Main Menu

[Slacker]

Visual Mobile IT Solutions is a company that develops software for SmartPhone, PocketPC, Palm and Symbian based systems. I am fortunate enough to get to test drive and review their TUBE product which is a handheld subway guide for many cities worldwide. Currently they offer two versions, regular and pro. Not all cities have a pro version, but the cities currently covered are:

Amsterdam (Pro Available)
Athens
Barcelona
Berlin
Boston (Pro Available)
Brussels
Chicago (Pro Available)
Hamburg
Hong Kong
London (Pro Available)
Los Angeles
Madrid (Pro Available)
Melbourne
Miami
Milan
Montreal
Moscow
Munich
New York City (Pro Available)
Paris (Pro Available)
San Francisco
Seoul
Sydney (Pro Available)
Tokyo
Toronto
Tyne and Wear
Vienna
Washington DC (Pro Available)

They also offer Street Atlas maps for:

London
London Congestion C
Great Britain Road Atlas

I received the Washington DC Pro version because I live in the DC area. Those of you familiar with the DC area Metro system will recognize the maps. But regardless of the version they all use the base TUBE application.

As I mentioned there are two versions for some of the cities. All of them have a map of the subway system (except the Street Atlas products). But the Pro versions add an additional street level map covering a large area of the city as well. More on this later.

The Visual IT Mobile Solutions site has this to say about the TUBE Washington product:

This award winning and highly acclaimed application that guides you around the metro system of Washington is now available for your Microsoft OS Smartphone in a pro version with these extra features: A superb full colour street level map of downtown Washington DC with a find feature that enables you to quickly find any street, place of interest or station on the map. Tube's standard features include: A detailed clear colour map of the Washington DC metro system fully scrollable. Quick find station utility. It will automatically plan the quickest route to and from any station stating the line changes required and estimated journey time. The route can be text listed or an animated visual display of the route can be shown tracking around the system map. Just holding the stylus down on any station can retrieve additional local information about that station including connections to other transport services, nearby places of interest, theatres, hotels, hospitals etc. Quick Zoom In/Out feature. Free updates when new versions are released or when service changes take place to the system. Versions are available for many of the other worlds cities and many more are in development A list of all the city packs currently available for Tube is listed on the left. For more details and to purchase click on your required version.

This is a map of the DC area Metro system. This entire map is on the TUBE system.



When you start the software up it asks you what map you want to load. This is important because you can have multiple TUBE maps but only one copy of the software installed. This would cover you in multiple cities you travel to.



After the map is loaded you can view a part of it. You can zoom in and out as well as pan around the map. Basically use it as a graphics viewer for a picture of the map. But that isn't where the capabilities end. In fact, we haven't even begun.



Pressing the MENU softkey shows you several options which include planning a trip, options for planned trips, station finder and a cool GO HOME feature.



The trip planner asks for a start and end destination.



If you selected to show the animation, When you press the SHOW softkey the TUBE software shows the map with the start point station circled. Then it moves through each station on your way to the destination. Each stop is annotated by a sound, and train changes have a different sound. Each leg of the trip shows the total time to reach that station.



When the destination is reached you are provided information about the total trip time.



That is the major part of the software's capabilities. But the other soft menu options include trip options, allowing you to specify avoiding changing trains or specific stations, lines, walking, etc.



The find and info option serves three purposes. First it will show you a specific station name, and give you some information about it such as the line(s) the station is found on. It also lets you define a home station.



The go home feature will automatically locate the station you previously defined as home in the Find and Info section. The station location is found using an animated cursor that scrolls the map to the home station.



Other options include the ability to zoom in and out, and this about screen.



So that sums up the basic capabilities of the software. But as I mentioned earlier, they do offer a Pro version for several cities. My beloved (and hated) Washington DC is one of those, so I was able to test out the added feature of a street level map. Unfortunately the street level map was a bit of a disappointment. First, the street level map doesn't cover the same area as the Metro system map. Now I understand there are size restrictions, and they did cover the most heavily traveled section of the tourist spots, but I expected to see more. Here is the area covered by the map as compared to the Metro system map. Note this is a rough approximation.



Also there is no connection between the Metro system map and the street level map. So when you get off the metro there is no way to see exactly where you are at street level. You have to switch maps then pan around to find the location on the street map. The street level map does have several points of interest, and using the Find and Info option you can easily locate them on the map.



I use the Metro a lot, and am very familiar with how it works, travel times for many trips, and the relationship to below and above ground landmarks. But for some who are less experienced with a particular city the lack of connectivity between the two maps is a feature I would hope the developer would implement. Also missing is what is really the largest part of the system; Metro busses. But realisticly I don't see how they could be implemented as routes and timetables change frequently. All in all I believe it is a cool product with real-world use. Especially for out-of-towners looking for help to see the sights.


Pros:
Trip planning
Cool station to station animation feature
Accurate trip times
Points of Interest finder

Cons:
The street level map doesn't cover the same area as the subway system map
No connection between subway and street level maps

TUBE is available from Handango