DO I HAVE TO BUY THE EOTOPO LICENCE TO USE THE EXPLOROZ TRAVELLER APP?
The Traveller app is designed with the expectation that you will have an EOTopo licence yes. Use of offline maps is necessary when travelling/driving in Australia due to patchy and sometimes non-existent mobile data service. The LoRes map pack is included for all Traveller app owners, even without an EOTopo licence. However, if you do not have an
EOTopo 2021 licence in your account then you cannot download the HiRes and XHiRes packs. The Traveller app and EOTopo map licence are sold separately because you only need 1 EOTopo licence per user, regardless of how many devices you wish to put the maps onto. Note - if those devices are a mix of Apple, Android and/or Win10 platforms then you will need to purchase the Traveller licence for each platform you are using.
CAN I USE EXPLOROZ TRAVELLER WITHOUT AN EOTOPO LICENCE?
Yes but when you are offline, you will only have access to view the map at zoom level 9 as this is the extent of detail available in the LoRes map pack. A message will be displayed when you are viewing offline maps to advise that "more detailed offline maps are available". If you don't have an EOTopo licence you will still have full online access to the 3 online map sources, which are
EOTopo 2021, Streets/Paths (OSM), and Satellite. You can make the decision that best suits your needs.
HOW DO I DOWNLOAD THE MAPS TO MY DEVICE?
Online maps are immediately available when your device has a Wifi or mobile data connection (via SIM or hotspot). However, to view maps when offline you will need to have downloaded the EOTopo map packs first. The maps can ONLY be downloaded to any device from within the Traveller app - via the Data Manager linked to your ExplorOz account. The LoRes map pack is included for all buyers of
ExplorOz Traveller so you can download this right away. To download the HiRes and XHiRes maps you will need to purchase the
EOTopo 2021 licence. When you first purchase the EOTopo licence it syncs to your ExplorOz account when you next log into the Traveller app. When you use the Traveller app on any device you should be logged in to your ExplorOz account (User Account). By default, this will be an auto login after the first time you use the Getting Started Guide. When logged in, your EOTopo licence activates the download buttons in the Data Manager section of the app. The
EOTopo 2021 mapset consists of 3 map pack downloads the LoRes, HiRes and XHiRes. The LoRes map pack is included for all Traveller app owners, even without an EOTopo licence. If you do not have an
EOTopo 2021 licence in your account then you cannot download the HiRes and XHiRes packs.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LORES, HIRES & XHIRES?
The LoRes pack contains the map data for levels 1-9. HiRes contains map data for levels 9.1-12 but will allow zoom at full resolution to level 18. XHiRes adds the remaining detail for levels 12.1 - 18. This XHiRes pack might be considered optional for those that would prefer to avoid using the additional 2GB of storage that the XHiRes will require. This is personal choice. TIP: the type of map data in the XHiRes include minor fine detail that only appears above Level 12 showing buildings as well as all "short" roads/tracks including walk paths, bike tracks, bridle trails, unsealed roads/tracks in both residential and non-residential areas. The definition of "short" refers to 0.001 degree (approximates to 111 metres). Therefore if the road/track is less than 111m at the zoom scale you are viewing, it will not appear unless you have XHiRes map pack installed. It is recommended that if you have the available storage space that you should include the XHiRes download.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE 2019 AND 2021 EOTOPO MAPS?
The first major difference is that the 2021 edition of EOTopo is no longer available in 2 options to suit different devices.
EOTopo 2021 is now only available for use in the
ExplorOz Traveller app. It has not been produced in any other formats to enable use in other mapping programs or devices. So to compare the
EOTopo 2021 to EOTopo 2019 we will only compare to the app version of 2019 maps. There are 3 main differences.
The most obvious difference of the map data itself is the increased detail available in the 2021 edition via an increased zoom range. Previously 2019 offline maps offered up to 144K map detail (1:144,000) on Level 12 and overzoom levels above this and for every odd zoom level between 1-12. The 2021 map set however, offers up to 2K map detail (1:2,000) on Level 18 with no overzoom so all map levels are super clear high resolution. This means, that when the full
EOTopo 2021 mapset is downloaded, the offline maps are the same as the online maps, which was not the case with the 2019 mapset.
The second major difference is that the map data has been fully revised/updated from the latest sources as you would expect. This means new major freeways, highways, and suburban roads and developments are included as at February 2021. Revisions and updates to regional and outback roads has also been done. Changes to names and boundaries of Parks and
Reserves (increase use of Aboriginal park names) have been done, etc. The whole look and feel of the map is different due to a new stylesheet.
The 3rd major difference is that the labels on the map (road names, symbols, town names etc) will now rotate as the map rotates when you view the map whilst you are moving. This is made possible due to building our maps in Vector rather than Raster.
HOW TO UPGRADE TO EOTOPO 2021 MAPS
There is no discount or upgrade pathway from the 2019 to 2021 product. The 2021 product is a totally new product being a vector map set. Purchase of the
EOTopo 2021 mapset can be made direct from us using the
shop on our website or you can use the in-app purchase link in the
ExplorOz Traveller (purchase with your app store account). Please note that when you purchase in-app the app store will take a commission from the sale before paying our monthly sales earnings, hence whilst there is no cost difference to you, it makes an enormous difference to us as a small business.
DO I HAVE TO DELETE MY 2019 MAPS BEFORE DOWNLOADING 2021 MAPS?
No but you can if you prefer. If you already have 2019 maps downloaded you can keep these and still download the 2021 map packs. You will have the option in the map layer tool to select which maps to view when offline. Note: storage of the entire
EOTopo 2021 mapset is 4.917GB and can be downloaded to SD. The total download is 1739MB. TIP: if you choose to delete the 2019 mapset we recommend clearing the entire offline map database before attempting to install the 2021 map packs. To do this, go to the Menu (top left of app) and select Settings - then scroll down until you see the heading for DATABASE RESETS, and tap the red button labelled "CLEAR MAPS DB". Then open the Data Manager (via the menu) and download the
EOTopo 2021 LoRes pack, then the HiRes pack and then the XHiRes pack.
WILL EOTOPO 2021 BE AVAILABLE FOR OZIEXPLORER USERS?
No -
EOTopo 2021 is a vector mapset only. OziExplorer is not compatible with vector mapsets. Past versions of EOTopo were raster and we are no longer building raster mapsets as this is old technology that does not permit high resolution data in reasonably small file sizes such as can be achieved with Vector.
EOTopo 2021 is only available to use if you have the
ExplorOz Traveller app.