Digital Mapping Software Choices

Understandably, your hardware needs are driven by your software needs.
Here are the three main types of mapping programs you’re most likely to use:

• Commercial mapping programs: Commercial mapping programs come bundled with maps and offer a number of powerful features but are relatively easy to use. Most commercial map programs don’t have extensive hardware requirements. In fact, many of the programs on the market work fine with older computers.
• Web-hosted map services: Web-hosted map services are accessed with your Web browser. These map Web sites are easy to use but don’t offer as many features as commercial or standalone mapping programs. Viewing Web site maps isn’t a very resource-intensive activity. The speed of your Internet connection is a bigger issue than the speed of your computer’s processor.
• Standalone mapping programs: Standalone map programs are similar to commercial map software but don’t come bundled with maps; you need to provide the map data yourself. If you’re using a standalone program to make maps from data that you download from the Internet —especially if you’ll be creating 3-D images — you want as much processor speed, memory, and storage as your budget allows. It also doesn’t hurt to have a high-speed Internet connection to speed up downloads. Additionally, you need to factor in your processing power as well as what types of storage devices, display devices, printers, and communications equipment you’ll need and use.

In most cases, if you’ve purchased a computer in the past couple of years that runs Windows, it’s probably going to be more than adequate for computer mapping. (Always check a mapping software vendor’s Web site first, though, to ensure that your computer is compatible with the program you plan to use.)