Delorme

Delorme or de l'Orme, Philibert, c.1510-1570, French architect. Delorme was one of the greatest architects of the Renaissance in France, but unfortunately most of his work has been destroyed. Having traveled in Italy from 1533 to 1536, he introduced into France a form of classicism that endured until the mid-18th cent. As court architect to Francis I and Henry II, he designed the tomb of Francis I at Saint-Denis, a chapel at Villers-Cotterets, Château Neuf at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and part of the palace of Fontainebleau. For Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henry II, he planned (c.1550) the superb château at Anet. Upon the death of Henry II, Delorme fell into disgrace. During this time he wrote a treatise on architecture, Nouvelles Inventions pour bien bastir et à petits frais (1561), in which he proposed a modern French columnar order. In 1563 he was restored to favor by Catherine de' Medici, who commissioned him to design the Tuileries and the great gallery at Chenonceaux.

DeLorme is a leading provider of business-to-business and consumer mapping and GPS products and technologies based in Yarmouth, Maine, United States.

DeLorme's products include Street Atlas USA, XMap, Topo USA and Earthmate GPS receivers (PN-20 and PN-40, BT-20, and LT-20). The company is also a data solutions provider to several leading businesses and industries.

Its headquarters is home to Eartha, the world's largest rotating and revolving globe.

History

The company was founded in 1976 by David DeLorme who after being frustrated over obsolete backcountry maps of the Moosehead Lake region of Maine vowed to create a better map of Maine.

DeLorme pieced together state highway, county, and town maps as well as federal surveys to produce The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer which was printed in a large format book had an initial printing of 10,000 which he marketed out of his car. The Gazetter listed bicycle trails, canoeing and kayaking trips, and museum and historic sites and proved quite successful.

In 1986 the company expanded to 75 employees operating out of a Quonset hut in Freeport, Maine and produced maps for New England and upstate New York.

In 1987 the company produced a compact disc with high-level topographic map data of the entire world.

The early success led to government and private sector contracts.

In 1991 DeLorme launched Street Atlas USA on a single CD-ROM and it became the most popular street map CD in the United States as well as one of the first mass consumer CD-ROM software products of any kind.

By 1995 DeLorme had 44 percent of the market share for CD maps topping Rand McNally with 25 percent and Microsoft with 17.5 percent. The same year the company partnered with American Automobile Association to the produce the AAA Map 'n Go, which was the first CD product to generate automatic routing. It also introduced the DeLorme GPS receiver to work with its maps.

In 1996, it introduced its maps into the PDA environment via Palm.

In 1997 the company moved to a a new corporate campus in Yarmouth, Maine that is marked by Eartha, its signature globe, which is the largest rotating and revolving globe in the world. The company has conducted complimentary geographic educational sessions for thousands of school children over the years and the public is welcome to visit and see Eartha from the three-story balconies.

In 1999 DeLorme introduced 3-D TopoQuads® DVD and CD products, which digitialized U.S. topographic maps.

In 2001 it introduced XMap professional GIS map program on CD. In 2002, an expanded XMap was modified to provide GPS functionality to Palm OS and Pocket PC.

In 2005, DeLorme broke the $100 price barrier for USB GPS devices with the Earthmate GPS LT-20. At the same time it began offering downloadable satellite and USGS 7.5-minute quads that could be overlaid on its maps using an innovative new NetLink feature.

In 2007, it introduced its first full-featured GPS standalone receiver -- the Earthmate GPS PN-20 . In 2008, the company continued expanding its handheld GPS line with the Earthmate GPS PN-40 model. DeLorme also began selling OEM GPS modules allowing other manufacturers to add GPS to their products. In addition, the company began selling data to businesses looking for alternative suppliers.

See also

• Maps of the United States
• Geospatial

References

External links

• Company Website
• DeLorme Street Atlas 2008 review - a review by Laptop GPS World