Computer used: genuine Intel processors - Pentium 4
Operating systems: Windows XP Home Edition
GPS used: Garmin Geko 301
Printer used: HP Deskject 950C (color inkjet)

Email: ciyd@comcast.net
Location: Western Washington, USA
Date: March 1, 2005

Backpacking background:
I've been car camping and hiking for 20 years and sport climbing for 10 years, but am new to backpacking. My backpacking style is lightweight but not ultralight. I am striving for a suitable compromise between safety and comfort. The majority of my hiking experience is in Western Washington.

Field information: Washington state.

Product Information:
Manufacturer: National Geographic
Model: Back Roads Explorer
Year of Manufacture: 2004
URL: www.nationalgeographic.com
17 CD set of maps covering the entire United States of America.
System Requirements: Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, NT 4.0 and higher. Works with all color and black & white printers supported by these operating systems. 486 DX/66 MHz PC or higher 16 MB RAM 2X CD-ROM drive 256-color monitor

Features:
· Seamlessly scroll across the entire US with four levels of map detail, including 1:100,000 scale topographic maps.
· Customize and print photo-quality maps.
· Add current road and street information and 3D shaded relief.
· Draw your own routes and create elevation profiles.
· Export maps to Palm or Pocket PC.
· Load your GPS with routes & waypoints.

The maps are scanned USGS photo quality maps. Levels 1 & 2 are USA maps from National Geographic World Atlas. Level 3 are 1:500,000 USGS national map series. Level 4 are USGS 1:100,000 maps with up-to-date roads and streets. The National Geographic web site also has a page called mapXchange where users download maps and routes. There are currently no files for Back Roads Explorer on the site.

Long Term Report:
In the last few months, I have the opprotunity to continue to use the software and evaluate it’s stability, accuracy and useability.

The stability of the program has continued to impress me. I have never had the software crash, lock-up, or act oddly. I truly appreciate this since I’ve had software that was so buggy, it forced me to pull out my recovery disks and re-load operating systems and applications. Not this program. I described it as “rock solid” in my field report and it still applies.

The program also interfaces seamlessly with my GPS unit. It knows the maximum length of the waypoint names that my Geko 301 will take even if I don’t. The waypoints upload quickly and easily and I can name them in the program rather than scrolling through the alphabet on my GPS unit. I checked the accuracy by taking a reading of my home, my mother’s home and plotting them out on the Backroads Explorer. The software located the GPS coordinates on the correct street and in the approximate location on the block where the residences are located.

I’ve gotten used to the drawing tool and the eraser function and found that they both work quite well. Reading the help file has come in handy and the information has always been accurate and helpful. I would like a little more flexibility in colors because I’ve found that some of the colors blend too readily into the background making the drawn items, such as routes and markers, hard to distinguish. The program does let me change line width and gives me a choice of solid or dashed lines.

I still find the Back Roads Explorer to have limited use in a city. The colors are dark, one way streets are not marked and the street names are not visible in the printouts. Reading the maps in the car after the sun has set is nearly impossible because of the topographic shading – there just isn’t enough contrast to be readable in limited light.

Using the Back Roads Explorer for planning out trips on the highway is a different matter. For long distance trips, I can break the route up into sections and measure the distance between those sections. The internet mapping tools will simply give you the trip in one big bite. Driving Interstate 80 across the US? The internet tools will give you the entire distance of over 3000 miles. That’s going to leave you a little tired of sitting. But, with Back Roads Explorer, I can determine how may hours I want to drive every day and, based on the average miles per hour I get with stops for fuel and meals, I can select where I want to stop for the night.

I’ve also used the Back Roads Explorer for finding alternate routes in my small city and for exploring parts of the city I’ve never seen. I’ve found the detailed route of my favorite rails-to-trails path, the streets it intersects, and the neighborhood at its terminus. I’ve discovered a couple county parks within a short drive of my house that I never knew existed. I’ve discovered a few alternate, and scenic, routes to some of my favorite local destinations. I can do this with the Back Roads Explorer software more quickly than I can over the internet because the viewing area is larger and I don’t have to wait for a web page to be refreshed.

Summary:
I like the Back Roads Explorer software. Sure, there are things that could be improved, but the program provides accurate maps, drawing tools, GPS interface, and hasn’t crashed my computer. The help files are helpful but the the user interface is so intuitive that you won’t need to reference them until you get into some of the deeper features. As an added bonus, if I spill coffee on my maps, I can always print out another one instead of having to go out and buy another road atlas.

I would recommend this program to someone looking for comprehensive road data for the United States.

I would like to thank Back Pack Gear Test and National Geographic for the opportunity to test the Back Roads Explorer software.

Read more reviews of National Geographic gear
Read more gear reviews by Kelli Wise

Long Term Report

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