The program is available for Macintosh computers. In addition to the software, there is a comprehensive teacher's guide with lesson plans, activities, and reproducibles. The software also includes dozens of ready-made maps that correspond to the lesson plans. The product is designed by Peggy Healy Stearns, Ph.D., who is also the author of The Graph Club, an award-winning program from Tom Snyder Productions. The Create mode allows students to design maps from scratch.
Students can add roads, buildings, trees, parks, water, and other objects.
In Explore mode, students use a compass to explore and navigate around their own maps or ready-made maps. They can get close-up views of buildings and use text and paint tools to highlight their routes. The Mystery mode enables students to undertake a geography scavenger hunt. Neighborhood MapMachine's printing feature is another key component of the program. Students can print maps in multiple sizes, from standard to wall-size.