Amazon.com Product Description

Among the maps in this collection are ones of the western theater of war in May 1918, the Pacific theater of war in February 1942, and the world of 1943. Another 32 maps are included. ... Read more

Product Description

It's the world as you've never seen it before! World Atlas 5 is a true multimedia atlas. So it does much more than show you maps and charts, it actually lets you see sights and hear sounds from around the globe. At your command, the world comes to life on your computer. Prepare accurate, fact-filled presentations, reports and slide shows. Print political, topographic, and statistical maps. Include charts showing how more than 200 countries compare in over 300 plus categories. Ideal for business travel and family vacations! Plan trips and print out maps of your destinations. Study detailed color maps of any contry in the world and zoom in for still more detail. Convert currencies and measurements worldwide. Print out city maps for more than 47 global destinations! ... Read more

Features

• Up-To-Date Full Color Maps For Our Changing World
• Reference - Presentations - Reports - Student - Family - Business
• Play More Than 150 Video Clips Of Landmarks From Major World Cities. View Over 1000 High Resolution Color Photos From Throughout The World
• Learn Helpful Phrases In 30 Languages From Around The Globe - See Flags From Over 200 Countries & Hear Their National Anthems! Superb For School & Business Reports!
• Windows 3.1 or Higher / DOS / MSCDEX 2.2 Or Higher CD-Rom

Product Description

Suitable for all ages, it test your knowledge and teaches you the capitals, political leaders, and flags of almost 200 countries. Makes learning fun it includes two amusing games Jigsaw USA and Compass USA to test and to entertain you. ... Read more

Features

• You can master the world

Features

• Complete guide to every country and location in the world
• Covers people, places, and events; country overviews
• Explores geography, natural resources, and geopolitics
• Copy or print out maps, text, or graphics
• Powerful reference tool for all ages

Amazon.com Review

The Eartha Global Explorer DVD is a terrific way to literally see the entire world, but only if your computer hardware is up to task. Contained on this single DVD is a 3-D representation of earth that can be rotated, zoomed in on, and viewed from any angle. Major cities, roads, and points of interest are also depicted, and somehow there was still enough room left on the DVD to include audio descriptions of most place names and attractions on the maps. Best of all, it's dirt cheap.

DeLorme touts the software's ability to plot a course anywhere on earth, but we imagine few people would trust a product like this with their global vacation plans. The real draw of the software is its detailed 3-D view of the world, based on satellite imagery. It's easy to see the topographical features of, say, Costa Rica from a straight top-down view, but Eartha Global Explorer let us drop our altitude, change the viewing angle, and see the 3-D terrain from perspectives that we'd never be able to view from the real world.

The interface makes it easy to zip over the terrain and whirl around to change your viewpoint, but smooth performance requires a fast computer processor and a beefy video accelerator card. The program allows for software rendering, where your computer's CPU shoulders most of the graphics-crunching load, but it is worthless. Without an appropriate DirectX-compatible video accelerator, the maps look bad and are impossible to accurately rotate; the graphics simply can't keep up with your inputs. If you have a cutting-edge PC, however, Eartha Global Explorer is an educational toy that anyone interested in geography will enjoy. --T. Byrl Baker ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Global Explorer falls short on details
It's impressive list of features may not work on every machine. Although I was initially amazed at the 3D map of the world, the 2D travel routing never functioned on my machine despite repeated contact with tech support. I found their tech support personnel friendly and prompt to respond to email, but they were unable to help correct a problem with a DLL file that kept it from running on my system, even though my system is far superior to the minimum requirements. The DVD installed a version of MSJET35.DLL that the software refused to recognize.

The road maps are fine for city to city travel, but lack the street level detail available in many competing products. Due to the DLL file problem the guided tour and local information features would not work.

More detailed maps and travel instructions are available through web based travel routing sites. ... Read more

Features

• Gather knowledge with fun travel experiences in this 3-CD set
• USA Explorer teaches history, customs, and cultural practices
• My First Amazing World Explorer introduces maps, atlases, and the world
• My First Amazing History Explorer introduces 8 fascinating historical periods
• For kids ages 5 to 10

Features

• This encyclopedia contains the equivalent of 18 volumes worth of reference material, describing the world to you in a more in-depth and direct way
• This reference work also includes the Spanish lexicon and entries from the Encyclopedia DeAgostini Planet -- over 145,000 total entries in all!

Amazon.com Product Description

DeLorme's Street Atlas USA 9.0 quickly and easily maps the entire U.S. down to the smallest urban neighborhood. Features include automatic routing with a travel-time planner, fuel consumption calculator, stopping options, and easy-to-read travel directions. Detailed street and highway maps (6.2 million miles) locate places by address, intersection, area code, local exchange, latitude/longitude, ZIP Code, or place name. Print turn-by-turn travel directions via fastest, shortest, preferred, or scenic routes.

Street Atlas USA 9.0 plans your trip with precision and speed. Updated data quickly and reliably locates more than 4 million points of interest. Create automatic and customized routes without the need of Internet access. Easily locate exit services and interest points within a given radius or along a certain route. Search for banks, recreation areas, accommodations, schools, restaurants, and more.

Ideal for personal or business travel, the program can be loaded onto your laptop for maps on the go or connected to a global positioning system (GPS) receiver for real-time travel tracking. When used in tandem with DeLorme's Earthmate GPS receiver or an NMEA-compatible GPS receiver (including popular Garmin and Magellan brands), the program displays a large arrow that tracks your travel route in real time, guides you back on course if detoured, and also signals upcoming exits. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Very good mapping software
I have both Delorme Streets and Microsoft Streets and Trips. I usually use the Delorme product, because it is faster and produces a better map. Both products suffer from having small inaccuracies at the very local level. Whether you encounter one where you are looking is kind of the luck of the draw. Despite small inaccuracies, the resulting maps using Delorme Streets are usually more than good enough to enable you to find your way.

The Delorme Streets gives VERY accurate mileage assessments from one place to another, which alone makes it worthwhile. I use it anytime I am planning a trip and have always found it very useful.

Street Atlas USA 9.0 - Don't get your hopes up.
This is an OK product. I've used Map-N-Go for several years and Street Atlas basically is road travel software with street level capability. I just bought it, and tried it. If you are using it for city to city funtions, it will do fine. If you are using it primarily for street to street, it might raise your blood pressure. I tried it for my city, Seattle. I mapped from the airport to my house. It referenced a street for departing the airport that was not apparent at the airport. Then it directed me to take a road off of the highway exit that did not exist. I ran Yahoo map with the same stuff. It gave a flawless performance, using the same signs/postings that are at the airport and it gave the proper street to exit to my home. The next day we used it to map about 8 houses on our house hunting list to look at. Several times it referenced street names that were not posted or not commonly used. Bottom line, if I had been given a trial first, no question that this software funtions poorly on the street level. Your mileage may vary.

The Last Gasp of a Once-Great Company
Version 9.0 is still the best mapping software I have used, and I have tried many. Yes, it is now dated, and it's maps are dated, it being 2003 as I write this. I notice a bad review just above mine that mentions tabbed interface which is the later (and IMHO inferior) SA 200x versions, someone posted that review under v9 by mistake. This version is not MAXIMUM CAPABILITY, it is clean simple and trim, like mapping software should be. It does a limited number of things, but figuring out how to do the basics is largely intuitive to a Windows user. It doesn't have the atrocious tabbed interface Delorme adopted later.

V9 has many good things:
1) FAST and efficient!
I run my V9 on an old ThinkPad 560X (Pentium 233MMX) and it runs just great! Try that with newer mapping software. I like that I can leave my cheapo laptop in the trunk and not worry if it gets stolen after all it only cost me a hundred bucks off EBay.
2) SIMPLE
Using the classic Windows interface it's easy to operate. It may not have the new features of 2004 like voice commands or radar serch but then again it's not bloatware. It does the limited set of things it does, very well.
3) Back-on-track!
I love this feature if I overshoot the exit it will recalc and tell me how to recover.
4) Map extraction
You can run the map extractor and install only the states you need if you don't have enough space for the whole US. Nice! My 560X doesn't even have a CD-ROM so I installed the states I needed over the network and never have to refer to CD's again.
5) Voice navigation
Okay, voice is not the best and not changeable, but it does give me audible cue I need to exit soon or whatever
6) Quick keys. There are quick keys like page-up/page-down to zoom and arrow keys to recenter that are easy to find in the dark on most keyboards or in my case a slimline IBM numeric keypad.

Yes it has some issues and I have a wishlist of items I wish it had like select the voice to use, etc. but still the best out there! I just wish Delorme would sell map updates for this veteran. Ah well...

Unfortunately Delorme has become fixated on it's new tabbed product and discontinued this excellent product. Avoid SA 2003 and 2004. Find a copy of V9 on Ebay or in the bargain bin and use it for a few more years until something better comes along.

Better than in car GPS systems.
I use this product all the time. I have used a variety of GPS systems in different cars. This system, is by far, much better than all the rest. It even tells you radio stations in your area.

Great Product Wrong Seller
...This product works excellent, especially when integrated with DeLorme's 8 channel GPS Receiver

I have used their product for years staring with version 5.0 through version 9.0 and in terms of usability and accuracey you won't find a better piece of equipment for your money. This product will operate through most Palm/Handheld devices or for the over the road traveler like myself integrating both the hardware and software is easy and effective with the use of my laptop. I have used a variety of other brands like TravRoute in addition to the weak handheld GPS units like Garmon, Magellan and nothing in my "opinion" gives you more bang for the buck than DeLorme.

Word to the wise don't be too quick to get their latest version; Street Atals 2003. It's very new and very different and resembles their X-Map Business software which I found to be much more cumbersome and less functional in many ways. ... Read more

Features

• The same amount of information you'd find in an 18-volume set of encyclopedias
• Besides standard text entries, the user will find all kinds of special features that brings academic subjects to life
• Over 3000 images and a hundred animations bring various subjects to life
• Over 200 minutes of video to help show you history's great events
• Statistical breakdowns and tables of the numbers that shape your world

Features

• The content of this digital dictionary is equivalent to an 18-volume set of books
• Read through the definitions, synonyms, antonyms, etymologies and more, for over 100,000 words
• Also includes abbrevaitions, locutions and phrases -- all accessible with just a single click!

Features

• Empieza con Basic, una obra de 30 lecciones que desarolla varios aspectos de la lengua y presenta ejemplos
• Explicaciones y ejercicios sobre varias temas de la lengua son presentado aqui
• Estudia los peculiaridades del pronunciation de Ingles
• 20 temas generales son incluido en una revista inetractiva, un apartado util para conocer la lengua y la cultura
• Tambien tiene juegos, una libreta de apuntes personales y un glossary

Reviews (3)

PC not best format for map reading (+XP compatibility tip)
I love big colorful maps. So I thought this is the program for me. But, the program is just OK, I was hoping for better but it is just plain difficult to read huge fold out maps on a PC. However, if you put your resolution up to as high as possible 1280x1024 works pretty well (I'd never use this normally), it improves things noticeably.

I ordered this then saw the comments on XP compatibility. Absolutely no response from the help desk, however: I have XP and it works fine.

You just need to use the XP compatibility option as follows:

1. Right Click on CD-Rom on My computer and hit explore.
2. On the setup icon on the CD right click and hit properties
3. Select Compatibility tab and select Windows 95.
4. Hit Apply and close box
5. Double Click on Set-up Icon and the program will install

The Website actually mentions that this program won't work on XP and offers no guidance. Bit of an embarrassment.

Good luck and regards

won't install on XP, no support or solution
I got the deluxe version and got stuck for $50, same problem as reviewer above. The thing won't install and there is no support or fix form National Geographic, or Broderbund, who is listed on the box as the distributor. I would have expected better form such a big name company(s)!

Don't buy if you plan on keeping your computer up-to-date
This product won't even install on Windows XP.

It's developers have, perhaps, included some proprietary tweak to prevent unauthorized use of the product.

The technical support areas (several are referred to in the documentation and on the web) make no mention of the problem, let alone it's solution. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

I wont get lost again
I travel through out the Carolina's and Virginia, this program gets me door to door with the quickest and most acurate route. It talks to you, corrects wrong turns and shows your progress. It's a great tool for travel. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

Some may read it for the articles, but some of us are self-assured enough to admit that we like to look at the... maps. Now you can scope out 109 years of cartographical excellence with National Geographic Maps, a set of eight CD-ROMs that will keep you glued to your PC for hours on end, poring over transatlantic cable diagrams, finding the old name for Rwanda, or even learning a thing or two about the history of mapmaking.

Installation is easy, and the interface is as attractive and intuitive as you would expect from the institution devoted to educating the public about the world. Fire it up and search for a particular map or a place on a map, then choose which of many from 1896 to 1995 meet your needs. Browsing the maps is fun, too--zooming and sweeping over vast distances can be almost dizzying.

Whether or not you're a researcher, you'll love the bookmark and log-in features, which remember your past searches and help you find facts fast. When you want to kick back for a while, take one of the thematic tours or guided lessons on mapmaking that are every bit as powerful and well-made as National Geographic's television specials. It's hard to beat National Geographic Maps for sheer eye-straining fun; better still, it makes you smarter! --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Just like the good 'ol days
For those of you who have fond memories of poring over Nat'l Geographic maps when you were younger and the world was a much bigger place and very exotic place, getting these CD's was like a trip down memory lane for me. I used to spend hours as a kid going over the maps in each issue when I was around 12 years old (and older), and I probably learned a lot about the world in the process.

So when I saw this collection I purchased it. I haven't had a subscription to N.G. in 30 years, so I had some catching up to do. I found checking out all the new maps I had missed to be almost as much fun as when I was a kid, except now you can sort and search for them by topic and get info much more quickly using the CDs. The only downside to this is if you request a map that isn't on the current CD (and there are 8 of them), it will tell you you have to put in the right CD. Sometimes this means a certain amount of shuffling CDs when going back and forth between different maps.

Nagivating around each map takes a little getting used to, and sometimes the print on the screen gets pretty tiny, but there is a magnification function so you can magnify anything you want and still read the articles on the maps. Overall a fun CD set to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon with just like when you were a kid.

A wonderful Geographic resource
This collection, spanning the entire National Geographic Society's history, is a wonderfuly tool. Each and every map ever printed by the Society is here in perfect digital clarity. Though an excellent companion to their Complete National Geographic software, this product is great stand alone as well.

National Geographic maps have long been invaluable resources to virtually everyone (Byrd carried one over the North Pole in '26, extensively utilized by the allies in WWII, etc.) and this software collects them all! While not as wholly geographically informative as a current National Geographic atlas, it is an excellent and cost effective substitute (it costs about half as much) which covers many things which the atlas does not.

Ideally, everyone would own this, the Complete National Geographic, and a current National Geographic atlas. But, in this less than ideal world, this is a great product which deserves to be on everyone's computer.

A disappointment
NGMaps 2.0 is disappointing software. Yes every National Geographic Map is included but generally what you get is a collection of high quality scans. If you want maps that are searchable - because you want to find something! then this isn't for you. The database is lacking both consistancy and raw data. As an Australian I was amazed that some of our capital cities could not even be found.

Geography at its best: you don't even have to refold the map
Say the word 'map' and most people's eyes glaze over instantaneously. When over 50% of entering freshmen at American universities claimed in 1990 that Mexico was *north* of the United States, educators across the country got extremely worried. National Geographic started lending a hand to secondary educators in an effort to promote basic geographic understanding.

Of course, they'd already been doing something like that for years with their bi-monthly series of map inserts. National Geographic 'maps' have always been much more than a grid on the planet's surface. They've shown the impact of geography on societal development. Indeed, each map generally tied in with an article in that issue, and showed the impact of geography on whatever the theme of that article was. Maybe it would be the development of shipbuilding in Polynesia or the influence of the Church in Europe.

This package of excellent software goes the printed map series one better by virtue of its medium. You have complete control over the maps in a way not possible with their print counterparts. Plus, there are a ton of multimedia extras which make the maps come alive. The ability to go anywhere in the world and study not only its present, physical and political geography, but to also see its historical and cultural development, is wholly addictive. I challenge anyone to start using this product and NOT walk away from it enlightened.

For those shopping for the best geographical education software, it's worth mentioning that this product compares favorably to _Microsoft Encarta_. Unlike the more thematic offering here, _Encarta_ is a kind of multimedia almanac. It does not pretend to be an exhaustive collection of 100-odd years of cartographic understanding, but rather uses a map interface to frame encyclopediac information. It also allows you to 'corkboard' internet sites about the various geographic regions to the map interface. And it only has one disk, so you don't have to keep flipping back and forth. As such, it's a good, basic, workhorse software for learning about the present nature of the world.

_National Geographic Maps_, by contrast, makes the world come alive by providing better maps and helping you remember the geographic content by overlaying some kind of theme.

As such, _NGM_ is a better educational tool, and _Encarta_ is a more convenient simple reference tool. To be sure, the maps are better on _NGM_, but because of the number of CDs and _Encarta's_ better statistical analysis interface, _Encarta's_ more convenient for quick reference.

Still, almost anyone would benefit from introducing _NGM_ to their software library. It's quite simply some of the most valuable time you could spend at your computer. I have only one hesitation about this product: it would be soooo much better on DVD. Flipping through CDs is sometimes laborious, especially if you're trying to follow one theme throughout several different geographic regions. Having it all, or mostly, on one disc would be a massive improvement to the product. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Excellent Product!
Although it is a bit slower that my other Delorme products, TopoUSA is very fun and satisfying to use. DVD is a must since it comes on 1 disk. I have spent hours visiting places via map that I have been and places I want to go. I have check the accuracy twice with my Garmin GPS 12 and have found X, Y and Z coordinates to be at least as accurate as the GPS Device. This program is a must for anyone who loves maps, hiking or Geology/Geography. Additionally, It should be a requirement for any SAR team. This is the best [money] I have spent in quite a while. Buy one now!

Very cute 3D views, but sluggish
The product is hard to use and sluggish in rendering 3D views, but the views are delightful. Despite the problems I bought one as a gift and one for myself.

Not very accurate.
I was disappointed with this software. Comparing several areas to the corresponding parts of USGS topographical maps, I found numerous errors. ... Read more

Features

• Visit every continent and learn about the countries on each of them, and their cultures
• Learn useful facts about the various countries and peoples of the world
• Video clips and photos show you the rich diversity of the world around us

Reviews (2)

Your Library Is Totally Incomplete Without This Gem !
This is an absolute gem in literary and reference excellence. If you have any interest in things past, may it be history, geography, culture, society, whatever..., you name it, then this materpiece is for you. At 4 DVD or 31 CD's worth you are unlikely to get bored anytime within the next 10 years. And what great value for money !

Well worth it...
I have seen other reviews which fault the complete National Geographic because it is presented as a set of page scans, rather than a text-based resource. This means that you can't do a full text search of the content, or copy and paste text to other documents. Still. I guess wordprocessing software was hard to come by in 1888.

My opinion? Great reference. Not too hard to read, considering the technology. The images are good. It prints ok. The search engine is good, and the navigation is quite usable. The program has only crashed on me once so far.

But get this DVD version. It saves swopping media all the time - and it takes much less space than 110 years worth of paper. (And do get the complete maps to go with it).

My only regret is this. I could not buy this item from Amazon.com, because they won't sell it outside of the USA for some reason. Instead I had to buy it from another Internet retailer (also based in the USA) with lesser customer service and lesser website usability. ... Read more

Features

• Learn to translate any word from English to Spanish, or vice versa
• Learn about Americanisms and the different ways English and Spanish express similar ideas
• Locutions, phrases and present expressions, along with numerous examples of each
• Develop your knowledge of Spanish in no time with this great translation tool!

Amazon.com Review

While perfect planning won't prevent unexpected mishaps ormisadventures, National Geographic Trip Planner 2002 helps you map out thethings you can control to make your business trip or vacation run smoothly. Fromcustomized maps to Frommer's hotel and restaurant reviews (it even offersportable planning on your PDA), this application will get you out the door andcoasting down the freeway in no time.

Trip Planner 2002 comes complete with three installation CDs: a program disc,multimedia disc, and street locator disc. To get started, you'll need to firstinstall the multimedia disc. Once that's done, pop in the program disc and do aninstall. Afterwards, you'll need to reinsert the multimedia disc--which seems abit backward to us and led to some initial confusion, although everything isclearly laid out in the user's guide. You can use the street locator disc anytime after initial program installation, although you may need to reinsert themultimedia disc--another seemingly superfluous step.

The application allows users to plan a road trip in one of two ways: using thetrip wizard or manually. The trip wizard is the fastest and easiest method, asyou are asked to choose your origin and your destination from a long list ofpossible cities, and fill in stops along the way. However, you're not given alist of possible stops in between your origin and destination--you need tofigure that out on your own, either using the included map or an exteriorresource. You can also choose from a list of visits at your origin, destination,or a city in between. We planned a trip from Seattle to Vancouver, B.C., andwere given a huge list of restaurants, historic attractions, scenic parks, andmore in each city.

Other notable features in Trip Planner 2002 include the ability to budget yourtrips by estimating your fuel, food, and lodging expenses. However, thesenumbers are provided in a very general format, so if you are on a seriousbudget, you'll probably want to do some number crunching on your own. Anotherbenefit to this program are the travel tips and recommendations from NationalGeographic writers, which add value in the manner of a travel guidebook.Finally, PDA users will appreciate that they can download information directlyonto their Palms, rather than keeping track of printed itineraries and maps.

A few important notes--if you're looking to go anywhere besides the U.S. andCanada, Trip Planner 2002 is not for you. Also, if you simply want drivingdirections and maps, you can find this information for free on many travel Websites. However, if you want more in-depth details and recommendations for pointsof interest along the way, Trip Planner 2002 offers enough extras to make it aworthwhile purchase. --Gisele Toueg ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Two bad disks -- no support
I purchased 2 copies of this, one for myself and one for a gift. I can't get either one of them to load (get an installation error) and can get no support from the company I bought it from Nor from National Geographic. I would not recommend purchasing this product.

National Geographic Trip Planner 2002 - Good but not Great
I will keep this simple. The clarity and ease of use of Microsoft's Streets and Trips 2002 has no rival.

National Geographic does bring to bear some of their excellent pics. and info. from the parks in their multimedia disk component of their package, but the list of parks was not nearly as complete as I had hoped, nor were more out of the way spots easy to set as waypoints - or even to locate.

I can do what needs to be done, without frustration, using the Microsoft product in less than a fourth of the time that it takes me to use the NG product.

The NG product is clearly better than anything Rand Mc. ever put out.

If you enjoy planning trips with software just for the sake of it, and want another program to complement the Microsoft offering, this is the one for you.

It works and the price is right.
To know what this program does read the above amazon editorial review. As for me, I took a chance on this because I do enjoy planning trips and the price of this program is low risk. Of course, much of this information could be gotten off the internet, but it's great to have it all together with a funcion that allows you to make your own notes at places along your trip.

The budget maker is general, but is a quick way to get an accurate estimate on food, gas, lodging, and extras. I'm new to PC programs, but this was easy to learn and start using right away. You'll perhaps want to get more detailed info for hotel room discriptions off the net once you've got your trip planned, but then you can enter that info onto your memos in the program. I like very detailed hotel info with photos, so that's the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars. But I might be asking too much of one program.

I know one thing for sure. It beats flipping through a lot of travel books while standing at the book store or clicking around the net for general information. And getting the trip directions, milage, driving time, and budget estimate with one click is worth it alone for me because I can quickly test out several trip choices. So I'm serious when I say I use it and it does get you into the feeling of "the James Bond lifestyle". ... Read more