Review: Microsoft AutoRoute

Too bad i removed AR support in S&T Keys last year thinking it was a dead product

For the one who have tried the trial a lot, is it still (AR 2010) the exact same interface of S&T 2010 or there are subtle differences?

We first used AutoRoute 2007 on a trip through Deutschland and Oesterreich and it was very helpful and accurate. We're looking forward to upgrading to AutoRoute 2010.

Will Amazon UK ship to the USA?

No, it will not. But let's wait a little bit till AutoRoute 2010 is released to stores, and then perhaps it will become available even here. Past versions have been sold in the U.S., and hopefully the new 2010 will not be an exception.

The latest ETA for AR2010 seems to be December 30, 2009.

I have an old laptop computer with Windows 98, 512 ram and a 120 meg hard drive. Will microsoft AutoRoute be my choice or is there another product I can use? Thanks in advance.

Autoroute probably doesn't support Windows 98 and is far too large to fit on your hard drive. Today's maps for most programs exceed 1 gig. The smallest I have seen is Navmii and it is more than twice the size of your hard drive just for UK/ Ireland.

I am running an older version of Garmin nRoute and MapSource on a Win98 laptop but it has a 20G drive.

Terry

See my previous posting on page 4.

I have an old Toughbook CF-71, which is only 6GB hard disk running W98SE. On it is AR 2006.

It wont work with a USB connected GPSr, but should work with one connected to COM1, but I've not tried it on that version.

If the map data will not fit onto the hard disk, then I have run AR on a desktop using the part install of AR, without the map data. When it was run, it requested putting the CD into the drive.

An unfortunate fact with AR and probably S&T and Map Point, is that M$ automatically install a lot of M$ Office stuff that's not used by AR.

Earlier versions did not do this.

It is possible to use an old version of these programs with newer map data files. I have MP 2004 on this PC using 2009 map data files.

I chose MP 2004 EU a few months ago as it does not have the massive icons and reduced selection of symbols.

Reg.

In versions 2009 and 2010, you can switch the size of the tool bar battons from their default large size to their old-style "regular" small size by removing the check-mark in View > Toolbars > LargeButtons.

The reduced selection of pushpin symbols was a "feature" specific to the 2009 version. This was corrected in the new 2010, though.

I was always a great fan of MS AutoRoute, so I'm really glad to see that a new version is coming !

Rolud

I use Microsoft AutoRoute 2007 on the new 2010 one has the lock up in leaving a trail of your route using GPS been fixed has this was a fault in 2007 version it could not keep up only when going at slow speeds did it work. When using my 2007 with GPS, I have changed the speed on all the sliders to slow when using it for the truck ((wish they would put the speed back as per 2004 version) and it seems to work. Does it automatically change arrival times due to the speed you are going?

The 2001 version was good as it had a translation mode in it for languages why have they not carried the on to later versions.

Have they updated the post codes in the 2010 one?

Will have to wait to see if I win, or have to buy it.

AutoRoute 2010 - French and German versions are now available.

Check out the AutoRoute blog for more info and to download the trial files.

It is my pleasure to announce that the following two people have been randomly selected as the winners of the following product:

• Microsoft AutoRoute 2010 with GPS Locator
  1. Diabalo
  2. murf

Thanks very much to Microsoft for the sponsorship of this give-away. A special thanks to Dawn Myrah, Edelman (www.edelman.com), for making this possible.

The above two products will be shipped to the two winners by Microsoft.

The following is the complete list of all the winners, including those in the other product categories: RocketKid, Ken1963, Diabalo, murf, LinuxOnAMD64, sledgehampster, t1dunn, ktrack, Keith, and bogi.

Thanks to all for your participation.

See you in the forums.

Gladwin, this is good news! Thanks for posting it. Is AutoRoute 2010 going to be released in any language other than English, French, and German?

Can routes be screened by vehicle size (height and length)?

AR 2010 (Europe) is identical software as S&T2010 (North America), so I would just quote Terry's reply from the S&T thread:

Despite of that, many truck drivers love AutoRoute and Streets & Trips. This is not just navigation software, this is a feature-rich trip planning software package that lets users modify routes in a variety of ways.

AutoRoute 2010 will be available only in English (UK), French and German. But MapPoint Europe 2010 will be released in English (UK), French, German, Italian and Spanish.