Filed under: Software, Mac mini
RouteBuddy 1.3 adds turn-by-turn routing and voice prompts
I admit it - I have an almost irrational fascination with carputers, particularly Mac mini-based ones. I've always wanted to build one myself, but have been stopped by: A) The lack of time and money, and B) The fact that a carputer would probably be worth more than my jalopy. While we've mentioned a few nice examples here on TUAW, one of the biggest problems has always been the relative paucity of GPS mapping applications for Mac OS X. RouteBuddy has been the leading GPS solution on the Mac in the Intel age, but it was lacking some important features. Fortunately, version 1.3 adds two biggies: turn-by-turn routing and voice prompts. RouteBuddy supports a variety of GPS devices and map data from Tele Atlas.
Unfortunately, it's not cheap. RouteBuddy itself is $99.50US, not including maps. Maps for a variety of countries are available, with US-only maps costing $49.50. A demo is available which includes a street level map of Sante Fe for testing.
[via MacVroom]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
oshawapilot said 4:20PM on 7-22-2007
Great product that fills a need.
Bad price that will ensure the the need continues to wait for another company who will fill it at a more reasonable price.
For those who *need* this sort of thing, price isn't likely to be an issue. For the rest of us for whom this would be a nice thing to use once or twice a year, it's far too much IMHO.
I'd be willing to pay about half of that, personally - especially considering I'd have to invest another $70 for a useful complement of maps after the fact.
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George Kirkaldie said 4:34PM on 7-22-2007
Unfortunately, for me the best solution is Streets & Trips, from that company in Washington.
It runs great under Parallels, as a matter of fact it is now the only reason I actually use Parallels. But on a 17" MBP, using S&T at 1680x1050 is wonderful.
Also, you can buy S&T with a USB GPS receiver, mine is '05 I believe, but the newer ones are a much better unit, also smaller. For $149 Canadian, great deal.
Only does US and Canada, but I'm sure Autoroute will work just as good.
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max Ellinger said 4:34PM on 7-22-2007
It's missing points of interest info, right?
That's a pretty useful feature that other products have...that kinda sucks.
And - tho it isn't very driving friendly - can't you use Google Earth to accomplish the same task?
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Berbie said 5:49PM on 7-22-2007
Not exactly the same kind of application but aimed to people that like
to journalize and plan (workout) routes, TrailRunner is a freeware
alternative.Check more details under: http://www.trailrunnerx.com
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Alan said 6:18PM on 7-22-2007
@max Ellinger:
Google Earth can't do route-finding, unlike Google Maps.
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cyclingplatypus said 8:32PM on 7-22-2007
This product could be a breakout success for the Mac if the price wasn't so high, they would make a killing at $50-$75 for the program and map, but at $150 it is still easier to run a program via boot camp/parallels/VMWare.
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JD said 9:08PM on 7-22-2007
@Alan, Max
Maybe we mean different things by "route-finding," but here's a decent implementation of Google Earth, GPS, and directions for the Mac, which even works without an internet connection by caching the map data:
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/001623.php
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artifex said 11:28PM on 7-22-2007
Anyone effectively using a PPC Mac Mini as a carputer? Should I install Linux on it or something? :)
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Neil said 11:45AM on 7-30-2007
Hi,
thought I'd reply on a few of the points here, though a search of our forum (at http://tinyurl.com/363t8l) should answer most of your queries. :)
anyway I'll deal with the points in the posts as I read down..
RouteBuddy development is dynamic, we respond to our users in the aim to build the best Mac mapping solution. A solution that is driven and created from ideas and requests put forward from us and our users.
I'm not sure really how to quantify not cheap. Sure RouteBuddy costs more than the other OLD apps that were on the Mac (and PC) but it's not like them in any way, and they'd need a complete rebuild to be able to work on Intel Macs and do what we are doing and what we'll do. Map data, especially for supplying the smaller Mac market, costs us big money. If we were a PC developer we'd be able to spread thin margins across a huge market place, however we're Mac developers so it's a burden we have to live with and to some extent pass on.
Paying half the price for RouteBuddy?
So you're just looking at a single use, single window road map app right?
RouteBuddy has been built to take road maps and topo maps along with many other types of map 'and' meta data. The core coding has been done so it's only a case of bringing that data on board with some extra work when we are ready to fit it into the schedule. Take a road app and a topo app, add in lots of extra features and connectivity with GPS devices the other apps don't have, add UB, a modern build, multi-threading, the most detailed maps on the consumer market along with many other items and then you have RouteBuddy. RouteBuddy is being developed for the future, not the past, in essence you get what you pay for. :-)
Remember that to fairly compare you have to lay out feature for feature and buck for buck, only then will you see how the features vs. price really stack up.
Windows map apps:
- Street Atlas uses free TIGER data. We could use the same data and offer a lower price product but would a Mac user want out of date maps with missing information and loss of fidelity - meaning loss of accuracy? Would you go into a book shop and buy a road map with two or more years old data or this years most up to date data?
- Street Atlas is USA only data, with low detail of Canada and Mexico, whereas RouteBuddy covers all available road maps of the world. We have also kept the maps separate to the application so we can continually offer free updates and extra features for RouteBuddy as we release them.
- Streets and Trips does run under Parallels but it's not multi-threaded and it runs in Windows, so that's extra cost and extra hassle. S&T doesn't offer the same features or our fidelity. Try a screen shot of both and compare to see what RouteBuddy fidelity means. Streets and Trips does not have the same worldwide coverage that RouteBuddy offers.
-Do Windows apps connect to lots of GPS devices including Garmin's? - No.
RouteBuddy - Missing points of interest info?
Command+F will show millions of POIs in North America.
Very driving friendly. :)
Google Earth needs WiFi trees to get a connection, but I think you mean Google Maps which has the same limitation and doesn't offer all the features of RouteBuddy. :-)
Google Maps has a limited set of features that are, after all, driven by advertising.
"Oh but I can create '1' route with GE and cache the tiles" - Try it if you don't value your time and have plenty of hard disk space.
Using a Carputer. No need for Linux, go here for advice: http://www.macvroom.com/
Need more advice or wish to ask questions? - then visit our forum, we'll be pleased to help.
Neil
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