REVIEW: Family IT releases World Outline, a vector graphics-based worldwide map application

Family IT, the previously unknown Pocket PC developer, has just released a full-world map / GPS application covering all countries.

Another screenshot here showing the main country selector.

Availability, compatibility

The developers don’t seem to have a homepage of their own; currently, the only source you can download their app from is Handango. I encountered no problems running it – except for it being TOTALLY incompatible (there is not even a scrollbar to scroll) with devices working in Landscape mode.

It’s priced at $14.95. The trial can only be started five times.

Review

Interestingly, while the app has checkboxes for displaying towns with even 1000 inhabitants, having such small towns / villages was definitely not the case with the maps I’ve tested. For example, it doesn’t list the Finnish Sonkajärvi (appr. 5000 inhabitants in 2005): the database only seems to starts to display towns with inhabitants starting around 20 000 as is, for example, the case with Iisalmi (22 500 inhabitants). In this case, some of the alternatives (for example, iGo) are MUCH better, as far as country-level maps are concerned.

Also, it only lists towns, nothing else – no roads, nothing. Some example screenshots (still with the Finnish town Iisalmi): with full zoom-in (screen width: 1km), all I got was this. With capital of Finland, Helsinki and its neighborhood, I didn’t have much better luck either.

Pros

1. It covers all countries

Cons

1. No Landscape support
2. Very slow!
3. eVB required (which MUST be installed into main storage on WM5)
4. no Hi-Res support in any way (neither in forced nor in native VGA mode) on VGA devices

Verdict

Not recommended – it’s just too slow, too expensive, too bloated, too incompatible (Landscape), too too. Use Google Maps, iGo, TomTom etc. instead – they (or a combination of them) are FAR better choices for most purposes.