Customer Reviews

Microsoft Streets & Trips 2003 [Old Version]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

As a frequent traveler, one of the main reasons for updating my venerable 2000 version (which I thought would be outdated by now) was the changeover some 2 years ago of Florida interstate exits from sequential progression to the more intuitive mileage marker numbering system.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.

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.

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.

If you have an earlier version of Streets and Trips, i.e., 2001 or 2002, keep using it and don't spend your money on this one. I've been using the 2001 version for the past couple years and have found it to be quite helpful. I received the 2003 version as a Christmas gift and decided to install it on Christmas day.

After the install, I kept receiving a message telling me that I must accept the end user license agreement to use the product. The problem was that the end user license agreement (EULA) did not appear. Wonderful. The message said to reinstall. I did. It still didn't work. Contacted Microsoft, on Christmas no less.

The follwing day I did have a response, which in the end got me past the problem and Streets and Trips 2003 finally started. So credit is due the Microsoft tech who assisted in this matter. Of course, I had to do a registry hack to accomplish this, which I'm sure all of you are familiar with.

After typing in some simple addresses to see if Streets and Trips 2003 found them, which it did, I tried a few more obscure addresses. It didn't locate any of them. But the 2001 version had no problem finding them. Hmmm...somethings not quite right here.

Bottom line: if this is the only version you have, good luck. If you have an earlier version, keep using it. Maybe things will get fixed in the 2004 version.

If you already bought this, call Microsoft and get your money back before the 90 day warranty is up! This program is lacking very much vital information which was on previous versions. For example check out San Francisco. It will tell you when you check nearby places that within 10 miles of San Francisco there are 0-Post Offices, 0 - Taverns & Nightclubs, 1-cinema and the list goes on. Huge dissapointment - AND the customer service number to call for help with this program is not Toll Free. I spent about an hour on the phone and Microsoft is refunding my money for the program and the phone call. Microsoft reps have been great about resolving this, but I would rather have had a program with all the correct information.

I have used Streets and Trips extensively in my business travel over the past several years, updating annually. I found the new versions to offer improvements, if often limited ones, until the current version. While I have found some new streets on the 2003 version, it no longer shows many of the hotels that were shown on the 2002 version, including several that I located originally using Streets and Tips. I think overall, it is a step backwards.

I like the way the program works, but one of the most important features is broken with no update to fix it. You can not update the construction data with out manually searching MS's web site for the file then downloading it and copying it into the Streets and Trips directory. The message I got from MS support was that this was a problem in the software that was 'hard coded' (their words) and so when trying to update construction info you get a message that says 'can't find the update server' - evidently they moved the location of the update file and neglected to update the software. I would recommend holding off on purchasing this product until a) MS has an update, or b) the next version is released - hopefully without the broken feature.

Last year Streets and Trips changed my travel life almost as much as retirement. That was version 2002, and my travel year was routinely enhanced by good route suggestions, precise mileages, and accurate arrival estimations. Don't think I've ever used software that was easier to figure out, with basic functions obvious, and special features easy to implement with just a little effort. Optimizing stops takes a while, but it should, for the calculations are not trivial and the solutions are good. It was an unexpected bonus to often be able to locate services such as restaurants and motels.

Of course the software mislocated my house, left me in limbo trying to find a Microsoft workshop in Madison, had no idea how to get from Farmington, NM to Chaco Canyon, and was clueless about the relative efficiency of lesser paved roads in unpopulated places. All our interstate travel proceded as predicted, but our rural progress in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain states was usually much faster than the software suggested. Not surprisingly, commerce is rather better supported than scenery. National and state park maps seem generally poor, and information on topography disappears as you zoom in before you reach a resolution where it could be really useful.

Promise of "all new map content" got me to upgrade to the 2003 version. So was it worth it? Yes and no. It can find my house now, and some others that were previously mislocated. It finds a plausible route from Farmington to Chaco Canyon, and even beyond to points south. But it still does not connect two-track roads between Utah and Nevada, and shows inexplicable disconnections on forest roads in Lower Michigan. Such gaps seem trivial, but unless you stay on the good highways, they prevent you from using Streets and Trips to document your travel and may even mislead a trusting person into going far out of the way to avoid a non-problem. If you go into the boondocks, you'd better have something like the DeLorme state road atlases.

The Streets and Trips of my dreams would understand that you can average 60 on many minor roads out west, would show the topography critical to travel decisions in inclement weather, and would allow you to repair map errors or obsolescence well enough to display your travel over unsupported routes.

I wish that the people at Delorme and MS would get together and create one good program. Delorme Street Atlas deluxe is a far better program than MS Steets and Trips, however; the printable map quality is horrible w/ Delorme's product.
Delorme does better with routing (no vias in MS, only stops), GPS options and downloadable waypoints. MS does a better job w/ quality of printable maps and creating a web page.
I use these programs to create motorcycle tours, give turn-by-turn directions to the participants along with maps, and look up GPS waypoints.
If you don't need to print your maps or create web pages, go w/ Delorme.

Microsoft has really screwed up with this 2003 edition of Streets and Trips...!!! All of the map information is OLD and OUTDATED. I've been a loyal customer of Streets and Trips since the 1998 version and this is the worst one by far. In Elizabethtown, KY, you'll find streets missing (Strawberry Alley), airports in the wrong place (Addington Field), cities in the wrong place (Fort Knox, KY), roads mis-named (highway 62 west), outdated airports (KSDF -- Louisville, KY) and the problems go on and on here in this one little county in Kentucky. This is a horrible effort littered with outrageous flaws over previous versions of this program. DON'T Buy IT!