Best Map Software Vendor

No doubt this is a loaded question, but I would like to get some opinions and testimonials:

1) For the USA, what "street atlas" software is considered the best? (I don't need GPS or other enhancements) Coverage of all of North America would be a plus. Use is for primarily off road place names.

2) For the USA, who offers the best topographic atlas? Again, coverage of all of North America would be a plus. Use is for primarily off road place names.

3) Who are the major vendors of atlas software? To my limited knowledge, there is DeLorme, Microsoft and National Geographic, although I suspect National Geographic is just a private label or either DeLorme or Microsoft. Are there other noteworthy vendors?

RJ Emery, I have no experience with topo programs, and I hope you will get better feedback from others who are more familiar with these products. I think either the DeLorme or National Geographic software will do better job than Microsoft Streets & Trips. Microsoft doesn't have any "topo" program, and MS Streets & Trips may not give you everything you are looking for as it really is a car route planning software.

Hi,

I'm writing from Nat Geo Maps to clarify. We are indeed part of National Geographic and not a licensee or private label.

The primary difference between DeLorme's TopoUSA and our products is that theirs are computer generated maps that can be displayed at various scales, but do not have all the detail of a USGS 7.5 minute map. We actually scanned all 55,000 USGS maps and joined them together. Since the USGS maps tend to be out of date for roads, we added more current data. While DeLorme's product can also do routing, ours does not.

Their product covers the entire country and sells for $100. Our TOPO! state series sells for $100 for an individual state, or in the east, groups of states. We do have a national product to compare with DeLorme called Back Roads Explorer that has all the USGS 1:100,000 scale maps and sells for $50.

DeLorme also has a product line with scanned USGS maps, as does a company called MapTech and another called AllTopo. We believe the real USGS maps are best, and so I would suggest this person compare among those.

In the spring we will be launching an online trail database with many thousands of trails and other information to add to your TOPO! maps, and will enable users to share favorite trails and recreation information they collect with the user community.

Eric Riback

Marvin I have used Delorme Topo 4.0 and 6.0. I really like the maps and I can pre plan trips and routes and save them. The program is a little difficult to use and even though I have used these programs for several years I still find things that I did not know about the processes.

I got the DVD and loaded on the computer that way the complete program is on the computer and I do not need to carry or run the DVD. DVD covers the complete USA. There are some issues with the GPS part; at times the route you are follow and the route the GPS shows you tracking may be off by as much as a mile for reasons that I have not been able to figure out, once it had me going down a river beside the road I was on.

I use the Delorme GPS reciever and I think there are more sensitive units.

Having said all that I will not travel without the program and my laptop as I frequently travel to spots that I have never been there before and with the program and pre planing I can simply follow the marked path to my destination. While the maps are topo it is also a complete street atlas as well and I really like the way the maps look.

Coldtexan

My first thought would be to suspect the accuracy of the map (rather than an older GPS receiver), and I wonder what others think.

This is a subject of interest to me too as I frequently go off-roading and am looking for a solution. I purchased Topo 8.0 and Nat Geo Colorado. The Nat Geo maps are clear but I find I like the maps in Topo 8 better. I haven't really had a chance to go off road (due to the winter) but I look forward to trying Topo 8 in the spring. One thing I could not figure out was how to find a location by coordinates in Nat Geo but it looks like since they are just map scans there may be no such way to do it. I am still going through the learning curve with Topo 8.