Review: Microsoft Streets and Trips 2011

Wow talk about a lack of feature additions.

Makes me wonder why it took 'em so long to release (have they cut the development staff)?

Well good to know, I won't have to spend the $$ on upgrading!

Way to go MS.

For some reason S&T 2011 does NOT handle the 401 correctly in the area of Carlingview Dr. It takes my car OFF the 401 and then back onto the 401 via Carlingview and Renforth drives whether I am going eastbound or westbound. Somehow the 401 linkage must have been broken in that area by either Navtek or Microsoft. That is a major pain in the neck!

09:00 0.0 mi 1 Depart 5 Beecroft Rd, Toronto ON on Beecroft Rd (South) for 131 yds
09:00 0.1 mi Turn LEFT (East) onto Sheppard Ave W for 0.1 mi
09:00 0.2 mi Turn RIGHT (South) onto Hwy-11 [Yonge St] for 0.4 mi
09:02 0.6 mi Take Ramp (RIGHT) onto Hwy-401 COLLECTORS [MacDonald-Cartier Fwy] for 8.6 mi towards
HWY-401 W
09:10 9.2 mi Road name changes to Hwy-401 [MacDonald-Cartier Fwy] for 2.3 mi
09:13 11.5 mi At exit 351, keep STRAIGHT onto Ramp for 0.7 mi towards Carlingview Drive
09:14 12.1 mi Bear RIGHT (North) onto Carlingview Dr for 0.3 mi
09:14 12.4 mi Turn LEFT (West) onto Renforth Dr for 0.6 mi
09:16 13.1 mi Take Ramp (RIGHT) onto Hwy-401 COLLECTORS [MacDonald-Cartier Fwy] for 4.4 mi towards
HWY-401 W
09:21 17.5 mi Road name changes to Hwy-401 [MacDonald-Cartier Fwy] for 37.6 mi

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Nothing new implemented. Not much change. Pretty lack luster.

After a quick look, I did see some new autopistas shown in Mexico, but they still don't show the 6-year old autopista from Ojinaga towards Chihuahua.

Baja Boojum - do they show the Arco Norte around Mexico City . . . Mapa Arco Norte . . . which is a brand new super highway that should complete a coast to coast autopista through the middle of Mexico... Should go from Atlacomulco to Texmelucan looping all around DF. We drove the first section from Texmelucan to Sahagun a couple years ago, and it is a great new road. There are several others, but that one is going to make a huge difference when going by-coastal and avoiding DF. Big tolls though.

BAJA - I did take a look for Arco Norte but don't see it yet. I know there are other new roads but haven't had time to look. I think Arco Norte is probably the most important new road in all of Mexico.

It turns out they have screwed up even more major roads around Toronto. Try a trip from Fort Eire to the Yonge Street exit of the 401 and watch what happens when it tries to transfer you from the QEW to the 427 AND what happens when you need to go from the 427 to the 401. Those connections are royally screwed up too! Anyone following S&T coming into Toronto or leaving Toronto on major highways likely is going to be misdirected. Microsoft, WHY? These were fine in the 2010 version!

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I really don't know what I'm talking about but isn't that the fault of the mapping company instead of Microsoft ?
Mike Flannigan

Perhaps, but the mapping company does not have any reporting mechanism for this sort of error, and Microsoft should have done enough testing to confirm that there were no 'losses' from last year to this year. The GPX problems are all Microsoft's, and they are 'working' on getting it right but not there yet. I know that they were told the correct way to do it when the 2010 version came out, since I was the one who provided them with that information, but they still don't have it correct. As for the routing issues around Toronto, that IS a database issue of some sort, and likely is related to the 427 since it is the highway that is not connecting correctly at either end, but the 401 westbound issue, while likely related to the 427, should not be happening and indicates that the highway's link to itself is broken as well. Did the mapping company break the database or has Microsoft, in using the raw data, broken the database? We'll likely never know.

RsH:
Thanks for setting me straight. The reason I thought that is we were routed up a I-70 ramp (Missouri) and down the other side instead of straight ahead. (I didn't take it)
My logic said that was the route the driver had to take because of construction during the time they were mapping that road ????
I have had a couple of other instances of this type of thing in S.Carolina and a few other states.
Regards,
Mike Flannigan

Can we read anything in to this current release?
I mean it arrives almost 5 months after it is usually released, and with few new features to speak of. Also, if MS gets back on track, do we see Streets and Trips 2012 in just 7 months or so?

I wouldn't be surprised if S&T will be discontinued altogether. People often ask me why I still use it. I've been using it since 2004. I still wish S&T had the set the actual speed rate instead of those dang sliders like they had back in 2004. Sadly, I don't believe I will ever see it again.

I am begining to wonder also if Streets is approaching the end of the Product Life Cycle.

That said, I also wonder too the future of MapPoint.

I guess the real question is how many copies of the Product have been sold over the past few years. If MS has seen a large drop-off in Sales (possibly due to GPS's dramtically reduced prices?), it would only make business sense for them to retire the product

Further to the 'errors' I have with the routing around Toronto, I tried to create a stop in the middle of the 401 highway westbound at the 427 to see if I could avoid the loop north and then back south that you see in the first of the three errors in this review. It is impossible to do so, which means that while the road appears in the graphic, it is not in the database. For some reason, if you try to put a stop on the graphic 401 westbound lanes, that stop will jump to one of the access or exit ramps, or a local street, depending on where you try to place the stop. It cannot be placed ON the 401 itself, so the database simply does not HAVE the 401 in that location in its database. While I haven't gone through this exercise with the other location at the southern end of the 427, I suspect a similar result would be seen. So while the graphic shows the road, the database does not really have the road.