Long Term Report

National Geographic Back Roads Explorer
Long Term Report

Personal Information:
Name: Christine Korhonen
Age: 30
Gender: female
Height: 5'4" (1.6 m)
Weight: 150 lb (68 kg)
E-mail: chris@wormguy.com
Location: Western Montana
Date: February 13, 2005

Backpacking Background:
I'm in Montana where I'm enjoying the summers and becoming re-acquainted with winter. Now that I'm back above the snow line, I'm attempting some winter camping and snowshoeing. I'm a lightweight backpacker mentally, if not always in practice. I've my summer pack weight is around 19 lb (9 kg) with a tent, but winter backpacking is still new to me, and my winter pack weight hovers around 25 lb (11 kg).

Product Information:
Manufacturer: National Geographic
URL: www.nationalgeographic.com
Item: Back Roads Explorer
MSRP: US $59.95
Year of Maps: 2003
System requirements: 486 DX/66 MHz or higher PC
                                  Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, ME, or XP
                                  16 MB RAM
                                  2x CD-ROM
                                  256 color monitor

Back Roads Explorer Description:
Back Roads Explorer is an electronic set of topographic maps with road data covering the entire United States down to 1:100,000 scale.   There are four levels of maps in the program and one additional level of magnification. Levels 1 & 2 are atlas-style maps while Levels 3 & 4 are USGS maps. Level 5 is a magnification of the Level 4 maps.

Field Information:
I've tested maps in Back Roads Explorer for Montana,Wyoming, Utah and Idaho.

Explorer with a Pocket PC:
Small map areas can be exported into a Pocket PC. In order to do this I zoomed into an area on the main Explorer screen and then chose View->Print or export area. A red box formed around the selected area on the map and the Export toolbar appeared. Before the Pocket PC could open a topo map, the Pocket Topo program must be installed. This was easily done through the Export toolbar and only took a couple of seconds. Then I was able to export maps. The map layer shown on the computer screen can be exported plus all previous layers. With a Level 5 map on the screen, I could export just that layer or that layer plus all the layers below it. I chose to export all layers. I was able to export a map 200 mi (300 km) North to South and 200 mi (300 km) East to West. I like Level 5 better on the Pocket PC than on the normal computer screen. Since only a small area was shown, I could concentrate on the overlay streets, which were easy to read, and ignore the blurry USGS labels in the background, most of which were in a font so large that I couldn't see the whole word on the little Pocket PC screen. I was able to scroll through the map on my Pocket PC and follow a street. Since only a small map section was exported, I quickly came to the edge of the map and couldn't go any farther. In order to use the Pocket PC to see in detail over a large area, several maps can be exported and when the edge of one is reached, the next map can be called up.

Printing Maps:
Maps can be printed using the same Print & Export toolbar.   In my opinion, Level 4 didn't print very well. The background map was blurry and the red roads were hard to read over the USGS map labels underneath.   I prefer printing Level 3, which shows a county-level topo map. I tried to print a map of the Continental Divide in Montana on Level 3. This was difficult to do. The area that printed was larger than that shown on my computer screen, and after one area was printed it was hard to select the next area so that the printouts matched up. The maps also didn't have the same information in different areas of the state. In southern Montana the Continental Divide was marked and labeled while it wasn't marked or labeled further north. After selecting and printing one area, I left the Print toolbar up and scrolled to the second area. When I hit Print the second time, the first area printed again, not the area shown on the screen. In order to change the print area, the red box selecting the area to be printed must be moved. I found the easiest way to do this was to close the Print toolbar, move to a new area on the screen, and then open the Print toolbar again.   This made a new selection

Overall:
I've discovered a few things about myself through using the Back Roads Explorer. I've found that I prefer paper maps to electronic ones. The road atlas I keep in my car gets me through most driving situations.   This atlas doesn't give info on side streets, which is included in Back Roads Explorer. I would have to know which side streets I was interested in ahead of time to export them into my Pocket PC.   If I knew exactly which house I wanted to reach, getting detailed driving instructions off of the Internet is quicker and easier than using the Back Roads Explorer, which doesn't have street number information. For actual back roads, I find it easier to purchase the Forest Service maps of the areas that interest me instead of trying to print out those areas from the Back Roads Explorer. Back Roads explorer does have good USGS topo maps showing Forest Service roads. More detailed trail maps are available in the National Geographic States series or National Park maps.

Things I Like:
Topo maps of wilderness.
The elevation profile.

Limitations:
Back Roads Explorer shows roads. More detailed trail information is available on the individual State products.
Doesn't give turn-by-turn directions or show street numbers.

Read more reviews of National Geographic gear
Read more gear reviews by Christine Korhonen

Reviews > Software > Topographic Mapping > National Geographic Back Roads Explorer > Christine Korhonen > Long Term Report

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