I travel.  A lot. 

Mind you I don't travel as much as some but in 2006 I pushed well past the 100,000 mile (160,930km) mark with American Airlines and Northwest Airlines.  Traveling for me, like so many of you who visit Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! is simply "a part of the job".  And while I do not mind traveling, especially internationally, it can be a daunting task to keep up with flight schedules, weather forecasts, currency conversions and the like while still remaining mobile.  Most travel related applications for Windows Mobile devices are designed to cover one or two aspects of travel but very few have a complete list of what many "professional" travelers need.

One of these applications, and perhaps the leading application in the field, is MobiMate's WorldMate.  The 2006 Professional Edition of WorldMate is chock full of applications that every traveler needs:  Flight schedules, weather forecasts, measurement conversion calculator, currency calculator, trip planner and more.  It is the most comprehensive application of its type that I have reviewed and after using it the last two months of 2006, I can say it will not be coming off of my O2 XDA Atom any time soon.  The package that makes up WorldMate 2006 is both the application and the online subscription service that comes with the software.  The online service allows you to update content free-of-charge (data access charges from your provider may apply) at any time.  This means that weather forecasts, flight schedules, currency conversion rates and other content can be updated anytime, assuring you of having the most up-to-date information.  If you travel regularly and need to have current travel and local information, WorldMate 2006 Professional should be an application to consider.

WorldMate 2006 is installed on your Windows Mobile device via ActiveSync and requires approximately 2.0MB of storage space on your device.  You can install the application in your device's main memory or on a storage card and you will need to have PocketPC 2002 or higher.  Once it is installed and started, WorldMate will prompt you for an email address and your activation code to enable the online content of the application.  Essentially your email address creates an account on the WorldMate servers which allows you to manage your account as well as assures you of getting notification of application updates.  This also assures you of being able to reinstall the application on your current device or move it to another one if you upgrade during your one year subscription.

When you first start WorldMate 2006 you will quickly see the vast amount of information that is available in the application.  At the bottom of the screen is the main toolbar which opens up the various services inside the application.  The small up arrow at the right-hand corner opens a secondary toolbar which allows you to access further services.  In all there are a total of 14 services in WorldMate 2006 Professional.

The first service in WorldMate 2006 Professional is World Clocks.  In it you can display five different cities with their time.  There are hundreds of cities included so finding a major (or minor) city you are looking for or near it should not be a problem.  To select a city tap the menu arrow next to the city name to show the drop down list.  On the World Clocks screen you will see an analog clock as well as a digital clock along with the city name for your primary city.  You will also see the weather forecast icon in the upper right corner of the display as well as the alarm indicator should have an alarm set.  In addition to the World Clocks service, the last service in WorldMate 2006 is the World Map which shows you the time and date of your selected city along with a world map indicating where it is day and night throughout the world.

Figure 1:  The World Clocks Service in WorldMate 2006 Professional

Next is the Weather service which gives you both a summary and detailed weather report for up to four cities that you select.  The summary page provides you an icon based representation of the weather expected that day along with the high and low temperatures expected.  By tapping the Detailed button, you slightly more information and can update the forecast by tapping the Update button.  Like the World Clocks service, the cities can be changed easily with the drop down menu by each city.  Further, if you cannot find a city, you can search by zip code as well.  All of the forecasting data is provided by the US based Weather Channel.

Related to the Weather service is the Satellite Imagery service.  As the name suggests, with this service you can download a set of looping satellite images from The Weather Channel of a virtually any area of the world.  The name is misleading however in that you can do so much more.  Not only can you get the visible satellite image we are all accustomed to seeing, you can also get Doppler radar images, 24-hour forecasts, current temperatures and precipitation forecast.  When you select a map and download the images you can pause the looping of the images and zoom in or out of it as well.

Figure 2:  Weather Forecasts Service (Detailed View Shown)	Figure 3:  Satellite Imagery Service

The Itinerary Manager service of WorldMate 2006 Professional allows you to organize and manage your trips in a quick and easy-to-read list.  The great thing about the service is it allows you to manage all aspects of a trip, not just your airline flights.  In it you can put car rental information, hotel information, train and cruise information and meeting information.  It is designed to be comprehensive and a complete view of your itinerary but not so overwhelming that it becomes useless.

To create a new itinerary tap the Menu>New menu and select what you want to add to the itinerary.  If you choose a flight you are brought to a secondary screen that allows you to select your airline(s), flight numbers and departure airport.  The pull down menu for the airlines and for your departure city is impressive!  Almost every airline and every airport in the USA and abroad are listed.  Once you select your airlines, flight number and departure city, you can tap the update button and gate and current schedule of that flight are populated into your itinerary.  Because you can update this at any time, this assures you of having the most accurate information regarding your flight.  Additionally, once you create your itinerary and synchronize your device with your PC, that information is put onto your calendar in Outlook.  This helps you keep track of where you are going to be so you do not over book yourself!

This level of detail carries over into other aspects of your itinerary such as your rental car, hotel, train and meeting information.  With the exception of the meeting itinerary - which is strictly personal in nature - WorldMate 2006 Professional has virtually every rental car company, hotel chain and rail line included in the application.  This makes entries into your itinerary easy to do and eliminates guesswork.  The Itinerary Manager service is fantastic and makes trip planning simple but effective.  This one feature alone makes WorldMate 2006 Professional worthy of purchase!

Figure 4:  The Airline, Car Rental and Hotel Lists Included In WorldMate 2006 Professional Are Comprehensive	Figure 5:  Your Complete Itinerary on One Easy-To-Read Display in WorldMate 2006 Professional

In some instances, such as a day trip, you may not need the full Itinerary Manager service but only need the most up-to-date flight information.  The Flight Schedule services offers you that ability and thanks to over-the-air updates, you are constantly updated.  To use this service, select your airline from the pull-down menu and enter your flight number then tap the update button.  WorldMate 2006 Professional will then display the most current information available on your flight including any delays as well as departing and arriving gate information.  This can be particularly valuable information if you frequently fly out of a busy airport.  Most of my travel is out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) on American Airlines (AA).  American occupies no less than 4 of the 5 terminals at DFW which means if a gate change is announced, it may be in a completely different terminal on the opposite end of the airport!  While moving around the terminals at DFW is easy with the Sky Link system, I have often found that WorldMate is updated faster than the announcements made in the terminal by the airlines!

Figure 6:  The Flight Status Service

 While most frequent travelers have a favorite airline (i.e. the one with the most Frequent Flyer miles!), there are times when scheduled arrivals and departures to a city are more important than the airline itself.  This is where the Flight Schedules service can be a real benefit.  Using the power of OAG, a leading travel information resource (check out http://www.oag.com for more information), WorldMate 2006 allows you to select a departure and arrival city along with a specific date or week and then collect the flight information for every airline that flights that particular route.  Even better, every column in the Flight Schedules service can be sorted so you can arrange the returned data by carrier, departure time or arrival time.  This is a easy way to put together your next trip for business or pleasure without having to check multiple websites for each of the airlines.

Figure 7:  The Flight Schedules Service

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