So, Stadtplandìenst is now charging to print maps? Let's see, computer + dsl + isp + printer + ink + paper + time + fucking pay us cause we can't make money normally like every other online map server in the world?
Geez...
(p.s. Maybe it's better to have "stadtplandìenst" substituted with "hot-maps" only if the keyword is a live link to a url... sigh.)
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Stadplandienst now charging for printing
Rant!
Ctrl+Print screen, Ctrl+P into the art studio program of your choice for cropping. Hey presto a free map.
Servers cost. Bandwidth costs. Developers cost. Maps cost a lot. Rights to others' maps cost, too.
How do you suggest they pay their bills? Banner ads? Pop-ups? Pop-unders? Click-through rates are less than 0.25%. People are also blocking moer and more ads with the hosts file and with FireFerret+AdBlock. Google affiliate ads? Click-throughs are still <1%. Micropayments? No one's come up with a way to do it yet, but I have an idea. Local ads based on area searched? Google's working onthat. Click-throughs are stilll dismally low.
Maybe the Salon.com day pass model where you first have to watch a 30-second ad to get access? Nope. There are ways around that, too.
That leaves charging for services or access. You can still use the map service for free. You want it in their pretty, ready-to-print format? For less than one Eurobuck you get 30 prints. That's pretty reasonable, all things considered. You can always copy the picture, paste it in mspaint, Paintshop Pro or any other graphics program and print from there like BT wrote, although Alt+PrintScreen is better (captures only the active window requiring less memory and leaving less area to crop).
Yahoo, Google, Mapquest, ADAC, Falk and the rest of them have on-line maps as only one part of their business and can afford to lose money. Most specialty map sites don't. It's going to be a few more years before anyone comes up with a viable micropayment system and as soon as someone does, a lot more information out there will cost.
You want free maps? Look in the front of your Yellow Pages. Or look at the itsy-bitsy ones at hotmaps.de. Cutting and pasting them into a usable size and area is a serious PITA, and takes a lot longer than €0.03 of my time.
woof.
How do you suggest they pay their bills? Banner ads? Pop-ups? Pop-unders? Click-through rates are less than 0.25%. People are also blocking moer and more ads with the hosts file and with FireFerret+AdBlock. Google affiliate ads? Click-throughs are still <1%. Micropayments? No one's come up with a way to do it yet, but I have an idea. Local ads based on area searched? Google's working onthat. Click-throughs are stilll dismally low.
Maybe the Salon.com day pass model where you first have to watch a 30-second ad to get access? Nope. There are ways around that, too.
That leaves charging for services or access. You can still use the map service for free. You want it in their pretty, ready-to-print format? For less than one Eurobuck you get 30 prints. That's pretty reasonable, all things considered. You can always copy the picture, paste it in mspaint, Paintshop Pro or any other graphics program and print from there like BT wrote, although Alt+PrintScreen is better (captures only the active window requiring less memory and leaving less area to crop).
Yahoo, Google, Mapquest, ADAC, Falk and the rest of them have on-line maps as only one part of their business and can afford to lose money. Most specialty map sites don't. It's going to be a few more years before anyone comes up with a viable micropayment system and as soon as someone does, a lot more information out there will cost.
You want free maps? Look in the front of your Yellow Pages. Or look at the itsy-bitsy ones at hotmaps.de. Cutting and pasting them into a usable size and area is a serious PITA, and takes a lot longer than €0.03 of my time.
woof.
God isn't it terrible how there are no free maps of Munich?
Yeah it is, Jeremy. Never said I was being fair.
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