in the FAQ it says that quality map data has to be licensed. How does that work?

The problem is that the quality map data is proprietary, meaning that it's in a file format that we don't even know how to decode.

If I could simply take the commercial Street Atlas CD and copy its contents onto my Empeg's hard disk, that would be the ultimate. Unfortunately, even if we could do that, the data would be meaningless gibberish to GPSapp. Or to any other program other than StreetAtlas for that matter.

The only map files with an open format just don't have as much quality data as we really need.

I've edited out the incorrect text in the FAQ entry that used the word "licensed".