RANKIN PUBLISHERS   Robert Rankin's Home Page     Email  info@rankin.com.au    Ph.  (07) 3376 9115
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SOFTWARE REVIEWS

CLASSIC WILD WALKS OF AUSTRALIA CD-ROM

1. Sydney Morning Herald, June 10, 2000
I get the feeling Robert Rankin, author of the $49.95 CD Classic Wild Walks of Australia, could be a bit particular about some things. So, while I'd love to share his amazing fund of walking knowledge, I don't think I'd want to share his tent.

Rankin is a wilderness walker and photographer. He undoubtedly excels at both. He is also a scientist who likes writing about quantum physics and relativity, subjects that demand a high level of intellectual rigour.

Those skills definitely come through in this CD. Although the subject is extremely evocative and the CD itself very informative, the material is presented in a technical manner that almost borders on the clinical. In spite of this scientific approach, if you are at all interested in walking in the wild, this CD is without doubt the best of its kind in Australia.

It is a truly impressive resource. Rankin gives us maps, walks, bucketloads of beautiful and uplifting images, some pretty average videos and a whole box-and-dice guide to walking away from city life.

All these are superbly, if slightly technically, done, and provide the ideal armchair alternative to getting your knees scratched and your boots wet in the Snowies. Everything from regional temperature charts to tips on how not to leave confusing cairn markers is covered, although the map section might be too localised for some.

An astoundingly comprehensive resource and an inspiring product all round, at a bargain price, too.

Jeremy Torr, Sydney Morning Herald, June 10, 2000.



2. The Australian 16 November 1999:

Among this country's many physical pleasures, surely bushwalking must rate as the most satisfying, if only because it offers the opportunity to explore fabulous landscapes from every perspective, and through our senses, in a way that powering through them encased in a 4WD with a CD blaring never can.

Committed bushwalkers are passionate about their hobby: it's no surprise that the conservation movement grew out of bushwalking clubs roused to action when one or other of their beloved wildernesses was threatened with "development".

Even a casual bush experience can give an idea of what stokes their passion: I defy anyone to spend a couple of days camping and bushwalking and not come away with all their senses enhanced.

So there is a ready market for coffee table books devoted to bushwalking meccas, not to mention handbooks and detailed manuals for some of the country's most popular walking tracks.

Classic Wild Walks of Australia, the precursor to the disc under review, was one of the first to attempt to combine all these genres on disc.

The interface of that first effort was infuriating to say the least, but the photographs by Robert Rankin were first-class: and there were plenty of them, gorgeously rendered on screen.

The so-called videos were laughable - amateur in the worst possible way.

But the experience of the still images, plus the practical no-nonsense bushwalking and camping instructions and the information on weather conditions made it a useful reference for the casual or committed bushwalker.

That first disc was released in 1997 and digital technology has come a long way since then. Classic Wild Walks of Australia 2000 makes a reasonable fist of taking advantage of that - for instance it is now two discs with the second disc reserved for the much improved videos.

The original content has been updated, with a thorough revamp of the catalogue of more than 1000 important walking places, and the addition of more photographs of Kakadu, the Overland Track and Mount Barney.

New features include a catalogue of articles on environmental and historical issues, improved hypertext linking and a distance-measuring tool on the maps to let you calculate how far you have walked or need to walk to complete your trek.

I'm pleased to say the interface has been overhauled and makes use of hotspots and a more intelligent cursor than previously, and while it is still menu-driven, not icon-driven, it is soon but not easily mastered.

You just have to put up with clicking in the right-hand corners of a maze of dialog boxes every now and then.

Twenty five choice spots are covered in exquisite detail accompanied by some sumptuous photography by a master, with information about access, walking grades, weather, notes on geology and botany, track notes and suitable camp sites for each of them including Hinchinbrook Island, Carnarvon Gorge, the Main Range, Lamington Rainforests, Mount Barney, the Warrumbungles, the Upper Grose Valley of the Blue Mountains, the Budawang Range, the Snowy Mountains, the Victorian Alps, Wilson's Promontory, Grampian Ranges, the Overland Track, the Walls of Jerusalem, the South Coast Track, Mount Anne, Federation Peak, the Western Arthur Range, Frenchman's Cap, Wilpena Pound, the Gammon Ranges, the Stirling Ranges, the Fitzgerald River Coast, Katherine Gorge and Kakadu National Park.

Rankin's photographs are not just pretty illustrations. Each one is taken to highlight a walking track and prepare your eyes for the task ahead as well as being a singular aesthetic experience.

The only photographs I came across that I found disappointing were of Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges. The images are drab and capture nothing of Wilpena's eerie, sunken ambience. It's a wild and wonderful place but you'd never know it from these photographs.

The best photographs are of Tasmania - the Vatican of bushwalking - and that is how it should be.

The videos, while they are now of a much higher quality, are a nice extra but they cannot approach the drama and detail of the stills. The maps, too, are of the highest quality, and are a valuable resource: 25 hard-copy maps of this detail and utility would cost you far more than $49.95.

Indeed, the discs provide pretty well everything you need to prepare yourself adequately for a serious trek.

The Australian 16 November 1999 (IT Section)
2 Holt Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010

 

2. Sydney Morning Herald 23 October 1997:

[Robert Rankin's] Australia isn't Surfers Paradise or Darling Harbour. It isn't about five-star hotels or theme parks or giving tourists an experience they could easily have in a dozen other countries.

His CD-ROM, Wild Walks, is the most beautiful and moving software title I have seen. Rankin took the photographs and video, wrote the words and music, made the CD-ROM, and published it. He put into it not just his love of the Australian wilderness, but also what are obviously his long years of experience walking through it and studying it.

Beyond its just being a sublimely beautiful pictorial record, Wild Walks is also an encyclopedia of information. Rankin is not an armchair bushwalker, and he is not an elitist who wants to keep the wilderness to himself and a select, adventurous few. Wild Walks is an encouragement for us all to see for ourselves what he has seen. . .

. . .He has used every trick in the multimedia CD-ROM book to enhance Wild Walks, but there is nothing slippery or superficial in the result - it is form that compliments the substance, enriching an already heady experience. It is a sophisticated title, put together with a technical dexterity that would make it shine in any company. It is not good just by Australian standards, but by any standard. The few and very minor oversights (such as menu bars on the video panel being slightly obscured) have no impact on the overall excellence of Wild Walks.

With the photographs there are overlays showing walking tracks and the region's major features; the text includes information on routes and campsites, walking times and weather. There are also notes on local geography, plants and history. Everything, from the text to the maps to the weather information to the pictures can be printed out.

There are 3D maps, with overlays, to show you how a region looks so you can judge for yourself the relative difficulty of the area for walking and camping.

The slide show is something very special. To the accompaniment of music written by Rankin you are given what can only be described as a spiritual journey through Australia's most beautiful places. For me, and you will have to forgive the cliche, it was a haunting experience.

RATING: 5 stars
FOR: Sublimely beautiful; detailed; extensive; intelligent
AGAINST: A little difficult initially to navigate.

The Northern Herald (Section of the Sydney Morning Herald)
23 October 1997

 

3. The Weekend Australian 1-2 November 1997:

With Christmas upon us soon, this fascinating disc presents all the information you need to go bush - that is, to walk the wildest, most remote tracks in places such as Hinchinbrook Island, the Warrumbungles, the Walls of Jerusalem and the Overland Track in Tasmania. On the opening screen I clicked Regions to access a list of walks; five in Queensland, four in NSW, three in Victoria, seven in Tasmania, and two in each of South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Tasmania, here I come!

I headed for Australia's most popular long-distance walk - the Overland Track, which the introduction says "traverses Tasmania's highest country; it crosses open moors and plunges through deep forests in the mountainous region between Cradle Mountain in the north and Lake St Clair in the south." The text then describes the track, the side trips, the huts, the weather ("Even in mid-summer snowfalls are not uncommon") and the spectacular scenery.

I clicked Pictures on the menu bar and was able to access a list of 14 images. I selected "Looking across Kathleen's Pool to Cradle Mountain" and a glorious high-resolution image flooded the screen.

The menu bar had changed too; now it offered these options: Regions, Hot, Routes, Labels and Tools. I clicked Routes and two lines appeared on the picture; the red line denoting the Overland Track and the yellow line the Cradle Mountain route. Two hot spots on the view showed fantastic close-up images of two areas: "View across a tarn at Twisted Lakes towards Little Horn" and a breathtaking, sweeping view from the summit of Cradle Mountain.

As I explored I could add my own notes, print pictures and detailed walking maps, access data on weather over 40 years, and enjoy virtual flights through locations such as Mt Bowen, Mt Kosciusko, Federation Peak and Mt Bogong.

My only criticism is that the design would benefit from having more photographs on entry screens and by providing clearer access to the main screen and maps from within the program.

However, the core of Classic Wild Walks of Australia is a striking collection of photography and information.

Rating: 85%

The Weekend Australian 1-2 November 1997 (Syte Section)
2 Holt Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010

 

4. The Australian 4 November 1997:

. . . I often complain about the quality of images on many of the discs I review. Coming across a disc such as this, which is stuffed with hundreds of magnificent, high-resolution (16-bit or 24-bit recommended) colour images, I realise that I have not been critical enough, because Rankin shows just how effective a CD-ROM can be as a visual showcase.

Mind you, Rankin is a master landscape photographer, which might account for the loving care with which he presents these images. Too often, images on CD-ROMs appear to have been shot on a box Brownie by an arthritic monkey, but in this case the images have been framed with great care, exposing elements of the landscape in new and startling ways.

Tasmania, that bushwalkers' Xanadu, receives the bulk of his attention.

The photos of the Jerusalem Walls (sic), Mt Arthur (sic) and Cradle Mountain are truly stunning. Better still, by clicking on various hot spots, you are given another view of a detail in the larger image.

As a kind of digital coffee table book (which it is, literally - the CD-ROM version of a sumptuous hardcover book) the disc works because of Rankin's skill with a camera.

You can enjoy it as a series of soothing slide shows, or you can take a more organized approach and explore each classic walk sequentially.

Unfortunately, the disc's interface is seriously clunky. Nothing infuriates me more than having to trawl through layers of menus and sub-menus, and this disc has a real commitment to menus.

The opening screen is a sea of blue; nothing clickable in sight. Then, with a sinking heart you see the menu titles at the top of the screen and soon the screen is cluttered with windows and sub-menus galore, because nothing is very obvious and you have to do a fair bit of crashing around in the undergrowth before you can find a path through it.

Eventually you do, though, and you will be glad you persevered, but you shouldn't have to fight the interface to get to the content in this way: the disc should bring it to you.

Once you resign yourself to a lot more mouse-clicking, you can get on with finding the content.

And the content is comprehensive, covering essential bushwalking details including rainfall and snowdepth patterns, full-scale maps and descriptions of the walks. It also takes full advantage of the multimedia potential of a CD-ROM to provide a complete perspective not possible in a book.

For instance, there are virtual flights over Mt Bowen, Mt Kosciusko, Mt Bogong and Federation Peak. These give you an aerial, 380-degree (sic) 3D view, with important landmarks, walking tracks and roads highlighted if you wish. These flights are an excellent way of judging the contour and slope of the terrain you might be planning to walk through at these fabled climbing sites.

There are seven eye-popping slide shows, and nine less-successful videos available from the menu. They are a good place to start because they give you a guided tour of the regions covered, using many of the images you will encounter in more detail elsewhere.

The slide shows are diverting despite an excess of zeal in the use of various transition effects.

The elegiac sequence on Lake Pedder, photographed just before it was flooded in 1973 by bullet-headed men in suits from the Tasmanian Hydro Electric Commission, is heartbreaking.

The videos, for the most part, are really slide shows in disguise and in some cases, such as the one on Hinchinbrook Island, little better than ham-fisted home videos.

Still, their very homeliness adds a touch of sincerity and warmth. But visually they have nothing on the still images conveying the majesty of Kakadu or Hinchinbrook Island.

Very little use is made of audio on this disc. Even the videos lack voice-overs; captions are used instead.

The music is of the ambient variety, which is a shame, because a well thought-out soundtrack using real melodies would have added considerably to the experience of browsing through the disc - the kind that Rory O'Donohue came up with for The Bush Tucker Man.

Apart from that, and the severe uninviting interface, there is nothing to dislike about Classic Wild Walks of Australia. There is something reassuring about it, and it serves its primary purpose well.

It has convinced me to step out of the virtual and into the actual and visit the Warrumbungles again.

There's this great little walk to the Grand Tops, you see . . .

The Australian 4 November 1997 (Computer Section)
2 Holt Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010

 

5. The Courier Mail 17th March 1998:

Thanks to Classic Wild Walks of Australia, it is now possible to experience fantastic hikes through the most stunning areas of Australia without leaving your armchair. Wander through this copiously detailed and wonderful CD and you will be able to fool experienced bushwalkers that you have plumbed the heights of Mount Anne in Tasmania or Mount Barney closer to home.

Where have you dreamed of exploring? Hinchinbrook Island, the Upper Grose Valley in New South Wales or Kakadu in the Northern Territory? More than a dozen famous and less-famous walking tracks in every state are included. Clearly, author Robert Rankin was interested in creating a useful tool as well as a pretty CD. Wild Walks is visually fantastic, with a multitude of excellent photographs, but ultimately it is meant to plan real bushwalking trips.

It does this through myriad little tools and connections that make what could have been a very average CD amazingly comprehensive and user-friendly. All the regions can be perused pictorially and the text section is superbly designed and readable. Everything you need to know is a mouse-click away. Topics include a complete introduction to the region and a grading system of the various tracks in the region — allowing expert or novice walkers to comfortably choose a track, and estimated walking times.

You can read about the area’s environment, including remarkably detailed notes on plant life and topography. The Access section provides complete details of where to go to get started on your bushwalk and tips on how to avoid delays. The Walking Routes section outlines every aspect of the trail and is a perfect companion to the photograph section where pictures from each region can be overlaid with recommended routes, points of interest, highlights and directions.

For camping, each trail includes information on the best spots for pitching a tent, water supplies and necessary permits. Rankin has added hundreds of useful hints, advice, little known facts and details that would make a bushwalker’s heart sing. For instance, if it rains before a hike through the Carnarvon Gorge, is rushing water a hazard? What do poisonous rainforest plants look like?

Wild Walks also includes a map for each region; a Weather section, complete with average yearly rainfall, temperature charts and snowfall rates.

Wild Walks provides a notebook for each section which can be used to make personal notes or copy blocks of text to save for later reading.

For armchair bushwalkers, the Sequence zone will let you ramble through wonderful video footage of several of the hikes’ highlights. The slide show is nice though there’s no way to flit through it quickly or access it by region. The 3D Virtual Flights section is an amazing birds-eye view of the photography of various mountains.

If there’s a more comprehensive, user-friendly, good-looking CD on bushwalking, I have yet to hear about it. Wild Walks of Australia would inspire even the most languid couch potatoes to heave themselves out of the chair and have a sticky at Australia’s great outdoors.

Happy trails.

Elizabeth Marx
Courier Mail, Tuesday 17th March 1998

 

6. Schools PC Review February 1998:

 

This combination of beautiful images, text and data on some of the best bushwalking regions in Australia would be a welcome addition to any school’s software collection. Wilderness photographer, Robert Rankin supplied the numerous inspirational photos on each area covered, which include such classic regions as Kakadu in the northern Territory, Tasmania’s Overland Track, and Victoria’s Wilson’s Promontory. Altogether there are 25 regions from the six states and the Northern Territory.

The CD offers information on walking routes, track grades, walking times, campsites, geology and botany, the necessary maps, and access routes. It also supplies weather information in a graphical format on temperature, rainfall and snow depth for each area. Mountain height comparisons, more general information on safety and treading lightly in the bush, and contacts for all of the relevant national parks are also included. All of this information, as well as detailed maps, can be printed for personal use in the field, or in the classroom.

The photographs, a gem on their own, can be used as a tool. With a click of the mouse each student can add overlays that visually describe walking routes and major features. All of this information will supply teachers with plenty of classroom activities, fitting in with a geography or environmental studies theme quite easily. Students could learn skills in map reading or analysis of weather data or simply learn about the different geological and biological regions of Australia.

It would also be a suitable aid in discussions about world heritage areas, some of which are included on the CD, as well as how to treat national parks with care, and basic bushwalking tips. Organizational skills could also be developed through using the information to plan walking trips. Students would need to choose appropriate routes and the best times to go, as well as plan what equipment and food to take.

Please check the system requirements carefully. We found discrepancies between the requirements on the box and those on the CD itself. The CD will only run on a 486 processor or better, loaded with Windows 95 (and now 98 as well), or NT, and needs a minimum of 8Mb of RAM and a sound card.

Selina Mitchell
School PC Reviews, February 1998

 

AUSTRALIAN WILD SCENES SCREEN SAVERS

The Weekend Australian 6-7 December 1997:

I hated Windows '95 until I loaded screen savers featuring horses. Now with summer heat scorching us, Australian Wild Scenes, a set of screen savers from wilderness photographer Robert Rankin, can help us all relax.

From the wetlands and Twin Falls Gorge of Kakadu and the mangroves on Hinchinbrook Island, to the gigantic cliffs fringing the Nullarbor Plain and the wattle understorey of the Victorian alps in spring, it's all here.

For a mountain mood, revel in the spectacular Breadknife formation of the Warrumbungles, or wonder at Lake Oberon, in the Western Arthur Range of south-west Tasmania.

You can personalise the screen savers by choosing the type and speed of transition between pictures, the time between pictures and whether the pictures present as full screen or frame-mounted.

Frames reflect Australian moods including eucalypt forest, rainforest, desert reds and the coral coast. You can also display detailed captions describing each picture.

The second pack, Rainforest, offers screen savers that capture the majesty and mystery of rainforests, from Queensland's Lamington National Park and Cape Tribulation, to the cooler temperate forests of Tasmania's central highlands at Lake St Clair.

How does the superb forest of Victoria's Otway Ranges differ from that of the remote Errinundra Plateau and the cool Antarctic beech forests of the New England Tableland?

Here's the place to find out while cooling your sweaty brow on a hot summer's day.

Rating: 95%

The Weekend Australian 6-7 December 1997 (Syte Section)
2 Holt Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010