Customer Reviews

MyTopo Terrain Navigator Virgina Map CD-ROM (Windows)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Terrain Navigator Virginia is a decent program that could be a lot better. The 2005 version I bought through amazon a few months ago came in a "1998 edition" box with a "2005" sticker on it. The box isn't the only thing that's outdated. Despite the USGS constantly printing new 1:24,000 topographical maps, all of which are readily available online, the 1:24,000 maps included with Terrain Navigator are all inexcusably old. There don't seem to be any that date from after 1992, and the majority are from 1970 or before. Given the dramatic changes the Commonwealth has seen in the last 35+ years and the wide availability of freshly updated source maps, there's no reason Maptech couldn't have included new maps for their new edition. Other than a slightly updated version of the map software itself (which still claims a copyright of 1998), everything about Terrain Navigator is old, old, old! There are numerous other topo map programs out there with fresher maps. REI uses and sells the Nat'l Geographic software in their stores, and it has the freshest maps.
That aside, the course plotting capability is useful. I can't speak to the GPS features but for planning trips ahead of time the profile information gives a pretty good idea of how rough a given path will be. The interface is intuitive. If not for the staleness of the maps themselves, it'd be a great package. For now, stick with something else.