What's It For?
Memory Map’s been around since the early days of digital mapping and is responsible for many of the conventions followed by later entrants. The latest version of the UK National Parks pack brings you what it says on the box, OS maps for all the parks at 1:50k and an application for route planning. Memory Map was the first to bring out a 3D engine for displaying maps, and the option to follow a 3D fly through of a selected route.
Having a full set of digital maps for all the National Parks means you can check out areas to visit and plan routes in advance in as much fine detail as you like. Once you’ve got the hang of what’s where you can easily plot routes between a series of waypoints, work out how long it’s going to take you and take a virtual fly through. All the calculations are done for you and ready to save or transfer to a mobile GPS.
The Techy Bits
I you can run XP or Vista you’ll have the hardware you need. With Memory Map you can run maps from the DVD without installing them to the hard drive – though obviously not if you use the download option. Import/Export options are quite limited, with no Garmin option, though at least GPX is supported.
Like the other major digital mapping applications you won’t find a Mac version, it’s a Windows only program. The mobile requirements follow the example of the main version in running on fairly obsolete devices. Anything from Windows Mobile 2000 upwards will handle the software and support for GPS receivers is fairly good, especially for external Bluetooth devices.
Memory Map has followed the online revolution and you can download new maps as well as ordering online for disc based versions. If you choose the download route it’s a simple job to copy them onto DVD and run them from there if you want to save hard drive space.
How It Performs
The first thing you notice when you load the software is how uncluttered it looks. The map fills pretty much the whole screen with just a line of icons along the top – a bit different from the multi-window layout that greets you with some applications. It’s got to be difficult to know when to change something that’s still the market leader, but the interface while simple is starting to look a bit bland and dated after several years. The features are there, but it’s not always obvious where
The top line of icons give access to the main features, including the essential route planning tools. Route, Mark and Track are going to be the most commonly used tools so it’s handy to have instant access to them, and the Drag icon is essential for more than just scrolling the map. Starting your route is simple enough, and you just go through linking up a series of successive waypoints, but ending the route isn’t quite so intuitive – there’s no “End Route” selection option, instead you need to go to the top icons and click Drag to deselect the route drawing tool.
Overall Memory Map is a strange mix of really intuitive options, like right clicking on a route to access all its associated options, and puzzling omissions like no “End Route” or “Continue Route” selections. You can, of course do both, with End Route as outlined above and Continue Route being achieved by selecting the final waypoint and selecting to “Add waypoint after”. Once you get used to where the choices are it’s easy enough to access most things, but it must be working as Memory map’s been the market leader for years.
Overlays
Overlays are the core of Memory Map, containing all the information not contained on the original map file. Essentially they’re transparent layers containing your custom waypoints, routes and other data. Right click on any custom feature, from route to individual waypoint, and you’ll open an appropriate Overlay property box where you get control over specific properties. Right click on a route and you can change its name, choose how it’s displayed on the map and set up a route card. Right click on an individual waypoint and you get the same sort of control of the waypoint’s properties. All the individual properties are combined into a single overlay file for saving.
3D is a big part of the Memory Map experience, and despite being the earliest adopter of 3D engines it’s still the smoothest to run. For the experienced map user 3D just saves time studying the fine detail of contours and map features, but for the newcomer or less experienced navigator it really brings the ma to life. The 3D view, in a new window, is cursor controlled and you can turn the map round 360 degrees in any direction, zoom in and out and pretty much look at the are from any angle you choose. If that’s not enough you can always download the extra aerial mapping that comes free with 1:25k National Park maps and check your route in full photographic splendour with a virtual fly through.
Given that the main Memory Map interface hasn’t changed much in years, and the competition has been steadily adding new features, there are a few niggles – though bear in mind less than £30’s not bad compared to the price of paper maps for all the UK’s National Parks . When you click on Overlay properties the main map reduces to half size on the right hand side rather than just opening at the front, and beyond the 1:50k maps you don’t get a lot else.
The 1:1M overview map is very basic, and only really suitable for rough road navigation. Even when you dig deeper Memory Map lacks some of the more advanced features of the opposition, and it’s not the cheapest when it comes to either initial price or adding new maps.
What makes it different
Memory Map has one big advantage over the opposition, it's been around a long time and has a big user base. With digital mapping you get used to a specific way of working, and once familiar with a system users are loathe to changing to something new. The licensing system which restricts use of OS maps to an individual platform helps, as once you’ve made a major investment in maps for one format you don’t want to have to change to another and buy new copies of the same maps over again.
Where Memory Map does excel is the range of maps available. As well as the full UK 1:25k and 1:50k coverage and a range of high quality aerial photography that others provide memory Map has mapping for major sections of the French Alps and a comprehensive set of marine charts. Marine and land maps overlap seamlessly, making Memory Map the only choice combining canoes or kayaks and camping.
Quibbles
As already mentioned, the interface is looking somewhat dated and the feature set is starting to lag a bit behind the competition. Memory Map is probably the easiest digital mapping to find if you’re out shopping in Ambleside or Aviemore but it’s not the cheapest, either for the National Parks coverage of this DVD or future additional mapping – and once you’re set on a path of one format it’s hard to justify the cost of switching.
Verdict
The easiest digital mapping to purchase on the high street, and does what it says on the box – you get all the UK National Parks in Ordnance Survey quality at 1:50k. It’s not the most feature packed and not the cheapest but it does what it does well.
The 3D engine is superb, running smoothly and with more precise control than you can expect. Installation and running the software is well tweaked and very straightforward, and hardware requirements are very basic for both PC and mobile versions. The PDA transfer system is also both efficient and simple, building on the software’s early entry into the PDA market nearly ten years ago.
£30’s not a bad price for a complete set of 1:50k maps for all the UK National Parks and the ability to plan your routes, print them out and save and swap them – especially if you compare that to the cost of buying the paper versions. Unfortunately £30’s still £10 more than some of the competition and you don’t get much extra for the extra £10.
The best option if you want to add marine charts later, and the smoothest 3D engine but too expensive for a less than groundbreaking feature set.
