THE documentation describes the ITN European Video Atlas as "a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals". Comprehensive it truly is; up-to-date it isn't and neither can it be, as is the case with all products of this kind.
In essence, it's a commendable attempt to show the history of modern Europe in the form of a complete, multimedia almanac. Using edited ITN archive material - video, photographs and narratives - with statistical facts and figures, it provides detailed information on all aspects of the European continent up to the present day or at least as near as practicable.
It is introduced on the opening screen - in voice and on video clip - by Trevor MacDonald the well-known ITN newcaster. His narrative sets the scene in true ITN fashion for what is to come.
A main menu screen offers the six main areas of exploration: European maps, data bank, image bank, videos, a narrated demo of the complete package and a re-run of the introduction. It also features a gazetteer of over 450 major cities that will immediately show the exact location of the selected item on the map.
The European maps are at the heart of the program and show the countries with mountain ranges and borders. The zoom facility will take you in closer to provide much greater detail.
The first level shows the major cities and rivers while second gets in even closer to indicate motorways, major roads and railways. There's nothing particularly spectacular about these maps and the quality is no more than you would expect from a paper equivalent.
The data bank offers a database for each country containing detailed statistics on subjects such as the geography, people, government, economy, trade and environment. Much of the data can be displayed in customisable graph form for easier assimilation and would be extremely useful for students and or travellers as long as they don't need information after 1992, that seeming to be the cut-off point of much of the data.
Video clips are only available for some of the countries but the 40 featured have been edited from the news archives, complete with narrative, to try and give a potted history of the selected region, highlighting the most important happenings relative to that country's part in modern-day Europe.
Unfortunately, some of them don't really do that as too many are just pretty to look at - on the lines of travelogue movies that highlight national buildings and other well-known features - and would be better suited to advertising material.
The 350 or so stills in the image bank fare slightly better and most are far more pertinent to the current situations in many countries.
Even so, too many are postcard views that would be better off in brochures. There's no commentary to go with these pictures - only a single line caption. A textual reference as to the relevance of a particular image would have improved matters no end.
The problem with products like this is that, although they're a good idea in practice, in theory, by their very nature, they are out of date on the day they are launched.
To be fair to Attica, they have promised regular updates but, of course, this means having to shell out more readies if you want to keep abreast of the times.
If you need a potted history of the happenings that made Europe what it is today you could well find this to your liking. But if you need detailed statistics past 1992 for study or travel purposes, you'd be better of looking elsewhere - <163>50 is a lot to lay out for information available free in many local libraries and travel agencies.
