Map & Travel 2004 is the third in this series of route-planning applications which allow users to plan road trips quickly and efficiently. This latest release employs the usual planning method of entering start and finish locations, but also includes a generous selection of extra functionals for road travellers.

Following the straightforward installation and registration process, Map & Travel 2004 presents users with an intuitive interface, allowing you to easily take advantage of its many features. In fact, provided your journey begins or ends in a well-known European city, the software is even able to show route descriptions which include specific house numbers.

The attention to detail doesn't stop there, as you also have the ability to include navigation to and from 180,000 specific points of interest or hotels. So if you're in a touristy mood and fancy a visit to the zoo on the way to your location, adding additional stop-offs into your schedule is simple.

While we couldn't fault its comprehensiveness, we did find its time calculations and traffic announcements to be a little on the optimistic side. Journeys we know to take over an hour are regularly shown as being 15 minutes shorter.

To its credit though, Map & Travel 2004 does offer a choice of alternate routes and an optimisation facility that finds the shortest or fastest path to a destination.

Combine these factors with toll avoidance, GPS compatibility and the ability to calculate the entire cost of your journey based on fuel economy and tank capacity, and you have an excellent package.

On the whole, this software is easy to recommend. Thanks to its varied route-planning options and the fact that you can plot a route from Hull to Heraklion while taking in all the casinos on the way, Map & Travel 2004 is one of the best route finders on the market.

Contact: Map & Guide
www.mapandguide.de