Software Review of:
DeLorme Topo USA 
Version 2.0 

System Requirements are a Pentium 120 MHz or higher processor (233 MHz recommended for 3-D map view), 16 MB RAM, 30 MB available space on a hard disk, Windows 95/98 and the usual monitor, mouse, CD-ROM and printer. There are also connection requirements for the Palm and Windows CE. Installation went smoothly and I was immediately able to access the Online Help file which is extensive and which can be printed out for those who want a hard copy manual. The latest revision: TopoUSA v. 3.0 is now available and requires a Pentium 150 MHz, 32 MB RAM and 300 MB of hard disk space.

The “Help” topics are accessed by clicking on a question mark and the menu of options drops down. If you have selected a specific tab, the help for that tab is highlighted and a single click takes you directly to that topic. You can also access the entire list of help topics, FAQs, a legend and tutorials. Other tools include arrows to move the map in any of eight directions and the zoom tool that enables you to increase the map size up to 200% or view it at only 50%.

Tabs give the user a lot of opportunities to customize their use of Topo USA. The Prefs (preferences) tab permits you to use map styles of show all, geographic, parks and recreation, and transportation. It also lets you change the map colors to night or day and gives you measurement choices of statute miles, kilometers, nautical miles/metric, and nautical miles/feet. The Netlink tab enables you to go on the Internet after drawing a route and checking for construction, other events, and weather. You also can view the map in 3-D and change the viewing angle, that is the pitch and the rotation. Another item that I like is the “map” button which lets you change the map from close-up to a wider view. In the print tab it is possible to print the map of choice in 2-D or 3-D. It is also possible to print the route directions for a planned trip and the profile or elevation.

I, naturally, opened the disk that includes Texas and the first thing that I chose to check out was the Padre Island National Seashore. Although I put the name of the park in the search box, it did not go immediately to the National Seashore. Instead, I had to find what I wanted in a pop-up list. One thing that I have learned already, though, is that there is something named Padrone Hill in Bexar County. (It is located west of 1604 and southwest of Seaworld.) I also learned that Padre Island National Seashore is located in Kenedy County and not in Nueces County as I had always thought. One very nice feature is that you can save map views that you want to access again in the ‘. docs’ file. I promptly saved the National Seashore since that is one of our favorite places.

Next I decided it was time to really test this software and see if it would let me go within a city and map a route to a destination. I arrived in the city of San Antonio and by using the search tools I was able to find Crossroads Mall. There is a button labeled “query”. By clicking on query, it is then possible to click on a street and the name and block numbers will be printed in the box under the query button. There are no street names on the map itself and being an old paper map person, I wonder how much this map software would help me in tracking locations within cities. I tried a search for “Hackberry St.” thinking that it was a name that would not likely be a place. Topo went through a search, but did not give me a location for the actual street. It simply identified it as a local or rural road. I drew a route to get from IH 410 to Crossroads. Since I know the area, I drew a route on streets that I know are in the area. I did not discover, however, how to find travel information with street names. Everything is in latitude, longitude, degrees, and distance. By choosing the placenames and contours on the preferences button, I was able to get a good map of San Antonio showing most of the places of interest.

Some of the software features seemed to need testing by going somewhere with elevation, so I checked out the Big Bend. By viewing the park in 3-D and setting the vertical exaggeration to 8X, you could see the mountains in the Big Bend. Awsome!

The DeLorme Website has a wealth of information about this software package as well as the other software that they have developed. You can compare the software to others, view sample maps and read reviews as well as learn more about this package. The Website is worth a visit even if you are not in the market for the software at this time. For those who like to travel and/or camp/hike, this software should be an invaluable tool.

Topo USA is available on the Web in version 3.0 from DeLorme.  Cost is $100.00 plus a shipping charge of $7.00 and generally ships within seven days. I have seen DeLorme mapping software at Best Buy and CompUSA but was unable to obtain their prices.