Street Atlas: Stay in the Fast Lane

From Here to There

Plotting a route on the Street Atlas desktop couldn't be simpler. You have to know two things: where you are and where you're going. The software does the rest.

When you boot up Street Atlas you'll see a map of the United States, and you start mapping by typing the address and zip code of your current location into the Start field on the toolbar. Then type your destination into the Finish field and click Go, and the program calculates your route. It displays turn-by-turn directions, with distances and times between legs of your trip.

Street Atlas not only plots directions within the boundaries of major urban areas, it also does a good job of mapping routes across the country--even from, say, DeLorme headquarters in Yarmouth, Maine, to my doorstep in San Diego.

In most cases, Street Atlas provides the quickest route to your destination. But you can easily switch your criteria to traveling the shortest distance possible or to passing the most scenic areas. If you're pickier, you can set the program to create a route and timetable that reflects your personal preferences--such as never traveling above a certain speed or using only major roadways. You can toggle among these options simply by clicking the appropriate icons on the toolbar; your route choices, mileage, and travel times will be adjusted accordingly.

Once you have that down, you'll be ready to plan a route that includes various stops and "vias"--in other words, byways. You can do it by inserting them into an established route using a button on the toolbar or by using alternate routing methods.

If you think you already know the best route for a trip, the easiest way to plot is to right-click a point on the map and designate it as a starting point. Then scroll the map along your proposed route, clicking on points with the left mouse button to re-center the map to your liking and clicking the zoom buttons to see a larger or smaller map area. Then you can right-click on various points or attractions you want to pass, and designate them as stops or vias.

Ready to head back home? Street Atlas will plot your trip in reverse when you click the Reverse Route selection.

Pinpoint Your Destination

Street Atlas can also be used as a search tool to find street names, intersections, and place names, or you can search by zip code, area code, or phone exchange. The Find menu lets you zero in on cities, businesses, parks, golf courses, or other facilities, with filters to limit your search to only those categories in which you're interested.

With the Find menu, you can also locate freeway exits, which are visible along major highways on Street Atlas maps as yellow icons and are accessible by a right mouse-click. The Street Atlas database also includes more than 85,000 ATMs, restaurants, hotels, gas stations, stores, and medical facilities along the way.

If you just want to know how to get from here to there and back again every now and then, free Web sites like MapBlast and MapQuest will do the job. But if you are a regular traveler, these sites can't match the features of Street Atlas USA--nor its ease of use. Web sites are slow, and you need to configure preferences every time. With Street Atlas, traveling salespeople and other field professionals will see an increase in productivity, and the more casual traveler will simply have a better time getting from A to B.