Changes in versions prior to 5.0

New in version 4.5:

updated all "cities ranked ..." maps
speed and direction of movement are now sent to the GPS fleet tracking service
additionally, you can select a "role" to show on the tracking map as an icon
minor improvements

New in version 4.4:

all menus (main menu, context menus) can be controlled by hardware keys (cursors)
Quiz and Data Search windows: attribute names are now displayed properly (removed superfluous information on type and flags)
you can now easily edit your locations: just click on the location and choose "Edit" from the context menu
you can easily add new locations: click anywhere on the map and choose "Add point here" from the context menu
various improvements in the user interface
enhanced GPS fleet tracking service

New in version 4.3:

you can now delete map files using the "Open maps" window: click the little "i" button
fixed crash when you click "Info" in the context menu, an image or elevation map is open and no vector maps are open
fixed GPS altitude not being displayed unless the GPS was moving
GPS altitude reading is updated more frequently in the "Altitude: Show" mode
the device auto-off is disabled when the GPS connection is open
"GPS signal lost?" label displayed when no GPS reading for a minute
GPS altitude can be displayed in meters or feet (depending on your choice in menu:Settings/General/Unit)
when the distance is less than one kilometer/mile, PrettyMap automatically uses meters/feet
changed unit abbreviations (SI/IEEE recommendations): nautical mile is now "nmi", statute mile is now "mi"

New in version 4.2:

GPS fleet tracking service: PrettyMap and PrettyEarth can regularly report locations so that you know where your fleet is, and others know where you are
fixed reading of small user maps: files shorter than 512 bytes might be unrecognized
GPS: now can display altitude and the number of satellites in view
in the "User maps" window, all existing user maps are listed and available for editing, not only currently opened ones
added new data to the "World Facts" maps: country background, overview of economy, current environmental issues, international disputes, and more
"hide/show toolbar" button no longer obscures the elevation legend in 3D views
more map categories and visual styles supported
the shapefile-to-prettymap converter is more robust against non-conforming shapefiles

New in version 4.1:

fixed sessions that would not find vector maps if you removed a memory card
fixed the "Zoom area" rectangle which was drawn shifted and white instead of red
"Alpha sort" in the Open maps window is now case insensitive
screenshot file names are more unique to prevent overwriting
the point maps you created can now be exported as KML directly on the device
added "World Facts" map to the distribution

New in version 4.0:

vector maps no longer stored in *.pdb files: now they are stored in regular *.pmap files and can be easily copied to memory cards
custom maps and map layers that you edit on the device are also stored in *.pmap files
support for GPS, logging GPS locations and the "follow GPS" mode
new memory management: you can now open sooo many vector maps!
much faster and more memory-efficient loading of vector maps
removed the 64KB limit per each database attribute in vector maps
maps are categorized; visual styles for maps are defined in an external file you can edit (see the gfx/ subdirectory), including your own icons for locations
improved Open Maps window
full screen mode: you can now hide the top toolbar
improved shortcuts: can also be used to close maps and can be shown/hidden at any time
added "Save screenshot" option
drawing vector shapes and lines is faster
fixed 2-point lines disappearing under specific circumstances
point maps are less crowded (not all points are always displayed)
CitiesRanked maps are now bigger - they contain 10000 cities each
vectormap-to-prettymap converter: supports many coordinate reference systems, it is aware of .prj files and can convert coordinates to WGS84
rastermap-to-prettymap converter: fixed latitude issues (enabled negative values, fixed swapping coordinates)
lots of other improvements and optimizations

New in version 3.10:

updated all "CitiesRanked" maps with new data
added information on city elevation (in meters) for all cities in "CitiesRanked" maps
"Time offset" setting is no longer saved/restored on restart. When PrettyMap/PrettyEarth starts, "time offset" is now based on your system preference setting, which automatically handles daylight saving changes
other improvements

New in version 3.9:

new option - see menu:Vector/Quick find. You can type any name and "Quick find" will search all objects in all open maps (looking for a substring in their default labels)
new: you can associate "Quick find" with a hardware key of your handheld (e.g. Contacts) to quickly access this feature when PrettyMap is running. See menu:Settings/Buttons.
new: Quick Find automatically pops up when you type any letter and have at least one vector map open!
you can now convert any image map for use with PrettyMap
fixed palette problems when image maps open - previously, the toolbar could change colors in an unpredictable way
optimized "Data search". It is now 4 times faster and much more memory-efficient
items found in data search are now sorted alphabetically
country name label no longer obscures city name labels when you search for some city and then "Go to" the city
when you "Go to" an object that you searched for, its label has a red background and it is always displayed
improved all scrollbars: previously, you had to start dragging the bar again after you hit the low or high bound
updated all "CitiesRanked" maps: more than 2000 additions and corrections
other improvements

New in version 3.8:

new, more friendly Measure Distance window: you can now start typing a name of a location and you will be instantly presented with a list of similar choices. This is especially useful for maps with many (e.g. thousands of) locations
changed an order of items in the Vector menu (settings items moved to bottom)
all scrollbars support continuous scroll: tap an arrow and hold to scroll the contents smoothly. Or tap between the arrow and the bar, hold to scroll faster
adjusted scrolling rate for some text windows
minor improvements

New in version 3.7:

better support for incorrectly typed weather location IDs
improved handling of file read problems and invalid files
numerous minor tweaks

New in version 3.6:

In the "Open maps" window, turning "Alpha sort" on/off no longer deselects all maps. Current selection is retained
"CitiesRanked..." map layers are automatically sorted according to their rank
"Shortcuts" menu has an entry for the "Cities, rank 1" map

New in version 3.5:

added a large collection of cities (8 map layers grouped according to the city population rank)

New in version 3.4:

added "day & night" option in the drop-down menu. You can now quickly show/hide day and night regions (toggle: hide/dark night region/bright day region)

New in version 3.3:

for weather locations, the type of the second label is now the same as the type of the first label (Simple/Opaque/Shadow)
fixed possible problems when selecting graph-type labels for weather locations

New in version 3.2:

sample vector maps (boundaries, rivers, water bodies, cities) of Canada, Alaska, Australia and South America included (maps for other areas can be provided as well)
in the "Open maps" window, added an option to sort maps alphabetically (or by type)
other improvements

New in version 3.1:

sample vector maps (boundaries, rivers, water bodies, cities) of USA and Europe included
for current weather locations, their names (not only IDs) are displayed in the "Map locations" window
better support for converted maps of arbitrary areas
boundary labels are opaque by default
weather icons look better after palette changes
more data can be loaded for vector map files (memory used more efficiently)
new demo/tutorial movies (world facts, weather maps)
other improvements

New in version 3.0:

can handle huge raster files
new raster map: Earth elevation and bathymetry, 6x higher resolution, higher data quality
new raster maps: very high resolution elevation and bathymetric data available for Earth – three huge tiles for each world map
moon elevation data are better prepared
new map available with a comprehensive set of data for each country, based on the current information from The World Factbook
Yahoo online weather reports and forecasts (requires Internet connection)
customized weather labels
2x faster drawing of area vector maps
preview vector areas/lines much faster and better quality
uses less memory
"location info" window – the table with location data is more readable and uses full width available
"location info" window – for many features no table is used, but full-width text with headings
"location info" window – name of an object is placed in the window title bar
"location info" window – its contents can be scrolled using up/down keys
better labeling of lines (e.g. rivers)
second label color more readable
new color profile: Martian (inspired by Mars colors)
when an elevation map is open, its planet default color profile is automatically selected
scroll bars no longer so tiny when many items are listed
many other improvements

New in version 2.4:

shortcut buttons (popular actions) are displayed when no maps open
much nicer and more readable "Location info" window
in vector maps, names of object properties are now more descriptive (e.g. for Lakes map: Surface elevation (feet) instead of SURF_ELEV)
by default, raster elevation maps are displayed in the "relief" mode
by default, vector areas are filled with random colors when no raster maps loaded. Otherwise they are outlined with their default color. Activate vector settings: draft mode to restore previous behavior (i.e. no automatic changes in area fill color)
demo movie available
minor improvements

New in version 2.3:

improved the "Countries2005" map (better quiz and search)
"Countries2005HiRes" (higher resolution) available
added a simple general Help window
minor improvements

New in version 2.2:

new maps available
minor improvements

New in version 2.1:

spherical preview is 3 times faster
minor improvements
new icon

New in version 2.0:

new spherical view (with optional relief for elevation) supporting distance measurement, and day and night display
raster maps are now stored on card
higher resolution free maps available (global Earth elevation and Earth lights: 9x higher; satellite Earth image: 33x higher; land cover classification: 16x higher; Mars elevation: 9x higher resolution)
new historical map image from the year 1678 is now available
very high resolution Earth elevation maps will be successively added
improved performance of most drawing procedures
new toolbar button to quickly switch between 2D/3D/spherical views
the OK/ENTER/SELECT hardware button closes parameter windows as "OK", not "Cancel"
many other optimizations and improvements

New in version 1.7.4:

added thumbnails for the moon and Mars
minor improvements

New in version 1.7.2:

added help for PrettyMap forms
minor improvements

New in version 1.7:

added new free vector maps of the moon: mountains, craters and crater chains, seas, lakes, bays, swamps, albedo, plains, promontories, valleys, scarps, rilles and rille systems, wrinkle ridges and wrinkle ridge systems
fixed lunar distance measurement
opaque labels no longer obscure points they refer to
minor improvements

New in version 1.6.2:

added settings reference and help
minor improvements

New in version 1.6:

you can now select a font for vector map labels. 8 fonts are available for high resolution devices, including very clear and legible small and tiny fonts
added new "Color by random gradient" mode: objects are shaded with a random color from the user-defined gradient
all windows can be moved, just drag the title bar
all simple message windows can be dismissed with a hardware button OK/ENTER/SELECT
fixed a problem with scroll bars drag not working
fixed a problem with main menu not disappearing after screen resize with rotate
user interface look and feel is improved
contains a lot of minor optimizations
uses less memory