I like to fly with a second monitor displaying a map that tracks my flight route. For the U.S. I use DeLorme's TopoUSA, which tracks my flight route using the GPS output from FS 2002. I would like to find a similar moving map program for Europe. I don't really need a street level map. All I really need is a map reflecting cities and towns, major roads, and, ideally, topographical features and elevation data. I fly mostly VFR and this facilitates knowing where I am and where I'm going. I know there are expensive (US$600 and up) programs out there for real-life aviation with airport and airspace information, etc., but this is not what I need. I'm looking for programs in the US$100 range.My research has discovered the following programs that might work. Does anyone have any experience with these programs with FS 2002, or are there others that I should look into?Route 66 Route Europe 2001-2002MS Auto Route 2002These seem to be mostly street map programs but if that is all that's available I can make it work. Indeed, I started out with MS Streets and Trips for the US before discovering TopoUSA.For the entire world, I'm using DeLorme's Eartha Global Explorer. This is essentially an atlas with major cities and topographical features, but with a poor level of detail. Does anyone know of a similar program with better detail that tracks GPS output? A few years ago MS had a program called Encarta Virtual Globe that had an acceptable level of detail, but didn't track GPS output so you had to enter your coordinates by hand. As far as I can tell, it's not been updated.Thanks for any assistance.

Hi, have you looked at www.aeroplanner.com if one of their proggies suit your needs? I use their ONC maps for Europe (scale 1:1000.000). They have released outdated digital charts lately for a more than reasonable price. If you find one of their programs useful (demos available), a 50 dollar expense would buy you 50 maps (this way you

For my money, I'd stick to FSNav. You're in an aircraft, after all ... and the FAA might have something to say if they found you up there with a street atlas.Happy flying, anyway! VFR is so cool in FS2002.Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/cxkaitak.htmlhttp://www.swiremariners.com/cxkaitakv3.jpg

I'd like to add something to Uwe's suggestion...Check out FSFlightMax athttp://www.fsflightmax.com/If you buy a 50-pack of SimCharts from Aeroplanner (which is at:http://www.aeroplanner.com/tools/dlsimcharts.cfmyou can load them into FSFlightMax, which works within MS Flight Simulator. It will superimpose your aircraft right over top of a sectional chart, ONC (for Europe), WAC, etc. If you choose, it can overlay your flight plan and a compass rose, too. I use it for my VFR flying every night.Not only that, but FSFlightMax also comes with working weather radar, TCAS (traffic overlay).I actually bought FlightMax specifically because of the chart feature, whereas I think most folks bought it for the weather radar feature. It costs about $25 USD. The SimCharts from Aeroplanner are $50 for 50 simcharts (outdated charts), or $7 per individual chart (up-to-date charts).Hope this helps.--Tony

I checked out this site. If I flew in a limited area all the time, the maps it offers might do the trick. I'll check into the coverage area for each map and see if it's economically feasible. Ideally, however, I'd prefer just a map program similar to TopoUSA if such a thing exists.

I use FSNav as well, and it's a great program. But I like to be able to identify mountain peaks and other landmarks as I fly and it isn't of any help in that regard. And here, I was under the impression lots of real world pilots still used road maps to help with VFR navigation. Guess I better watch out for the FAA coming to my home while I'm flying.

Thanks for embellishing Ewe's suggestion. I've been intrigued by FSFlightMax since it was introduced. I'll just need to see how many charts I'll need to cover the European areas I'm likely to fly in. I've never worked with charts before, and don't know how much area each one covers, but if I can get by with 75 or fewer, then this would be within the price parameters that I thought would be reasonable. I'll check into this further when I get home this evening. Thanks again for the assistance.

The responses so far have been very helpful and provide a workable solution that I will use if there isn't a dedicated map program such as TopoUSA. However, I would still like to get some feedback on the two European mapping programs I listed in my orginal post:Route 66 Route Europe 2001-2002MS Auto Route 2002as well as information about any others that may be out there with topographical details. And I'd still like to know if anyone knows of a global atlas with greater detail than the Eartha Global Explorer I mentioned in my original post? Thanks.

Mac,I can't help too much, except to echo I'm *exactly* in the same boat as you are -- I run GPSOut and US Topo in my second monitor (in my case I feed Com1 into Com2) and I'm also looking for a European GPS program.MS Auto Route looks the ticket so far, although it is not geographically detailed the way Topo is. The big trick is getting it: it's not sold in the U.S. so unless you live overseas or can order it from there it will be impossible to get here (that's egocentric -- I was assuming you lived in the U.S.).And I was hoping that Eartha has GPS -- it looks like Delorme just gave up on this program (the last release was several years ago and it's not even listed on their site as even being *tested* with XP, let alone compatible with it, although I'm sure it will run just fine). I know that with the USGS there is a lot more easily obtainable geo information available for the U.S., but with the new satellite info coming out perhaps we'll start to see more global mapping programs like Topo.

Hi, I use 11 ONCs for Europe, they cover all of Europe from Iceland to North Africa, Scandinavia, Baltic, Balcan.Edit: A short note on FSFlightMax: The program is great, and according to John Hnidec will be fully network compatible. The chart display though doesn

I do live in the US, so you assumed correctly. The European map programs I listed are available from GPS Warehouse in England, and I assume can be shipped here.Eartha Global Explorer does have GPS capabilities - or at least the most recent version does. Check out DeLorme's site for the details. It just has a really poor level of detail, at least compared to MS's earlier effort at a global atlas.

Thanks for the info (on both counts): I may have to go ahead and buy Eartha then, regardless of detail (but you sure do get spoiled by Topo, don't you? I've learned more about geography in a few weeks flying with that program than I knew my entire life).