Laptop GPS World

Hi folks

I'm new to the site, and look forward to many hours catching up on all of the info that is already here. I'd like to start out by describing my needs and ask for suggestions out there on how to proceed.

I'm a relatively happy user of MS S&T 2007 now for nearly a year. I've found that it is 90% up to date in my region (NC, VA, WV, MA, DC & other areas). My job requires me to travel quite a bit (about 7k miles / month) and I use S&T to plan my trips, prioritize stops, and keep info about my customer sites. I use the data import function quite a bit, as well as set manual waypoints. As with everything, I can see some improvements in the way I work, and would like to know if there are either add-ons or other software that I should turn to. So far the advantages of 2008 are not quite compelling enough to upgrade. Perhaps someone can change my mind here.

1. I love the fact I can import data to the program, but I would love to be able to export and clean up the data as well. 1 years of use of putting all my waypoints into the same map file ensures that I have some information that is outdated, but it is difficult at best to find it using the map tools. Even something that will convert the existing map file to xml or something.

2. It seems that the waypoint groups are not very flexible. I can move them to other groups a little, but if the group is created as a result of an import, the only option seems to be to move waypoints (pushpins) to a new group. Am I doing something wrong? I'd like to combine like sites into organized groups without having to redo everything.

3. I sometimes use waypoints, other times I simply am driving the map to the known locations. Either way, I'd love to have the following stats:
How long, how far have I driven today.
Where did I stop, and for how long.
What places did I visit.
I log all of this info by hand, but I know that the "computer knows".. or would if the proper software was tracking this information. Any help?

Needless to say, this tool comes out of my personal funds, rather than company budget. So, I'm sure there are some super tracking packages out there, but I can't be spending $100's on this.

I am willing to change map software if it would have these combined features.

Thanks!

Derek,

I agree with you, if you say you see no compelling reason to upgrade from your S&T 2007 to Streets and Trips 2008. Even though a lot has been added and improved, such as the new 3D/perspective view, and the new MSN Direct/traffic integration, etc, still more work is needed in future S&T versions so users can better benefit from these new features.

Regarding your pushpins, since there is no export feature in Streets & Trips, and since occasionally users report issues with their saved S&T files, perhaps it would be preferable (and safer), to store your locations in a file importable to S&T (such as Excel, or text file). Excel would make it easier for you to manage your data, and you would be able to easily import it to any future S&T version without risking S&T file becoming corrupted.

Hopefully people with personal knowledge of this will give you feedback. I've never had the need for this functionality myself.

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Marvin Hlavac

Laptop GPS software reviews | Stores offering discounts to our members: Semsons & Co. Inc. and Deluo Electronics

Thanks very much for your reply. I do keep many of my sites on spread sheets, however I have put in some 60 sites manually. What's more, many of my locations are given to me with general information. Once I find the location (often way off the paved trail) I move my pushpin to the new location for future reference.

So, hasn't ANYONE reverse engineered the map file? I'm thinking about breaking out my hex editor and figuring it out this weekend. Funny that Microsoft office is going to all xml, but this file is so cryptic. Do you think it's to protect the interest in MapPoint and its integration capabilities?

Thanks again.

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Derek

MS S&T 2007, Dell Latitude D630
Prayer keeps my hard drive going..

I think this program could be usefull. It can extract POI from S&T .est files i guess. And best of all, it is free
It can work with a lot of other format as well: google earth kml, gpx, etc.

http://rjdavies.users.btopenworld.co...converter.html

I've checked out their web site, and I'm very interested. Thanks for the post MisterMonlight! I'll report back my results!

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Derek

MS S&T 2007, Dell Latitude D630
Prayer keeps my hard drive going..