madbadgalaxyman
07-02-2015, 09:55 AM
This is a review of of "NATMAP Digital Maps" (2008 version)(a two DVD Set) , which shows all of Australia with 1:250,000 topographic maps, as currently available at a typical retail price of about $100. The version of this software which is currently sold by retailers also contains some updated software with a 2011 vintage.
For brevity, this review will be divided into three sections, "The Good, The OK, and The Ugly", explaining the desirable and the less desirable features of this sofware.
The Good
- Plots all of Australia (in a raster format) at a scale of 1/250,000 on a seamless (without map borders) virtual topographic map, including all of the >500 published topographic maps at this scale.
- quick and easy Pan & Zoom over the map (very similar to this feature as found in other electronic charting software).
- high map quality (minimal compression).
- very quick and easy access to 1:250K topographic mapping of any place in Australia; you can search for places and locations by Name or Lat/Long or by clicking at a place on a small scale Key/Index map.
- contains an overlay/underlay feature which allows you to underlay a Landsat 7 satellite image of Australia beneath the 1/250000 topographic maps of Australia, and to vary the transparency between the two layers so that you can get a useful mixed "topographic map + satellite image" view of an area. Alternatively, you can switch quickly between the satellite image and the topographic map of an area, so as to compare them.
- quickly and easily measure accurate distances on the map, and you can also measure distances between multiple points along a route.
- can print out and save maps in jpg, tiff, bmp, png formats.
- can overlay information from GIS software
- can be used together with GPS software for real-time navigation (I have not assessed this feature)
The OK
- while the Graphical User Interface is fairly standard and quite intuitive, more thought could have been given to making the user experience easier, with poorly thought out icon placement and size, and too many widely-spaced mouse clicks being necessary to achieve important and frequently-used tasks. The lack of Right Mouse Button shortcuts tends to slow things down a bit, and there is no "back" command to enable quick access to previously viewed maps.
- this software is ageing, and slightly buggy, and the interface is noticeably sub-optimal, so the user has to work a little harder than she/he does when using mass-market commercial software. Also, the map data on the DVDs is available online for free, albeit in a very much less convenient form. In this light, the $100 retail price is somewhat more than you would pay for a lot of other Very Useful semi-commercial software and shareware products. (I bought mine for about $60, secondhand, and this is probably closer to what the product would be worth in the open market.)
The Ugly
- occasionally finicky and buggy, especially in respect of the particular Operating System and Web Browser that have to be used with this mapping software. I installed the recommended Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6, and found that this mapping software wouldn't work in my particular software installation of these applications. On the other hand, with Windows 7 or Windows 8, together with other browsers or browser versions, it was easy to get the mapping software to work.
- The notes on back of the DVD Case, and the Quick Help Guide included with the DVDs, do not exactly apply to the software as included in the box. This is very amateurish. The documentation applies to the 2008 and earlier versions of the software, but there is some 2011 software included in the box. Also, Browser and Operating System compatibility is incorrectly given on the back of the case.
The Verdict
As someone with an enduring fascination for the Australian Landscape, and as an enthusiastic geographer and geology student with a love of exploring the back roads and the back country, I have got endless hours of interest from this application. It has been of great value in exploring the land surface of Australia, finding new observing sites, analyzing geological features, studying the variation of light pollution with location on the maps, and planning adventures along routes that were previously unknown to me. This is an excellent tool for a large number of map-related activities, for instance : : :
route and adventure planning ; use as a road atlas which is far superior to even the best tourist maps when it comes to including nearly all of the back roads (obviously, supplemented with Road Surface information from more recent sources) ; exploring obscure and fascinating corners of our Island Continent ; geology, geomorphology (landforms) ; finding observing sites ; distance measurement ; overlaying data from other GIS ; etc. , etc.
My preference in using this product is to use it with large and high resolution (high pixel density) display screens. I also found that the maps looked particularly good on the very latest generation of Tablet-laptop (convertible) & Laptop & Ultrabook computer screens, because of their very high density of pixels.
This is an accurate and professional product which has a large map database; this is wonderful data, and there is lots and lots of it on the DVDs! This software is suitable for both recreational and professional use, though it is a bit rough around the edges, and it is quite costly considering the competition from other available mapping tools (some of them free). However, the 1:250,000 topographic maps are arguably the best solution for clearly showing you the lay of the land and the back roads, in every part of Australia.
For brevity, this review will be divided into three sections, "The Good, The OK, and The Ugly", explaining the desirable and the less desirable features of this sofware.
The Good
- Plots all of Australia (in a raster format) at a scale of 1/250,000 on a seamless (without map borders) virtual topographic map, including all of the >500 published topographic maps at this scale.
- quick and easy Pan & Zoom over the map (very similar to this feature as found in other electronic charting software).
- high map quality (minimal compression).
- very quick and easy access to 1:250K topographic mapping of any place in Australia; you can search for places and locations by Name or Lat/Long or by clicking at a place on a small scale Key/Index map.
- contains an overlay/underlay feature which allows you to underlay a Landsat 7 satellite image of Australia beneath the 1/250000 topographic maps of Australia, and to vary the transparency between the two layers so that you can get a useful mixed "topographic map + satellite image" view of an area. Alternatively, you can switch quickly between the satellite image and the topographic map of an area, so as to compare them.
- quickly and easily measure accurate distances on the map, and you can also measure distances between multiple points along a route.
- can print out and save maps in jpg, tiff, bmp, png formats.
- can overlay information from GIS software
- can be used together with GPS software for real-time navigation (I have not assessed this feature)
The OK
- while the Graphical User Interface is fairly standard and quite intuitive, more thought could have been given to making the user experience easier, with poorly thought out icon placement and size, and too many widely-spaced mouse clicks being necessary to achieve important and frequently-used tasks. The lack of Right Mouse Button shortcuts tends to slow things down a bit, and there is no "back" command to enable quick access to previously viewed maps.
- this software is ageing, and slightly buggy, and the interface is noticeably sub-optimal, so the user has to work a little harder than she/he does when using mass-market commercial software. Also, the map data on the DVDs is available online for free, albeit in a very much less convenient form. In this light, the $100 retail price is somewhat more than you would pay for a lot of other Very Useful semi-commercial software and shareware products. (I bought mine for about $60, secondhand, and this is probably closer to what the product would be worth in the open market.)
The Ugly
- occasionally finicky and buggy, especially in respect of the particular Operating System and Web Browser that have to be used with this mapping software. I installed the recommended Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6, and found that this mapping software wouldn't work in my particular software installation of these applications. On the other hand, with Windows 7 or Windows 8, together with other browsers or browser versions, it was easy to get the mapping software to work.
- The notes on back of the DVD Case, and the Quick Help Guide included with the DVDs, do not exactly apply to the software as included in the box. This is very amateurish. The documentation applies to the 2008 and earlier versions of the software, but there is some 2011 software included in the box. Also, Browser and Operating System compatibility is incorrectly given on the back of the case.
The Verdict
As someone with an enduring fascination for the Australian Landscape, and as an enthusiastic geographer and geology student with a love of exploring the back roads and the back country, I have got endless hours of interest from this application. It has been of great value in exploring the land surface of Australia, finding new observing sites, analyzing geological features, studying the variation of light pollution with location on the maps, and planning adventures along routes that were previously unknown to me. This is an excellent tool for a large number of map-related activities, for instance : : :
route and adventure planning ; use as a road atlas which is far superior to even the best tourist maps when it comes to including nearly all of the back roads (obviously, supplemented with Road Surface information from more recent sources) ; exploring obscure and fascinating corners of our Island Continent ; geology, geomorphology (landforms) ; finding observing sites ; distance measurement ; overlaying data from other GIS ; etc. , etc.
My preference in using this product is to use it with large and high resolution (high pixel density) display screens. I also found that the maps looked particularly good on the very latest generation of Tablet-laptop (convertible) & Laptop & Ultrabook computer screens, because of their very high density of pixels.
This is an accurate and professional product which has a large map database; this is wonderful data, and there is lots and lots of it on the DVDs! This software is suitable for both recreational and professional use, though it is a bit rough around the edges, and it is quite costly considering the competition from other available mapping tools (some of them free). However, the 1:250,000 topographic maps are arguably the best solution for clearly showing you the lay of the land and the back roads, in every part of Australia.