Free Beer? Well, not exactly, but using Route Planner 8 can save you enough time and gas to pay for a few. Whether you have several appointments to hit in a day, or, need to keep records on your outdoor activities, or, some new real estate properties to inspect, or, need to make deliveries to several locations, or, need to pick up from multiple addresses, or, in my wife’s case have 15-yard sales to hit in one morning, you need the help of Route Planner 8 to help you choose the best route and keep a record of your travels. Using an all-new design for Windows 8, Route Planner is here for the latest and greatest Microsoft OS. This app is not a part of any of our previous Route Planner apps. It has been designed from scratch to take advantage of the features of Windows 8. Then, we added the best features of the previous Route Planner apps. Plan and Go and Share: Waypoints are stops, appointments, or points of interest. Plan your route by entering a few waypoints. If desired, use the “Optimize” feature to automatically reorder your waypoints based on the shortest distance. When departing, keep a record of your actual route taken by turning on “Tracking”. Your GPS position is recorded and a line is drawn on the map showing your progress. Not surprisingly, this is called your “track”. Along the way, enter notes for any waypoint. When complete, or at any time, you can share your route and track in several ways: Send a link that shows a Google Map with your waypoints; Send a GPX file (GPS Exchange Format) with waypoints and track, or save your route to SkyDrive for sharing. Free Trial Download and take a look for free. When you see how Route Planner 8 will help you, purchase the “Save” feature which lets you store any number of your own routes. Tracking your movements using your device’s GPS and storing a “bread crumb” trail is a second feature you may elect to buy. Windows 8 Embraced One of the more powerful and less touted features of Windows 8 is the Search Charm. Apps, such as Route Planner 8 which make use of this integration, give you a fast and easily accessible query into the app’s data. At any time, you may pop up the Search Charm and for example, find out if you have ever been to “3110 North Ridge”. Likewise, the Share Charm gives you a fast way to share your route or current location. Choose the Windows 8 Share Charm or select “Share Location” from Route Planner 8’s app menu bar. You are presented with a choice of apps with which to share your route or location. For example, you can easily email a link to a Bing Map that shows your current location. As a pleasant reminder, the App’s Windows 8 Live tile shows your recently used routes. Thumbnail maps with push-pin show the last few routes you used. And, you may add additional secondary tiles for your frequently accessed routes.