
                Survey The USA

                by Matthew Ratcliff


System Requirements:

- IBM PC Compatible XT, AT, or 386 system
- MOUSE (with graphics capable mouse driver)
- VGA, CGA, EGA
  (Monochrome/Hercules graphics NOT supported)
- Approximately 700K of disk space for program
  and database files.

                  Brought To You By:

                  Ratware Softworks
                  Matthew J. W. Ratcliff
                  32 S. Hartnett Ave.
                  St. Louis, MO  63135

                        Modem Connections:

                  CompuServe: 76703,1077 - ATTN: Mat*Rat, in SUBJ:
                  Delphi    : MATRAT
                  GEnie     : MAT.RAT
                  GatewayBBS: (314) 524-1627, 1200/2400
                  baud, 8N1, MAT*RAT

                  (c) 1990, Dec 31
                  (c) 1991, Apr 14


                        Registration Requirements:


                  Shareware $10 registration of executable.
                  You will be notified when a final full
                  working version (with printer hard copy)
                  is available.

                  Some functions still under
                  construction.


Currently the GAMES, VIEW and INFORMATION menus are
fully complete. Only the file menu is still under
construction.



                TO RUN PROGRAM:

First load your mouse driver (usually done from
AUTOEXEC.BAT).  The mouse driver should be capable of
placing a mouse cursor on a graphics screen.  Some older
mouse drivers only worked with text screens and lower (CGA)
graphics resolutions.  The latest Microsoft and Logitech
mouse drivers support every graphics mode, through VGA.  The
program will not RUN without a mouse driver loaded.

Then enter the command USA to run the USA program.  All of
these files must be in the current directory, when USA is
executed:

                USA.EXE
                UAS.CNM
                USA.CTY


After the title screen, you are prompted to select a
graphics mode.  The program detects all graphics modes your
system is capable of, and allows you to make a selection.
(For example, if you have VGA but you would like to run it
in CGA, you may do so.)

Next a horizontal menu bar, across the top of the display,
is presented, and a US map of the contiguous 48 states is
drawn.  The program should be fairly self explanitory.



MOUSE OPERATION:

When a meny bar item is clicked on once, with the left
button, a menu pulls down.  (You don't have to click/drag it
down.)  Point to the item of interest and click the left
button once to select it.  To get rid of a pulled down menu,
simply click once on an area of the screen outside this
menu.  Then you may move the mouse pointer to the top
horizontal menu bar to make another selection.  There is one
status line at the bottom of the display.  Information is
often written here, such as messages that the USA database
is being accessed.  This line is also used for keyboard
input, such as typing in the State names in the State game.
Generally the LEFT mouse button is uset to select an item,
and the RIGHT button is used to CANCEL or END some
operation, or sequence of operations.  Most of it should be
fairly self explanitory.


FILES:

USA      CNM    -       City names database
USA      CTY    -       City index information database
USA      EXE    -       USA program
README          -       This file


MENUS:

Updates         - Information on upcoming USA updates
Game            - Play states, capitals, or states &
                  capitals game.
View            - View 48 states, 50 states, variable
                  zoom, or pick a state.
Information     - Pick a state and view population,
                  area, city locations, capital,
                  largest city, population density, or
                  find any of 32,000 cities across the
                  USA.  A single state must be on the
                  screen when using this mode, so you
                  may be prompted to point and click on
                  a state of interest, before these
                  options are made available.
File            - Printer hard copy, print city names,
                  and more.  This menu is still under
                  construction as of Sun  04-14-1991.
                  REGISTERED USERS will be notified of
                  this update, when available. (I
                  simply haven't had the TIME to get it
                  done, but will SOON if I get a lot of
                  registered users.)
Exit            - Exit the program to DOS.


GAME MENU

States                  - Test your knowledge of the
                          states.
Capitals                - Test your knowledge of the
                          states' capitals.
States & Capitals       - Be REAL BRAINY, test your
                          knowledge of states and
                          capitals.
Spelling Accuracy       - You know them, but can't
                          spell so good. LOWER required
                          spelling accuracy and still
                          qualify as having entered a
                          CORRECT answer:
                          Spelling Accuracy
                          Required for Games
                           75%  - Just learning
                           80%  - Practiced a bit
                           90%  - Getting good
                          100% - Scholar

VIEW MENU

48 States       - View contiguous 48 states
50 States       - View all 50 states
Pick A State    - Pick a single state for full screen
                  view.
Variable Zoom   - Variable zoom. (This algorithm needs
                  a bit of work yet.)
Abbreviations   - Toggle state abbreviations. When on,
                  each state's postal abbreviation is
                  shown near the state's center.

INFORMATION MENU

Largest City    - Show largest city in sate, name and
                  circle symbol marking its location.
                  If largest city and capital the same
                  city, both symbols will appear at the
                  same location, one on the other.
State Capital   - Show state capital, name and star
                  symbol.
State Name      - Show state name.
State Population- Show state population.
State Area      - Show state size, sq-miles.
Population/SqMi - Show people/square-mile.
Show All Info   - Show all of the above.
--------------
Show Cities     - Show cities for a state. Plots one
                  pixel at the location of each city in
                  the currently displayed state. Neat
                  graphical effect.  Which state is
                  most crowded? What area of the state
                  has the fewest cities (for those who
                  wish to move way out in the middle of
                  NOWHERE!)?
Find a City     - Find a city.


FIND A CITY:

  Search Criteria:
---------------------
Best Match              - Enter a city name, and the
                          city whose name best matches
                          that (or the first 100%
                          match) is shown. The name is
                          displayed on the graph, and
                          the mouse cursor is placed at
                          the city's location on the
                          map.
All By First Letter     - Browse through the cities by
                          the first letter of the city
                          name.  Enter 'A' to find all
                          the cities that begin with
                          the letter 'A', for example.
Browse All Cities       - Simply browse through all the
                          cities in a state, showing
                          the location and name of
                          each.  Just click the LEFT
                          mouse button to see the next
                          city, or click the right to
                          exit.
----------------------
By similarity percent:  - You know what city you want
                          to find, but you're not quite
                          sure how it's spelled.  Spell
                          the best you can, after
                          selecting one of the
                          following spelling accuracy
                          percentages.  Let the program
                          do the rest of the work for
                          you!
----------------------
50% or Better
75% or Better
80% or Better
90% or Better

FILE MENU

Plot Current Map        - Plot the current map display
                          on an Epson or compatible
                          printer.
Print States & Capitals - Print a practice sheet of all
                          the state and capital names.
                          As information is sent to printer,
                          it is shown graphically on the 48
                          contiguous state map as well.
Print Cities for State  - Print some, or all of the
                          cities for a state.




We hope you enjoy Survey The USA!  Please register your copy
if you find it useful, and wish to be notified of updates.
The printer graphics algorithms have been developed, but not
integrated as yet.  Possibly by the summer of '91 the
graphics printing feature will be available; possibly sooner
depending upon user registration responses.  If you are
interested in a Microsoft Windows 3.0 version, let us know.

Future enhancements:

Area code database query for any state and most major
cities.

Zip code database for large state areas.  Possibly a full
zipcode database for all 32,000 US cities.

