Delorme Mapping Street Atlas USA 2005

by Delorme Mapping

Product Features

• Updated maps showing all highways, local routes, borders and exits in the U.S.
• Instant routing finds the fastest way to get to any destination
• Powerful search engine with multile zoom levels, for close-up looks at the roads you'll travel
• Millions of searchable points of interest -- from the newest restaurants to the closest gas stations
• Add your own notes and recommendations to maps

Product Details

Product Manual [801kb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002IP3KM
• Item model number: ao-7346-201
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 25, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,347 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #9 in Software > Education & Reference > Mapping

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

This newest upgrade builds off the solid travel-planning foundation of Street Atlas USA and introduces many innovative new capabilities for desktop, laptop, and in-vehicle GPS usage.

Discover the DeLorme Difference
When you choose Street Atlas USA 2005, you are selecting the most detailed and powerful travel planning software available. DeLorme pioneered the category in 1991 with the first release of this product, and today this software continues to be the standard by which all others are measured.

DeLorme cartographers are constantly updating the maps using a variety of trend-setting techniques, including new GPS mapping and aerial imagery techniques developed at DeLorme. Unlike other mapping software providers, who tend to all use the same data, we invest substantial amounts in our own data collection and correction. Discover the DeLorme difference and see why everyone from travel planners to emergency services personnel relies on Street Atlas USA year after year.

Easily create automatic highway and street-level routes across country. The software quickly and accurately calculates the quickest or shortest way and provides easy-to-read text directions showing total mileage and drive times. Let the software calculate your end-of-day stops and fuel stops, including fuel costs based on information you provide.

Insert VIAs to force the software to take exactly the road segments you want. Rearrange the order of your stops or simply reverse the entire route with a push of a button. Set driving speeds, types of roads to avoid, and even include new local roads that can be included in your automatic routes.

You can find everything imaginable while traveling, from the many expected items to many more not commonly found. Find places of interest by name and/or category, including restaurants, lodging, and gas stations... as well as Wal-Marts, Starbucks, post offices, fire stations, hospitals--the most complete and useful selection available. Use the GPS Radar to find the nearest places from your current GPS location--it’s amazing!

DeLorme has been driving GPS innovation for over a decade. Unlike some suppliers who simply stick a generic GPS receiver in a software box, DeLorme designs our GPS technologies from the ground up to provide the best possible in-vehicle experience. Some unique DeLorme competitive GPS advantages include:

• High-contrast screen settings for enhancing in-vehicle visibility on a laptop. Now that many new laptops use high-resolution screens, this is especially important.
• Related to the above, the ability to take everything you see on the map and enlarge it 200 percent without changing the map magnification levels of detail.
• Automatic back-on-track settings that you control so you can determine how far off track you are willing to go before being offered new directions.
• When you have a route created, the Next-Turns window shows large arrows with accompanying brief text for your next turn as well as the turn after that. For many users this is the most practical screen to use while navigating.
• The large Center-on-GPS button on the main interface lets you leave your current GPS position on the map without turning off the receiver, so you can scout ahead for exit services and other amenities without the map always re-centering on your GPS position.
• The GPS Radar Search finds places of interest from your current GPS position and shows directions and information for each; new in this version is a voice prompt for the one nearest you.
• Not only does the software provide spoken prompts about upcoming turns and services, but you can also issue spoken commands and receive spoken responses. "Where am I", "How Far to the Next Turn", and "Map Zoom In or Out" are just a few of the included responses.

Product Description

Street Atlas USA 2005 is the easy way to plan your route from Point A to Point B. Get directions to any location in the U.S. with this collection of impeccably detailed maps. Fully compatible with a USB Earthmate GPS receiver

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much Better than Earlier Version, September 28, 2004

By 

Zen Williston (Heavenly Valley, NV United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Delorme Mapping Street Atlas USA 2005 (CD-ROM)

I bought and returned either the 2002 or 2003 version... sorry I do not remember which... because it was so difficult to use and interface was so horrid. I have used and liked ST8 as well as Microsoft Trips and Streets for years. They both worked very well on my IBM 800 MHz notebook. Today I received and installed this new version of ST2005, expecting that I might hate it like the earlier version and have to return it. Much to my surprise I like it very much. It is easy to use and is well-worth the money for all the features. Of course, since government data is used for all mapping programs, there are errors and some points of interest are way off from actual location. Some POIs are missing and strangely, all the casinos are missing in Stateline, NV, as they are in all mapping software. The voice feature works great in XP, but I have not tested it on my IBM notebook yet with my GPS. I expect it to work like the old version I have usd for many years. It installed easily and smoothly on my Dell desktop with XP. Overall, a winner.

UPDATE: I installed SA2005 on my IBM notebook with XP SP2 including the database CD (on the hard drive), and it worked perfectly on a 1,000 mile trip. The voice commands are interesting but not very useful, except for city driving and they help to keep the driver awake. All features worked as advertised. By the way, due to weak speakers in notebooks and road noise, I suggest taking along an earphone speaker and plugging it into the headphone jack on the notebook to actually hear the direction commands. The "back on track" feature is especially nice as it creates a new highlighted route from the place one drives off the planned route, without changing the rest of the route.... voice directions are also updated in seconds. The large arrows and info below the maps, even on a 12" LCD are great. Altitude, time to destination and miles to destination are great features as well. After using the program for a real trip with a generic USB GPS receiver, I can say that the program now gets six stars... if that were possible. It has been thoughtfully created for drivers. It goes way beyond Streets and Trips with many, many features, but I do like and use Streets and Trips as well. One tip for generic GPS users: do not select USB port when setting up the GPS to commmunicate with the program. Be sure you have Comm port 4 or 5 listed as choices and pick one of them instead of USB. If neither 4 or 5 is listed, unplug the GPS and plug it back in to get the correct comm port listing. The GPS works amazingly fast with this program... got signals every time within 10 seconds.

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars GPS works great BUT map functionality lacking, October 3, 2004

By 

JanSobieski (United States of America) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Delorme Mapping Street Atlas USA 2005 (CD-ROM)

I'ved worked with Microsoft's Streets and Trips and the Delorme Mapping Street Atlas. The panning, zooming in and zooming out functionality is an order of magnitude better in Streets and Trips than Delorme's Mapping Street Atlas. I also like the mapping details in Streets and Trips better. There are more points of interest in Streets and Trips and the "directions" function is also much much easier to use.

I found the Delorme product generally cumbersome to use by comparison to Streets and Trips which worked elegantly and seamlessly.

The GPS receiver OTOH worked fantastic! It locked on to the satellites quickly and provided excellent real time location on the map. Despite the wonders of the GPS receiver however I still found the program awkward and difficult to use compared to Streets and Trips.

Honestly, I cannot envision any application for which this program would offer any significant advantage over Streets and Trips.

Now I realize I sound like a Microsoft shill. Believe me, I am not. Nothing would have pleased me more than if this product blew the drawers off the Microsoft product. But, unfortunately, this just wasnt' the case.

Overall this program was a disappointment.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Slooowwww...., January 18, 2005

By 

Alan Barber (Sandpoint, ID) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Delorme Mapping Street Atlas USA 2005 (CD-ROM)

I've used the older Street Atlas 7.0 for about five years and have been really happy with it. I use it on the home machine for planning and on the laptop with a GPS for traveling. My gripes have been minor, some small annoying errors in the database and its refusal to remember my settings when I exit. I upgraded because DeLorme offered a discount and I figured in five years they might have fixed those annoyances.

The annoyances remain, and this version is glacially slow. Twenty two seconds to load (three in 7.0), fifteen seconds to search for an address (1-2 in 7.0). Likewise panning and zooming is slower. This product is promoted as "faster", and other reviewers confirm that it is, compared to 2004. I pity anyone using that version. I was going to complain that "Find" stopped working a month ago until I read about the geomagnetic update thingy from another reviewer. That fixed my problem, but now my complaint is: Why didn't DeLorme tell me about it. They certainly have my mail addresses, both e- and snail-, as evidenced by all the promotions they send me.

The maps are prettier and easier to read once you get used to them. The user interface is entirely different, resembling an old version of TopoUSA that I have. I guess the new one is better, but for me not worth all the relearning.

I've returned to using the old version.