - As I have said before I am by not starry eyed about Mac, but I have had long experience of it to compare with previous long expereince of the PC, and recent exploration of Windows 10 on behalf of my friend Pete - you have mot had the day to day computing expereince of Mac. In most respects Mac is more friendly and intuitive, but it does have its shortcomings. Apple's Pages is far inferior to the splendid Windows Word. I'm not sure which of the two introduced "drag and drop" a long time ago, but Apple made more use of this clever facility it for a long time - there are other examples
The faults itemised by "Afoot" above are not Apple faults, they are down to the software put forward by Memory Map to carry their mapping.
RR - I have just re-read my comment. I checked it meticulously before posting and now woefully see several typos I overlooked - must try harder.
ReplyDeleteIt was purely a question of price that led me to choose Anquet as my first digital mapping software purchase. I had no complaints with it, but when we decided in 2011 that our maps were sufficiently out of date to warrant splashing out to update them, I chose Memory Map - again purely based on price. It initially looked to be a false economy, as a few days later I decided I much preferred Anquet (mainly due to one piece of functionality) and bought again. I now use both - Anquet is my 'go to' for plotting routes, but it's MM I use on my phone and I only have 1:25k on MM.
ReplyDeleteThe planning I've been doing over the last week has highlighted that it would be nice to have newer maps, but if I update Anquet I have to switch to their 'new' (now several years old) software, and I think I'll be putting off that learning experience for as long as is reasonable!
Sir Hugh - the GPX files now work but I have no idea why this should be the case given previous repeated failures It's not any easier to transfer routes to the iphone this way than it is to use cloud sync, but it's free which can't be bad. I'll probably stick with MM for the moment and hope they eventually improve their Mac version before I need to update maps. In the meantime I'll buy some new 1:25 paper maps for certain areas and download the mobile software which comes with them. I do still love pouring over paper maps.
ReplyDeleteInteresting discussion.
Gayle - I think it was you who first brought my attention to Anquet. I seem to remember you saying it could put one mile (or km) markers on a route. I searched for that and couldn't find it - everything on Anquet seems to be hidden. Much more interesting- what is the planning that you were about for a week?
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Afoot - I agree with you about poring over maps, but preferably at home rather than being turned into a paraglider on a Munro summit.
"You have mot had the day to day computing expereince of Mac
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary. I used my Mac to produce the magazine I edited to earn a living. It is you who are the dilettante.
Never bother to apologise for typos. They are minor solecisms. See how I'm ignoring the extract I cut/pasted from your post.
It may be completely different on the current version of Anquet, but in my version the markers-along-route settings are found in: Tools - Options - Appearance - Arrows.
ReplyDeleteThe current planning is for some Marilyns to bag on our way to Scotland for the TGO Challenge. We're setting out next week. So we'll have the best part of three weeks available to re-acquaint our legs with what it's like to walk up and down hills. It's something they've not done much since last May.
RR - re Mac -touché
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Gayle - Thanks for that. I will have a look - one mile markers would be very useful.
I look forward to hearing more sbout those Msrilyns. Are you also doing The Challenge with Mick?
Yes, I will be Challenging this year, for the first time since 2014. We're starting at Dornie on 10 May.
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