Rand McNally StreetFinder & TripMaker Deluxe

by TOPICS Entertainment

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000066JBL
• Item model number: CS-163
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 23, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 1.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,280 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #15 in Software > Education & Reference > Mapping
  • #27 in Software > Outlet
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

With more than 130 years of experience, Rand McNally knows what travelers need and want in mapping and travel planning products. StreetFinder & TripMaker Deluxe offers routing, travel planning, organizational tools, and area attractions to users--all in an easy-to-follow design with helpful guides and tutorials that make planning and finding directions easy. This is the ultimate routing and travel planning suite for the business traveler and vacationer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Old and simplistic, July 25, 2002

By 

George Vanecek (Madison, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rand McNally StreetFinder & TripMaker Deluxe (CD-ROM)

There are many things not to like about this app. The interface reminds one of Win 3.1 apps and quickly becomes frustrating when you want to do anything other than find a street.
You want continuous zoom or pan? Forget it. You can only position and zoom at preset intervals which are too large for detailed work and there is no mouse interface, its either keys or a tiny menu impossible to work with.
You want to know the name of a small city? Forget it. You can see the streets but not its name.

The maps are also very old. For example, Madison WI maps are at least 10 years out of date.
You cannot plan a precise trip. For that you have to switch to their TripMaker, but alas, the trip you create in TripMaker cannot be read into StreetFinder. Problem is, TripMaker has only the larger roads and freeways, so its useless to plan trips within cites or on small county roads, and StreetFinder does not allow for multi-waypoint trip. So both are useless for side trips unless you want to go from places like NY to SF. But we all know that for that you just get on 80 and go West.
So, save your money and buy a map. Better yet, use several of the on-line maps. They're free and give you almost everything this doesn't. In all fairness, there a few good things there, but they're not worth the frustration the other things will cause.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a piece of junk., March 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Rand McNally StreetFinder & TripMaker Deluxe (CD-ROM)

I could not be more frustrated by this thing (that I refuse to call a software). Run away from it. I gave one star for this because there is no option to give zero or negative stars. Paper maps are more useful.

Need directions? First you need an internet connection... Unless you have an interenet connection in your car you cannot get directions on the road. And even if you planned before hand, you cannot customize your way. If you would like to use one road instead of another you are on your own.

The walking tool is the most ridiculous thing I ever saw. It does not even add up the total distance you walked. And you you need to go through SEVEN STEPS to get things done. You are forced to go through steps for changing the color of the line and the font used everytime... And the result is not scrollable. If the directions list is longer than the screen you have to move the window around to read its contents.

The measuring tool is very adequate for birds. But only those that can fly and provided it is not a windy day. The only thing you can do is to draw a straight line and see what is the distance between the two points. And I was expecting something that allowed me to create an intrincate path and have the total distance... Couldn't they combine the walking and measuring tools in a single useful thing?

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not so good. But worth it for 40 bucks., September 28, 2002

By 

Y. Lin (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rand McNally StreetFinder & TripMaker Deluxe (CD-ROM)

It's not as good as the advertisements and the description on the box say. The map itself is better than Microsoft's. But the information like POI is horrible. There is almost nothing you can find in suburb area near Chicago. And even I use PC ver. I can not locate my apartment correctly. But it's PDA ver. is better than Mapopolis' PDA ver. Mapopolis' PDA ver. even cannot show the street right.

The biggest drawback is the marker can not adjust its position on the screen and let you see it all. If the marker is not in the center of the screen, it will just be cut out by the screen and you have to scroll the map just to read the whole marker. It's stupid.

To PDA user, this software's map selection function is funny. There are 4 methods, the part shown on the PC screen, point to point rectangle area, areas around 2 points and areas along the route between the 2 points, areas around 2 points and the route only. It doesn't seperate the maps into small areas and let you select by area like other mapping softwares do.

A big drawback to GPS user, it doesn't have alternative font option. It's not that easy to read the street name in small font while you are driving. Especially for Clie user.

If Rand McNally can add street to street routable function in it's PDA ver. and enforce it's POI finding function I think it will be close to perfect.

I ordered Xmap 3 days after I bought Streetfinder. It's on the way. After I test Xmap, I will write my review.

Now I'm think to sell the title.