DeLorme - History

History

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

DeLorme combined 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 with an initial printing of 10,000, which he marketed out of his car. The Gazetter, which listed bicycle trails, canoeing and kayaking trips, and museum and historic sites, proved quite successful.

During 1986 the company expanded to 75 employees working in 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 detailed topographic map data of the entire world.

The early success resulted in contracts with government and private businesses.

During 1991, DeLorme began vending 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. A later competitor is Microsoft Streets & Trips.

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

During 1996, they introduced their maps into the PDA environment via Palm.

During 1997 the company relocated to a new corporate campus in Yarmouth, Maine, that features a giant model of the world, named Eartha, the largest rotating globe in the world. The company has provided 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.

During 1999 DeLorme introduced 3-D TopoQuads DVD and CD products, which include digitized U.S. topographic maps.

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

During 2005, DeLorme became the first company to sell a USB GPS device, the Earthmate GPS LT-20, for less than $100. 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.

During 2007, it introduced its first full-featured GPS standalone receiver—the Earthmate GPS PN-20. During 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 which desired alternative suppliers.

During 2009, they introduced the E-Z Nav Wizard, a feature that makes Street Atlas 2010 interface intuitive to first time users, easy to use on small laptop computers (netbooks, UMPCs), and touch-screen friendly.

In early 2010, DeLorme announced a partnership with Spot Inc. This partnership will include the ability to text message almost anywhere in the world using the Globalstar simplex network.