TrailRunner

What you see in the two pictures below is the very same location. In the greater perspective, the topographic TK20 map is absolutely perfect for hiking and route planning. And next, a small keyhole into GoogleMaps at zoom-level 1.
Although the resolution of the satellite images are perfectly fine, it's an overload of information. If you layout a route in the topographic map, it's possible to work in a wide aspect and still find the trails you want. With the satellite imagery, you can pin down to footsteps, but working in high zoom can be very tedious, as you often loose the overall point of view.
The moral: as ever, less is often more.

I must admit that the United States Geological Survey (USGS) is more and more getting my best friend. The scientific agency of the United States government offers many web-based services providing geographical data of the United States and partly about the rest of the world.
The newest discovery is the elevation database. Thanks to the pointer from Mike Jacobsen, TrailRunner now can query the online-database for every single point in your TrailRunner document and will receive the corresponding elevation. Best of all: It seems to cover the whole planet.
To download elevation data for you net of tracks you need a calibrated document. The menu command File > Import > Elevation data from Internet-Service will start the download. As it takes long, you might also check out the same locations in the fresh air, while the download is proceeding.

TrailRunner can now import the last workout from your Nike + iPod Sports Kit. For that a new Toolbar-Button is available under View > Customize Toolbar.
The import process is straight forward. You connect your iPod Nano to your Mac. Press the toolbar import button (or File > Import > From Nike + iPod Sport Kit) and a sheet with the last workout data will come up. Optionally select the corresponding route in the list of routes (or create a new one) and press the Add button. Now the diary will come up, containing the new entry. Have fun with this one. If you happen to have problems with the import, please contact me as reading the data off the iPod Nano is done by a hack that might fail.

TrailRunner 1.1 features an improved diary. In short it's about search, flag and compare.

Chart
In the new toolbar, switch the area above the entries table to display either calendar based data entry fields or a comparison chart.
The chart reflects the current selection in the diary table, displaying at least 10 weeks from the newest selected entry backwards. If you select more entries in the table, the cart will update to the new entries range.
Entries will always display as a grouped value based on the current interval. The base interval is by weeks and can extend to months if you select a big amount of entries.
In the legend on the right you see the overall values for the displayed data. If you need to know the data for one data-point, select it and you'll see the specific values in the lower legend.

Fitness
The fitness is a calculated value based on pace and heart-rate. The main idea is that if you where very fast with a low heart-rate, you're fitter. In the opposite if you where very slow and had a high heart-rate, you're less. This value is just an orientation and does not have the accuracy of the methods used in Polar watches or other bio-medical methods, but it gives a pretty good overall impression.
The scale of the values is in the value range of the polar watches, but that's only a nice coincidence.

Flag
As you are accustomed from Mail.app, entries can now be flagged in the leftmost column. If you start a series of exercises to reach a certain goal, flag the first one. If you had a very nice exercise or competition, flag it.

Search
The search field in the lower right corner will search for diary entries (looks into column route and personal notes) that contain the given search term. The diary table will then only display matching entries.
This provides various ways to tag and filter diary entries, to later compare entries of the same class. Some examples:
To find out how many kilometers you have accomplished with a pair of shoes, tag all entries with a unique tag like xasc06 (your Asics 2006 pair). When you later search for that term the chart legend will display the values you want to know: number of units and sum of kilometers.
To compare your performance in a certain route over time, enter the routes name and the chart will display the performance values.
To make a distinction between running and biking, tag all runs with xrun and all biking exercises with xmtb. Later search for either tag to see a chart with values only of this kind.
If you use a polar watch and regularly measure your OwnIndex, enter the OwnIndex in the personal comment like ownindex:52. Later search for ownindex and see you progress on the measure checkpoints (unfortunately not in the chart but filtered on entries with this information)

Export
Not a new feature but a good place to mention, if you select diary entries, edit > copy will put them as tab separated columns into the clipboard. An easy method to transfer entries into Excel or other analysis tools.

You might have read the press-announcements for Nike and Apple creating a new extension to the iPod Line. It's a piece of Hardware, basically a smart pedometer inside your shoe and a software update for your iPod Nano. The software tracks the usual data like time and distance and includes some kind of voice comments. Additionally Apple offers a new set of workout playlists in iTunes for your training and inspiration.
The software update for the Nano will include a new menu item, "Nike+iPod," which allows you to choose your workout distance and select your playlist.
Even if it's cool to hear some motivating tunes during your workout, how do you know what the 5 miles course is? It's clear: TrailRunner is the next perfect addition. Could someone please tell Apple and Nike?