The Best Garmin GPS Maps for Singapore

Before Malfreemaps (MFM or MySgFreeMaps) was formed, Malsingmaps (MSM) had the best Garmin GPS map for Singapore. It was even much better than Garmin official map, the City Navigator Singapore/Malaysia. In fact, MSM was the best Garmin GPS community map making for Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei.

Late last year, MFM was born, and it was started without the Singapore map. So for GPS users in Singapore like me, MSM was still the only choice. Unfortunately, after the MSM-MFM split, there was no further significant update to the MSM map for Singapore. The only users who can get further updates were those who had donated to Jerome’s donor version of the map.

Not too long later, MFM started to incorporate Singapore into its map. It was removed at some point of time due to some copyright infringement alleged by Jerome but it has been reinstated since. And to be frank, I’m very happy with the progress of MFM in rebuilding the Singapore map, and have been using it since. I’m currently having both maps (MFM and MSM) loaded into my Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, although I set the MFM map to take precedence over the MSM map. Therefore, all routing will be done using the MFM map, the display will also show the MFM map, while I’m still able to search POIs contained on the MSM map. This is because in terms of number of POIs, the MSM map is still more complete and MFM would still need some time to catch up.

Some reasons why I chose MFM to take precedence over MSM for routing and display, at the moment:

1. MFM map has all the HDB polygons being drawn, while the public version of MSM map doesn’t have. Only Jerome’s donor version has similar HDB polygons, and it’s not free.
2. MFM map is being updated on a weekly basis. New versions of the map are always released every Monday and so far they haven’t missed it. :)
3. The MFM mapper for Singapore is very accommodative in accepting my contributions and error corrections, and most of the time, any contributions or corrections would be implemented immediately on the next version release.

This is the current situation now and it might still change. I heard that MSM will release their new map this month, and I’m looking forward to it. I also heard that MSM will distribute the maps for free to all the users and contributors. The map might still be locked but the unlock codes will be given for free, as long as you are an MSM registered user.

So, back to the original question, which map is the best for Singapore, MFM or MSM? I would say, both. Yes, both. :) At the moment, we need to have both maps loaded into our GPS devices so that we can make the best out of both maps. That would be the best combination to form the best Garmin GPS map for Singapore, at least for the moment.

Who’s Copying Who?

Very interesting moments are happening now on Malaysia and Singapore’s GPS community. After earlier, Malfreemaps (also known as MFM) were being accused of copying the data from Malsingmaps (also known as MSM) for Singapore map, right now there are reports saying that the new Garmin-compiled MSM version of the map is allegedly copying the data from MFM. To be exact, the new Garmin-compiled MSM map is making use of the old data belongs to previous mappers who have left MSM and formed MFM. This is after Garmin announced that they have agreements with MSM to pre-load and distribute Garmin-compiled MSM maps for their users.

I am very much interested to know what will happen next, especially since Garmin is already involved in this case. From what I can see, the root cause of what happens now is the issue about map ownership, on whether the source data of the map, which is the intermediary .mp files (in Polish format, please CMIIW), belongs to the mappers or the community. This issue has actually been heatedly debated way long back in 2006 (before I joined the community), which resulted in the creation of (now defunct) GPSMappers.net community (the MSM mappers community) at that time.

When some of the MSM mappers left and created a new community called MFM, they brought back all the source data with them, and used the data as a base to build the MFM maps now. I was asking on why MFM would have to start with only the northern peninsular Malaysia area (which is the area where the mappers are in-charge with) while the MSM version 2.30 (which was the next version of MSM after the split) could still retain all the maptiles. I was told that the mappers who migrated to MFM have allowed, for the last time, for their maps to be incorporated into the MSM version 2.30, after which, MSM would have to source their own data to map and rebuild the areas from scratch.

On a further development within the MSM community, mappers from another GPS community, Masmap, came on board to start rebuilding those missing areas being left by the MFM mappers. I was then later made to understand that the Masmap mappers were actually ex-MSM mappers who left during the formation of GPSMappers.net community, as a result of the map ownership issues I have mentioned above. Based on the further development, my understanding was that MSM would build the map for northern peninsular Malaysia from scratch by the Masmap mappers team.

Therefore, I was quite surprised to learn about the allegations that MSM has used the old data (including those previously belong to the ex-mappers who had since formed MFM) to supply the map to Garmin for the new Garmin-compiled Malsingmaps map. When I brought this issue up on MSM forum, I was told that the data does not belong to the mappers, but belongs to the community, so MSM has the right to use the data. That was before I received a friendly warning from the site owner for not discussing about this matter in the open forum, which I abide. Eventually, my post with regards to the matter got deleted :) , together with the answer (if I’m not mistaken, from bab1e) I received, which I understand fully since the issue might be too sensitive to be discussed in an open forum.

Nevertheless, as a normal GPS user and a (very small) contributor to both communities, I really hope that this matter can be settled amicably.

MSM Released New Map Version in Mapking Format

I just read that Malsingmaps (MSM) has released their new March 2009 version of the map in Mapking format, although it’s only covering Singapore and East Malaysia (including Brunei) only, and doesn’t include West Malaysia as yet. While it’s a good news for Mapking users in Singapore and Malaysia, I find it a bit strange, since normally they will release their maps in the original Garmin format first, before converting them to Mapking format.

Not too sure why they haven’t released the Garmin format of the new version of their maps. I understand that MSM has been approached by Garmin to supply the Garmin official maps for Malaysia and Singapore (and Brunei as well, I presume). This means that there’s a possibility that the next official Garmin maps for the region will be Garmin-compiled MSM maps, instead of the not-so-good City Navigator Singapore/Malaysia NT maps.

Does it mean that we will have to pay to use the new version of Garmin-compiled MSM maps? I’m not too sure, since there’s no official announcement from MSM on this matter, yet. However, I understand that at least one GPS vendor in Singapore has advertised the new nuvi 255W which is pre-installed with Garmin City Navigator Singapore/Malaysia *and* Garmin-compiled Malsing maps, which I presume is referring to the Garmin-compiled version of MSM maps. The hint is that the new maps will be released during the IT Show event in Suntec City, Singapore, this coming weekend.

One of the advantages of using the official Garmin compiler instead of using the normal cGPSmapper compiler is the ability to provide some new features supported by newer Garmin GPS devices, such as lane assistance and 3D junction view, although unfortunately my Garmin Mobile XT, which runs on my Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 mobile phone, does not support that yet. That would bring MSM map one step ahead of its competitors, I agree, but since it will become a Garmin official map, are we still able to use it for free? What would happen to all the contributors who have contributed in building the maps?

Let’s wait for the “official announcement” to come from MSM admins. In the meantime, I’m very much impressed with the progress of the Singapore map built by Malfreemaps (also known as MySgFreeMaps or MFM), and have been using this map, together with MSM’s map, for my navigation in Singapore. The MFM version of Singapore map has much nicer polygons for HDB blocks and some other types of buildings as well, which is much better than MSM’s Singapore map and is comparable to Jerome’s donor version of the Singapore map. I am just hoping that MFM’s copyright issue with Jerome, who is the MSM’s mapper for Singapore, can be settled soon so that it won’t affect the good progress of building the best GPS map in Singapore.