The newest version of this trip planning software is here. Download a free 60-day trial version now, and share your first impressions with other users here in our forum. Tell us what you like or dislike about this newest release.

What's new in Streets and Trips 2009:


Free trial version

Kudos to Microsoft for offering this free trial download! As far as I know, no other software developer offers free download of a trial version of trip-planning software, or laptop GPS navigation software. And this is not a one week or one month trial, either. Try Streets & Trips 2009 for 60 days!


Map data


Streets & Trips 2009 has approximately 12 months fresher map data than the previous Streets & Trips 2008 version. The road map is now based on © 2008 NAVTEQ data.

I see a huge improvement in Mexico map coverage. While the address find feature is still not functional for Mexico, the country now does contain street-level map coverage for even many smaller towns. Are you planning a vacation in Mexico soon? Microsoft Streets & Trips 2009 is the only consumer GPS product that I'm aware of, that actually includes navigable map data for popular tourist destinations including locations such as Acapulco, Ixtapa, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta.

I briefly checked the major online map services, but none of them (including Microsoft's own Live Maps) contains as good map coverage for Mexico as Streets & Trips 2009. More on Mexico: http://www.laptopgpsworld.com/2101-mexico-map-coverage-microsoft-streets-trips#post14537

Thanks to Terry (a.k.a. tcassidy) for pointing out that his home town, Ladysmith, BC, Canada, now (finally) has street names:

Old version of Streets and Trips 2008:


New version of Streets and Trips 2009:


There are still smaller towns in Canada that show no street names on the map of Streets & Trips 2009, but it is nice to see that the situation is improving each year a little bit. Keep up the good work, Navteq!




Europe

There is a version of Microsoft Streets and Trips that includes street-level map data for Europe. For more information on the product read our review: Microsoft AutoRoute.

Voice direction prompts that include street names

Previous versions of Streets and Trips would simply say: "Turn right", the new version of Streets & Trips 2009 will say: "Turn right on Main Street".

"Pan" and "Select" tools

Tao wrote the above when he first tested Microsoft MapPoint 2009. The same functionality is now in Microsoft Streets & Trips 2009. S&T Team wrote an article about this feature: Where did the "Pan" and "Select" tools go on the Toolbar in S&T 2009?

Automatic re-routing

First introduced last year in Streets & Trips 2008. Most users liked it, but some users said they wanted the ability to turn it off. Microsoft understood the concerns involved, and the new implementation of this feature in Streets and Trips 2009 allows users to turn in off, or keep it on.

Integration with Live Search


The Streets & Trips 2009 built-in POI (points of interest) database contains approximately 1.6 million POIs. However, if users of Streets & Trips have Internet access, they may use this Live Search feature to search much larger database of POIs online, and the POIs will be displayed on the Streets & Trips map.

This feature was included in the previous Streets & Trips version, but the geocoding was quite bad - at least in my area. I tested this issue in the new Streets & Trips 2009, and I'm glad to say the geocoding seems perfect now.

Genealogy, anyone? The above picture shows a successful search result for cemeteries. The "Find nearby places" feature doesn't have the cemeteries category, but the "Live Search" feature in Streets & Trips is not limited by the "Find nearby places" categories. I don't know the exact number of POIs in the database, but I suspect the number is quite large. I've tested products with 12 million POIs, and I was unable to find many of the POIs I can easily access now.

Navigation map view (3D-view)


This feature was introduced in Streets & Trips 2008. It was then called "Perspective map view". There were problems with it, and the feature didn't become popular. Issues reported by users have been addressed by Microsoft, and the feature is usable now. It works as it should.

This feature is optional. Turn it on if you like it, Don't use it if you don't. I personally do like it. The first picture above shows Streets & Trips 2009 with the feature off, and the second picture is me driving home with the feature on.


The following are random new items located in Streets & Trips 2009 Options:


There is no longer the need to visit online communities to read about rumors of upcoming update. Your Streets & Trips 2009 will automatically notify you when Streets & Trips 2010, or Streets & Trips 2011, or Streets & Trips 2012 becomes available.


Remove the check-mark if you just cannot stand Microsoft Anna mispronouncing the name of your street.


I see truckers, RVers, and others sending thank-you cards to Microsoft for not making the auto re-route mandatory.


This feature will make many people very happy! Start GPS when program starts! Finally!



GPS trail - problem fixed

Create GPS trail feature was introduced in the 2005 version of Streets & Trips. There was a known issue that caused map refresh problems on long road trips. This has been corrected, as reported by Larry in another thread. I tested it while driving on a highway for several hours, and the feature indeed appears to be working flawlessly in the new Streets and Trips 2009.

Entertainment Online


Microsoft added integration with Entertainment Online to download their discount coupons into Streets and Trips 2009. To learn more details about this feature, please read Find Money Saving Coupons Easily in Streets and Trips 2009.

Streets & Trips with Connected Services has been discontinued










This is a better implementation of this feature. Latitude and longitude are always visible in the new Streets & Trips 2009. Users no longer need to enable Location Sensor.

Versions












Questions? Comments?

My UMPC (and only my UMPC) offers to speak street names with either Mary or Anna (with Mobile PC) I am going to try S&T 2009 on this device to see if Mary is better than Anna.

I know I could test with MPC but I need an excuse.

Terry

Attached Images

Voices.jpg (30.4 KB)

Pretty light on POIs in my area. One listing only for Ladysmith. I bet iNav could beat this. But at least it finally has street addresses for here.

Oops! I didn't have second page selected. It adds the Royal Bank and Ladysmith Inn. Oh well.
Terry

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st2009POI.jpg (54.8 KB)

st2009POI-2.jpg (53.8 KB)

I'm going to try the 60 day trial. I would be buying it when released anyway.
The thing I notice most from the review is that so many of the new items are Microsoft reacting to feedback from user's complaints and suggestions.
Kudos to Microsoft for listening and responding.

Glenn

Terry, the only text-to-speech engine that my Windows Vista laptop has, is Microsoft Anna. I tried Microsoft Mary few years ago (she came with MS AutoRoute), but I still liked Anna better. However, there are better text-to-speech voices I've heard. Some may be purchased online, but I've never tested any 3rd party TTS engine with Streets & Trips, so I don't know which ones are compatible.

Is Streets & Trips 2009 the very first S&T version to include street names for Ladysmith, BC? Navteq seems to be improving map data each year a little bit.

Glenn, yes, kudos to Microsoft for listening to Streets & Trips users, and for all the fixes and improvements in Streets & Trips 2009. The release of the 60-day free trial version was a big and a pleasant surprise, too!

Marvin,
You haven't been listening to my diatribes (and who can blame you). S&T 2009 is the first version of this program to include street names and addresses SINCE S&T 2004.

I know I live in a backwater underdeveloped area but they don't have to keep reminding me.


Terry

Attached Images

S&T11.jpg (50.7 KB)

S&T2008.jpg (195.8 KB)

S&T2009.jpg (169.8 KB)

It looks pretty good on the UMPC at 800x600 but the Navigation area should be adjustable. It shows the adjustment cursor but it doesn't work.

Terry

Attached Images

2009Nav.jpg (58.6 KB)

hi everybody

Strictly speaking, 800x600 is no longer a supported resolution. Notice the System Requirements are now 1024x768. This is unfortunate, I feel, as UMPCs and netbooks become more popular.

In future versions, I hope there will be some tweaking of text-to-speech so that common highway abbreviations are not mispronounced. SR-27 is currently spoken as "Senior twenty-seven", and US-1 as "Us One." It's not that hard to fix this -- just do some preprocessing of the text with regular expressions before sending it to the TTS engine.

Yes, the best this UMPC can do is 1024x600 and the navigation bar does not get much smaller at that resolution. I think 800x600 is the best compromise between clarity and screen waste though.

Terry

Attached Images

2009-800-480.JPG (168.5 KB)

2009-800-600.JPG (165.4 KB)

2009-1024.JPG (150.9 KB)

This is very disappointing news. Why has this decision been taken? Were there simply not enough sales of the product in Europe?

It seems that since S&T and MapPoint Europe are to be continued as usual, surely doing an Autoroute build with the European maps would barely take any time at all.

Are there any other decent desktop route planning apps for Europe that people can recommend instead?

If you buy Garmin's City Navigator Europe, it comes with a desktop planning program called MapSource on the DVD. It does not have all the features of Streets&Trips but it is decent. Garmin uses the same Navteq data for its North American maps that Microsoft uses. Garmin also uses Navteq data for Europe. I don't know what Microsoft uses.

If you decide to investigate this option, phone Garmin and ask whether you can use MapSource with the maps without having a Garmin navigation device to unlock the maps to. Garmin has the annoying habit of only unlocking their maps to one of their own nav devices. With the North American maps I've got, if you don't have a Garmin device to unlock them to you can't even look at them on the desktop in MapSource. They may have a different policy with the Europe maps. It's an email to their Product Support or a free phone call to their toll-free support line.

...ken...

Decided to download the 2009 sample.
To a large extent, the new version looks good.
I use mine S&T for pizza deliveries. I have trailed every street in my area because many of the 2007 streets were either missing or not aligned to where I travel.
I have also used the pushpins to note house addresses.

My reaction after looking at one of my work maps, is Thank God I had custom pins. The Pin set is down to very few. I had used the S&T 2007 numbers to indicate the hundreds digit for the house numbers. And created my own set to go from 00 to 99. (I had created my own because the S&T set only went to 50.)

The other pin set that was removed, that I was using, was the letters. Since the text box obscures the map, I did not like using it. I would put a letter pushpin at the end of the new or missing street, based on the first letter of the street name.

It would have been nice, if there was a simple way to import the images. The solution I came up with is to put the desired pushpin image on a map. Copy the map image into an editor. And crop the image down to a 16x16 pixel image based on the pushpin.

One thing that I would have liked to have seen was to be able to rotate the text box. This way, if it is used to name a new street, it can be aligned to the street. Or, better yet, you have a street naming option. Or, it may have to be a way to have a street name on a line.

As mentioned above, I had trailed all the streets where I deliver. But, the memory use was creating significant display lags. So I redrew the lines using the draw line feature. So longer streets may have 30 points or so, instead of thousands. Being able to have the name appear on that line would be nice. Or better yet, having some way to designate the line as a routable street, with a name, would be perfect.

I have barely looked at the 2009, so I am sure I will have more comments later.

John

theorange, the discontinuance of Autoroute is a business decision. With Mappoint Europe, you can sell it to globalized corporations at €300 a copy, so it is just a matter of producing a new build and stamping out DVDs, like you said.

But Autoroute costs far less, and to a first approximation, it has decent sales figures only for one market: the UK. French and German sales are about 1/5 of that, judging from Amazon sales rankings. Streets and Trips is already a small product by Microsoft standards. Autoroute, then, would be merely tiny. At some point, someone in product planning apparently decided that it was no longer worth the hassle to continue selling it.

Hi Cypriot, Welcome.

Marvin:
Your review of 2009 S&T is great. Did you use the trial version for the review?

Ed

The only difference between the trial and the real McKoy is the 60-day limit. All features and functions are included in the trial.

In fact, when you decide to buy the full product you need only to choose the "Upgrade..." link off the Help menu and enter in your product key and you're done! No need to uninstall trial and re-install the full packaged product.

I'm disappointed they removed the export to pocket streets function from the menu. Maybe I'm one of the few people that still use the pocketpc with streets. It was nice to be able to load updated maps to pocket streets. Maybe someone will come up with a utility to do this.

Marvin:
I downloaded the 2009 60 day trial and it looks as good as you say.
Do you just "upgrade" to the full version if you want it, or do you want the disc as I have always done ? Does it matter ?
Thanks,
Mike Flannigan

I have created a small FAQ regarding the new Free Streets & Trips 2009 Trial edition download.

http://streetsandtrips.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!FDEF586E035CD203!565.entry

In order to upgrade to the full version you need a Product key. When the application becomes available next month you can buy the DVD and key.

If you "Save" the .exe rather than "Run" then you can reinstall anytime using that exe. This is great for any folks that do not have a DVD drive.

EDH, yes, I have the trial. I don't think the full version is out yet.

Mike, yes, just like Larry writes:

...and the rest of the info is in his Streets & Trips 2009 Trial Edition FAQ


Larry, excellent FAQ. I linked it from Tips & Tricks for Streets & Trips. Many of the links in the Tips & Tricks are actually pointing to various articles on your blog.

Marvin, you seem to have skimmed over the FAQ too quickly. There is no option to buy just a key; you have to buy a physical product at some point from a retailer.

Tao, thanks for correcting me. I just edited the above posting of mine (so it doesn't confuse the issue).

Microsoft still failed to correct the lefts and rights for the correct turns.
S&T 2009 still wants to run me into the interstate center divider when I need to exit to the right.
I'm glad I don't let the gps rule the way.
Is there anyway that I can edit the route and make corrections for the turns?
Best Regards:
TomP

I haven't had much time to work with 2009 but it appears you can not copy and past pushpins as you could in the past. Makes it difficult to enter pins from the Discovery site.
Hocus Pocus

Previous post in error , copy and paste works if done within 2009. They have changed the map format again.
HocusPocus

Marvin - thanks for the prompt notification that '09 was available for download! Many thanks to S&T Team for making this trial download available - even before the product is officially released!

Saw a comment from jsnoik above - concerned about reduced pushpin set. I train my sales customers to use lots of different color pushpins, and I was momentarily concerned I'd have to create the pins myself - BUT - thanks again S&T team for making those addtional pins available. Click the link to Streetsandtrips.spaces and download the full pushpin set from previous versions. It took me about 30 seconds to download and install - and I've got all my favorites - thanks S&T!


http://streetsandtrips.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!FDEF586E035CD203!566.entry

Do you have to import them one at a time? I can't seem to shift-select them.

Terry

My Point, thanks for the info on the older pin set. I still have to do some work because they decided to only go to 20 with the numbers. I need to go up to the 30s, minimum, for my purpose.

Terry, it does appear that you have to import them one at a time.

One extra feature that I would like is the ability to sort the order of the custom pushpins. The custom pins that I made, in ST2007, were numbers. In the past, when I copied a pushpin set from a custom map to a new map, the pushpins were copied over at random. They were totally unorganized on the new map. I ended up reorganizing them by creating a fake pushpin site, with my first pushpin (0). Copied it to the new map. Changed the pushpin and copied again, until I got to 99. Good thing I am tolerant of repetition.

Fortunately, any of the maps that I have duplicated since allow me to resave the map under the new name. And then I delete the undesired pin sets.

One of my first reactions when looking at the pushpins that I downloaded from Microsoft, it how do I recognize them? I found that setting the view of the file to thumbnails worked wonders.

HocusPocus:
I just copied and pasted "my pushpins" from a saved copy of 2008 to a new 2009 map file. I intend to do it with all of my saved 2008 files. (First, I had to "make a pushpin" in the new 2009 file in order to have a place in the "Legend and Overview" to paste to.) I intend to make a new 2009 file for all of my saved 2008 files and do the same.
Regards,
Mike Flannigan

Thanks for the link, Keith. I now linked it also from Tips & Tricks for Streets & Trips.

I think the Canadian street names in Streets & Trips 2004 (and older) came from DMTI Spatial. That data provider is no longer being used for the product, so we, the users, are at the mercy of Navteq. Luckily, Navteq has done improvements in Canada every single year since I started to pay attention.

I added the following to the review on page 1 of this thread:

If anyone is interested in helping Navteq to improve their maps, they can go to http://www.navteq.com/ and click on "Give Map Feedback" in the bottom left corner.

I have submitted 22 updates to them. Many, they had already acted on but there were several that they accepted. It does take them a while to process, but they receive a lot of submissions. On one day when I sent 7 entries, there was a spread of 63 entries.

So, if you want to be kept up to date with the results of your submissions, you can sign up to log in. I find that also helps me to keep track, so that I don't waste their time by sending duplicates.

S&T 2004 shows GDT as the Canadian data supplier.

Terry

Attached Images

ST2004-credits.jpg (48.2 KB)

jsnoik, yes, good suggestion with map feedback via Navteq website! I've sent my feedback in the past, still via their old website. It was a positive experience.

Terry, so no DMTI but rather GDT Canada! GDT got purchased by Tele Atlas shortly after that.

Tele Atlas is one of the data providers for Streets & Trips (judging by the credits), but it doesn't necessarily mean all the data Tele Atlas has Microsoft uses in the product.

Thank you for the site welcome. I am here to learn about GPS Streets and Trips. I have Vista64 on my laptop, and have not purchased Streets and Trips yet, because I don't know if MSFT supports 64 bit GPS hardware.

I searched for an hour on the MSFT web site, and found nothing posted regarding the subjet. Naturally I do not want to purchase the program unless I can run it.

I used to run Delorme's GPS, and may do so again, if it is supported. At present, I am still looking for a solution..

Abalaster:

I have Windows Ultimate, 64 bit and have no problems.

Regards,

Mike Flannigan

Abalester, there are two issues here: software and hardware. Streets & Trips (software) works just fine on 64-bit Vista, as listed in the System Requirements. Note that SP1 is required for 64-bit but not for 32-bit, so make sure you're up to date.

Whether your GPS device (hardware) will work is unrelated to S&T, and depends on whether the hardware manufacturer has put out a driver. The Pharos GPS puck that Microsoft bundles with S&T works fine on 64-bit Vista. If you've got another GPS puck, plug it in and see what happens. If it's a mainstream device, odds are that it will simply plug-and-play.

Abalester,
On the first page of this thread, in the first post, there is a link to download a 60 trial version. Give that a whirl. That will give you the ultimate answer. Of course, if you have any problems, post them. It may be a simple fix that someone can guide you through.

I don't believe that there is a version for sale, yet. I think everyone here is running the demo.

And, of course, follow the directions above of those who are more familiar with Vista.

Marvin, I do not currently own a GPS device, and would be interested in the 2009 download, but do not want to buy an earlier version (2008) that will be obsolete in a couple of months just to get the hardware. I will be using 64 bit Vista, and also need to know if there will be a 64 bit driver problem with S&Ts GPS. Thanks in advance for your reply.

Microsoft has some tools to create a 'User Lexicon' file to properly read words that might not be interpreted correctly. It's not a trivial task.

You need to break the word down into pronounceable phonemes. For example, I live on Kenneth Lane. S&T says "Kenneth L N". If I create a lexicon entry equating 'LN' to the phonemes 'l ey n', it says "lane".

Unfortunately, I tried to fix SR (state route), but could not override S&T saying "senior". Not sure why, but I suspect there is already a lexicon entry somewhere that overrides the user lexicon.

If you're interested in working on this some more, go to Microsoft.com and search for BuildAppLex.msi.

Yes, I wouldn't suggest buying an older version of Streets & Trips now that version 2009 is available as a download. And I wouldn't want to wait till S&T 2009 w/GPS Locator appears in stores later in September 2008. You can buy a USB GPS receiver separately. BU-353 by Globalsat has been quite popular (I use it myself these days, too). BU-353 has drivers for Vista 64.

There are likely other USB GPS receivers that would work perfectly well with Streets & Trips and 64-bit Windows Vista. Perhaps other people will tell us what they use.

I still use the little GPS "dongle" that I bought with my 2007 pkg. Are their "upgraded" versions?, or newer/better ones since then? I always like to stay at the cutting edge of technology!

It was mentioned earlier that S&T 2009 has a new dongle included if you buy the version with a GPS sensor. The Pharos 500 included with 2007 and 2008 is eminently suitable for the purpose it is used for but hardly "cutting edge".

Terry

So...it's newer technology/better/worth the few bucks extra?
I am a tour manager in the music industry & this application seems to best very popular among the bus drivers - so I want to be sure I have the best I can get?

Hmmm...just downloaded & started to install and got the messg, "some installation files are corrupt. Please download a fresh copy and retry the installation"...GRRRR!

Install error messg...

CRC failed in Streets\MSMap\PFiles\MSMap\Data\USA_CD.mad
Unexpected end of archive

Please check the file size of your download. If it is less than 1.14 GB (1,230,376,744 bytes), then you may want to download it again and try.

The first download was that size - the 2nd (which failed again) was much smaller. Also, it downloaded something called MS "Silverlight" which it didn't do the first time. I guess I'm not destined to upgrade!

Tried just installing/runing it from the site vs. downloading & installing. Still same issue.

I've seen a Streets & Trips 2009 box shot that has the same GPS-500 depicted on the front, and I've also seen a box shot that had something else there - perhaps a different USB GPS receiver. But it's not easy to judge something just by a small picture, so we may need to wait till the product appears in stores to find out.

The GPS-500 unit, which you have, is based on the SiRFstarIII chip. It is a very good receiver. Perhaps the only two bad things one could say: 1) The physical design could be improved. Some users managed to damage it. 2) It is small, so the internal antenna is also small. That leads to slightly worse sensitivity to weak satellite signals in comparison to GPS receivers based on the same chip, but with larger antennas. But if your UMPC or tablet PC or laptop is tiny, you may appreciate the small size of the GPS-500, and the slightly lower performance may be secondary.

When GPS-500 was first introduced, users of GPS-360 were very impressed when they upgraded.

By the way, good luck with trying to install the trial version. You may want to delete temporary files, and try to download again.

You can get more details on the latest USB GPS Receiver from the uBlox website.

You also have a high resolution picture of the newest GPS receiver on that page.

So...is this unit technologically more advanced than the "500"?

Gladwin, thanks for the fresh link - the press release has today's day on it . It will be interesting to see if the new USB GPS stick makes it into S&T 2009 (not just MapPoint 2009).

cooknkpl, u-blox 5 is technology newer than SiRFstarIII. Judging purely by the numbers it seems the chip allows for a slightly more sensitivity to weak satellite signals: -160 dBm u-blox versus -159 dBm SiRFstarIII. 1dB is not much, it's not something most of us would likely notice, but it is an improvement nevertheless . But there are other factors to consider, such as design, antenna size, etc. Users will need to test the new USB GPS stick in real life to find out how well it performs.

Thx everyone for all the "education"
My desire would be to have a faster "refresh" rate so I don't "overshoot" my turns when they are in close proximetry!

A faster refresh rate ( which is available on some GPS units) would not give you quicker warnings about upcoming turns. That is a function of the software. The standard one second refresh rate works in all programs. Redraws may a bit smoother with a faster refresh rate.

Terry

In free translated English below...

Mauvaise planification de route!

J’ai testé aujourd’hui la version d’essaie de MS S&T 2009. Il y a des améliorations intéressantes, mais j’ai été très déçu de constater que des problèmes de planification de route qui existaient dans les versions précédentes (2006, 2007 et 2008) n’ont pas encore été corrigés.

À titre d’exemple, je suis toujours surpris lorsque je traverse Toronto par la 401, à l’occasion de mon départ vers le sud chaque automne, que S&T s’entête à me dévier via les collecteurs… Ou encore qu’à l’occasion d’un re-routage il me ramène au précédent point de passage au lieu de me diriger vers le prochain…?

Il semble que S&T 2009 me fera encore passer par les collecteurs de la 401… Mais il y a des erreurs qui sont plus importantes et rallonge de façon importante votre trajet. A titre d’exemple je joint ci-dessous le trajet de ma résidence d’été près de la ville de Québec au premier poste de ravitaillement en essence en banlieue de Montréal. ( Aller et retour - Deux sont la mauvaise route et les deux autres sont la bonne route) J’ai beau utiliser la sélection « route la plus rapide, route la plus courte ou éviter les routes secondaires » S&T s’entête à me faire passer via des routes secondaires par un long détour au nord qui augmente la longueur du trajet de plus de 35%.

Comme vous verrez dans les fichiers ci-joint Garmin Mobile PC me suggère immédiatement la route idéale…

Pourquoi S&T ne peut en faire autant ?


Bad choice of the road!

I tested today the trying version of MS S&T 2009. There are interesting improvements, but I was very disappointed to notice that many planning problems of the road which existed in the previous versions (2006, 2007 and 2008) were not corrected yet.

As example, I am always surprised when I cross Toronto by 401, on the occasion of my departure southward every autumn, when S&T persists in diverting me via the collectors … Or still that on the occasion of a re-routing it returns me to the previous passage instead of steering me towards the next point?

It seems that S&T 2009 will again make me pass by the collectors of 401 … But there are errors which are more important and expand in a important way your route. As example I joins below 4 road map ( Go and reverse - 2 are BAD made by S&T, and 2 are GOOD where I made corrections) from my summer residence near the city of Quebec to the first petrol station in suburb of Montreal. I may use the selection " the fastest road, the shortest road or to avoid minor roads " S&T persists in making me pass via minor roads by long bend in the North which increases the length of the route of more than 35 %.

As you will see in files attached Garmin Mobile PC suggests me at once the ideal road …

Why S&T cannot make it so much?

Attached Images

Lac to Montréal BAD.jpg (85.3 KB)

Lac to Montréal (reverse) BAD.jpg (79.7 KB)

Lac to Montréal GOOD.jpg (77.4 KB)

Lac to Montréal (reverse) GOOD.jpg (75.9 KB)

Lac to Montréal By Garmin Mobile PC.jpg (91.9 KB)

Alain, I tried, but I was not able to reproduce the bad route. What Start and what End do we need to enter to recreate the problem? (I'm using just the default route options.)

Hi,

I start at 181 rue Gringras, Fossambault-sur-le-Lac, QC.
(show on the map below)
and I go to The Flying J at Dorion. You may go anywhere in Montréal, that will do the same...

Tanks

Alain

Attached Images

image_map.jpg (27.0 KB)

• Start: Fossambault-sur-le-Lac, QC, Canada
• End: Montréal, QC, Canada

Indeed, I can see the problem now, Alain. It looks just like the first picture you posted. The issue is identical in both Streets & Trips 2009 and also 2008.

I have the same problem often...It will try to send me a route that is not as good as an alternative route I would prefer. In Google Maps - Driving Direcitons, if you want a diff route than the one they show you, you can drag the points to the alternative choice & it will re-route you accordingly. Great tool for compating traveling scenarios. Now, if S&T would do that...

True, cooknkpl, very true. But the above routing issue is an obvious bug. It may be related to map data error, or routing algorithm issue, or something else. Over the past several years of using S&T, I have never experienced this kind of routing issue personally, but I've seen two or three other users (like Alain today) experiencing this.

You got it...

When you are in a unknow area that may become a big problem...

The deviation may not be always so wide, but you will get more millage and bad road...

Hi Marvin,

I expected that problem many times last year during my long trip across Canada and US ( 35 000 km.). I had to check carefully the road before each time I lived…

But the bigger problem is in the re-routing, I don’t trust it because it made many bad routing and I don’t use it anymore. By the way I don’t like the U turn with my 52 feet rig…

My solution for the future is the use of 2 GPS in same time S&T and Garmin 250W …:rofl"

Tanks for the answer.

Personally I always run iGuidance in the back ground, not because of bad routing but because S&Ts always has a nasty habit of crashing just when I need it most.

I was using Garmin Mobile PC in the back ground but that updating fubar kinda ticked me off.

Okay, I downloaded ST 2009 onto my main desktop (no GPS) for evaluation. I immediately noticed a lot of work done to make the icons prettier. Most of the other features are the same as 2008.

I checked a few areas around my home where 2008 was missing a road or an on ramp or off ramp. SOME of the construction was included in 2009, while other things were not. I searched the program for the ability to DRAW IN missing roads and such, but I haven't found any tool which will allow me to make minor corrections on my own.

I'm going to dump my trial download onto a thumb drive and install it on my truck PC for evaluation using the GPS which is my main concern. I see that the breadcrumb trail function is still there, but can S&T 2009 navigate across those trails I create? I wonder.

The Click = Drag, Right-Click = Zoom function is nice.

I especially like the PRINT MAP function. It seems the program assumes a landscape paper orientation, and ONLY prints what you see on your screen, meaning if you squash the window down to 1/10th of the screen's height, you will print a very narrow map, just like you see on the screen. THAT is a nice feature!

The assortment of pushpins is sadly lacking, but I must assume that is because this is a TRIAL version. I am guessing that more pushpin selections become available upon registration.

The CREATE DRIVE TIME ZONES feature needs a bit of tweaking. It is nice for the computer to assume a jagged boundary based on a set driving time, but I played with this extensively and found it to be woefully inaccurate. Perhaps if the user could select a series of points around the target region, and define them AS (n) minutes based on real world traffic conditions for that area, the computer could then use those reference points to draw a more realistic drive time zone.

Also, I would DEARLY love to set up a color-coded zone map showing 15, 30, 45 and 60 minute drive times from my base, but rather than flood the map with a solid primary color that basically obliterates the map, it would be better to lay a 5 or 10% screened color UNDER the roads, so that the zone could be identified visually, but the map could still be seen. I used the lighter, less harsh pastel colors to create splotches UNDER the roads, and that looks ... okay, but I guess we need some less intense colors, softer shades of blue, green, yellow and red, etc., so we can make a distinction without creating a distraction.

The AVOID AREA function should not only work with the rectangle draw tool, but also with the oval and the free form tools as well.

That is about all I can determine upon initial examination of ST 2009. I'll know more when I put it in my tow truck and put it through its paces.

At this point, ST 2009 is a "might buy."

Joe, you can add more pushpin symbols by following the instructions in http://www.laptopgpsworld.com/749-tips-tricks-microsoft-streets-trips, (tip # 21).

The following may be of interest: http://www.laptopgpsworld.com/872-u-blox-gps-technology-power-new-microsoft-usb-gps-receiver

I got a problem similar than Alain this summer on Highway 20 in travelling between Quebec and Montreal. I have stopped somewhere and used the reroute function and route got me out of the highway going deep away from it making a very nice turn (many km) to return me later to the highway 20 (a simple route of a few km would have get me onto the highway). I didn't notice at first, followed the route by using the guidance tool, than i have found by zooming out the map that i was going to ride for nothing . But it was not as bad as we can see in Alain route! Unfortunatly, i didn't remember exactly where it was...

Hi,

As I said before, re-routing is really a problem, often it head you for a cross country… That why I don’t use it (the re-routing) any more… I turn it off!

My experience with my Garmin 250W is not really long but I made many tests and each time it was OK.

But S&T is better to plan a long trip… If we carefully check each part of the road !

Yes, that's what I personally love about GPS navigation on laptop computers - it is just so easy to quickly zoom out, and switch to 2D, to see the whole route, and to instantly check visually if the route appears to make sense. Pretty much any laptop GPS software can do this well. But it may be a lot more difficult, or time consuming, or even impossible to do the same on a PND (personal navigation device), especially if it has a small screen.

Tried S&T 2009 yesterday and there is no way it is ready for release. It wanted me to go all differant routes from where I needed to go. On some of the streets and roads it would only state " turn left or right on local road" and not say the name of the street or road.
Again, I'm glad I knew where I was going. I would not use it to go to a place I didn't know. You would get lost!
TomP

Tom, is this reproducable? Could you provide Start and End locations?

I downloaded and installed the trial version of Streets & Trips 2009 but it won't run. It gives me a lengthy error message that starts out "A removable device or network share cannot be found,". I first installed it from the C drive, then uninstalled it and reinstalled it from a flash drive, but it still won't run. Does anyone have any suggestions? Microsoft seems to have no support at all for this trial version.

Marvin:
I can't reproduce it unless I run the route I was running, but the start and end location was at my home in Horn Lake, MS and I then had to run around Memphis, Bartlett, Colleriville and Germantown, TN.
Sorry, not to good info for ya.
TomP

Streets & Trips 2009 is great!

I haven't installed it on my truck PC yet, so I have only my office desktop experimentation to go on at the moment. I am anxious to get it on the truck PC so I can put it through it's paces.

The improved (fixed) 3D is perhaps the most significant improvement for me personally. The 3D (navigation mode) still doesn't look as nice as iGuidance or Garmin Mobile PC, but at least the GPS icon doesn't travel all the way to the top of the screen now. The GPS location icon stays close to the bottom of the map, and that's where it should be.

I haven't yet taken the time to start modifying S&T Keys for this new 2009 version, so I haven't really spent too much time using Streets & Trips 2009 yet. But I'll try to work on S&T Keys soon. When that's done, I'll be using Streets and Trips 2009 exclusively for a while.

hi everybody:
did any body have the crack for this program?

i didn't finded till now>>>>>>

...Just posted this in another thread:

Used 2009 first time this last weekend...I almost wet myself laughing so hard...
SR-99 (state route)...

"Senior 99"...

...and BUS-80 (business 80),

was "Bus 80" , (i.e., school bus)

And you will definitely not find it here. The following is a quote from our forum rules:

LOL, no text-to-speach engine is perfect. :rofl"

I have a crack ---- but it's not for this program

and I don't need GPS to find it


On a more serious note I have been making a trail for about two days and the program hasn't crashed once.
Kudos for Microsoft

Looks like Larry was not bluffing, they really fixed it . I tested it between Atlantic City, NJ, and Toronto. I experienced no issue with the GPS Trail feature either.

The crack is accomplished in four simple steps. Follow these steps carefully and in the correct order:

1. Purchase a new copy of S&T 2009
2. Install it on one computer.
3. Register it online.

Now be sure you have done those three steps BEFORE you attempt this next step, or you'll lock up the whole program.

4. Find a big mirror, look directly into it and yell, "YOU *****!"

After that, you'll have unrestricted access to the program.

60 days is a long time.

Why so serious?


And on a more serious note, this should put a _ s - m - i - l - e _ on your face. I finally got 2009 to become unresponsive. I use gpsgate 2.6: anyhow I opened up another program that tried to take the serial port away and S&T jumped to 0.00000 by 0.00000 and then back again. My 800 mhz machine took about 5 minutes to draw this trail, but it did not crash. As someone who has been using S&T for years I find this amazing and what took MS so long to do this.

>>>>Thank's for ur nice replay Mr.*****.

I just downloaded Microsoft Streets and Trips 2009. I'm disapointed that their maps are not up-to-date. My son has live in a housing development in southwest Omaha for two years and his street isn't even shown yet. A street in which my daughter lives in Meriden, Kansas is located on the map about a quarter mile west of where it actually is. Also, the street names for some of the county roads is not up-to-date yet. I guess I'll wait until 2010 streets and trips comes out to see if they have updated anything. I wouldn't waste my money.

Yes, 2 to 3 years seems to be the norm these days. A few years back there was an excellent three-page long article on this topic published by PocketGPSWorld.com. It is a very good reading for anyone at all interested in this subject. Here's the link http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/navteq.php Make sure you read page 2 and 3, too. Great reading.

It is working great on my geriatric laptop. I am really digging it. Ok back to checking it out.

Gosh, firasadiq, you come here, to a Microsoft Streets & Trips GPS forum where the DEVELOPERS of the software who work with and for Microsoft log on to communicate with and help those who have P-U-R-C-H-A-S-E-D a copy of the new software ... and you ask for a "crack", and you call ME an *****???

YOU are the *****!

TechnoGuy, is the word "geriatric" to describe the profession the laptop is used for, or the old age of the laptop?

bikerjoe and firasadiq, thanks guys for testing the 'Censored Words' feature . Perhaps we shouldn't be too harsh on each other, though. We all make mistakes. By the way, we haven't yet even said welcome to the forum, firasadiq!

I installed the trial and am reasonably pleased so far. Assuming a price similar to past editions, I will definitely buy the update.

I've tried a few routes that I've had to force with my old 2006 version of S&Ts, and all, so far, have fixed prior problems. None of my past issues had anything to do with errors in the streets themselves - it was the old routing algorithm. By inserting stops, I could force a better path (even as reported by MS's estimate of time or distance). Anyway, good job MS - thanks.

There is one minor implementation detail I noticed that I'd like to see you change. My install created a 280MB file in my "Documents and Settings" folder and I don't recall having the option to have it installed in another directory. If I missed an option on the install - I apologize.

Here's the path where the file was installed on my machine:
Dan

check out the GPS trail that Tim McConnell (http://timbotrip.com) did from redmond - boise - salt lake city and still going on.

http://www.timbotrip.com/2008/09/04/on-the-road-to-montana/

LOL! Well, first impressions are important. Coming into this public forum asking for a "crack" to the software told me all I need to know.

On another note, I hope to install the trial version on my truck's PC today. I found a thumb drive that has enough capacity to transfer the 1+ gig file. I am anxious to try to the new and improved (?) GPS functions!

Look at it this way, the only software that doesn't get "cracked" is the junk nobody wants.

He was actually giving them a complement on their code writing abilities.

It was a time when people who were called "bikers" were considered to be low life scum of the earth, now it's cool to be a biker because only rich yuppies can afford it.

Judging someone on a first impression just shows everybody how small a person you really are.

Although the 2009 trial version still won't work on my desktop computer (it won't even install now), it did install and run perfectly on my laptop computer. Has anyone been able to update the construction data? All I get is an error message.

I looked at some trips in the 2009 trial version that I created with S&T 2006 and I am finding that they complete much more quickly in the 2009 version. I compared some segments and found one where the 2006 version expected me to average 50 mph while the 2009 version expected me to average 65 mph. Has anyone else noticed this?

RMCDO:

I just tried a route from 2008, updated to 2009, received the notice that the construction info was out of date, clicked on update and received the "error window, construction information can not be updated now, try later." ???
Regards,
Mike Flannigan

I have the same problem... May be because it's a trial version...????

Why crack a program that cost 30$ at Sam Club !!!