Ever need information on a particular city-its transportation system or culture? Are you doing research on a city or planning a trip for business or pleasure? The World Wide Web can help chart your course!

City.Net on the Web has information on more than 1,000 cities and some 500 other locations. Categories from which you can select include "Culture & Language," "Arts & Entertainment," "Food & Drink," and "Books & Libraries." In addition, for many cities there are images and maps which users with access to a graphical interface can view.

You can search City.Net by region or country, or browse locations using the alphabetical index. If you're feeling adventurous, you can spin the globe, in effect, by selecting "Random Destination" and see where you alight (we did and wound up in Ft. Meade, South Dakota; we tried again and landed in Kemi, Finland). Or you can access another Web site, The Virtual Tourist 2, which operates a map-based interface to City.Net and-using a graphical browser like Netscape-access the same information by clicking on a series of global, continental, and country maps.

Under the category "Transportation," City.Net will link you to Subway Navigator, which can help you figure out how to get from point A to point B in Toronto, Paris, Milan, Washington, New York, or Berlin, to name a few. Subway Navigator prompts you for the name of the subway station you are starting out from and the name of the station you wish to arrive at. If you can't recall the station names, the system presents you with a list to jog your memory. Or, if you have a graphical interface, you can view a map of the subway system and simply point and click on your origination point and desired destination. Subway Navigator computes your route and estimated travel time, and displays the information for you to print out and pack away in your briefcase, duffle bag, or backpack.

These sites are loaded with information and can enhance your travel, research, or mental voyages. Bon voyage!

You can reach City.Net at http://www.city.net. The URL for The Virtual Tourist 2 is http://wings.buffalo.edu/world/vt2 and the URL for the English-language version of Subway Navigator is http://metro.jussieu.fr:10001/bin/cities/english. For more information on accessing URLs through your mainframe account, contact the CIT Help Desk at 645-3542.

-Loss Pequeno Glazier and Nancy Schiller, University Libraries