Cost reduction trend in electronic cartography

Has anyone noticed the trend in lower costs for electronic cartography.
Garmin is selling a chartplotter with full US coastal Bluechart cartography
for about $900. Some vendors charge more than double that for software only
to buy full US coverage.

Also Maptech is providing a CD as part of their paper Chartkit product.

So, are we seeing a fundamental change in the market for electronic
cartography? It is about time.

David

David&Joan wrote:
> Has anyone noticed the trend in lower costs for electronic
> cartography. Garmin is selling a chartplotter with full US coastal
> Bluechart cartography for about $900. Some vendors charge more than
> double that for software only to buy full US coverage.
>
> Also Maptech is providing a CD as part of their paper Chartkit
> product.
>
> So, are we seeing a fundamental change in the market for electronic
> cartography? It is about time.
>
> David

Software, like everything else in IT, has an amortization period. When you
have sold the first 25,000 or whatever, and the stuff is being pirated
willy-nilly worldwide, you don't have too many options if you wish to stay
in the game.

Dennis.