TomTom Europe Route Planner

Installation is easy. You copy the program to your Windows-based PC along with any individual maps. Then, the next time you synchronise, the whole lot gets copied to your palmtop. Then for example, if you wanted to plan a route from Brighton to Falmouth in Cornwall on your Palm, you'd load the detailed UK map, search for Brighton, set it as your departure point, search for Falmouth, set that as your destination and then tap the Plan button. You can choose between the shortest or the quickest route and then elect to have the instructions displayed turn by turn on the screen or follow the map, with more concise instructions rolling along the bottom of the screen like a ticker tape. It works well for major roads, though smaller ones are simply listed as unnamed and navigation could prove tricky, especially in an unfamiliar country.

To speed up route planning, the program lets you select up to nine locations as favourites which subsequently you can just pick off a list. If you've got a Pocket or EPOC-based PC you'll enjoy more display options and you can also specify areas to avoid and include up to four specified stopovers on the journey. Overlays let you add your own locations, points of interest and so on. For those who simply must know exactly where they are all the time--and assuming you have the relevant hardware--it also supports GPS.

It's worth noting that if you've got a Pocket PC you can access more features than if you have a Palm because of limitations with the latter's 33MHz processor. For example, Pocket PC owners can plan a route from England to France (i.e., across two countries, using two maps) while Palm owners can't because they can only load one map at a time. This drawback aside, TomTom Route Planner Europe remains an extremely versatile, pocket-sized route finder. --Rob Beattie

Maps are broken into small chunks, and you decide which ones you want to store on the PDA i.e. you get to control the trade-off between PDA memory use and number of maps available. Very, very useful.

Like autoroute, you can put custom marks on the map e.g. your favourite pub !

You get most of the EU/EEC on the CD, so just copy the ones you need. I found it great on holiday in Brugges - enter the name of the street you're on and then display it on the map. If you're at an intersection, the second input box is a drop-down list of only the roads that cross the first one you selected - incredibly easy to use. You can plan routes and there is GPS support too, however I have not used that.

You don't get a manual, but you don't need it. Pocket PC, Palm and EPOC versions are all on the one CD.

Well worth the money - download the trial version if you don't believe me. Its full functionality except for GPS support, but only a very limited number of maps (4 cities).


Using Route Planner in the UK   July 2, 2002
21 out of 21 found this review helpful

Having experienced route planning software for the PC (e.g. AutoRoute), TomTom's Europe Route Planner shares many features with its more established rivals.

Planning a route is a simple process, you enter the starting point and destination and the planning software calculates the quickest and shortest routes for you. These can be displayed as a visual map (with zoom capabilities) and as a set of written instructions.

Link your PDA to a GPS system and you have a satellite navigation system (but no voice instructions)! This works extremely well.

Why haven't I given it top marks? Well, I've found a major shortfall in that motorway junctions aren't identified. Instead of 'Exit J10, taking the A23 towards Anytown' (or whatever), you get (something like) 'after 5 miles exit North towards Anytown on the A23'. When you're navigating across the motorways around North London where there are many exits signposted to 'Anytown' this proves incredibly difficult!