I am fairly new to FSX. I have had prior versions of Flight Simulator which I think the map was better than in FSX. Also, if I remember correctly, there used to be one or several third party options that had much better maps. I use one single monitor.

 

Any suggestions?

If you have the cash, then Aivlasoft's Electronic Flight Bag will give you something akin to what the real airlines use, i.e. a full set of electronically generated charts for your entire route including SIDs and STARs, and a lot more besides when it comes to setting up a flight. It is fairly pricey, but if you want some realism in FS airliners, there is no better choice.

 

Alternatively, Flight Keeper will give you a simulated ACARs gauge which you can add to your aircraft as either a 2D panel or in a suitable slot in the VC (easily achieved since there is an installer which takes care of it). It does a lot of things, so it's a hell of a lot of bang for your bucks, but among the many things it does, is offer an excellent moving map which will also let you access airport data to find out airport frequencies, runway lengths, what fuel is available there, the winds at any airport, etc, etc.

 

Those two I have, but there are some other interesting options which can be found here, none of which I personally have, but you might be interested in checking out what they offer:

 

http://secure.simmar...hp?keywords=map

 

Al

As I have Aivlasoft's EFB, I will endorse Al's recommendation for that. Far, far better than the default Fs9 or FSX Map feature. It lets you create flightplans from point A to point B; import flight plans from other flight planners like Flight Sim Commander, FSX;it exports it to PMDG/Level-D aircraft's FMCs; it shows a visual Approach Chart for the arrival airport with the GS altitude; it shows the SIDs and STARs tracks; it also shows the flightlog, i.e. how far flown, DTG, fuel usage, etc.

 

In short a tool I do not think I would plan a flight without.