Rich Friedman and Tom Thompson
AAA TRIP PLANNER Compton's NewMedia, 2320 Camino Vida Roble, Carlsbad, CA 92009, (619) 929-2500, $59.95
VIRTUAL LANDSCAPES Rocky Mountain Digital Peeks, P.O. Box 1576, Nederland, CO 80466, (303) 258-3779, $49
The AAA Trip Planner answers the age-old question ``How do you get from here to there?'' with both authority and panache. The program calculates your best route and traces it on finely detailed, printable maps. You get accurate directions, drive time, and mileage for most destinations in the U.S. Simply type in a starting point and your destination; the program does the rest.
In addition to planning your trip, the CD-ROM lists restaurants, attractions, and hotels (including average prices and credit-card acceptance) along your route. The listings are fai
rly comprehensive. Searching for restaurants near a small town in southern Vermont produced a list that included some of the better eateries in the area. The AAA Trip Planner is available in MPC format.
Virtual Landscapes lets you navigate and explore the hiking paths in Rocky Mountain National Park without leaving your home. A terrain map shows you the trails, and you pick the one you want to hike through. Digitized pictures of the trail from every point of view give you the eerie feeling of being there. You ``trudge'' up a slope, following the trail of crisp, snow-clad landscape images. Then you look back the way you came to admire the view. Views appropriate for glancing left and right are all there. In certain instances, you can even look up and down. It's really good, but just wait until these folks hook this stuff in with Apple's QuickTime virtual reality.
Certain scenes have hot spots that you click on to find out about local flora or weather. A continuous musical accompaniment is provide
d, and if easy listening is to your taste, it adds to the experience.
Virtual Landscapes is an amazing piece of work, seamlessly letting you experience the trails of the Rocky Mountain National Park. It's a good way to get a feel for the place before going there for a visit.
Hit The Road, Jack
