Anquet Maps, a small software house, has produced some innovative new mapping software allowing the home PC user to access 1:50,000 Ordnance Survey mapping from their desktop. This release comes hot on the heels of Memory Map, similar software that was released a few months back. This review is not going to take the form of a comparison between these two products but is going to cover the features and functionality of the Anquet Maps software and allow you to make up your own minds as to which is the best product for you.
Currently there are five packages available. These packages cover different areas of the UK as follows:
These Packages cover the areas listed above in the 1:50,000 scale mapping and full UK coverage of 1:250,000 road map and a UK overview map. They also include the software you need to actually view these maps. At present the OS 1:50,000 mapping covers only the listed areas, leaving huge swathes of the UK without detailed mapping, however this will change. This product was launched only a month ago and plans to extend the coverage of the mapping beyond the main walking and mountain biking areas of the UK will be put into action when the popularity of the product justifies it.
Each of these packages is available to order over the phone or from the Anquet Maps website for £35.00.
The software provided with every CD, allows you to view all the scales of the clear and crisp mapping in a seamless manner. I discovered one of my favourite features within moments of using the software, as you zoom out of your OS map, at a certain point the map scale changes and you get a more suitable map for the view you are looking at. The point at which the scale changes is up to you, one of the many easy to adjust settings such as distance and height scales and coordinate format. Another feature that I appreciate is the fact that where there is map coverage at 1:50,000 scale, it is continuous and not tiled. This makes for quick and easy navigation of the map as well as making it simple to plot a long route.
The status bar at the bottom of the screen allows you to monitor the grid reference of your location, your height in your chosen scale (using detailed but hidden spot height data for the whole of the UK) and the scale of map that you are using.
Finding places on the map is simple with the search facility, allowing you to search just with the first few letter of a location of using the full name. When a search is run, the results are listed showing the type of location found, i.e. town, hill, wood, the grid reference and the county or area of the location. A further search option is to locate a point on the map by typing in the OS grid reference, Lat/Long or National Grid reference. These various search options are something which have really impressed me, the ability to find somewhere easily is great and without good searching facilities, how do you find somewhere just by a place name?
In terms of plotting a path on the map, it just takes a few clicks and it is done and to re-position part of a route, just drag and drop the node, waypoint to where it is required. Waypoints can be shown as a number of logos including, bike, tree, stile, camera and many more, you can even import your own icons if necessary. It is possible to plot an entire route in the form of a path, however the intention of the software is that you plot each stretch of track as a path and at a junction, you put down a waypoint and then go on to the next path. When you have completed plotting the route, the software can then create a route from the paths and waypoints. Each path can be displayed alongside a gradient profile of the path. The gradient profile is plotted from the spot height data and gives a clear alternative way of displaying your route, especially useful for working out where the downhills are and how steep they are, with no effort.
Other output is a stats display window that allows you to see the flat and hidden length of the route you have plotted, as well as your start location and height, end location and height and total climbing. Also a calculation is given for estimated journey time, based on Naismiths rule. This time is calculated for walkers, however in an update just out will allow you to define your own default values for the Naismiths rule for cyclists & mountain bikers. Although this is unlikely to be entirely accurate it will give riders a rough idea of the time required for a route.
One final, but very important feature is the ability to print the maps. The print options which for this are very thorough, allowing you to select the area, scale and size of printout you require. All of these settings allow you to make sure you get exactly what you want on your printed page.
My few suggestions to Anquet include the addition of GPS capabilities for uploading routes, downloading travelled routes and perhaps even plotting your actual position. I understand that this is in the pipeline.
A further suggestion is the ability to print out a list of grid references of nodes or waypoints on a particular route. Another enhancement would be an increased mapping coverage of the 1:50,000 scale, perhaps 1:25,000 scale mapping in some areas and street maps of selected cities would all greatly improve the appeal of the software.
Finally, this is a minor niggle, but worth suggesting that the ability to zoom in and out is made available to the wheel of a wheel mouse.
If you are looking into buying software such as this, I suggest you take in what I’ve said, check out the Anquet website and then judge for yourself if you could benefit from it. I understand there is a limited demo version of the software for download from their website.
For a very reasonable price, the software offers you a lot including comprehensive mapping of your chosen area, excellent search facilities, the ability to plot routes and tracks very quickly and easily and print out colour mapping at the scale you desire. What the software does, it does really well, but there is room for new features and these will follow including GPS functionality and perhaps greater map coverage.
I would recommend this software to anyone who is considering upgrading from their moulding pile of OS maps to this state of the art consumer mapping software.
Mapping data licensed from Ordnance Survey® with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office.© Crown copyright 2002. All rights reserved. Licence number PU100035020.
Last Updated 16-04-2002
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