Product: Tube and Tube Pro
Publisher: Visual IT
Web Site: http://www.visualit.co.uk
Category: Software - Travel
Price: $8 - $25 depending on City and Regular vs. Pro versions.
Requirements: Pocket PC:
All Pocket PCs supported
Software:
Microsoft ActiveSync
Desktop Windows 95 / 98 / Me / 2000 / NT / XP

Pocket PC OS:
Windows CE 3.x (Pocket PC 2000)
Pocket PC 2002

Pocket PC CPU:
StrongARM
MIPS
SH3

Memory Requirements:
Regular Version: 300K Storage per city / 700K Program
Pro Version: 2MB Storage per city / 8MB Program

When traveling to a new city, one of the most difficult tasks is learning how to use the local transportation system. Unless you are on an unlimited expense account, taxis can be very expensive and sometime hard to find. In Paris, most taxis will not leave their zone. The city is divided into 4 zones and most will not travel between zones. This can be very difficult if you need to travel more than a few miles. In London, the main difficulty is that all legal taxis shut down after midnight. Unfortunately, so does the “Underground”, but at least it is easier to find a station and you will know what a trip will cost you. Just try to be at your destination by midnight or learn the late night bus schedule. Add to this the fact that in many cities around the world, the taxis have a reputation for taking advantage of tourists, especially if they cannot speak the local language. The most convenient and cost effective way of traveling in any city is to travel the way the local population travels or commutes. In many large cities, that would mean using the subway or inner city train system.

Of course learning how the system works and how to get from one station to another can sometimes be very difficult. Especially, in a city like Tokyo, if you cannot read and speak the local language. Even with signs that contain some English, you will still find it is easy to get lost. I have lived in Paris, London, and many large cities in the US. In addition, I have traveled to many cities in the US, Europe, and Asia. Each new city that I arrive in, it takes days or even weeks to become comfortable with traveling by the subway. Local travel guides are useful, but take time to absorb enough information to become comfortable with the system. In Paris, I found a portable electronic guide that would show which train line to take and where to transfer in order to reach your destination. Unfortunately, it was difficult to use, used codes for each station, and cost over $40 USD for just central Paris. What I always wanted was an interactive guide that was easy to use and gave clear, simple instructions. A product from Visual IT called Tube can now help any traveler find their way around a city with confidence and ease.

Tube comes in two versions.
The regular version features:
A color map of the transport system
A find station utility to locate the station you want
Planning for the quickest route with line changes and estimated travel times
A text list display of the travel directions
A visual display of the planned travel on a graphic map
Additional local information about each station
Available maps for: New York City, NY.
London, United Kingdom
Paris, France
Tokyo, Japan
Washington, D.C.
Boston, MA.
Seoul, Korea
Chicago, IL.
Sydney, Australia
Toronto, Canada

The Pro version features:
Everything in the regular version plus:
A full color, street level map of the city
A find utility to locate any street, place of interest, or station
A detailed reference map of the above ground or extended rail systems that connect to the subway
Available Pro versions are: New York City, NY.
Paris, France
London, United Kingdom
Tokyo, Japan

Once Tube is started, you begin by selecting the map to be loaded. When the loading is complete, you will be presented with a map of the subway system. The map for each system is an exact representation of the official map used by the subway. So you will have a very familiar point of reference. The stylus can be used to scroll around the map. Using the up and down direction pad, you can zoom in and out of the map. Tube supports 5 levels of zoom in and out. However, you will find that anything more than 2 levels of zoom in or out will make the map text unreadable or the map too pixilated. Each map also contains a Legend table of map symbols. Certain cities, such as New York, contain multiple maps that are chosen based on what time of day you wish to travel since the train lines and station configurations are adjusted during the day to meet the demands of the commuters. This is a really nice feature, but would be better if there was an option to automatically load the appropriate map based on the clock time of your Pocket PC.

The Pro versions feature a full color, street level map that can be used to find a street or place of interest in the city. Unfortunately, trip planning is not available for the street map. Also included is a detailed reference map of the train systems for the outer and surrounding areas of the city. Trip planning is not available for the reference map.

A nice feature is the ability to get details about each station. Just tap and hold on the station you wish to learn about. Details will be given about the station, zone, connections, local entertainment, hotels, and services. Wheelchair access information is a real nice touch. You can even plan a trip to or from this station on the information screen. A missing feature that I would have liked to see, would have been the ability to enter personal notes for a station and save them in the map database.

The Action menu is used to plan you trip and perform other functions. The available choices under Action are:
Load Map – Load a new city map
Change Time – Change the time of the map for cities like New York
Plan Trip – Select the start and end stations of a trip
Find – Find a station and display it on the map
Zoom – Select zoom in or out
About – Information about Tube
Help – Tube Help
Quit – Quit Tube

When planning a trip, you will select Plan Trip from the Action menu. On the Plan Trip screen, you can select the From and To stations for your trip. Once these are selected, tap on List. This will give you a text display of the lines, transfer stations, and each station you will travel through on your trip. You will even be given an estimated journey time for your trip. If you tap on Show, Tube will show you the trip on the scrolling map with a circle indicating the path of travel. Audio tones will be given for each station the route will stop at as well as transfer stations. Two features that I would like to see in the future would be the ability to press a button as you arrive in each station on the route, so you could track your travel on the map in real-time, and a large warning display telling you of an approaching transfer station. On a noisy day, it would be easy to completely miss the audio cues on the scrolling map.

When planning a trip, four options are available by tapping on Options. They are:

Avoid Changes at a Station – Select one station not to transfer at
Avoid a Station – Select one station not to travel through
Avoid a Line – Select one train line not to use
Turn off trip sounds – Audio off

These options can be useful to avoid lines or stations where there are known delays such as high levels of commuter traffic, maintenance, or construction. Or you may wish to avoid a station based on a personal preference. These options would be a great deal more useful if you were able to select more than one station or line to avoid in each option. Plus it would have been easier for repeated travel if you could save the option settings for the trip. Trips cannot be saved, which would have also been a nice feature.

I hope that future versions of Tube will contain basic information about each city’s subway system such as ticket prices for the planned trip, special passes and requirements, and sources of assistance. Especially for cities in non-English speaking countries. It would also be helpful if the trip directions included the platform number or location in each station, especially the transfer stations.

Tube is a great product. Easy to use. Inexpensive. You can easily purchase and download Tube for the city you will be traveling to right before you leave. When traveling in a new city where the local subway system is confusing or unfamiliar, Tube will bring a welcome feeling of confidence. I plan to use it on my next trip. And so should you.

Pros
Easy to use
Good value
Support for all Pocket PCs
Small storage size
Station details
Standard maps
Demo version available for each city

Cons
No ability to add and save station details
No ability to save trips and options
No automatic time option
Can only select one line or station to avoid
No platform information
No real-time trip tracking

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars.

--Harvey Lee
PocketPC Editor