This short document is for those people who are short on time and would like a personal run-through of what MAPPER-3a can do. Please do try to read through the on-line help as well, as and when you get time!
Notes: I'll assume that MAPPER-3a is fully installed on your 3a. The tutorial below also assumes that this is your first time into the program and that all MAPPER-3a settings are at their default values. If you've already been in to have a play, then you can reset everything to its default value by using the appropriate menu option on the "Settings" menu card.
Note that items marked inside < > brackets refer to physical keys on the Psion's keyboard. e.g <+> means the key marked with the plus sign. Note also (and I'm sure you already know this one) that when you're asked to press Psion-<key>, it means hold the <Psion> key down and keep it down while you press <key>. If at any time the screen doesn't appear to have refreshed properly or looks suspiciously blank, it may be that a key you've pressed has interrupted the normal redrawing process, so simply press the <Esc> key to force the screen to redraw.
It is strongly recommended that you assign the Control-World touch pad 'button' to MAPPER-3a, so that you can switch to it quickly and easily.
First Steps
Let's show you how the program can display places and things. Imagine you live in Aldershot (someone's got to). Start up MAPPER-3a, if it's not already started. If the zoom level (shown on the status window) is not 32x, then press the <6> key to make it so. Press the <Menu> key to bring up the program's drop-down menus. Use the arrow keys to go to the "Find" menu card and select the "Find Place Name" option. When the dialog appears, type in "Alders" (you don't need to type the whole name, just enough to let the program find the place you want).
MAPPER-3a now finds Aldershot as the first match for your search clue, and you can press <y> to agree! The town of Aldershot now appears in centre-screen, in the middle of a blank area. Press <Menu> again and select "More detail" from the "Operations" menu card. The screen redraws, with the Detail setting shown as "High" in the right-hand status window, and with lots of other towns now shown. We can increase the detail level again, but this time we'll do it using one of the so-called 'Hot'-keys, which allow quicker use of MAPPER-3a's features. Press <+> again and the detail level goes to "Higher" and even more towns appear on the map.
You'll quickly appreciate that some degree of control is needed over the detail process as otherwise the screen quickly becomes quickly over-cluttered. Use the <Menu> button to go to the "Settings" menu card. Choose "General Settings" and turn on the "Auto-detail" feature at the "Normal" level. You'll note that the screen redraws, with Mapper itself deciding automatically the detail level most appropriate.
Let's add some more information to our map. We can start by pressing <Menu> and going to the "Overlays" menu card and choosing "Motorways and primary routes". The screen now overlays some road information but only to motorway level. This is because you're zoomed out quite a long way by default. Either use the menu option "Zoom in" or press <z> and Mapper-3a will zoom in one more level to x8. The road information has now gone, but we can fix that by choosing the menu option "Road settings" and turning "Sticky road overlay" ON. The map again redraws, but this time with primary routes stuck 'on'. The "sticky" bit simply means that however we recentre or zoom the map, Mapper will always try and display the roads automatically.
Press <z> again to zoom in to x16.
Displaying overlays
Press <Menu> and select "Display an Item (MP3) overlay". Up will come a dialog box allowing you to select from the MAPPER-3a overlays that were installed on your Psion. Hopefully, the Little Chef overlay is there, so with the cursor on the top line of the dialog, either press <L> or scroll through the entries until you come to "Littlech". Press <Enter> to accept it and then watch as the Little Chef restaurants in this area are drawn on your map. Press <i> and this time select "Happyeat" (by pressing <h> and/or by scrolling through the list), and up come icons for Happy Eater restaurants in the area!
Usually, in real-life, you would now zoom in further and examine the location of a particular restaurant in more detail. For our purposes, let's zoom in again by one more level to x32. Press <z> again!
Displaying more specific items
OK, so say you're going to want to know what Forte hotels are in the vicinity. On occasions when there might be lots of items possibly overlapping each other, and especially when you want to make careful note of the reference fields displayed (e.g. phone nos.), it's probably best to use the "Step through an Item" menu option on the "Overlays" menu card, as this allows us to examine items displayed one by one as they are drawn. Use this menu option now, choose the "Forte" overlay, and MAPPER-3a will confirm that it's in "Step-through" mode, press <Enter> to clear the note and you're away. The first found item is "The Bush Hotel", so MAPPER-3a shows you the placement of this item on the map and displays the name and phone number clearly for you in a small window elsewhere on the screen, for your ready reference. Press <Enter> and the second is shown: "Crest". Press <Enter> again and the third is "Crest" again, (a different one!), and so on. You could carry on "stepping through" the hotels in the area until all were displayed, or use <s> to select a particular one. For now, though, we'll move on, so press <Esc> to finish "Step-through" mode.
A sense of perspective
Although MAPPER-3a is not a route planner, it can give you surprisingly accurate distance estimates. Before we actually do anything, let's personalise MAPPER-3a to your requirements. Press shift-Psion-<p> and enter realistic values for your average speed, fuel price and fuel economy. Press <Enter> to accept your new figures.
Now we can do some real work. Use Psion-<f> and type "Worcester<Enter>". MAPPER-3a now shows the relative positions of the two towns you've 'selected' together with an on-screen estimate of the on-the-road distance between them, 112 miles.
For a more detailed breakdown, try pressing Psion-<d>, and you'll be able to get estimates of time taken for journeys, fuel costs etc.
Mapper-3a will remember the 'routes' you've asked it to estimate in its 'Route Log', which you can display with Psion-<l>. For planning a route with several 'vias', you can press <Tab> to move Worcester up into the 'From:' slot and then use Psion-<f> to find another town, e.g. Cardiff. The screen now shows the Worcester-Cardiff journey. Now check the route log again with Psion-<l> ... you can also another menu option to export the log to a spreadsheet file for further analysis.
With two towns selected, press <Menu>, go to the "Find" menu card and select "Postal and STD codes of selections". MAPPER-3a now displays the postcode ranges and STD codes of the two towns.
Town plans
I'm sure you'll have fun playing with all the menu options on your own, but let me suggest a few good pointers! Press Psion-<c> to clear the selections and then Find Aldershot again. Notice that in the status window "Aldershot" displays its name in Bold. This signifies that a town plan is available and installed on your 3a. Press Psion-<Enter> and up comes a schematic showing the important features of Aldershot town centre. Press a key to return to the main MAPPER-3a screen when ready.
Geographical features
Let me show you how you might use MAPPER-3a's geographical expertise to quote a National Grid references. A friend has asked you for the Grid Reference of that picnic site you used last year. All you can remember was that it was just off the A322 near Bracknell. Press Psion-<c> to clear the current selections (i.e. Aldershot and Worcester), and then Psion-<f> and type in
(.txt)