Review on www.outdoorsmagic.com

Just launched by the Virtual Book Company is what's claimed to be 'the world's first fully interactive, living book' - The South West Coast Path.

What exactly is a 'virtual book'? In this case it's an ingenious mix of video footage - more than 90 minutes of it - combined with more than 800 colour photos, route maps and details, Memory Map fly though and rather cunningly - if you're connected to the internet - live links to weather and tourist information and, rather usefully, GPS data for all the 40 walks described in the 'book'.

You can also, say the publishers, download the walk commentary and images to an iPod or other MP3 player and take it along on your walk or just print off a relevant map and information.

It's a bit like a very lush, glossy, content rich web site, but on a DVD and because the links are to live information, like a web site, it shouldn't go out of date. Oh, and apparently the project has taken nine years to complete.

What's It Like?

Well, it's compatible with both PC and Mac and runs under Flash Player and it's really rather good. Okay, the video stuff - there's a segment for each selection of the coast path and associated circular walks - isn't exactly cutting edge, but it gives you a great visual picture of the terrain together with some basic background information on the walk.

That's just the start though. From the basic walk screen you can view 3D fly-throughs, download map and instructions from the Virtual Book Company's web site, check out images from the area, get details of places to eat and drink, see tide tables or the latest weather forecast and lots more. You can even bring up a topographical data window showing a graph or elevation against distance.

For GPS users, the option to download data is handy, but bearing in mind that it's in the .mmo memory map format, so you may need to do some conversion work if you use other mapping software.

Generally the navigation is obvious straightforward to use which is just as well seeing as there's no help section included.

Overall we're pretty impressed. It's a great mix of web information, video footage, mapping and images and would be well worth the £19.95 + £1.95 p and p price if you were thinking of tackling either the SWCP itself or spending a week or two in the area knocking off a selection of smaller walks.

You can find more information and order the book on line at www.virtualbookcompany.co.uk.