I downloaded the “free” program and the two free maps. Whenever I opened the program, it would take me off the coast of Africa to coordinates 0,0. I contacted support about this problem and was assured that it would work on my Verizon Storm. Support was very quick in responding……….. until I purchased the maps of New York State. The program still takes me to 0,0. I wrote support. No response. I wrote support again. No response. I am still waiting for a response from support but do not anticipate hearing back from them anymore. They received their money and I received 4 GB of useless files.

I am using TopoExplorer version 1.0.77 and noticed version 1.0.72.0 at the BlackBerry app store. I tried the other version with the same results. The phone has the latest operating system authorized by Verizon as of 6-3-09 (v4.7.0.148 platform 4.0.0.181). Google Maps, BlackBerry Maps, and Nav4all work great using the GPS. I checked the coordinates from Nav4all against my handheld GPS and found them to be the same. I wanted to make sure the coordinates were not coming from cell towers. So, the GPS works fine in three programs, but not in TopoExplorer. Sounds like a glitch on their end, not on mine. I can open a map manually (from the Maps folder), but as soon as I press down on the screen, it goes to 0,0. Hello, I do not boat in the area. I cannot load the optimum map since my maps are not from the Atlantic Ocean.

If this problem is fixed and the program works as advertised, I will gladly let everyone know and upgrade my rating. It is advertised as being compatible with the Storm, but I don’t think so. Verizon does not lock the GPS on the Storm like they did with other phones. If anyone has this program working on their Storm, please e-mail me at smallengrep@yahoo.com and let me know how you did it.

There are quite a few free alternatives out there, if you want to use your own topographic maps. A good one is trekbuddy which allows you to build your own maps, save them on the SD card, and BTW, it’s FREE!!!

the app is free, but the map packs are ~$30 each (unless I’m missing something)!