ISYS OUTDOORS Newsletter 2007/02 Reduced Entry Level for Explorer Maps In this Newsletter New Entry Level for Explorer Maps Windows Vista Last Month's Competition Yahoo Group New Features Hints and Tips Humour? This is the Newsletter for users of ISYS OUTDOORS Software: Hillwalker, MapWise, PhotoMaps and Alpiniste. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS NEWSLETTER, as it will not be read. ISYS OUTDOORS contact details are at the end. NEW ENTRY LEVEL FOR EXPLORER MAPS ISYS are pleased to announce three new Explorer Map products. The first is MapWise 25 SIX TILES which retails at £25. This new price allows you access to Explorer maps on your PC for half the previous cost. Each tile is 10km by 10km so six tile could be, for example, 20km by 30km, the size of a paper explorer map but with more flexibility. The Pathfinder Maps covered an area the equivalent of 2 tiles. Extra tiles can be bought at the same time for just £2 each. MapWise 25 TWELVE TILES is a similar product giving a lower cost per tile for more tiles purchased. TWELVE TILES retails at £35. MapWise 25 TWENTY TILES is the existing product and remains on the product list to provide more tiles at an even more competitive cost: £49 for 20 tiles. MapWise 25 FIFTY TILES provides tiles at just under £2 each when FIFTY TILES are ordered for £99.99. This is the lowest cost per tile available anywhere known to ISYS at the moment. To order these new products, please call or email. They will not appear on the Web Shop or in real shops for a couple of weeks. We are offering free UK delivery for telephone sales until the products are stocked by the Webshop. WINDOWS VISTA The programs have been tested on a pre-release version of Vista without trouble but they have not been tested on the release versions. Has anyone tried this? If so, please let me know which version of Vista and what was the result. LAST MONTH'S COMPETITION The prize last month was a staggering High Alps CD, cost £29 and worth a great deal more! The program has 29 video clips and hundreds of breath-taking photographs, mostly by Martin Moran, as well as Martin's routes for all 4,000m peaks and the unique ISYS spidering system which is far more useful than Route Cards in the Alps. The prize was offered for the following question: How far away are the antipodes? (OK, planet Earth, assume to be a sphere, radius 6.4 Mm (Why does no one else use mega metres? Use 6,400 km if you prefer!)). The question is how far away are the antipodes; not how far would you need to travel to reach them. So the correct answer is 12.8Mm. Well, nobody gave me the correct answer without a qualification so all the accepted answers were put in a virtual hat and Phil Jolliff is this month's lucky winner. The High Alps are winging there way to Cornwall! YAHOO GROUP The version of GPSU to allow transfer of 500 waypoints is available on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hillwalker Following feedback from various users I have upgraded the status of this program from a test version to a release version. Also available there is a free upgrade to the vector map for Edition 6 users. It might work for version 5 users as well but please take care to keep your old files before installing. You will need a certain competence with Windows Explorer to install these upgrades but if there is a demand, I could write an installation program. If you have tried the upgrade as a version 5 user, please share your experiences with the group. Anyone can use this group to discuss the ISYS products or walking in the British Isles. NEW FEATURES Every year at this time, we ask what new features users would like to see. If there is something that you would like to see in the programs, or something that you think could be improved, please let me know. You can use the Yahoo group for this; then other users can see your ideas and will have the opportunity to support them. HINTS AND TIPS Q: I was making a Route when it suddenly stopped. I couldn't add any more points. What went wrong? A: Probably nothing. What probably happened was that the last point clicked was too close to another waypoint and the program thought you wanted to select that waypoint rather than add a new point. Check the blue box on the button bar for the program Mode. When you are entering waypoints the mode is Route CIAfter indicating that you have a Route Card open and are in Continuous Insert After mode. If the mode changes to Route, you cannot click more points to add them. To add more points, right click the last waypoint and select Continuous insert after and off you go again. To make a waypoint close to another point, click the Magic Eye Button and reduce click fuzziness. The program will not look so far to identify existing points. Q: Why does my new route suddenly become a dotted line? A: Simply, you have entered Fast Append mode. In this mode the waypoints are entered quickly without validating the Route Card every time. The change of mode is indicted in the blue mode box on the Button Bar. The Route Card should be validated manually by using the Validate Button before using or saving the Route Card. The Route Card turn from yellow to blue when validated. Q: Why does it take so long to add a Waypoint? A: The speed does depend on the speed of your computer but if the time is unacceptably long, try the Magic Eye Button and remove some or all the places that the program looks for points. Removing all searches will add points instantaneously. There is no need to change your email address when you change provider. Get a @hillwalker.org address for just £1 per month. Walk long and safely. Iain R White ISYS OUTDOORS www.isysoutdoors.com support (at) isysoutdoors (dot) com 0845 166 5701 0141-943 1533 HUMOUR? I was reminded of the following after the showing of Troy on television this week. I might have used it before but it is worth a repetition. Q: What is the fundamental unit of beauty? A: The milliHelen. It that amount of beauty sufficient to launch just a single ship! The following story comes via Bob in Kilbarchan. It is possibly just on the right side of suitability. Proof of what can happen if a wife or girlfriend drags her husband or boyfriend along shopping. This letter was (apparently) recently sent by an unnamed supermarket's Head Office to a customer in Oxford: Dear Mrs. Murray, While we thank you for your valued custom and use of the Loyalty Card, the Manager of our store in Banbury is considering banning you and your family from shopping with us, unless your husband stops his antics. Below is a list of offences over the past few months all verified by our surveillance cameras: 1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's trolleys when they weren't looking. 2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals. 3. July 7: Made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to feminine products aisle. 4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official tone, "Code 3" in housewares..... And watched what happened. 5. August 14: Moved a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area. 6. September 15: Set up a tent in the outdoor clothing department and told shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring sausages and a Calor gas stove. 7. September 23: When the Deputy Manager asked if she could help him, he began to cry and asked, "Why can't you people just leave me alone?" 8. October 4: Looked right into the security camera; used it as a mirror, picked his nose, and ate it. 9. November 10: While appearing to be choosing kitchen knives in the housewares aisle asked an assistant if he knew where the antidepressants were. 10. December 3: Darted around the store suspiciously, loudly humming the "Mission Impossible" theme. 11. December 6: In the kitchenware aisle, practiced the "Madonna look" Using different size funnels. 12. December 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed, yelled "PICK ME!" "PICK ME!" 13. December 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, assumed the foetal position and screamed "NO! NO! It's those voices again." And; last, but not least: 14. December 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited a while; then yelled, very loudly, "There is no toilet paper in here." Yours sincerely, Store Manager Well if you didn't like it, why not send me your favourite piece of humour?