Customer Reviews

Topo USA 4.0

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I was somewhat surprised to read the reviews of a minority of malcontents. No, this product does not have the detail of USGS topographic maps, but it never claimed that it did! The trade-off is that it covers the whole country. Yes you can buy detailed maps on CD-ROM from Maptech, DeLorme and NGS Topo but it would cost you a couple thousand dollars to cover the entire US. I have not had any problems with displaying maps in 3-D either, it works fine. I have been using DeLorme products for many years and I can also vouch for their product support.

However this is serious software for people who like maps, cartography, GPS and navigation. It has many capabilities that require buyers to make sure that their computers meet the minimum requirements and spend some time to learn how to use it. This is definitely more capable software than Street Atlas or Streets and Trips.

I purchased this direcly from Delorme based on the information on their website. While the software promises a lot, it doesn't really deliver. As a side note, I have the version with the whole country on 1 DVD, instead of a group of CD-ROMs. I believe, though, that the dataset is the same between the two products.

First, this program is difficult and confusing to use. I have used a number of mapping products for many years - including ones that do similar things to the Delorme product, and all of them were easier to figure out than this one. As another reviewer here has said, it feels like a version 1 release, as opposed to something that has gone through a number of revisions.

The second, and much more significant problem for me - is that it is very innacurate. Now, I certainly can't speak for the whole country, but in trying to plan a number of outdoor activities here in the San Francisco Bay Area, I found dozens of innacuraces, especially in the placement of roads. Now how does that matter - you may ask - when planning hiking and other outdoor activities. Well, some of the road locations are off by a significant amount (for example the map has a road on the North side of a hill, when it is actually on the South side of the hill), and a number of the smaller roads aren't even on the map at all. It seems clear that they used some sort of automated procedure to put the road layer into the software, because in many places that I've looked closely, the roads don't even connect to each other, or they connect in a way that is obviously wrong to any person that looked at it (groups of dead-end roads connecting only ot each other, roads branching off in bizarre ways, etc.). And that leads the the problem. One of the features that I was keen on using this software for was to create routes on my desktop and then download them to my handheld GPS as navigation tools for my hike. Well, if the roads are in the wrong places, and the trails don't connect properly to them - the routes either won't be accurate, or can't be created at all. That's a real problem for me.

While it's pretty easy for me to look at a map and figure out that the roads are incorrect, it leads me to question whether any of the data in the program is correct - which is of course a much larger issue if your using the software for anything beyond 'just for fun.'

I certainly wouldn't trust it to produce GPS routes and have those as my only means of navigation.

So, clean up the interface (important), and clean up the data (very important), and you'd have a great product. Version 4 just doesn't cut it.

I was really surprised to find the average review of this product to be so low. I would have paid the full price of this software for just the 2-dimensional maps of the country and much more when the GPS, 3-dimensional, trip planning, printing, profiling and other features are added in.

I use a Garmin 12XL GPS and have had no trouble loading routes from the computer to the GPS, or downloading from GPS to computer. Unlike another reviewer, I have not had to use third programs, text files or any computer expertise at all.

The vector nature of the maps gives them far more functionality than other programs, which use scanned GIF or JPG images as the maps. The maps are seamless and virtually all features, from streets to trails, mountains to lakes etc. are clickable for more information. I found no trouble adding trails that I've found which were not mapped and Delorme has responded to my e-mails about additions quickly and courteously.

In conclusion, I've found Topo USA to be useful, a good value and a product I will continue using well into the future.

I tow a large travel trailer and was tremendously interested in what Topo 3.0 offered. Topo 4.0 has all the improvements I wanted and more that makes navigating a large tow rig much easier, especially in the mountainous west.

Loaded on a laptop mounted between the front seats and connected to a Magellean GPS, I am able to see exactly (within 60 meters) where I am on a 2D map on one side of the screen, and an adjustable 3D screen on the other. I can choose a segment of roadway and display a cutaway profile of it, showing what hills to expect ahead of me... good to know when towing. I can vary the levels of zoom from one side of the split screen to the other. USGS 7.5 minute topoquad maps can be displayed instead of the standard 3D map, but I'm going to try out the Satellite imagery to get another view of the area I'm traveling through. Place the cursor on one map on the split screen and you will see the corresponding point on the other screen, even if zoom levels are different. Monitor your location via GPS while underway and you can record the trip and play it back later.

For my application (towing), this is an awesome and fun tool. Yes, some of the maps seem to be terribly dated (according to the map I live in a boy scout camp) but the roads are mostly current and I have had no complaints with that part of this program. I use the DVD disk, which puts the whole application on one disk, plus one installation CD. Delorme did make one big mistake... the DVD wouldn't zoom in when I got it but they found the bug and fixed it immediately with a download patch followed by a new installation disk.

A great tool for my use. If I'm hiking, I'll still use paper maps.

I used my friends 2.0 version and liked it, but it had problems downloading from my Garmin e-trex unit.

Good things: 3D, profile building, different zoom levels and covers the whole U.S. The funnest software package I have. I can go out and map a mountain or road bike course and get an idea of mileage and elevation gain and loss before I go. I print out the maps to take with me.

Bad things: Don't expect it to give you the detail of a 7.5 minute Topo map. For life and death dependancy on a map then buy a more detailed map before you head out. Also don't depend on a GPS because it's batteries may die on you.
My Garmin downloads but it doubles up on my tracks. I have called Delorme about it and they are suppose to look into it.

Bottom line: For $100 to get this much information on the whole US with all of it's features, I am amazed. Sure this is not a perfect program but in my opinion it is a great one. Great for area overviews and in most cases it will get you there and back.

Just purchased Topo USA 4.0 Mountain States Region for $39.98. This is a good product, but the maps are way out of date. For example, I live in an area that is over 6 years old and still does not show up in the maps -- period. In fact, I'm amazed how out of date these maps appear. My little old Microsoft Streets & Trips 2004 is much more up to date. That's a shame because Topo USA 4.0 gives me the layout of the land, elevation, etc. It believe it also will update it's screen about once a second from my Garmin GPS while Streets and Trips updates about once every 15-30 seconds.

If Topo USA 4.0 had maps as up to date as Streets and Trips, It would be 100% better IMHO. As it is now, I have to continue using Streets and Trips because I do need to locate streets that have been built within the last 6 years. I am quite disappointed actually. I have already spend more than $300 on DeLORME mapping products over the last 3 years and each time I find some problem that makes the product half as useful as it should be. They should tell me on the cover of the CD how old the maps are because this is silly to have such old maps.

This review may only help those of you with a GPS, or perhaps those of you with a long history with Windows. I own a Garmin eTrex GPS and was looking for a topo basemap for it rather than the default basic basemap that comes with it. I bought Topo USA because it claimed all sorts of GPS functionality and it covered the entire country. I also liked being able to use the 3D to visualize environments.

It turns out that I've been very frustrated with this product, but still had some fun along the way. Topo USA does not have base maps, but will supposedly transfer waypoints, routes, and tracks. I created a trail in Topo USA, (then had to fight the software by exporting the trail as a text file, then reimporting it as a draw file before I could send it to my GPS because Topo USA will not allow you to send a 'trail' to your GPS)sent it to my GPS (it said it was successful) then didn't see it in waypoints, tracks, routes, or on the map in my GPS! I still don't know where it went after trying it about 5 times. This could be my due to my own ignorance, but if so, some hints from the software on where to find stuff would be useful.

This software has some cool features, is fun for navigating around in 3D, and allows you to print maps with your custom trails or little icons if you're willing to search through the interface for the tools you need. The interface, however, is what I would expect from a 1.0 version of software. By version 4.0, things should be much cleaner with more intuitive behavior and simpler to use tools.

If you are a hiker or backpacker you will be putting you life at risk with this product. They sell this as TOPO's but they are missing a ton of important information you will need for hiking. I compared the DeLorme topos to several USGS topos that I have from trips I took last year and oh man what a mess. The program is neat and very impressive, but you may get lost. :(
I am going to be working on a refund.

I used this software to help plan a recent backpacking trip with my GPS (I have a Garmin 76S which it works well with) and found it very useful. ... for the entire country is a pretty good deal in my opinion but I did not expect miracles. It has decent detail but is not a substitute for a detailed map of where you are going. I also use this software for making maps of local trails which it does a good job at.

I did not have any of the problems listed by other reviewers - after I downloaded the patch from delorme.

Also - Delorme will sell USGS maps and satellite pictures compatible with this software. I think the USGS was about .../state. I downloaded free samples of both and they were pretty good (the USGS map looked a little like it had been scanned in but it was still very legible).

It does leave you a little bit on your own on how to figure out how to use it but I was able to figure most things out fairly easy on my own and the help topics covered the rest.

Initially I thought this was some great software, but once I started trying to do more advanced things I quickly saw the limitations of this software. Like another reviewer said, the routing is almost unusable. I guess if you aren't a hiker you might like this software. I should have gone with my gut feeling and bought Maptech.