1. A method for displaying a travel route, the method comprising the steps of: providing a user interface for receiving user input; generating a bit-mapped image of a geographic region from vector data; displaying the bit-mapped image on a display monitor; generating a routing database from the vector data, the routing database having geographic information for roads and places within the geographic region; selecting, via the user interface, a departure point and a destination point geographically located within the geographic region; using the routing database to generate a travel route between the selected departure point and the selected destination point; and displaying the travel route on the display monitor over the bit-mapped image of the geographic region.