Street Atlas USA 8.0

With two CD-ROMs, 3 million points of interest, and some 900,000 place names, Street Atlas USA 8.0 gives you excellent control over your travel options--plus it integrates well with GPS and mobile devices, so that you can take your maps with you on the road.

The program's searching options are a standout, as is the detail of its street maps. You can search by street address, ZIP code, longitude and latitude, or names of places. (The product also hooks into DeLorme's Phone Search USA 5.0--sold separately--to allow searches by personal names and phone numbers.)

Street Atlas USA also makes it simple to connect to a GPS device, with a wizard that automatically detects compatible products. You can even download map information to many wireless devices. (This option requires installing additional files on your handheld, but it puts map information at your fingertips when on the road, or anywhere you might need street-level details.) The application can even speak directions and map information aloud, leaving your hands free to hold the wheel.

The basic map-navigation interface here is good as well, though it took us a minute or two to get used to panning and zooming with the mouse. (You can zoom in very easily, actually, by dragging over an area with the left side of the mouse.) The program supports making annotations to maps with a handful of objects, including text.

When it comes to planning a road trip, Street Atlas USA makes it easy with a variety of trip-planning options, like the quickest and/or most scenic routes. In testing, the program generated a cross-country route in just a few seconds. The application also connects to DeLorme's Web site to download timely road-construction information, weather reports, and even reservations. We especially liked the ability to mark favorite roads for inclusion in travel routes, a useful feature not always available in competing products.

In all, Street Atlas USA delivers a solid package for planning your next drive, whether across the state or across the country. With its capable interface and rich level of map detail, you'll always know where you are and where you're going when you take to America's highways and byways. --Rich Dragan

Called "a must have for frequent travelers" by PC Magazine, Street Atlas USA 8.0 is a complete map and navigation package. Whether you use it before you travel or when you're on the road with your laptop, Street Atlas USA lets you know exactly where you are and where you're going with detailed maps and turn-by-turn directions.

Street Atlas USA offers detailed maps and directions for the entire U.S., right down to the smallest urban neighborhoods or rural crossroads. The DeLorme map database is continuously updated to reflect the latest available information from well-respected sources, including Geographic Data Technology. Street Atlas USA benefits include easy location of any place in the U.S. on a single CD-ROM by street address, intersection, place name, area code, local exchange, latitude/longitude, or ZIP code. The atlas also allows you to print turn-by-turn travel directions to any destination, and to quickly locate neighborhoods, schools, and parks on a map. Select exactly the streets you want using the Via routing feature.

Features new to this edition include 500,000 new streets across the U.S., over 3 million updated points of interest, improved address-finding capabilities with better street name and address range data, enhanced routing with updated exit and ramp information, and daily mileage and fuel consumption planning with the new Travel/Time Planner.

Precision Route Planning allows you to plan address-to-address routing directly from the CD-ROM. Use the Via routing feature to specify roads and stops along the way, and quickly compare route mileage and travel time. Access online weather, traffic, and construction updates in order to plan the ideal route. You can also set driving speeds and plan daily fuel consumption and mileage using the Travel/Time Planner.

Street Atlas USA powers your trip with customized maps and travel plans for personal, business, or recreational travel. Add useful titles to your maps and adjust the scale to print the maps you want. Or add text, notes, lines, and shapes directly to your map using a built-in set of drawing tools. Experience the clarity and detail of maps printed from Street Atlas USA and stay on track anywhere in the U.S.

Take Street Atlas USA with you on your laptop for access to quick-loading detailed maps wherever you are, with no need to worry about Internet access. Connect the DeLorme Earthmate GPS Receiver (available separately) or other GPS receivers to track your position in real time on the map while traveling, and listen to turn-by-turn spoken directions when tracking with a GPS receiver on your laptop computer. Street Atlas USA is compatible with Palm handhelds using Solus software by DeLorme (available separately).