Streets & Trips 2004
A Review by John Calhoun
This
new version does not seem to include very many new features or improvements,
but there are a couple. One is that it now works with GPS: Global Positioning System. Connecting a GPS
unit to your laptop or Pocket PC, you will instantly know exactly where you
are. Typing a desired location into the
computer, S&T will use the GPS to guide you to that location. Streets & Trips 2004 for Pocket PC is
included on the CD at no extra charge. If
you don’t have a GPS, S&T can guide you to your destination either on
screen, or with a print-out. The
print-out can include written directions, a map, or both.
Another
new feature is Drive-time Zones. This
feature gives you the ability to figure out how far you will get towards your
destination in a specified amount of time. For example, you might want to know how far you would get if you drove
for 3 hours. S&T will tell you where
you would be after 3 hours of driving time.
Another
new feature is that the program allows users to view one-way streets, for more
accurate trip planning. One-way streets
are noted with trafic direction arrows right on the streets.
I
was pleased to see that the freeways in my local area were finally updated with
this version. The last version (2003)
didn’t include these newly completed freeway additions, although the freeways
were completed well in advance of the release of the software. One thing that was not fixed is that cul de
sacs are not noted until you get very zoomed in. They show as through streets until you zoom
in one step less than maximum zoom.
This
version runs on Windows 98 and later. The CD also includes a version for Pocket PC.
Some
of the standard features included in previous versions (taken directly from
Microsoft’s website) include:
- Turn-by-Turn Driving Directions. Streets & Trips 2004 allows users to obtain address-to-address driving directions for virtually anywhere in the United States and Canada.
- Exporting to Pocket Streets. Travelers equipped with Streets & Trips 2004 can export maps to Pocket PC devices for use on the road. Using Pocket Streets, which comes on the Streets & Trips CD, users can interact with the map by looking up addresses, panning, zooming and using pushpins.
- Route Planner. Travelers can view, add, delete or rearrange their destinations with this tool. Advanced routing features also let them input current fuel costs, driving speed, and preferred roads and routes (e.g., the shortest or quickest). Streets & Trips 2004 also can optimize travelers' routes if they have multiple destinations.
- Office drawing and map annotation tools. Consistent with the tools users have come to expect from Microsoft applications, the comprehensive set of drawing tools in Streets & Trips 2004 allows users to customize their maps. The familiar set of Office drawing tools has been adapted to create tools specifically for annotating a map. Travelers can highlight areas, draw lines, add arrows, display a radius, insert text, add pushpins and more.
- Advanced searching to locate an address or place. Streets & Trips 2004 contains more than 1.3 million addresses, places and points of interest across the United States and Canada that travelers can find on the map. The Find box lets users quickly enter a street address or name of a place and locate it instantly. If they don't know the correct spelling, Smart Find intelligently suggests matches.
- Patented Snap-Routing technology. Snap-Routing allows users to drag and drop a route anywhere on the user's map, and watch it snap into place while the map and driving directions recalculate automatically -- even for the most complex journey.
- Saving as a Web page, sending maps via e-mail, or using five print layouts. Users can incorporate their Streets & Trips map as part of a Web page, send it via e-mail to friends and colleagues, or print it out in any of five formats:
- Map-only output format prints out only the map.
- Driving Directions format prints out only the driving directions.
- Turn-by-Turn maps and Driving Directions format provides small maps that guide users through confusing city streets, tricky intersections, highway entrances and exit ramps. Driving Directions also will now feature one-way streets to enable more-accurate trip planning.
- Strip Map and Directions format provides turn-by-turn driving directions printed below or to the side of the map.
- Highlighted Places Map format highlights the points of interests selected by users.
- Finding what's nearby (points of interest). Users can locate points of interest on their route or virtually anywhere on the map by simply checking the boxes of the types of places they would like displayed. For example, more than 492,000 restaurants, 128,000 ATMs and banks, 58,000 gas stations, and 7,000 golf courses can be displayed.
- Road construction updates. Travelers can save valuable travel time by receiving alerts about local construction or road closures. Information is updated and ready for download from the Web.
Immediate, Accurate and Customizable Maps
Streets & Trips 2004 instantly meets consumers' mapping and travel needs
without requiring them to wait for an Internet connection. Unlike most Internet
mapping sites, Streets & Trips 2004 allows users to customize their map to
offer multiple-destination driving directions, showing the best route to all
their stops. Streets & Trips 2004 delivers high-quality, up-to-date maps of
the United States and Canada thanks to Microsoft's work with some of the most
respected data providers in the world: Geographic Data Technology Inc. and
Navigation Technologies Corp. for the map and routing data; Woodall's for
campground and recreation information; and vendors such as Acxiom Corp. for
information about Streets & Trips' more than 1.3 million points of
interest.
You can also read the 2 reviews of the previous version, Streets & Trips 2003, on this website.
Streets
& Trips 2004
Microsoft
Corp.
$39.95
2
CD’s
10
Page Printed Manual
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2003/Aug03/08-05STDrivers2004PR.asp