Ever since I learned land navigation, there have often been times that I have wished I had a topographic map. They're available from the US Coast and Geodetic Survey, and in outdoor stores, but I never bought one.
Now, though, I have one in my computer, and it's great. It's DeLorme's TopoUSA, version 4.0. It comes on a seven-disk set, one for install and six for data.
Unlike other mapping programs, this one will tell you what the topography is like. It shows hills, valleys, rivers, etc. I used it to take a look at the terrain in the vicinity of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. After looking at the contour lines of that mountain, it was easy to see why automobiles in the Northeastern US sport bumper stickers, "This car climbed Mt. Washington."
The program will also show you streets if you are mapping a built-up area. I was able to use it to check out the neighborhood where I grew up, and all the streets were there just as I expected. I found that I can determine elevation of the house I grew up in, just by running the cursor over the location.
The program will also calculate routes for you. It gives you different views, and if you like, it will show you a 3-D view of the area that you have on your topo map. If there's any thing that I didn't like about this program, it has to be that it's not as intuitive as I'd like; I had to resort to Help to get some things done. But that will go away with practice.
Don't think that getting this program will mean you'll never get lost in the woods. You'll need some instruction (either from a book or class) on land navigation to get around, and you need to practice. You'll need to know how to shoot azimuths, calculate back azimuths, and do intersection and resection. You need maps for all these techniques, and TopoUSA 4.0 gives you the maps. It's well worth it.
