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Anquet Maps Version 06 Review

 

Product Description

If you love riding your bike in new and exciting places, checking out where the organiser might put the controls in the next event, or looking back at where your route actually took you, then computer based mapping software may be just the thing for you.

Although there are several alternatives in this field, the mapping can be quite expensive, especially if like us, you love the detail afforded by 1:25K Ordnance Survey maps. Of the various suppliers, Anquet Maps offer several features that are ahead of their competitors as well as offering the cheapest way of acquiring mapping with the ability to specify maps down to individual 1km squares and frequent special offers.

We review Anquet Maps v06 with regard to its suitability for trailquesters and mountain bikers alike.

Downloading & Installing

One of the best things about Anquet Maps v06 is that you can download the software and sample maps completely for free. This is achieved by first downloading the base software from Anquet's website and installing it on your computer. There are versions for both PC and Mac.

One of the best features of Anquet is the ability to download the maps directly to your computer from the Internet, and this is how the sample maps are obtained. Selecting the Download Maps option connects the software to Anquet's Map Server, and a list of available maps is presented. Expanding the Anquet Demo Maps list shows a range of free map downloads including various OS maps at different scales, A-Z street mapping, Harvey walking maps and aerial photography maps. Highlighting the required map and clicking the Downlad Map button will simply download it to your computer where it is immediately available for use.

If you like the Anquet Maps v06 software then it is very easy to purchase the maps you need and download them. You can select the scale and type of maps required and then select from an array of pre-defined areas, or define your own map area where you only pay for the actual 1km map tiles you want. This ability to define your own map area represents a significant saving on mapping costs as there is no need to pay for lots of tiles which contain nothing but sea, which always seems to be the case when defining the purely rectangular areas used by Anquet's competitors!

For those who prefer physical media it is still possible to order maps on CD/DVD, although downloading from the map server works so well, and maps can be re-downloaded at any time, that we can only see a benefit in this approach to those with a very slow internet connection.

Viewing & Printing Maps

A simple drop-down box allows any of the installed maps to be selected, while clicking two large icons on the toolbar allow the maps to be zoomed in and out to anywhere between 10% and 600%. Clicking on the map and then dragging with the mouse scrolls the map smoothly and the maps can also be scrolled by pressing the arrow keys on the keyboard.

Printing maps is equally straightforward. Clicking the print icon on the toolbar brings up a pop-up window where the map orientation, scale, and zoom can be selected. A thick black border surrounds the map area to be printed and dragging with the mouse allows precise positioning to be achieved. Due to map licensing restrictions maps can only be printed to A4, but it is possible to print maps across multiple A4 sheets.

Route Planning

Route planning is particularly easy with Anquet. Right clicking on the map and selecting Start Route will insert a first waypoint, and then left clicking will add subsequent waypoints with a straight line drawn between them. Ending a route is achieved by right clicking again and selcting End Route. This means that simply clicking wherever there is a change of direction in the road or track is all that is needed to build a route and it is very quick to create routes over long distances.

Once a route has been planned a variety of information can be viewed about it, including the distance (both flat and including factors for hill inclines), height to be ascended and descended, and the time taken to complete the route. Average speeds can be set for different types of activity in the options screens for walking, mountain biking etc. A really good feature is the ability to have multiple profiles allowing different average speeds to be set according to trail conditions. Obviously the software can't determine how easy going the surface is, so if your route includes a lot of road, you can set a faster average speed then if it is entirely off-road.

A 2D profile of the route can be displayed and both the profile and route information can be printed along with the map. Routes can be saved to disk and recalled at any time.

3D Landscape

One of the most interesting features of Anquet Maps is the ability to view the landscape in 3D. When this mode is turned on the underlying height data is used to create a wireframe representation of the landscape which the selected map is draped over. This makes it possible to step through any route and to see exactly what the terrain will be like. This feature is great for revealing that the trailquest you have just entered in supposedly flat Leicestershire, is in fact quite lumpy! It also allows you to really get a feel for which parts of the possible course are likely to involve some stiff climbing.

You don't have to pre-plan a route to see the landscape in 3D. A pop-up set of controls allows you to move around the landscape and turn through 360 degrees as if you were flying through it. There is also a split screen mode which allows the 3D map to be viewed in one window and the 2D map in the other window.

GPS Integration

Anquet Maps v06 allows routes to be downloaded to GPS receivers and for the tracklog to be loaded back into the mapping software. A wide range of GPS receivers from Garmin and Magellan are supported. To do this the GPS receiver must first be connected to your computer using the correct hardware drivers, and from there Anquet should automatically be able to detect it. If the GPS receiver cannot be automatically detected the connection can be set up manually.

If you carry a GPS receiver with you during an event, uploading the tracklog will allow you to see exactly where you went and hence, where you could have taken a better route. This feature is very useful for improving route planning ability.

Pocket Anquet

Anquet Maps isn't only restricted to your PC or laptop, you can also download for free Pocket Anquet. Pocket Anquet runs on a wide range of pocket PCs and smartphones which run the Windows Mobile operating system.

Once Pocket Anquet is installed you can copy any mapping you have already purchased to the Pocket Anquet device. Because the memory in Pocket PCs and smartphones is much less than in a traditional computer, the amount of mapping that can be transferred is limited by the available memory in the device. This is overcome by being able to mark an area to be transferred in the full Anquet software.

Having tested both ordnance survey 1:50K and 1:25K mapping on a 640 x 320 pixel Pocket PC, the mapping was very easy to read and follow. If your Pocket PC or smartphone includes or is interfaced to a GPS receiver, Pocket Anquet will also show your current position live on the map.

Users of the Apple Mac version of Anquet are able to transfer maps to Apple iPhones, and we understand Anquet are working on the ability to be able to transfer maps from a PC to an iPhone.

Overall

Having used this software for many months now it is very hard to find fault with it. It is reliable, intuitive, easy to use and the wide variety of maps available and ability to define maps for purchase down to 1km squares really saves money. We also love the online map downloading, 3D landscape, simple GPS integration and ability to put maps on a Pocket PC or smartphone.

When you add to this the fact that Anquet often have very attractive special offers for purchasing more maps we would have to say that this is an essential tool for all trailquesters and serious mountain bikers.

VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED