Microsoft Streets & Trips (2010)

by Microsoft

Product Features

• Microsoft Streets & Trips 2010 makes trip planning easy with street level maps of the U.S. and Canada
• Send your route to your GPS device; connect a GPS device for spoken directions
• Share trip details or itineraries with friends and family
• Save time by setting your map to always start at a particular location
• Choose specific roads to use on your trip just by dragging and dropping the route

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 4.3 x 3.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B002LLR87E
• Item model number: B17-00492
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 13, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (167 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #87 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)

  #7 in	Software > Language & Travel
  #2 in	Software > Education & Reference > Geography

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Microsoft Streets & Trips makes trip planning easy, so you can relax and drive with confidence. Whether you are traveling across country or across town, Streets & Trips has the easy-to-use tools to help you get there. Streets & Trips requires no Internet connection and includes more than 1.7 million points of interest to choose from--plus additional listings that you can view when you're connected to the Web. The perfect trip is at your fingertips.

Get accurate driving directions to just about anywhere in the United States and Canada. Click to enlarge.

Send your route to your GPS device. Click to enlarge.

Product Features

• Includes updated street level maps for U.S. and Canada
• New--Send your route to your GPS device
• Calculate fuel usage and costs before you leave
• New--Share trip details or itineraries with friends and family
• Get free construction updates to avoid potential delays
• New--Save time by setting your map to always start at a particular location
• Personalize your maps with comments, phone numbers and notes for planned stops
• New--Easily delete or hide groups of pushpins
• Find special savings in restaurants, hotels and events with Entertainment Online trial offer
• Improved--Choose specific roads to use on your trip just by dragging and dropping the route
• Include multiple destinations and stops to refuel
• Improved--Comes with more than 1.7 million points of interest including post offices, pharmacies and more
• GPS Ready--connect your GPS device to your laptop to get spoken directions including street names, automatic re-routing and large on-screen directions
• Improved--Streets & Trips now includes more than 300 unique pushpin images to choose from

Microsoft Streets & Trips makes trip planning easy.
Accurate maps and route-planning options help you get nearly anywhere in the United States and Canada. Customizable features let you plot your course down to the last detail. Once you've planned your trip, you can send your route to your GPS device for navigation on the go.

A Great GPS Companion
Streets & Trips is a great companion to GPS devices. Use Streets & Trips to plan the perfect trip, including multiple stops, points-of-interest, and start and stop times. Then export the route to a personal navigation device for easy navigation along the way.

No DVD Drive? No Problem!
If your computer doesn't have a CD or DVD drive, you may still purchase Streets & Trips. Find out more at www.microsoft.com/activate today.

Calculate your mileage, trip costs and arrival time before you leave.
This is a great planning tool, especially for comparing different routes you're considering.

More than 1.7 million ideas for stops along the way!
Looking for an Italian restaurant in Des Moines? A hotel in Vancouver? Streets & Trips comes with detailed information on over 1.7 million locations--ATMs, hotels, restaurants, post offices, pharmacies, gas stations and other points of interest. No Internet connection required.

Comparison to online mapping
Streets & Trips delivers a mapping solution that offers much more than online mapping solutions. It doesn't require an Internet connection to use, and there are no distracting ads. You also get options to customize your trips by start and stop times, driving speeds, or even road types.

Access street-level maps and personalized directions.
Updated street-level maps and turn-by-turn directions make it easy to stay on track. You can also add personal notes to your maps. With addresses, phone numbers and other notes alongside your planned stops, you'll have all the information you need in one handy place.

Spoken street names and automatic re-routing.
With a GPS receiver, Street & Trips can provide spoken directions and street names as you drive. It can also put you back on track if you make a wrong turn!

Product Description

Makes trip planning easy, so you can relax and drive with confidence. Get accurate driving directions to just about anywhere in the United States and Canada. With updated maps and extensive trip planning features, Streets & Trips will help you plan your trip, your way.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Overpriced as an update, reduced usefulness for new users, December 10, 2009

By	William S. Grigsby (Chillicothe, OH USA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Microsoft Streets & Trips (2010) (DVD-ROM)

(What's this?)

I've used MS S&T since it was initially offered (pre-affordable GPS) and gradually watched it decline in usefulness as the net and technologies evolve. With this current version, even with the few improvements over the 2009 version, I wouldn't recommend it at all to a new user and only would recommend it as an upgrade if your version is more than 2 years old (unless you can find it for less than twenty bucks).

While netbooks (and to some extent the new generation of energy efficient processors just coming out this Xmas) have extended the life of this product, it is just not as functional while traveling as a good GPS unit. I still use it for planning, but more and more I find other online mapping tools more useful as wifi becomes more ubiquitous and 4G broadband adds coverage. The maps are not updated (I find major local errors still uncorrected after 4 years here in Ohio and on a trip to California, numerous serious flaws in Sacramento, the Napa Valley, and the Sonoma Valley - not to mention an abrupt loss of functionality along the way).

I like (and have) the GPS version while on the road at night (using the night map) and also use it while traveling to find side trips of interest (one thing not a strong point of auto GPS devices). But our Garmin GPS is much stronger for routing and seems to have a much better POI dataset. In fact, the online mapping services also have better POI info and MS S&T is unlikely to improve unless it is integrated with Bing or something.

Overall, licensing restrictions (1 machine - should be at least 2 including a laptop/netbook), lack of adequate data revision/updating, and the availability of cheaper GPS units and wifi, I'd say - give this one a pass unless you have a very compelling reason to use it.

Edit 7/12/2010 - Somehow I got the licensing wrong, actually S&T DOES allow 2 installs. My bad.

67 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Good product,,,, BUT...., December 24, 2009

By	A. Voll (Florida) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Microsoft Streets & Trips (2010) (DVD-ROM)

The new "Streets and Trips" can only be used and registered on one computer.
Would not buy it again for this reason.
Shuts off the second computer automaticly after a 60 days trial. Since I need to use Streets and Trips at home and on my web book while driving its useless for me.
All the older versions could be used on multiple computers. Microsoft should have put a warning sign at the outside of the package about their policy change.
Alfred Voll

49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Typical Microsoft Update, November 1, 2009

By	Jerry Mattson (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Microsoft Streets & Trips (2010) (DVD-ROM)

While the updated data base was the desire and achieved purpose of getting the latest version, it sufers from classic Microsoft update. Ease of use is severely impacted. My favorite means of navigation was to selct a region and tehn zoom in, you can't do that any more. Now you have to center and zoom, then re-center and zoom, not nearly as easy or effecient.

Also, as a program that needs to be "activated" it is no longer convienent to have on multiple computers. This substantially degrades the value of the product.