Travel Tech

Just as I thought, the Pocket Streets map of downtown Baltimore came in very handy. It was nice to be able to pull out the Axim and map out exactly how to get where we wanted, or even to just look up what was nearby, in terms of places to eat, things to see, etc. That rated very highly in my book.

The Metro program rates high for usability, but I found myself not needing it all that much. It does a great job of getting you around the metro and light rail systems, don’t get me wrong, but it was used more for planning our routes before we ever got to Baltimore than it was used while we were there. If you’re at all literate with subway maps, you don’t need this tool while traveling, but when you’re not near a map it is useful. I grew up in NYC, we didn’t even own a car until I was 14. and even then hardly used it. I know a thing or two about subway maps, but I’m sure that doesn’t go for everyone, so this might be even more useful to folks who have problems reading maps, because it will tell you exactly what train to get on and what station to take it to.

Other nice things about having the Axim with us:

The ability to view the pictures from the CF card without using up digital camera batteries. (It’s a slightly larger screen too, but the difference was rather insignificant.)

Keeping track of expenses, how much money I had spent, how much I had taken out using the ATM, and how much was left in my bank account, on the fly.

Time-killers while at the airport, which included for me, playing games, reading columns from Wired or InfoWorld that I had previously synched to the Axim or just reviewing what was coming up for me upon my return to work.

All in all, it turned out to be quite the useful little tool!

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