Advertisements in space? No thank you!

In the 1960s, First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, headed a campaign to beautify America. Besides extensive plantings, she worked to curtail billboard clutter on the nations highways.

Well, were now in the 21at century and we need another Lady Bird to crusade against apps with banner ads. Theyre especially unpleasant in astronomy apps where one wants to see the night sky in all its glory.

Sky Map is one of the worst offenders. It puts billboards up in space! Its ugly, distracting, and undermines the view of the sky and the app itself. Unlike in many apps, the ads also persist even when one is off line. Really bad!

If that werent bad enough, it requires the user to have to press a "Start" button before it shows the sky. (What is this? Windows 98?! :-) )

The interface--side toolbar--isnt half bad, but the icons are obscure and the app seems limited. (No horizon?)

Glad to see the Messier objects are included and the color scheme isnt half bad, although its ruined by the glaring, blinding, bright-white ads splayed across the bottom of the not-so-dark sky!

One star only!

AstroPaul about Sky Map