Why DVD?

To give our customers a more robust and user-friendly product, LandView^® IV was released primarily on a single Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) (instead of the former 11 CD-ROMs for LandView III).

LandView IV on DVD allows us to provide you with a seamless set of maps and data for the entire U.S. on one disc. And, for the first time, LandView IV on DVD allows you to make radius calculations across combinations of state boundaries.

What is DVD?

DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) was developed by the optical disc industry as the next evolutionary step in compact disc (CD) technology. DVD-ROM, as it is known, uses the same fundamental technology used in producing DVD Video discs that now can contain entire feature length movies. This was accomplished by expanding the data capacities of the current CD by writing information more densely on each data track and creating multiple data layers on a single disc. DVD-ROM readers are manufactured to international standards so that they can be read by all types of CD and DVD media, including today's CD-ROMs and CD-R discs.

These efforts led to the development of the single layer DVD-5 disc that can hold 4.3 gigabytes of data, and the dual layer DVD-9 disc that holds 8 gigabytes of data. A single DVD 5 can store the same amount data that would require 7 standard CD-ROMs while a DVD-9 holds the same amount data that would require 13 standard CD-ROMs.

What If I Don't Have A DVD Reader in My Computer?

Many new computer systems now come with readers that read both the DVD and CD-ROM formats. Industry experts predict that there will be over 20 million DVD readers installed in computers by the end of 2000.

If you don't have a DVD/CD-ROM reader, you or your IT staff can purchase and install a DVD/CDROM reader in your computer. These readers are readily available from various computer equipment suppliers for prices ranging from under $100 to $130.

Alternatively, you can add a DVD reader to your network server. You can then install LV IV onto your server and run it over the network without having to purchase DVD readers for each work station.

Want Us to Build Your Own Customized LandView IV on CD-ROM?

For $60, you can order a customized CD-ROM that contains just the states you select.