Discovering Terrain Navigator

Maptech’s Terrain Navigator (www.maptech.com) was one of the first commercial, Windows topographic map programs. (In the old days it was known as TopoScout.) Over the years, Terrain Navigator has evolved into a sophisticated, powerful, electronic mapping tool.
You can purchase different versions of Terrain Navigator. The program that accesses map data is the same, but the maps that come bundled on CD-ROMs are different. Different versions of Terrain Navigator provide topographic maps for individual states and different regions of the U.S. The majority of commercial map programs are also sold this way. Plan on spending around a hundred dollars for a complete set of Terrain Navigator digital maps for a single state. You use Terrain Navigator’s main features — which most other topographic map products share — to help you

• Quickly find locations by name or coordinates.
• Accurately measure distance and area.
• Display terrain three-dimensionally.
• Show elevation profiles of routes of travel.
• Customize maps with labels, markers, and routes.
• Interface maps with GPS receivers to upload and download waypoints, routes, and tracks or use for real-time tracking.

Read on to take a look at some of Terrain Navigator’s basic features and see how to use them. Whether you put on your boots and backpack is completely up to you.
Maptech has a free demo version of Terrain Navigator that comes with a single map of a wilderness area in Colorado. You can download the demo at www.mpatech.com/support/downloads.cfm. Be sure to read through the online help and tutorial because it describes a number