Purely Subjective Review of VISTA Moving Map Software.
                             By Bob Martin
                                04-10-96



                              SHORT FORM:

    I got a VISTA DEMO last fall. I was disappointed, BUT, it was not
very representative of the real program. Tiny pixel maps were
substituted for the real vector roadmaps and gave a poor feel for the
real thing, and zooming in and out was useless.

    More recently, it fell upon me to evaluate several moving map
programs, and a REAL copy of Vista was ordered. I just love getting paid
to play with neat stuff.

   Vista is currently a 640x480 DOS program, which is a real good thing
if you don't happen to own the latest and hottest yuppie laptop. No CD
is required in the laptop, just a few megs of disk. An external ZIP
Drive actually works great, once you've figured out the 5V supply to run
it. It uses virtually any kind of scanned map or chart, as well as Vista
supplied CD ROMs with vector road maps or scanned Aviation or Nautical
Charts. It is usable night or day, since a bright and dim set of colors
may be picked at any time. It speaks fluent NMEA and some other GPS and
Loran dialects, via serial port, and your GPS or LORAN model is quite
likely to be in the stable.

    The WINDOWS version is in beta and it retains much of the flavor of
the DOS version, with changes made to make it windows friendly (or
tolerant, depending on your view) , and several obvious improvements.
Some limits are broken, and new features included. The Windows version
uses a new serial data interface which accepts most NMEA sentences, and
takes what it needs from whatever it's given. Given the recent price
drop, from $388 to $200 roughly, it comes highly recommended.

    Oh, the $200 price valid through 4-30-96 applies to BOTH versions
and a CD of your choice, according to my day-glow pink mail flyer.


                           BEST SINGLE POINT:

    The PEOPLE at Vista, a.k.a. RMS technologies.

    It is uncharacteristic of our times to call a support number, speak
with an actual U.S.A. speaking human, let alone an actual programmer,
and resolve a problem without a hassle. It is unimaginable to have a
programmer fix (actually improve) a program in response to a request,
and send an update...  but it happened.  No 900 number stuff, no touch
tone whiffle tree, no heartburn. WOW !!

    Internet email is answered, and a BBS for registered users exists,
but I didn't try that yet.

                          WORST SINGLE POINT:

    The limit is 10 waypoints in THE route, and there is no way to save
THE route. (a.k.a. Mission)  Waypoints on the other hand are more easily
saved than not, and "Mission Planning" is used to enter THE route with
the mouse at the time of use. Adding waypoints to THE route with a mouse
click or placing a new vertex in the middle of an existing route leg and
dragging it to an intermediate waypoint is an easy and effective way to
enter a route.

    The impending Windows version will manage multiple routes and save
files just as you would hope.

    Waypoints and many other things are stored in simple ASCII text
files, so interoperability with people and other programs is a breeze.
(Provided of course the people or OTHER program isn't the roadblock)


                          RAMBLING COMMENTARY:

    Vista supports their own vector road map CD format, Digital Chart
of the World,  Digital Nautical Chart, World Vector Shoreline, and
Compressed ARC Digitized Raster Graphics formats, as well as any PCX or
GIF format. Some of these map formats are only available to military or
government contractors, and versions of Vista exist which support
Rockwell's military PLGR GPS units. This doesn't mean a thing to me, but
coupled with a small knowledge of their FLITESOFT package it helps make
it clear that RMS is not a newcomer to the art of moving maps. I'm
pretty sure they know their yoke from their er.., uhmm..., tailwheel.

    The vector street maps have a number of errors. So what's new? I sit
here daily by a mound of CD's with the most expensive street data and
the least expensive. It's all reeking with errors. Very often I can plot
cheap data over top of expensive data, and line up pixel for pixel,
error for error. There isn't any data at any price that is free of
errors. Vista is very USEFUL data. It just happened that a few miles of
missing Interstate tended to stick out like a sore thumb, especially
since I was driving on it. It wouldn't be a review if I didn't find
something to whine about.

    WGS-84 is assumed.

    Vista's CD vector road map set was derived from the Census folks
Tiger data set, which isn't exactly dripping in holy water itself.
Thank heaven my job isn't to create a better set of data !  A great deal
of work was expended compacting and rearranging this data so as to fit
on the single CD, and have it come apart in pieces 1 degree wide and
tall, which can be used from your laptop's hard drive. At the same time,
travelling across a map edge boundary is invisible and seamless.  You
can even look at a large US bitmap, and overlay little rectangles where
the currently loaded vector map files lie.  You can specify a lat-long
location, and have the map containing it be loaded.

    An pilot friend tells me that his NAV charts EXPIRE regularly and I
have no idea how or if Vista handles updates.  Flitesoft has an annual
subscription to updates (unknown relationship to Vista's policy) No big
deal though, if you can scan it, you can use it.  There are several
other listed sources of compatible map data, some governemnt, and some
military. VISTA is one of the few programs which can MIX scanned and
vector data, allowing format changes at will.

    Splitting the USA into 6 regions, about 1 Mbyte each, a regional
terrain data set permits the observation of changes in altitude along
the path projected ahead of you. The resolution is about 100 feet in Z,
and 30 Secs in X and Y. This is probably more important to know in an
airplane but nonetheless an interesting feature.  Zipping across the
valley floor you can clearly see the shape of the approaching mountain.
When you reach the twisting mountain road, the path ahead of you changes
so fast that the fun sorta goes plumb out of it. (You should be driving
anyway now, not gawking)

    With a little practice, I've been able to grab maps from the CRT
screen and paste several screens side by side, making a fairly
respectable bitmap for use with Vista. Delorme's Map Expert makes this a
painless export. Some other programs require screen grabbing utilities.
All such maps need to be "fixed" to use them. Fixing simply means
entering the Latitude and Longitude of some known points on the map.
From 2 to 30 points may be used, so various map projections or other
distortions may be accomodated. The more points the better. Opposite
corners work best.

    Any bitmap has a limit to the degree it can be zoomed in and out,
and the creation of huge high resolution maps isn't practical from the
standpoint of data storage. Even if it were, zooming out from a high
resolution map is suprisingly destructive due to pixels vanishing.

    While road maps in vector format are much more useful on the ground,
the scanned Sectional charts from Vista are well suited to use above the
ground. They look great over several zoom levels, and contain sufficient
details without being excessively large. Sectionals are available in
Eastern and Western US CD's or the entire US WACs CD for about $99.
Still, hang on to the paper maps, and don't depend on one single
navi-widget.

    Installing is simple:   A:install

    After installation, nothing suprising or destructive has happened,
and your system is not wrecked by flagrant and secretive modificaions to
your files. It can be un-installed by mere mortals.... no alimony.

    There's a good list of useable GPS and Loran locators, including
Apollo / II Morrow,  ARNAV, Azure /R.S.T., Foster, Garmin, King/Bendix,
Lowrance / Eagle, Magellan, Northstar, and Trimble. Lots of others
also work, but just aren't listed specifically. The model is chosen as a
member of a GROUP. i.e. anything that speaks $GPRMC and goes 4800 baud
falls into Group 6. That alone covers a zillion models. There are I
think 12 groups now. Still I would call to be sure, and pay homage to
Edsel P. Murphy before sending the money.

    Vista comes on 4 3.5" floppies, two of which are terrain data. It
runs fine under Windows 3.1 and Win95. It always uses a 640x480 full
screen. 256 colors are good, 16 needed as a minimum. It is intolerant of
the Microsoft Ver 9.01 mouse drivers. This sent me scrambling into the
old 5 1/4 disk dumping grounds in search of an antique mouse driver.
8.xx solved the problem OK. Under WIN95, the 32 bit virtual mouse driver
handles it perfectly, without regard to version.  Had I actually READ
the book, I would not have experienced this minor shock, it plainly said
what was going to happen right there in Appendix A paragraph 2....

    When I first saw the program start, I was startled by the size of the
font used for the menus. It was like a trip back in time, when 16 x 32
huge characters on a TV screen was 'neat'.  Well, it didn't take long in
the drivers seat in traffic to develop an excellent understanding of big
letters, big trucks, big ditches, and leave that mouse alone ! This kind
of program used by the driver is not without risk. Fortunately, almost
everything can be done with one finger pokes at the keyboard, usually
easier than mousing around and yes, the big letters are very welcome.

    Vista is able to show the last 1000 path points, 2.7 hours, and
record an ASCII log file holding lat, long, heading, speed, altitude,
time, and a tag digit, for which you may invent meanings and enter at
any point.

    It can also position an OVERLAY file over your map. This again is an
ASCII text file, and contain instructions to draw various labels, lines
of various linestyles, and points or circles of various sizes. If your
overlays get complicated enough to slow down the display, then a
compiler is supplied to speed it up again by converting the text file to
a binary go-faster mode. In theory you could create your own vector map
data system and compile it.

    A little text editor is built in to deal with ASCII files, or you
can use your own favorite. More options and configuration values are
found in the  ".INI" file. All those little details like knots v. mph
and magnetic v. true are found there. Magnetic deviations are accounted
for automatically. Even a fuel consumption rate can be set, allowing an
estimate of fuel remaining. Yet another file can contain a reference
point, showing a marker with a label. This 'special' point is constantly
compared with your current location, and the name, distance, heading,
ETE, ETA, and fuel needed show in the REF info box.

    The colors (day and night set of each)  of all map elements, as well
as the zoom level at which they become visible can be changed in the
".INI" file.

    Various tools exist to display data about single points on the screen
both absolutely and relative to your own position, and to measure
between two points, or predict your position at some time in the (near)
future.

    A ham operator looking for a hidden transmitter (a game played by
hams) or a search party looking for an emergency beacon (the same hams,
but not playing) will find a neat wrinkle in that the "gauge" thingy,
which can be used to mark two points on the map and determine distance
and bearing, can also have its marking vector added to the overlay file.
This means that after several direction finder readings, the marks on
the overlay should intersect near the target. So, you cell phone theives
out there, watch out for the guys with the four little stubby antennae
on the black pie plate...you might get mapped. :)

    If you sit still at a known location, you can correct your map to
agree, at least for a little while, correcting away SA, map datum,  and
other errors. Over a short haul, this can help a lot, but remember to
undo the corrections before they drift from subtractive to additive.

    You can search for cities by name, state  and center the map there.
When you leave a map, i.e. drive off the edge, you can chose to have the
adjacent bitmap loaded automatically. With vector maps you can't even
tell it happened.  How far you get from the center before the map
re-draws is an .INI file parameter. There is a noticable 'dead' interval
after you reach that limit and the time the new map is displayed. This
can vary from 2 to 4 seconds depending on your laptop performance.
Wisely, the last view is left intact while all this work is being done
and when ready, the new map just pops into place. The current position
pointer just doesn't change until its over. Some much higher priced
mappers do far worse.

    You can select a Course Deviation Indicator, which looks like a
crude graphic analog meter, and shows your cross track error. The CDI
error signal can be sent via serial cable to another computer, say an
HP200, and the indication seen remotely.

    Passing a planned waypoint causes a sound from the laptop, and the
Course Deviation then points in relation to the new next waypoint, all
automatically. You can chose from two algorithms for detecting this
passing. First you can choose to recognize having entered a 'hot' circle
of a chosen radius.  This is great, provided SA isn't having one of it's
bad days, and you didn't encounter an unexpected detour.  (Not to
mention plain old LOST.)

    Alternativly, you may opt for the magic all knowing internal
algorithm that looks at your course, distances from waypoints, and other
mysterious details, and just figures out somehow what you're up to. It's
pretty foolproof given a relatively sane route, but multiple acute angle
turns, loop backs, or grid like zig-zagging can confuse it. Fortunately,
you can manually coerce the desired waypoint with a couple keystrokes. I
choose to use this mode more often, as the hot circle radius has to be
pretty large. I prefer the "crossed the perpendicular" detection method
but thats not even foolproof where turns greater than 90 degrees are
programmed.

    I've been attracted by other moving map programs, even written a
couple myself, but keep falling back on Vista. When driving, and your
attention is required in several places at once, there is a lot to be
said in favor a a program like this that just simply does what it does
without consuming the user, or drowning him in insignificant and
un-needed fluff. There are toys, and there are tools. There are products
concieved by marketting persons, and there are products which are
concieved by real users. I think Vista roadmap falls in the latter
category on both counts.

    So, having said all that, here's where to send money:

    RMS Technology Inc.
    124 Berkley Ave - PO Box 249
    Molalla, OR 97038
    800-553-3211
    503-829-6167

    I am not connected in any way with RMS Technology Inc., and don't
    get to keep any of the money... Rats!

    (L) copyleft 04-11-96 ,martin@inmind.com