BIOS: Technology Means Business

Route Planner Great Britain & Europe 2004 is an easy-to-use but relatively powerful application for planning routes across Europe quickly and easily. Even if you don't intend to leave the UK, the 2,950 city maps and massive points of interest database should prove very useful. Although the software does a good job of calculating routes, you should never rely entirely on the routes it provides because they can be a little convoluted.

Pros: Feature-rich; GPS compatible; integrates traffic reports
Cons: Routes can be a little convoluted

Route Planner Great Britain and Europe 2004 is German-based Map & Guide's third attempt at a consumer route-planning software for UK-based users. New to this version is the inclusion of the complete Varta Hotel Guide, which is the European equivalent of the Red Guide from Michelin.

The software is a breeze to use and offers many features for the information hungry. A particular highlight is the various print options. For example, you can print small maps detailing each change in direction, a city map with street index and grid lines, or a multiple map print that follows your entire route. For those not interested in wasting printer toner or ink, maps and route directions can be exported to a Pocket PC or Palm device, or saved as a BMP or XML file. You can even e-mail maps and itineraries to friends or colleagues.

The route-planner provides road maps of the UK, including city maps (for door-to-door and street-to-street routing), as well as maps of Europe (for town-to-town routing). You can plan a route from anywhere in the UK to 49 other European countries, and the software can incorporate up-to-date traffic information (Internet connection required) into a route calculation. For those who like to plan a trip in detail, Route Planner Great Britain and Europe 2004 offers a total of 550,000 points of interest, which are indexed into 27 categories. The points of interest can be highlighted on route maps, or you can ask the software to generate a route that passes through certain interest points.

Planning a route is done by entering a few details. First, you enter your start location (postcode, town or address), followed by your destination location (postcode, town or address). The software also offers a few location categories to help the selection process, such as restaurant, hotel or airport. If required, you can then enter a number of stop-off points in the same way, as well as departure and arrival times. Advanced route planning options let the software calculate alternative routes, integrate corridor objects (stop-off points) and suggest routes to avoid tolls. You can also add vehicle profile details to get an idea of mileage costs and travel times.

Route Planner Great Britain and Europe 2004 is a very powerful consumer application. In fact, it's currently the only route planner that lets you plan a route from door-to-door (14 million house numbers) from a UK-based address to one in a major European city. However, similar to most competing titles, suggested routes (quickest or shortest distance) can be labyrinthine. It's therefore a good idea to consult a regular map, especially if you're making an important trip for the first time. Otherwise you could end up making a detour which could have been avoided. If you intend to use the software for business purposes, you may want to further invest in a standard NMEA GPS receiver because the software will then provide a constant visualisation of your location, speed and driving direction on the map.

Links:
Route Planner Great Britain & Europe 2004 Web site