REVIEW: CD-ROM - TRIPMAKER  road trip planner, Rand McNally  1994

Here's another road trip planner on a CD-ROM.  This one, from well-known
cartographer Rand McNally contains more than 640,000 miles of road and
125,000 cities and towns and cross-references to pages in the Rand McNally
Road Atlas which is not included.  The database includes the United States, 
Canada and Mexico and plans the quickest, shortest or scenic routes as 
selected by the user  In addition, the optimized route function will
recommend the most suitable routes to multiple destinations. 

In addition to planning which roads to take, TripMaker will recommend 
vacation and travel possibilities based on regional and seasonal preferences
and suggest scenic tours and recreational activities along the way.  In 
addition, TripMaker will help you estimate costs of the trip.

Learning to use TripMaker is easy - a step-by-step tutorial brings you up
to speed with a minumum of effort.  My wife, who is not very computer
oriented learned the basic functions in less than an hour!  

I planned several cross-country trips in both Canada and the U.S.A. in
areas I visit regularly and found the data to be reasonably accurate.  The
software even picked out my favorite routes travelling from Montreal
to Skowhegan Maine (Don't ask me why I am familiar with this route, trust
me - I am!)  However, it missed two little shortcuts I found years ago by
trial and error.  Translated, this means I got lost once and a local told
me about these back roads.  

In addition to the main functions outlined here, Rand McNally offers access
to five databases, called Attraction Packs.  In addition to these, more
are available for an extra charge.  There are a total of six of these 
currently and you get acess to one of these of your choice free when you
call the 800 number to register.  Additional attraction packs are priced at
$9.95 each  or three for $20.00.  All this data is already on your CD-ROM
but it is encrypted and you will need a key to decrypt them.  Frankly, 
these optional cost databases are quite specialized and chances are pretty
good that you'll need only one to suit your particular interests. 

All in all, TripMaker is pretty accurate, easy to learn and use.  The print
functions are simple to use and, depending upon the printer you have, makes
a nice roadmap for use while driving.  

I hope to review the CD-ROM based AutoMap program in the near future. I have
already reviewed Delorme Mapping's MAP'N'GO which is available by anonymous
ftp from the site listed below.  Once I have reviewed all the trip planners
I plan on writing a comparative review.  Look for it.


%T      TripMaker
%I      Rand McNally New Media
%C      Skokie Illinois
%D      1994
%O      CD-ROM, $79.95
%G      ISBN: 0-528-52006-7 
%K      trip planner, travel, road trip


(C) 1995
Michael Crestohl
Nahant Massachusetts  USA
mc@shore.net

DISCLAIMER:  I have no interest, financial or otherwise, in the success or 
failure of the book or materials reviewed herewith, nor have I received any 
compensation (other than a review copy requested by me) from anyone who has.  
All opinions expressed are strictly my own.

Other Internet and Aviation book/software reviews by me can be obtained 
by anonymous FTP from:  x2ftp.oulu.fi in the /pub/books/crestohl directory.