DeLORME 3D TopoQuads, suggested retail $99.
Any map lover whose basement closet is clogged with rolled-up U.S. Geological Survey quadrangles (as ours is) will delight in this new product — a set of quads of the entire state of Utah in a single box. They are on nine CD-ROMs — one a set-up disk, the others disks of map data for different parts of the state.
I was prepared to be annoyed with the program because it took so darn long to install. Never mind that its instructions state clearly it is for a PC with at least a 120-MHz Pentium chip, preferably 233 MHz, and my ancient computer has a Pentium Overdrive rated around 83 MHz. Never mind that it was copyrighted in 1999, which implies the use of a speedy CD drive, while mine is a clunky old antique. It still bugged me to wait half an hour or longer for it to install.
But when the program finally came on, I was pleasantly surprised about the number of nice features it has and how easy it is to use.
It does have a couple of amusing kinks. For example, when I told it to search for Delta, it correctly identified it as a town or small city, but then centered on a blank section of desert with a box pointing to "Delta." No roads reached that site.
Panning northward to the location I knew Delta to occupy, I found right where it belongs, near the intersection of U.S. 50 and U.S. 6, and it was correctly labeled. Apparently what happened is that the program first took me to the center of the quadrangle named Delta.
Another quibble is that it's sometimes hard to tell the relative driveability of dirt roads. Contributing to the confusion is the fact that elevation contour lines are occasionally hard to distinguish from roads, although you can turn off the contours with a mouse click.
For those with Global Positioning Satellite receivers, there's a tie-in on the maps. As you slide your cursor across the landscape — a cursor that looks like a set of cross-hairs — the device automatically displays latitude and longitude.
The search feature takes you to the feature you type in, and you can modify the scale to zoom in or out. You can turn off or restore quad lines, show contours, take a look at the landscape in daylight or night. Altitude is keyed to color codes, and your printer will make a nice paper copy of any section you wish.
This sophisticated program can even show you the shape of the land in 3-D shading. For anyone traveling Utah's backcountry, a laptop and a copy of 3D TopoQuads would be a wonderful addition.
E-MAIL: bau@desnews.com