Memory Map Discoverer series review

It's not that I don't like maps.

It's just that they always find a way to confound my best efforts. If I'm walking, you'll see me wrestling with four feet of paper in a high wind. In the car, I miss turnings because I'm too busy flicking between pages. With Memory Map Discoverer, I reckoned, such difficulties would be a thing of the past.

The series divides the UK into 12 regions. Each costs £40 -pricey, but a fraction of the cost of the equivalent 20-odd Landranger maps.

Each disc includes a smaller-scale map that's perfect for road trips. You'll also find nautical maps and aerial photographs - a pleasant diversion, but with a long list to scroll through, it can take a while to home in on the 1:50,000 map of your region.

Once you've located it, the rest is plain sailing. Zoom in and out using the '+' and '-' keys; scroll with the cursor keys. And there's no more leaping from map to map: if you buy an adjacent region, it's added to the browser program, so you can scroll between the two without interruption.

Hovering the cursor over a point brings up its co-ordinates and height above sea level - handy for walkers. Also useful are the way-markers that you click and drag on to the map, enabling you to calculate distances.

But the real ace up Discoverer's sleeve is its ability to export maps to Pocket PC-based handheld computers. You can switch to a high-contrast 'night view', and link maps to GPS systems that pinpoint your exact location.

As well as storing regularly visited 'hotspots', you can search for place names, although only major towns are catalogued.

If you're sick of cumbersome OS maps and crave the convenience of route-planning tools, Memory Map Discoverer is for you. But for a casual stroll in your local area, a £5.99 Landranger is all you need.

Author: James Nixon