Microsoft Streets & Trips 2003 [Old Version]

by Microsoft

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 4 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: B00006IZC8
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 15, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,645 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #47 in Software > Education & Reference > Mapping
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Around town or across the country, hit the road with Microsoft Streets & Trips 2003. Accurate and easy, the 2003 release has everything you need to navigate, travel, and explore the U.S. and Canada. An all-in-one mapping solution, Microsoft Streets & Trips 2003 delivers a comprehensive array of maps, points of interest, routes, driving directions, and Pocket PC compatibility in one value-priced software package. Instantly meet your mapping and travel needs without an Internet connection. Pinpoint exact customer or business addresses on the map by simply entering an address or location. Enjoy the convenience and confidence of full address searching for 6.7 million miles of roads throughout the U.S. and Canada. Streets & Trips 2003 also offers complete Global Positioning System support: just plug a GPS receiver into your laptop running the program to find your exact location anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. Or, create and download maps to your Windows CE 3.0 or later PDA or handheld PC to take on the road with you.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Streets & Trips -- good, but still far from perfect in 2003, March 27, 2003

By 

Rudy "pain-doc" (Columbia, SC USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Microsoft Streets & Trips 2003 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

As a frequent traveler, one of the main reasons for updating my venerable 2000 version (which I thought would be outdated by now) was the changeover some 2 years ago of Florida interstate exits from sequential progression to the more intuitive mileage marker numbering system. Surprise! Florida exits remain numbered in S&T-2003 exactly as they were in S&T-2000; for instance, the I-95 intersection with US-1 (now exit 339 in South Jacksonville) still is shown as I-95 exit 98 - which, these days, would have placed me nearly 250 miles farther South -- in Palm Beach, to be sure.

Little new of practical value has been added in the intervening 3 years, other than more Microsoft (MS) bells & whistles and, admittedly, handsomer screens. But where the rubber really hits the road - updating maps and fixing erroneous cartography - precious little seems to have changed for the better. The 5-page instruction booklet barely gets you started and, as far as installation goes, is entirely silent (perhaps wisely so); instead, in usual MS fashion, it refers you to the Help section which, again in usual MS fashion, is shallow and virtually useless unless you happen to know the relevant keyword; the website, likewise, doesn't go into sufficient detail. For instance, the handy labels attached to pushpins to mark a location of interest can obscure a point of interest. If only one could rotate the marker to point to a different quadrant the annoyance would be resolved effortlessly; that minor irritation seems not to have been addressed as yet - perhaps I haven't discovered the proper `Help' buzzwords. Need phone help for an irritation like that? Sure, but MS will charge you for what should have been included in the software price.

Quibbles and warts aside, this still is the best mapping software package around - meaning that others are worse yet. The price, with the inevitable rebate is modest, installation (WIN-98SE) was painless, and the legible screen presentation quite attractive. Maps print beautifully on a color printer and can be emailed, and for black and white you can select gray-scale or fax mode for perfectly fine readability. The route mapping over major roads generally is reliable (but I wouldn't count too heavily on the printed directions), less so in cities where cartography may not have been updated for recent one-way streets or new suburbs; if you travel where major roads or exits have changed over the past years, I'd take an AAA map along, just to be sure. Clearly, updating every year is overkill; every 3 to 4 years should suffice unless MS forgets the glitz and digs into the basics of accuracy and currency of maps. S&T-2003 rates better than a 3-star average, and has the potential for a 4-star product in years to come.

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Minor updates from version 2002, November 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Microsoft Streets & Trips 2003 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

I have also used Streets & Trips since it was first published. Version 2003 offers some minor map updates from version 2002. I live in an area under heavy development and some of the new or extended streets in our area are finally showing up in version 2003. However, other streets that have been open for over a year do not show up. There seems to be a two- to three-year lag between the time a new road opens and the time Microsoft gets updates from whomever produces their map data.

If you use a PocketPC device, version 2003 is a must-buy since it fixes problems with pushpins and also allows you to map addresses from your PocketOutlook contacts.

Streets & Trips is so much easier to use and better looking than MapQuest or other online mapping services. For the price, it's a good buy for any PC owner. I have the entire database stored on my hard drive, so I don't have to insert the CD when I want to draw a map. The maps also print very nicely on our HP Photo Printer.

Microsoft's software is still at the top of the heap for this category.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Functionality, More Accurate Data Than S&T 2002, March 3, 2003

By 

P. Scott Pope "Scott Pope" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Microsoft Streets & Trips 2003 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

Streets and Trips 2003

Streets and Trips 2003 is a great product that offers more functionality and better performance than web-based map offerings or competitive products. While the product functionality is basically the same as S&T 2002, the data is vastly better. Interestingly, when I inquired about the horribly inaccurate data in Streets and Trips 2002 Microsoft agreed that it was poor! Microsoft indicated that it would be using an entirely new dataset for 2003. This is appears to be true. Clearly, there is a quantum leap forward in accuracy. The hotel data is of particular interest and it appears to very accurate, unlike that of its predecessor.

Since other sources will discuss general program attributes, let this review serve as a reference for savvy users. As an owner of other map programs and a former user of Mapquest, I have a great deal of experience with competitive products. At the same time, I have traveled 100% for my career and have used a GPS receiver with multiple map software products.

For those wondering why to purchase this program if there is free map web sites such as Mapquest, there are several reasons:

1)Speed
a. There is no need for connectivity, which can be a problem even for broadband users
b. Panning and zooming is virtually instantaneous
2)Map quality is far superior than those on web sites
3)My favorite: More powerful tweaking-You can set driving speeds of different types of roads, which is a extremely valuable in urban areas. For example, if you have a rush hour suburban Chicago to Chicago commute, the highways are not going to offer driving speeds of 65 mph. Hence, you modify interstate highways driving speeds to 30 (from 65) and local roads to 20 (from 35 and 31), which can then generate directions vastly different from the normal settings.
4)There are no advertisements on your screen or your print-outs
5)All around flexibility (save maps, plan trips, better analytics)
6)Multiple point-of-interest categories
7)You can save maps with user-defined points-of-interest and reload the maps
8) Integration with GPS receivers, which is helpful for road warriors with laptops

What is lacking (wishful thinking):
1)Integrated, real-time congestion data
2)Map data and point-of-interest updates via the Internet
3)Fast GPS data (the current version has a slow refresh rate)

Streets and Trips 2003 is an all around great product from both a usability and functionality standpoint. I would highly recommend it to both the casual tourist and the traveling professional.