electronics Microsoft Streets and Trips 2006 opinions and reviews

Microsoft Streets and Trips 2006

An efficient mapping program, the Microsoft Streets and Trips 2006 is a handy guide for your weekend trips, trekking adventures and other likewise expeditions.

With this latest edition, you can locate close to 5.9 million miles of roads and 1.8 million places of importance consisting of ATMs, museums, zoos etc. Though this seems highly attractive, many still rate DeLorme Street Atlas as the superior option considering it maps more hotels and other places of interest. However, it doesn’t mean Streets and Trips is a loser.

Encompassing free mapping services like Google Local improve the usability of Streets and Trips. It also integrates with a better interface when compared with DeLorme Street Atlas. This can be illustrated very easily; when you need to look for a city map, you only need to type down the name in the Find box. On the contrary, in Street Atlas, you first need to enter the start and finish locations in different windows before Atlas calculates the route and reveals the appropriate map.

Microsoft Streets and Trips 2006 also ships with some rather attractive additions. It is possible to connect with MSN Virtual Earth, which is Microsoft's online storehouse of satellite maps. For instance, if you are observing a map of San Francisco's Union Square, you can click the Virtual Earth icon atop the screen, which will grant you access to the satellite image of Union Square. Although the image quality isn’t of the top drawer, it is an enticing feature nonetheless.

Useful options are present for GPS-related upgrades, like voice directions for Streets and Trips while driving. Don’t worry if you lack a GPS transponder. You can always utilize a Wi-Fi connection. A great feature called Locate Me can exploit the Wi-Fi hot spots to approximate your position.

Not least of all, you will find an interesting feature named Night Map Style. Here, the map's background is displayed in black whereas the roads and street names are highlighted in green. The Night Map Style feature has been specifically developed for night driving or low-light conditions. Unfortunately, the clarity observed isn’t all that great. The traditional backlighting feature could have been more beneficial.

Customer support for Streets and Trips features one year of unlimited e-mail and toll-free telephone assistance. In addition, there are related blogs, newsgroups et al.

If user friendliness is you prime concern in an atlas, Microsoft Streets and Trips is possibly the perfect choice. Alternatively, if you desire for a mapping application, which will give you greater options in terms of the number of restaurants, hotels, eateries and other similar places of interest, DeLorme Street Atlas will be a much better option.