Frommer's has issued four CD-ROMs, covering Boston, New Orleans, New York, and San Francisco. They're each based on the book covering the same city, which is included with the CD-ROM. Frommer's books are well known for their excellent coverage of hotels and restaurants in all price ranges, with special attention to good value for your money. They're also rich in practical information: prices of hotels and restaurants, hours and prices of museums, and information on using public transformation.
The main menu of the program gives you a choice of 12 different sections, including accommodation, dining, what to see and do, and shopping. Each of these sections contains the same information as the corresponding section of the book, but the program makes use of the capabilities of the CD-ROM medium to make the information more accessible and more useful. The CD-ROM also includes photos of hotels and restaurants, and photos or videos of many attractions. By clicking on option buttons, you can see lists of hotels by location or by price category, or restaurants by style of cuisine. There are also special sections on hotels and restaurants recommended for families with children.
Two additional tools allow you to produce a customized guide reflecting your interests. The first, the Locator, gives you a way to create customized maps. Pressing on the Locator button gives you a map showing the location of the item you were just reading about. You can zoom out to a map showing the entire city, or zoom in to a map just a few blocks across. You can see how close a recommended shop is to your hotel, or which restaurants are near the museum you're planning to visit. You can also print the map, with any locations you've displayed on it.
The second tool, the Planner, allows you to record information for later reference. Whenever you're reading about a hotel, restaurant, or attraction, you can add that item to your Planner. You can also add your own notes, and print the contents of the Planner and take all this information with you.
The authors of these CD-ROMs have taken travel guides to a new level. They've started with a solid base of travel information and added multimedia and search capabilities. To make the product really useful, the Locator maps and the Planner allow you to create a personalized travel guide to take with you on your trip.
David Finkel teaches computer science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.
©1996, ProMotion, inc.