BUYING RIGHT
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| Tom Till |
A view near the Grand Canyon's Mather Point (above center of inset), with a three-dimensional image—digital and geological—of the same section of the South Rim using Delorme's mapping software
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AT FIRST GLANCE, INTERACTIVE CD-ROM mapping software may seem about as outdoorsy as Mortal Kombat. But before you go your Luddite way with paper maps, consider the prospective delights of the computer: Build a database of your favorite singletrack rides. Chart the ideal put-ins and take-outs on that virgin steep-creek and e-mail the file to your boating
partner. Or use the 3-D option to get a feel for just how rugged the trail is before you add the extra 20 pounds to your pack. When it comes to recording past adventures and planning future journeys, the four CD-ROM map collections featured here could be as important as your log—all you need is a PC running Windows 95 or
98 with at least a Pentium-grade 120 MHz processor. We've even included the estimated training time you'll need to spend with the software. Yes, we know: so very Dilbert of us.
Maptech Terrain Navigator
Price: $149 per region
Mapped: All 50 states divided into 25 regions
Training Time: 10 minutes
Contact: 800-627-7236; www.maptech.com
In the feature-rich world of electronic mapping, Maptech stands apart for its spartan utilitarianism: There aren't any pictures or quirky guidebook facts. But by eschewing those extras, the folks at Maptech have kept the Terrain Navigator fast, which means you're more likely to use it. Click the "find" tool, type in a place name, and the program takes you
there. And best of all, you can add your own data to the map—landmarks, routes, GPS waypoints, or personal reminders about avoiding that bog where you once pitched a tent.
Delorme 3-D TopoQuads
Price: $100 per state
Mapped: All 50 states
Training Time: 25 minutes
Contact: 800-452-5931; www.delorme.com
You only have three days off for the Grand Canyon's rim-to-rim-to-rim Bright Angel hike. Just how serious is that elevation change? Plot your route, click the 3-D button, and—whoa, better take an extra day off. In addition to enabling you to simulate flying over your route from different angles, the TopoQuads let you plot total elevation far more
swiftly than counting contour lines on paper. Warning: If you don't have a fast CD-ROM drive and processor (433.MHz or better), the 3-D feature will hobble your computer.
National Geographic Trailsmart CD-ROMs
Price: $50 per CD-ROM or $170 per regional set
Mapped: 54 national parks
Training Time: 10 minutes
Contact: 800-962-1643; www.trailsillustrated.com
The TrailSmart CD-ROMs are digitized USGS quads with parks and trails detailed and recolored. The program lets you easily mark and measure distances, profile routes, bookmark and annotate campsites, and print customized map sections. The maps are perfect for national park day hikers, and the trail and location names are the most up-to-date of all the units
we tested. We especially like the Hotspot tool—a mouse-operated magnifier for looking at tiny print. Great for discerning whether those merged contour lines indicate a steep descent back to camp, or a 2,000-foot cliff.
¡Gage All Topo USGS Set
Price: $118-$148 per state
Mapped: AZ, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, TX, UT, and WY
Training Time: 45 minutes
Contact: 888-450-4922; www.alltopo.com
Not only does the All Topo set contain every single USGS map in a given state, but the software enables you to customize these maps and then stitch together pieces of them into one that you can print out as your very own. This is a fairly hefty chunk of software, though—it'll gobble up six.megabytes on your hard drive. You can't do 3-D or elevation
profiles, but the program does run fast and it has the best GPS utility and custom-printing options of the bunch. A serious tool for wanna-be cartographers who count contour lines for fun. —ROSEANN HANSON
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