Software : Microsoft Streets and Trips 2005 GPS [Old Version]

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from: Microsoft Software

: Microsoft Streets and Trips 2005 GPS [Old Version]





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Binding: CD-ROM
Brand: Microsoft
Connectivity: USB
EAN: 0805529869240
Format: CD-ROM
Label: Microsoft Software
Manufacturer: Microsoft Software
Model: B17-00175
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Microsoft Software
Release Date: August 16, 2004
Sales Rank: 3911
Studio: Microsoft Software

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Microsoft Streets and Trips 2005 is the all-in-one mapping solution. This digital atlas holds over 5 million miles of U.S. and Canadian roads, plus points of interest, routes, driving directions. The PocketPC compatibility lets you carry maps on your PDA, for easier travel. Orient yourself on the road more effectively, with a GPS device running NMEA 2.0 or later. Simply plug the device into your machine running Streets and Trips and see your location.

Amazon.com :
Combining the power of GPS location technology and powerful, easy-to-use Microsoft mapping software, Streets and Trips 2005 GPS Locator is a back seat driver you'll always want along for the ride. This complete navigation package consists of two parts. First, the software-- which is compatible with your PC, Pocket PC device, or Smartphone-- puts essential driving information right at your fingertips.



trail
The handy "GPS trail" feature keeps track of your trip so you can easily retrace your route.
trail
Advanced points of interest searching allows you to find the services you need within a given radius.
searching
Use the drawing and text tools to make notes on your maps.
Meanwhile, the included GPS receiver lets you turn your laptop or Pocket PC into a powerful GPS route-finding tool. The GPS unit pinpoints your exact location within the mapping software, offering an unprecedented level of control over your route, while giving you the real-time guidance you need to make your journey smooth and safe. The unit comes with a USB cable, so you can simply plug it into any USB-capable PC laptop and go.

Streets and Trips 2005
With Microsoft's advanced mapping software, you can easily find the route to that new restaurant across town, or to a vacation spot on the other side of the country. The software is designed to make planning and customizing your trips easy and fast.



the software comes packed with 5.4 million miles of local, city and highway roads across the United States and Canada, plus 1.8 million points of interest such as hotels, ATMs and restaurants, and other services. And because road conditions change frequently, you can avoid lengthy detours and delays by downloading current road construction information before your trip-- for free, of course.



While Streets and Trips has great basic mapping capabilities, a number of additional features make it really stand out. Easily customize your trip planning by specifying how many stops you want to take and when, or use "snap-routing" to make quick routing adjustments right on the map screen with a few clicks of the mouse. Plus, the software can show you how far you can travel in a given amount of time from anywhere on the map-- a great feature for planning side trips along your route. You can also optimize your route to find the most efficient ways to reach multiple destinations, while the fuel cost calculator predicts how much you'll spend based on your driving habits and the current cost of fuel. Lastly, drawing and annotation tools offer simple ways to add information to your maps for quick reference. Dress up your maps to your heart's content with arrows, text, highlighting, freehand drawing, and more.



Streets and Trips isn't just for your PC. The package includes Pocket Streets for both Pocket PCs and Smartphones. Now you can have access to your maps on all your devices, without any need for an internet connection.



GPS Locator
When combined with the Streets and Trips software, the GPS Locator brings your maps to life by displaying your exact current position and direction in an integrated "GPS pane" that is part of the Streets and Trips interface. The GPS unit also features GPS tracking and routing capabilities, which are especially useful when you get off track from your pre-planned route.

laptop

The GPS Locator comes with a USB cable for quick, easy connection to your PC laptop.
Should you make a wrong turn, the GPS unit's "GPS trail" feature leaves behind a virtual breadcrumb trail that shows you where you've been on your map, and makes it easy to get back on track. You can also use the handy "Re-route from here" command to quickly revise your directions and get back on your way to your destination-- a great feature for folks who like to take unexpected side trips.

The GPS Locator is designed to be easy to use with your laptop computer. Simply plug the included GPS hardware receiver into your laptop's USB port and you're set. If you already own a GPS receiver and want to use it with Streets and Trips 2005, the software's configuration wizard can help you quickly configure many third-party receivers. Because the GPS Locator has a modular design, the unit is also designed to be compatible with other portable devices. For instance, with proper accessories you can turn the unit into a wireless Bluetooth receiver or a CompactFlash/PCMCIA connected receiver. This gives you the flexibility to connect the GPS Locator to other mobile devices such as Pocket PCs.





Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - works Great
Works great but not as nice and simple as a gps like a tom tom.



Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - Good product, but...
Nice product from Microsoft, but it is not intuitive. Icons are not smart at all in identifying the process that they perform when clicked. Map updates are not available, there are just construction updates available. Hope that the PocketPC version of the program have strong search capabilities as the PC version. It doesn't have talk directions, as version 2006, and 2007. Use this product as reference, nothing else.


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - Good Value. But with problems
I bought this unit in the fall of 2005 and have used it extensively till now. I use it on thinkpad 240 subnotebook (old, old unit. Bought in 2000) and even though the laptop has only 200MHz of speed, the software works fine when power is plugged to the car's power outlet.
I have used this software on several trips, including a 2400 mile-long cross-country trip and the tour of Southwest (around 2000 miles.)
First, the pros:
1. It's cheap. If you have an old laptop sitting around then you can have a big screen GPS unit for only $80 (price I paid.)
2. Does a nice job of trip planning. It can organize a trip involving multiple destinations, and route-routing is ok (although once it took me to a washed out, fire road out of the Dealth Valley NP when I indicated I wanted the "shortest" route back home. I found out later that you can set the preferences for route-routing, so not really its fault.)
3. Captures signal quickly, usually under a minute.
4. Gives something to do to your front seat passenger during long trips.

Well, the bads:
1. You really need a copilot for this unit to work. Solo driving with this unit is downright dangerous. There is NO voice direction and NO auto-zooming-in when the car has to get off the freeway or make a turn. It's essentially a 2-D map with little icon --the car-- moving on it. Ah, and there is no auto re-routing.
2. POI (points of interest) is barely adequate. POI is not updated by MS (unlike the road construction info, which does get updated) but POI info on metropolitan areas is still usable. However, during a trip through Navajo reservation in Arizona the program didn't show a single gas station for over 100 miles. Needless to say, there are plenty of gas stations between Flagstaff and Kayenta.
3. At least in my case this GPS has one second delay in displaying the current location. This is no biggie if you're driving slow, but otherwise you are bound to miss that crucial turn.
4. The location indicated by GPS (while stopped) is off by 5~10 yards depending on where you are. Sometimes it's accurate, sometimes it's not, so I suspect it could be the map calibration rather than GPS accuracy. But accuracy is also affected by the geographic situation: if you are driving through a downtown with many highrises GPS ceases to be accurate and starts to go around in circle. This happened to me in downtown Chicago.

Overall, the product has many flaws. But sometimes just having the map can help a great deal, and if you are traveling with a passenger then he or she can remedy its many inadequacies. At this price it's a good value if you have an old laptop lying around gathering dust.


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - GPS device didnt work all the time
The only complaint I have is that the GPS device did not always work. I installed the software on multiple computers and some computers already had it installed. But on every computer I tried, from laptop to desktop, the GPS device would act funny and only work after about 5 minutes of messing with it. Then, when we went on our road trip to California, I plugged it into my laptop and it only worked about 30% of the time. I'm not sure what happened, maybe just a faulty device, but it caused some frustration. Software program is excellent and accurate, however. I've been using Streets and Trips since about 2002 and i've always been pleased with how they update their software.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Fantastic !!!
Bought this usb gps just before christmas for my trips to Virginia and DC. Had to weigh it against a similar product from Garmin. But the price, usability track record of Microsoft and user reviews persuaded me towards this MS product. I must say, this is an excellent value for money. Not only does it it give unambiguous directions (voice), other feature like GPS trail help you determine HOW lost you are from the actual route. Also you can recalculate the route from your current position. The voice giudance in one or two instances was a bit slow, but I pretty much got adequate time to make the turns and merges in nearly all instances. Extremely useful during night driving when it becomes difficult to read street names. The maps are very detailed and some cool features like "Nearest Items" (gas statn, railways stn, bus terminals, restaurants, hotes, etc) impressed me very much.


Since this plugs into your laptop, its is best suited for your navigator, although I did make long trip with the laptop on the front seat and just listening to the voice driving directions. But since it does not call out the street names but shows it on display, you would neeed to look at the screen which is ofcourse dangerous. It does say "Wrong Route" when you go ofcourse but you'd need to hit a button to relculate the route from your current position.



All said, for less than $100 this stuff rocks !!!

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