Microsoft Streets and Trips 2008 with GPS [OLD VERSION]

Other products by Microsoft

Product Features

• Over 1.6 million points of interest such as ATMs, hotels, landmarks, and more
• Enhanced Keyword search helps you quickly find nearby business and POIs immediately
• Customizable trip planning options allow you to plan stops, scenic detours, and more
• Navigation Mode lets you estimate drive time before you leave your house
• Includes sleek USB GPS receiver

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000OUY2TQ
• Item model number: ZV3-00014
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 2, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,821 in Software (See Bestsellers in Software)

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  Software > Education & Reference > Mapping

• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com
You know where you want to go, and Microsoft Streets & Trips 2008 with GPS can help you get there. This best-selling travel and map software has been enhanced with several new features that take all the guesswork out of traveling, letting you focus on the sites, instead of the directions. With more than 1.6 million points of interest to choose from, and with updated maps and the most extensive trip planning features you'll find anywhere, Streets & Trips will help you plan your trip, your way.

A sleek GPS receiver plugs into the USB port on your laptop PC, giving you enhanced GPS capability.

Which Streets & Trips version is best for you? View comparison chart.

And with a sleek Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver that plugs into the USB port on your laptop PC, this software is all you will ever need to get you across town, or across country. You can now drive with absolute confidence, knowing that you have the most complete and updated information at your fingertips at all times.

What's New in 2008
Microsoft Streets & Trips 2008 offers the latest available maps of nearly 6 million miles of routable roads and highways throughout the United States and Canada. While you're driving, verbal turn-by-turn directions let you concentrate on the road while the software guides you. Customizable trip planning features allow you to plan multiple stops, find nearby places to visit, calculate drive time, and more.

Updated features let you identify one-way streets at a glance, and a robust keyword search lets you quickly find business and other points of interest quickly by entering in single search terms. Do you need a cup of coffee now? Simply type in the word "coffee" and Streets & Maps offers you the nearest coffee houses. Best of all, the search results automatically refresh as you continue to drive, so you will always have the most relevant information at your fingertips.

Online or off, Streets & Trips gives you the latest maps that give you the most accurate, detailed door to door directions at your fingertips. In a hurry? You can optimize your travel efficiencies by calculating mileage, time, and expenses in advance, even avoiding delays due to construction by downloading free updates from the Web. An updated navigation mode makes it easier than ever to know where you are, so that you can estimate drive time quickly and precisely, and enhanced customizable trip planning options will help you to plan stops, scenic detours, and fuel stops. You can even add multiple destinations; and quickly alter your route at a moment's notice.

Streets & Trips also features enhanced support for your GPS receiver that gives you a new perspective map view that can give you a road view like the one you would see through your windshield. And the automatic re-routing feature gets you back on track, even when you miss a turn.

The Benefits of GPS
Microsoft Streets & Trips 2008 with GPS offers enhanced features that only a GPS device can provide. The new sleek, stylish, ultra-compact GPS device with SiRF star III technology is 10 times more sensitive than previous models, finds your location faster, and has the power to locate you even in most buildings or a crowded city. Plus, the USB adapter gives you the flexibility to travel cable-free. Just plug in the included GPS receiver and start using it right away.

The GPS device allows you to track your route in real time in an easy-to-read full screen display with simple, easy-to-locate navigation buttons. You can also change to the special night map display with a single click of the button. Get real-time, voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions that always let you know where your next turn is. The GPS device also enables you to easily see upcoming turns with an automatically zooming map that shows relevant details based on how close you are to your next turn.

Streets & Trips 2008 with GPS is enhanced with GPS routing features, including distance-based voice prompting, GPS trail, rerouting, intelligent zooming, and much more. With GPS functionality, you have the ability to locate gas stations, restaurants, and other points of interest closest to you as you go, and the GPS Task Pane provides important information fast, including driving speed, latitude and longitude coordinates, altitude, travel direction, and more. The GPS Trail function can even let you retrace your steps to quickly find your way back to your starting point.

As Easy-to-Use as Typing
If you can type, you can take full advantage of the wealth of features Streets & Trips has to offer. To create a route and generate directions, it couldn't be any easier. You simply type in your starting and ending locations and click on "Get Directions." And voíla! Your trips can include side trips and segments, and you can instruct the software to customize your route by telling it what types of roads you want to travel, how quickly you want to get there, and the general area where you want to stop to gas up. Streets & Trips will create your itinerary, down to the precise gas station. Overall you'll have access to over 1.6 million local POIs such as hotels, restaurants, gas stations and even ATMs. And while you're driving, the software can give you verbal turn-by-turn directions that let you concentrate on the road instead of the directions.

Product Description
Streets & Trips with GPS Locator helps you travel with complete confidence and it's so easy. This comprehensive trip planning software makes route planning a snap, anywhere in U.S. and Canada. Calculate mileage, pick out the fastest routes and mark points of interest. It gets you where you're going quickly, easily, and without all the guesswork. Microsoft Streets & Trips 2008 with GPS Locator pairs the power of Streets & Trips, the best-selling travel and map software, with a sleek new Global Positioning System receiver. You'll always know exactly where you are. Map your route, plug the GPS receiver into your laptop, and go! It starts with all the door-to-door routing, location-finding and comprehensive mapping power of Microsoft Streets & Trips, and adds a plug-and-play Global Positioning System (GPS) locator that helps you stay on track, and always knows where your next turn is. Includes sleek, stylish, ultra-compact GPS device with SiRF star III technology. It's 10 times more sensitive than previous models, finds your location faster, and has the power to locate you even in most buildings or a crowded city. All-new USB adapter provides the flexibility to travel cable-free! Just plug the included GPS receiver and adapter into your notebook PC and go. Reroute any time you wish, instantly, without going online Find out where to expect construction on any local or state road in the US or Canada Import contacts from Microsoft Office Outlook or Excel into your maps View the map in Full Screen mode & refer to the estimated drive time to always know how far you are from your destination Connect the included GPS receiver right into your computer's USB port and travel cable-free with the new USB adapter Windows VISTA and XP friendly

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars New 'Activation' requirement prevents use on some machines, October 22, 2007

By	R. Beauchamp (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The program installed fine, but in order to use it, you have to 'activate' it online (as you do with, for example, Microsoft Office and Windows). This is the first time activation has been required for Streets & Trips.

The activation process refused to function on my laptop. And despite the program's assurance that "you can use it for up to 60 days without activation," the program in fact would not run at all without activation.

I placed two calls to Microsoft Support about the issue. The first technician worked with me to reboot, uninstall, reinstall, etc., with no luck. The second technician acknowledged that there is a known issue with activation on some PC's. He suggested I could either wait for a patch (but he could not predict when one would be forthcoming), or I could get a refund.

It's a shame, because I've liked previous versions of S&T and was really looking forward to trying out the GPS features. I haven't decided whether to request a refund yet. If I keep the program and a patch is released, I will update this review accordingly.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Bad, November 6, 2007

By	FALONIA "falonia" (Murphys, Ca.) - See all my reviews

I just returned from a 6000 mile trip using the S/T 2008. I too had a little trouble with the activation as I was not near WiFi most of the time but once I got a good connections it worked.
In general it worked well. I did laugh when a huge lake in BC did not show up on one side of the road I was traveling beside. It is hard to read a lot of the small type in the car. Looking for the different colors of the minuscule blocks to see which was a restaurant and which was a bank was a problem. GPS reception can be spotty even when it appears it should be ok. On one or two occasions it did confuse left and right but the map was there to confirm.

All in all though it bailed me several times when I had know idea where I was in rural BC. It also got me through Vancouver and Seattle with no hassles. I also love being able to save my trip plans and reuse them again.

39 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars It does work, but it's as annoying any Microsoft product, August 28, 2007

By	Bob "screaminbob" (Corte Madera, CA) - See all my reviews

It is pretty amazing that you can turn your PC into a competent GPS. You can also cut and paste addresses into it.

It does not work as well as the Garmin dashboard units. If I want to find the nearest Peet's Coffee; S&T can't do it. It can show me dozens of "restaurants - other" in my area (oddly excluding what I'm looking for). If I search for Peet's it finds only 6 of the many dozens of Peets stores.

It has a category for grocery stores and for shopping centers, but not for hardware or office supply stores.

I had S&T 2006 and the GPS broke. I bought the 2008 thinking they'd have improved it. I can't see any improvement; it looks exactly the same and has the same odd little deficiencies.

My father-in-law has a great little Garmin unit. I was a fool and tried to save money getting S&T.