Information finder - geographical database program - evaluation

Nation's Business, July, 1989 by Donald C. Bacon

Around The World In 80 Seconds New software comes along every now and then to remind us of how versatile the personal computer really can be and of how little use we make of its amazing capabilities.

Such a product is PC-Globe , hailed by many analysts as the most comprehensive, innovative, and easy-to-use of the new geographical database programs that turn your PC into an electronic atlas.

If your company does business abroad, if you travel overseas for business or pleasure, of if you just want to be better informed about countries and groups of nations currently in the news, PC-Globe can furnish more helpful information with a few keystrokes than you could dig up in a week of research at the local library.

Its business applications seem especially suited for international marketing and the travel industry. Current users of PC-Globe range from Kentucky Fried Chicken to the Central Intelligence Agency.

The program's principal features are full-color maps displaying a variety of geographical information--such as elevations, cities, and rivers--on 177 countries. By touching a key, the user can call up additional information on every country's population, age distribution, literacy, languages, economic data, political leaders, commodities, exports, ethnic groups, tourist attractions, and telex, telephone, and radio codes.

PC-Globe 's pop-up menus include special utilities that allow you to calculate exchange rates, convert foreign currencies, and compute distances.

The best thing about PC-Globe is that it is fun to use. There seems no end to the information it can summon up. Want to know which country brews the most beer? All you need to do is ask. (Answer: the U.S., which brews 22.89 billion quarts a year.) Of course, a program that swallows up 1.5 megabytes on your hard disk, as PC-Globe does, ought to be versatile and comprehensive.

The program is a product of Comwell Systems Inc., of Tempe, Arix. It is available for $69.95 at PC software stores.