GPSS "Starter" or "Free" CDROMs

This page is aimed at those who manufacture or distribute GPS products to the consumer, or plan to do so in the near future. It is not aimed at the person wanting to buy one or two of these products - although he may find it of great interest.

We can supply CD masters for low cost (typically 1$US when produced in quantity) "entry-level" CDs, suitable for use in over 100 countries, as a companion to low cost GPS products, such as those sold in the USA since 1999 for as little as 79$US (55 GBP). Some may choose to distribute this as a "free" CDROM, bundled in with their product. This might be an existing hand-held GPS, such as Garmin Etrex or Magellan 315, or the many GPS-Mouse like products such as the Garmin GPS35, San Jose Nav GM38, and low cost GPS products from Rand MacNalley, DeLorme and others.

The "right" selling price will vary between countries: in many countries the GPS with GPSS CD might be sold at as little as 60$US. That's a decision for the GPS distributor - but he needs a low cost CD to achieve a low overall price. He may also wish to offer more profitable "upgrade" options such additional "companion" CDs with more detailed mapping for a particular country of city.

The July 2001 "free" GPSS CD includes street level mapping for all of the USA, including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico - as described on the TIGER Page. The CD holds the whole of the www.gpss.co.uk web site, as it was in July 2001. This includes the many pages of information, and version 5.1 of GPSS. Mapping for 142 countries is now included, and speech in 12 languages. For more information on use of the CD, please visit the GPSS CD HELP Page. The CD gives you all the information, software and data from www.gpss.co.uk, but with much faster and simpler installation onto your PC via the SETUP Wizard

Practically all the contents of this CD will have appeared already on this web site, and will have been Beta tested by our many GPSS Users around the World. This includes the GPS Software itself, mapping, and software interfaces such as ARED, described on the Microsoft AutoRoute Page, which makes it possible to exploit other CD mapping products. Software on the CD will also support the remote tracking capabilities of GPSS - for those with suitable hardware and GPSS Licence. Several of our existing partners will be supported by special downloads holding their own business logos displayed when GPSS starts. No reason why deals should not be struck, where the CDROM is produced with artwork for that particular partner - such as this on the left, for the new UK-based business called "GPS Warehouse".

This "Starter" (or "Free") CDROM will include running copies of GPSS and a "snapshot" of these web site pages and pictures - edited to promote products released with the CDROM by those who collaborate with us.

How can we and our GPSS Business Partners offer a CD with this much capability for as little as 1$US - and why would we wish to ? Even small 1000-off production runs are below this cost, and in principle, issue of the CD is little different from allowing downloads direct off www.gpss.co.uk. 10,000 to 100,000-off production runs are even lower in cost, giving plenty of scope for a small royalty to be paid to Sunninghill Systems, yet still keep the total cost to less than a dollar per CD.

We can be confident, from feedback over recent years, that the end-user will be "overjoyed" with what he has on the CDROM of his "entry level" product, and there are no lack of "bells and whistles" waiting to be unlocked within the software. "Upgrade" CDROMs will also be available for some countries through other business partners of ours - these will normally be those who already own copyright on mapping, and/or offer mapping CDROMs. Several examples already exist, such as those from Microsoft and AUSLIG in Australia. Another, illustrated on the right, is one providing street level mapping for the London area from Bartholomew, as it might be produced for GPS Warehouse.

Working in close collaboration with individuals on our PARTNERS Page we are now "pressing" another of these GPSS CDROMs - the "July 2001" copy. We expect to distribute limited numbers of these to our existing partners, to a few GPS makers, and a few local "Beta Testers". In some cases, permission will be granted for a GPSS Business Partner to duplicate particular CDROMs, and give a copy, suitably labelled, to named contacts. This could be friends - for local "Beta Testing", or journalists - for promotion.

As these CD prove to be of adaquate quality - depending upon the country - these same masters may then roll into larger quantity production, for business partners who are category "A" status. i.e. they have been authorised to sell-on GPSS, even if it is simply a "free" CDROM stuck to the side of the GPS packaging.

We would expect to update the master CDs, according to business needs, every few months - maybe more often than that.

I am now looking for more businesses who might wish to exploit these CDs. They might include trusted individuals operating as small businesses, taking credit card orders and then arranging another, larger company to despatch the goods: the larger company will normally already sell GPS product - but probably not bundled in with software.
It obviously also includes the larger names, such as GPS makers, above.

We work with all sizes of business. If you are interested in discussing this further with me, please take a look at these pages, including if you are a business, then download and test GPSS from the Download Page, then provide all the answers you can to the Business Quiz on the same page. You may also call me on 44 1344 620775 between 0830 and 1700 UK time, but I prefer e-mail contact first.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Robin Lovelock
Sunninghill, UK. July 2001.

The information below includes artwork for the July 2001 GPSS CDROM.
The user can browse the whole of the www.gpss.co.uk website, straight off the CDROM, or do a quick test of GPSS with his GPS, by running on of the copies of GPSS on the CDROM.
For example:
RUN d:\www\index.htm
- on most modern PC will automatically start the Netscape or Microsoft Browser, and display the full GPSS Homepage.
RUN d:\gpss0\gpss.exe
- will run the GPSS Baseline (very limited mapping, but enough for test)

However, there is a SETUP.EXE on the CDROM, which supports a more user-friendly installation of any combination of GPSS with mapping or language onto the hard disk, from the CDROM. This includes finding and installing mapping based on you clicking on a World map, using position from your GPS (if the CDROM is on the Laptop PC), or simply finding it by name. e.g. "Jakarta". You can see more of this, by visiting the GPSS SETUP Wizard Page