TopoFusion Pro for Windows

Online mapping applications like Google Earth offer unprecedented cartographic and geographic capabilities compared to traditional maps. TopoFusion PRO is to Google Earth as Superman is to the beat cop. It takes geographical information software to a new level by integrating GPS data with powerful Direct 3D simulation capabilities and a host of extra features.

For such a capable and complex program, TopoFusion is surprisingly easy to use, with attractive control boxes that make good use of colorful screenshots, map data, tracking lines, and other visual aids. It integrates aerial photos, topo maps, road maps, and other cartographic and geographic data to produce high-quality maps and images of just about any location in the world. It has best-of-class GPS tracking capabilities and numerous extras that will especially appeal to GPS enthusiasts, such as track playback, elevation profiling, and a GPS training feature that measures heart rate, cadence, and power output. TopoFusion's coolest feature is its amazing 3D capability, which lets you outline an area and see a rotatable, controllable 3D simulation of the terrain. It's just the beginning, since TopoFusion is constantly growing as new features are added.

TopoFusion PRO is free to try but costs just under $60. Considering all it does and how well it does it, that's still a bargain, despite the ever-growing capabilities of free geographical tools like Google's. The free version has an endless trial but places a "DEMO" watermark on images and limits users to three open GPS files. There's a no-frills basic version, too.