by Al Massey
“How far ‘till the next exit?” With AAA Map ‘n’ Go along for the ride with its database of over 76,000 services available at Interstate highway exits, you will never be at a loss for words again.
AAA Map ‘n’ Go version 4.0 from DeLorme is a comprehensive CD-ROM that sets new standards in computerized travel planning. It combines detailed road maps for the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean along with complete 1998 AAA Tour Book infor mation on over 68,000 lodgings, restaurants, campgrounds, museums, parks, fairs and family events. Select lodgings and restaurants by type, price and AAA Diamond Rating.
This version lets you preview your trip with a multimedia display of over 1,300 attractions and allows you to relive your travels with the new DeLorme Slide Show feature, which lets you create and e-mail slide shows using your own digital images. (Slide Show accepts bitmap, JPEG and other popular image file formats from digital photofinishing services.) Put yourself on the map to truly show people where you’ve been with the new DeLorme TripPix feature.
Map ‘n’ Go includes a database that provides information on over 76,000 services, such as service stations, food, lodging, and rest areas at more than 8,000 Interstate exits. Additionally, it reports improved routing capabilities, with more routable road s within cities and gives you the ability to avoid specific geographic areas when routing a trip.
One feature I found particularly attractive is Map ‘n’ Go reported some 80 recommended scenic drives throughout the country, complete with travel directions and information about things to do along the way.
It also provides enhanced Internet capabilities, with direct access to Web pages for 250 cities.
Rounding out the package Map ‘n’ Go provides information on local radio station coverage and formats for any areas of the US and Canada and gives weather almanac information for all of North America. It also provides hooks for DeLorme’s Tripmate Hyperfor mance GPS receiver giving the user the capability to download detailed street maps from Street Atlas USAfor use within AAA Map’n’Go 4.0. This version also has GPS Voice Navigation built in for use with the DeLorme GPS along with compatibility for the 3Co m PalmPilot.
You say you want to get to Aunt Emma’s house without missing any of the national monuments or museums along the way? Well Rand McNally has certainly made it easy for you. With TripMaker Deluxe 1998 CD-ROM, not only can you map out your route on major hig hways, but you can also pinpoint the Gator Ranch in Florida, or the exact location of cousin Jimmy’s house in Biloxi.
If you have tried previous versions of TripMaker, you will be impressed with how clean the interface now is. There are only six buttons on the toolbar and the program makes extensive use of pull down menus making it a real delight to use. That, along wit h addition of over 250,000 miles of routable roads are the most noticeable differences over TripMaker 97.
Rand McNally draws on their experience in the Map Industry by allowing you to personalize your travel preferences to include the attractions YOU want to see. You can create personal profiles that take into account your driving speed, differing road condi tions, and the time of day you like to start and end your trip. You can create a different profile for each trip.
You can further customize your journey by going into the Detailed Trip Settings menu and search for your favorite gas station or restaurant at every highway exit, then utilizing the Pitstop feature to schedule regular driving breaks at selected offramps.
Using the included Mobile Travel Guide to aid in selecting lodging and restaurant recommendations further enhances this feature. This gives the user the ability to specify a travel budget and search the Guide’s listings by price category.
When you click on the Plan Trip icon, a dialogue box appears asking you to enter your point of origin and destination and whether you want to stop in between. It goes on to ask if you’d like to take the quickest, shortest or most scenic route. You then c lick Calculate Route to get a split-screen of your map and itinerary.
If it seems that the trip to Aunt Emma’s will take too long, you can connect to the Rand McNally Web site and make online flight reservations. This function is fully integrated to TripMaker Deluxe and allows you to also make car rental and hotel reservat ions as well.
A lot of thought and planning has gone into this program making it one of the better Trip Planning packages. You will find direct links to online weather, road construction, and tourist information also available. Itineraries can be saved as files for fu ture reference.
You techno-geeks are not left out. TripMaker Deluxe 1998 features a Global Positioning System option. All you need is a laptop and a GPS receiver to view real-time road travel on TripMaker’s maps.
The GPS tracks your position via satellite and broadcasts it to the on-screen map through a cable hook-up.
Trips can be saved and replayed later.
E-mail me at webmaster@hal-pc.org with any comments you have and tell me what you want to see here.