>and can tell you from experience that good mapping software (and accumulation of good map data) is an extremely difficult problem. What ? Accumulation of good

>and can tell you from experience that good mapping software (and accumulation of good map data) is an extremely difficult problem. What ? Accumulation of good data is very easy these days. It just requires you to open up your chequebook and license it from the various providers. I know first hand that Apple never even bothered to approach most of the providers before launch.