Fugawi -Product Review by G Clark                                        (25 June 2000)

    As an owner of Fugawi versions 2x and 3.0.0.269 (the recently released
3x, I have to say that the interface has gotten much more complex with the
newer version.  While the added complexity goes hand-in-hand with added
functionality, the program seems far too intricate to safely operate in a
"mobile" environment (i.e. from a car).  Not that there aren't some real
improvements in the 3.x version targeted toward safer operation while
driving, namely the selective darkening of the map display.   But overall
the 2.x version requires much less "head down" time to operate.

    As far as "lazy programming" goes, there are some inconsistencies in the
GUI that tend to confuse.   For example the menu button for "Display GPS
Track Window" (along the top row buttons) uses the same color and basic
symbol as the "Center Route Selection" (in the vertical column menu
buttons), i.e. blue linked lines.

    The same goes for their "Display Route" window button (red linked line
icon) nearly matching a vertical button icon for "Center Track Selection".
I believe someone at Fugawi who built the Center Route Selection and Center
Track Selection got their icons switched. Probably not "Lazy" but quality
control should have caught such an inconsistency, or at least the beta
testers.  Possibly a patch may be offered to correct this.

    Datum selection is via the Settings -> Preferences.  Two datum aspects
are offered (help text included):


· Display Datum: (either WGS84 or Map Datum)  Ordinarily the location will
be reported in the Map Datum.  However, you can also select WGS84).
· Location Format: (lengthy list of datum choices) Locations on the map and
the GPS location can be reported in Latitude/Longitude or a number of

different coordinate systems.  Please note that many of these systems require
a specific datum.  Therefore, the format may override the Display Datum
setting.  For example, the UTM27 setting reports in UTM with the NAD27
datum and the Swiss Grid uses the Swiss datum.

    Hope this helps.  Overall, I still like Fugawi 3, but when driving
during daylight conditions I'll probably use Fugawi 2.

G Clark