The MAPS Atlas demo program covers only a small area in the center of the state, but it includes all 150 MAPS attributes for that area. The demo also contains all of MAPS Atlas' features including the ability to display county boundaries and major roads, towns and waterways, and the ability to create custom maps. The full version of the program gives you information on 150 land and climate characteristics for over 18,000 locations in the state of Montana.

This demo program has the same hardware requirements as the full version, except it uses slightly less disk space. (See System Requirements for more info.) You can download the demo by clicking on the link below. If you do not know how to download or unzip files, or if you would prefer a disk, we would be happy to mail you a demo disk and installation instructions. See Ordering Info to see who to contact.

Click here to download the MAPS Atlas Demo (mademo.zip, 600K)

Installing the Demo

First, download the "mademo" file by clicking on it. In Netscape, you may have to click on the "Save File..." button and then chose a directory to save the file in. After the file has downloaded, use an unzip utility such as PKUNZIP to extract the files to a new directory called "mademo". 3 files should now be in this directory: mademo.exe, vfile.dta, and readme.txt. (readme.txt contains a text version of the document you are reading now.) Next, run "mademo.exe" from the "mademo" directory to extract the program files. You may now run the demo by entering "ma" while in the "mademo" directory. If you are running low on space you may delete "mademo.zip" and "mademo.exe" after installation. Please feel free to copy this demo and share it with your friends and associates!

Program Overview

Location Map

To start the MAPS Atlas demo type ma. The opening screen gives you a choice of Location Map or Custom Map. Choose Location Map by clicking your left mouse button in the brackets to mark your selection, and then click on Ok. In the site location screen type in latitude 46.5, press the down arrow key on your keyboard, and type in longitude 109. Choose Ok. A map of Montana will be displayed with a cell in the center of the state highlighted. This is the cell in which your specified location occurs. Use the numeric keypad to move around within the demo area boundary and you will see the MAPS attribute values being updated as you change location. Select the page up, page down, up and down screen buttons with your mouse to scroll through the attributes. Click on couNties, Towns, Roads, and Water to turn these features on and off. Use the change Attributes button to select which MAPS attributes will be displayed on the map.

Custom Map

Press the Esc key or click on Cancel until you get back to the MAPS Atlas opening screen. Choose Custom Map. In the Create Custom Map screen choose Open, and click on one of the custom map files included with the program. (You may also write your own custom map files – see the MAPS Atlas help system). Choose Ok, and Ok again to display the map. Most of the options work just like they do in the Location Map except the couNties, Roads, Towns and Water buttons. Once these features are turned on in the Custom Map, they cannot be turned off. You can display the map again to erase them.

The custom map feature is a powerful way to combine land and climate data to explore land use possibilities: anything from finding the best place to grow a certain crop to identifying potential wildlife habitat areas to locating land that has certain desired characteristics. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination. The set of 152 custom maps included with the program gives you a quick and easy look at Montana's land and climate.