REVIEW: CD-ROM - MapExpert v2.0 for Windows Delorme Mapping 1993 GPS Link II A while ago I reviewed Delorme Mapping's STREET ATLAS USA CD-ROM and found it absolutely fascinating. Here's some of what I wrote: "...This is truly amazing stuff - imagine a search engine and database on a single CD-ROM that contains every street in the entire country - right down to the remotest back-roads and displays them in your choice of 13 different magnification levels. To give you an idea of just how detailed the highest mag level is, if you printed out all of STREET ATLAS USA at that level the finished seamless map would cover more than ten football fields!" "...You can search the database in several ways - by name of a city and state, telephone area code and exchange or ZIP code. You can also locate areas of interest by panning and zooming. STREET ATLAS USA database contains more than 12 million street segments and 1.1 million geographic and man-made features! It shows city, town, street and highway names, natural features and topography features such as rivers, lakes, elevation, etc as well as man-made landmarks such as railroads and prominent buildings. In the larger urban areas the program will display the street address ranges, a particularly useful feature. The direct printing function allows you to print high-quality color or B&W seamless maps at different scales on any Windows-supported printer." If you want to read the review in its entirety, FTP to 2xftp.oulu.fi cd pub/books/crestohl and get streets.rvw. I have just finished playing with STREET ATLAS USA's big brother, MAPEXPERT v2.0 for Windows. I was curious to know what it did that warranted the significantly higher price and Dave Purcell at Delorme kindly provided me with a review copy and their optional GPS interface and drivers program GPS LINK II. Here's what I found. MAPEXPERT contains many more features that make it useful for certain commercial users. The maps are customizable - you can add text, property lines, new roads, proposed developments, notes, common mapping symbols and other details such as latitude and longitude references. When you customize a map, which can be of any scale, you must create an overlay file since you cannot write to the Delorme database. These saved files may be printed, saved and edited whenever you want. You can also copy your maps to the Windows Clipboard or save as bitmap files that can be imported into other application programs such as word processors or spreadsheets. I can see that this would be of particular interest to real estate agents, contractors and organizers of public events and shows, among others. The printing capabilities are also expanded - you can place and print "sticky notes" on maps as well as the large printing feature that allows you to print a mural map measuring up to 3-1/2' by 4-1/2' using an ordinary 8-1/2" by 11" page printer. This is really neat - I tried this out and with the help of plenty of tape was able to make a wall map of my town, Nahant Massachusetts. THE licensing conditions for MAPEXPERT v2.0 are much less restrictive for commercial use than those in the STREET ATLAS USA's agreement. You may freely reproduce MAPEXPERT maps for personal and in-house use, copy them and save them. From reading the supplemental single user licensing agreement which must be signed and returned to Delorme in order to be applicable, I see that users can publish their maps up to 5" by 5" in a book or magazine as long as the work is not predominately an atlas or collection of maps. You can also print up to 1,000 locator flyers to publicize events, etc. You must also credit Delorme Mapping and MapExpert as the source of the maps. The agreement also provides for variations to the conditions with special written permission from Delorme which I imagine would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. It's always best to check first - 1-800-452-5931. I have access to a battery-operated Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver and so was able to try out Delorme's GPS-LINK II interface. Last weekend my wife and I drove out to Dayton Ohio and took the notebok computer, portable CD-ROM drive and GPS receiver and was actually able to see my location at any time I wished. I tried it out in the middle of Pennsylvania (DuBois) as I drove around town I could see the MAPEXPERT map showing me where I was. It was uncanny! I know that the future holds many neat things like this onboard mapping locator system which will probably be an option offered in new cars soon, but this was DuBois Penna in April 1995 and I had the whole thing on my notebook sitting on my wife's lap! If you read my STREET ATLAS USA review you will know I liked it. T found MAPEXPERT just as easy to master, especially the advanced features that are well covered in the extensive documentation. You won't need an "after-market" book! The added features and the less restrictive licensing make MAPEXPERT a great deal for the money if you need them. I found the GPS LINK II interface pretty easy to install and configure to my GPS receiver - it even supports the NMEA-0183 standard interface which is pretty common these days, even on older LORAN-C equipment. You can buy MapExpert for Windows v2.0 directly from Delorme for around $300.00 and the GPS LINK II interface for around $200.00 but you can probably get it for less from one of their many dealers. Registered MapExpert users can upgrade to v2.0 for $49.00 but if you purchased v1.0 after August 16, 1993 you will receive the upgrade at no charge. %T MAPEXPERT FOR WINDOWS v 2.0 %I Delorme Mapping %C Freeport Maine %D 1993 %O CD-ROM, average price $250.00, optional GPS-LINK II $200.00 %G ISBN:0-89933-955-7 %K mapping, streets, cartography (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.