Interactive World Atlas

Billed as suitable for home and school use, this interactive atlas from Focus doesn't make a positive impact initially, due to some rather shoddy presentation. The main world map looks rather crude, particularly when zoomed out, although closer in, the graphics are more palatable with major towns, national borders and height contours all marked.

That doesn't excuse the rather clumsy interface, which marks places of interest with tiny icons that you can click on. Once discovered (there's some hunting involved), these lead to details on a specific city or area, complete with text descriptions backed up by some small and rather grainy photos.

Each country boasts at least a few of these highlights and the program also gives a basic breakdown of the country's major geographical features, climate and other details such as GNP, level of education and so forth. No indication is given as to the date of these facts and figures but a quick check revealed that they are the best part of a decade old, which isn't very impressive.

Aside from the main map, the Interactive World Atlas also offers a number of extras. These include a submenu chock-full of flags and information relating to them (including the history of flags) and a section devoted to graphs of world temperatures, populations, the balance of world trade and so forth. These are interesting additions, if a little dry and text heavy in places.

Contact: Focus Multimedia 01889 570156
www.focusmm.co.uk