Microsoft AutoRoute 2004

For years, AutoRoute has been the finest European route planner you can buy. We praised the 2003 version primarily for its excellent interface, and the new 2004 version is just as qualified in this area, the two being pretty much indistinguishable.

But while a degree of familiarity can be a good thing, AutoRoute also suffers from Microsoft's illogical generosity in providing a World Atlas' worth of place names but only mapping details for western Europe. Great, you can look at the globe and see where far-flung places are, but start planning a route and you'll find, for example, that there are seven Bristols and five Readings around the world. This level of information is overkill and without benefit, as it merely slows things down.

A feature new to AutoRoute 2004 is drive-time zone. Tell the program where you're staying and it will calculate and map the distance in all directions that you could cover if you're prepared to drive, say, half an hour. In rural areas, the system works well, but in an urban sprawl it's inaccurate, as it's based solely on speed limits. But more vital to everyday use is that traffic flow directions on one-way streets are now shown - an area where 2004 scores over 2003.

However, when it comes to route planning, we found that the maps used in both 2003 and 2004 were very similar. We programmed in identical trips criss-crossing Europe on both versions and found close results, so don't expect huge time savings or greater accuracy. In over 7,000km of driving around Europe, there was only about 19km of difference in Tarmac to cover.

Pocket PC owners will be able to download Pocket Street Maps to their PDAs for viewing, but there's no search function or route-finding function.

AutoRoute also lacks a link-up to the Net where you could download real-time congestion information. This would make it a far more effective and relevant tool, and save many from needing to invest in a GPS device. This is AutoRoute 2004's only real Achilles heel.

So, bar new real-time support for GPS devices, AutoRoute 2004 offers few benefits over its predecessor. Would-be upgraders should stick with 2003. But those without a route planner can do no better, as AutoRoute 2004 is a superbly presented and accurate program.

Author: Martin Cooper