Microsoft Streets & Trips 2002 [Old Version]

by Microsoft

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00005MF7Q
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 9, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,982 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #64 in Software > Education & Reference > Mapping
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Can't fold a map to save your life? No time to make sense of the seemingly endless online map sources, or don't know which ones you can trust? Fear not, road warrior: Microsoft Streets & Trips 2002 does the dirty work.

Installing Streets & Trips is simple, and working from its database of locations and maps is speedy. The package offers more than 800,000 points of interest. Note that this number includes ATMs, gas stations, hotels, rest areas, colleges, and golf courses, as well as restaurants, museums, and galleries. And while the maps extend to worldwide proportions, you're most likely to find the 6.4 million miles of road in the U.S. and Canada the most useful.

One of the newer and more attractive features of the Streets & Trips package is its GPS (global positioning system) capabilities. This requires a GPS device (such as your handheld, a palmtop computer, or a straight GPS device) that supports NMEA 2.0 or higher. A free download from the Microsoft site will have you ready to store all your trip data in your GPS device of choice.

Getting started is fairly straightforward: simply enter your starting address and your final destination. Adding side trips and stops along the way is easy, as is reordering your stops. After you've charted your course, you have five options for printing, including a zoomable map, point-by-point directions, and, of course, mileage between exits. You can also opt for Web output and allow your friends and family to chart your course as you progress.

Our favorite feature in this package is the customization capability. To get Streets & Trips to suggest when to stop for gas or a stretch break, simply tell it your preferences. By entering your car's average miles per gallon (in both city and highway) and your preferred driving speed, you can elect to include gas breaks on your itinerary.

Overall, Microsoft Streets & Trips is a good value; we found its directions reliable and concise. Now if Microsoft only made something to occupy the kids in the backseat. --Emilie Herbst

Amazon.com Product Description

Microsoft Streets & Trips 2002 is an all-in-one mapping solution that delivers a comprehensive array of maps, points of interest, routes, driving directions, and Pocket PC compatibility in one value-priced software package. It instantly meets your mapping and travel needs without an Internet connection. You can easily pinpoint exact customer or business addresses on the map by simply entering an address or location. There is full address searching for over 6 million miles of roads in the U.S. and Canada.

The program allows you to locate over 2 million place names around the world, and customize maps with over 250 symbols. You can also create your own pushpin icons and import them as .bmp files. Move a route to wherever you want it by simply dragging the highlighted route to the preferred location. There is virtually unlimited flexibility in planning and changing routes, adding vias, stopovers, or detours to routes. There is also the ability to identify the distance between locations by simply drawing the route.

Streets & Trips 2002 comes complete with Global Positioning System support: simply plug a GPS receiver to your laptop running the program and find your exact location anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. The program includes Microsoft Pocket Streets 2002, which lets you easily create and download maps to your Windows CE 2.0 or later palmsize or handheld PC to take on the road with you.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fast, Easy to Use, Out-of-Date Data, September 7, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Microsoft Streets & Trips 2002 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

Street and Trips 2002 has a lot of features that are very easy to use. Surprisingly, the response is extremely fast even when calculating long and/or complex routes. The ability to dynamically change a calculated route by dragging it to a different position is fantastic.

There is, however, a major problem: the map data is out of date. Several spots near my home are almost two years out of date. Other spots I am familiar with in the state also suffer from incorrect data as well as some incorrect road naming.

As for the comments about the GPS function, I don't use it and I would bet most users have no need for it. I do use GPS while on foot and know that the unit itself, a high end version, takes time to react depending upon the satellite visibility and surrounding terrain. Inside a fast moving car, a handheld GPS will not react instantly regardless of software. This is especially true in a city or town due to the numerous obstructions.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Latest Evaluation, September 8, 2002

By 

Armstrong Wong (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft Streets & Trips 2002 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

Last year I wrote a negative review about MS Streets & Trips 2002. Based on my recent extensive 10,000-mile driving experience, I would like to post my updated evaluation. All fair and honest evaluation should be based on the merits of product features with respect to other competing products. This year MS Streets & Trips 2002 (ST2K2) won the competition. First of all, NONE of the mapping software products published today can exceed 85% accuracy. All reviewers' complaint about ST2K2 inaccracy in terms of addresses and suggested routes is correct; on the other hand, other competing products are even worse. For example, from Anchorage to Whittier, Alaska, all mapping software products' suggested 300-mile route is completely wrong. My actual route took only 1 hour and 30 minutes. Similarly, the visitor centers or entrances of most National Parks such as Denali and Grand Canyon are miles away from the actual locations. The deliberate delay in displaying updated GPS position is another minor annoyance. With the default delay, it's impractical and, sometimes, extremely dangerous to use ST2K2 for city driving because drivers won't be allowed sufficient time to change lanes or turn left/right.

The problem is caused by software publishers' greedy goal of profit maximization at the expense of mapping accuracy by launching newer versions every year. The sad fact is the latest verion doesn't always promise better accuracy.

For year 2002, I recommend MS Streets & Trips 2002 for its highest accuracy relative to other competing products. Above all, its user interface is by far the most intuitive. You can master the product in 15 minutes.

Let's face the fact that all mapping products are inaccurate. Instead, I insert plenty of pushpins for the actual location of gas stations, hightway rest areas,...etc. By the way, your pushpin data can be transferred to a handheld PC or an iPAQ.

Armstrong Wong
Hong Kong

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice product, and fun to use..., March 15, 2002

By 

RICHARD DIBONA (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft Streets & Trips 2002 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

I have read the negative reviews about missing streets, wrong directions, etc. I wanted to add a positive review because I really enjoy this product.

It is worlds better to use than online mapping software because of the expanded view and interactive zooming. You can drag your mouse and make a little square and zoom right into that area. There are many zoom levels. I like that I can also measure distances by using a tool that you can drag along the roads. It will display the distance as you drag and leave it on the screen so you can measure a different route for comparison purposes.

One thing I don't like, and which may be the cause of wrong directions it has given others, is that it doesn't seem to have one-way streets listed. If there is a way to view this information, I haven't found it, and I have looked. I live in Boston, and this is an issue as most streets downtown are one-way.

I have an HP Jornada 568 Pocket PC and have downloaded maps to it using Pocket Streets 2002, which comes with the product. Microsoft has some pre-fab city maps on their Pocket Streets website, which is nice, and saves you the time of creating maps. The install was very easy. Because the screen is so small and the map navigation isn't as smooth as on the desktop, I would not recommend using your PDA for driving directions, unless you pull over or memorize the directions. It seems to be more for fun or desperate situations than anything.

The desktop software prints out nice big maps, which are useful to keep on the seat with you in your car for quick reference, as opposed to a street atlas with tiny little print.

I have found myself spending time zooming around and looking at different areas of the map, finding new ways to get to work, etc.

In summary, I would recommend this product to people who spend a lot of time on maps.yahoo.com or other similar websites. You will absolutely love the vastly expanded interactivity this product gives you.