BackCountry Navigator, Topographic Maps on Pocket PC

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BackCountry Navigator is navigation software for outdoor recreation that runs on your Pocket PC. It displays topographic maps and aerial photography for the United States. When used with a GPS connected to your Pocket PC, it shows your location on a moving, mulitresolution map and guides you to waypoints you import, download or define.

BackCountry Navigator is appropriate for all activities for which you would normally use a topographic map and compass or GPS.

This software has a number of benefits to the outdoor enthusiast:

Navigate with color Topographic Maps describing terrain of land and waterways.
Use Aerial Photography for a rich, overhead image of your area of interest.
Download USGS Geographic Places for Points of Interest from over two million geographic features within the United States at the touch of a button.
Download maps directly to your Pocket PC whenever connected to the internet without the need for desktop software, subscriptions, or CD Roms.
Use public domain maps from TerraServer-USA with no additional cost or subscription needed. In other words, use *Free Maps* for any region of the United States.
Create tiled maps that define the area of your adventure, without being limited by the boundaries of quads, counties, or states.
Use multiple maps resolutions automatically to load the appropriate image as you zoom into or out of a map.
Define unlimited Custom Waypoints for navigation with a tap of the screen.
Use a Pocket PC GPS Receiver to show your location on a moving, multiresolution map of the wilderness.
Import GPX files (GPS Exchange format) to use waypoints defined by friends or other internet users.
Display geocache locations on your map and see formatted descriptions and hints.
Use the full display capabilities of your VGA Pocket PC with 2003SE for crisp and sharp images.

BACKCOUNTRY NAVIGATOR FUNCTIONS

Creating a Map Database
One of the first steps in using BackCountry Navigator is creating a map database. This file will contain all the images, places, and waypoints that you will use for a particular outdoor adventure.

Loading Topographic Maps and Aerial Photography
BackCountry Navigator loads a seamless, multiresolution map directly from a web service. Here we load a map that surrounds the area where we are planning a flatwater kayak trip.

Viewing the Map you Created
The software allows you freely zoom and pan around the map you create on your pocket PC device, loading different resolutions based on the scale.

Adding USGS Places Data
You can instantly download geographic places from the USGS database, marking important features on the map at the touch of a button.

Geocaching with your Pocket PC
A geocache is one of the kinds of waypoints you can import into BackCountry Navigator using the GPX file format. Importing the data will mark the cache on the map and display formatted descriptions and clues.

Defining Custom Waypoints
BackCountry Navigator allows you to define custom waypoints as easily as tapping the screen of your Pocket PC. Once defined, you can add the elevation, custom description, and notes.

Connecting a Pocket PC GPS
BackCountry Navigator works with standard Pocket PC GPS receivers. Connecting a GPS through bluetooth, cable, or compact flash will show your position on topographic maps and aerial photography.

Now you can download and try try the Beta version on Backcountry Navigatore web site.