Streets & Trips 2003 out

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/catalog/display.asp?site=11244&amp;subid=22&amp;pg=1">http://www.microsoft.com/catalog/display.asp?site=11244&amp;subid=22&amp;pg=1</a><br /><br />Microsoft has released Streets &amp; Trips 2003 which includes Pocket Streets. I don't know if there are any enhancements specific to Pocket Streets, but the overall package has better driving directions, 300,000 more miles in streets and highways and points of interest like ATMs, gas stations, tourist attractions and more. It requires Windows 98, ME, NT4 SP6, Windows 2000 or XP. It is $44.95 at Microsoft's site but I'd bet you could <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00006IZC8/jasondunn-20 target=">find it cheaper online</a> (affiliate link) or on sale at your local computer megastore.<br /><br />Source: Steve.

[peterawest]

You're right, it's easy to find a better price.

Amazon's price after Special Offers is only $29.99

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00006IZC8/qid=1035822242/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-4064449-6683203?v=glance&n=507846

And the price at price after rebate at Buy.com is only $26.36, and shipping is free:

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=20349390&loc=14781

[chrisbond]

It says "comes with pocket streets", but not whether this is a new "2003" version of pocket streets, or just the old 2002 version. Anyone actually had a box in their hands and found out?

[Jason Dunn]

Yes, I have a copy and it comes with a new Pocket PC client that installs onto the device.

[Peter Foot]

Yes, I have a copy and it comes with a new Pocket PC client that installs onto the device.

So what is new in the Pocket Streets client? any exciting improvements over 2002?

Peter

[Jeff Rutledge]

I'm not sure if I'm getting this right, so if I'm missing a step somewhere, let me know:

I'm using Mapopoils on the desktop right now. It makes maps for my PPC (currently running PPC2002). Is there any advantage to me updating the Pocket version to 2003?

Thanks.

[randomtangents]

I will say count me out if they pull that scam when Streets and Trips went from 2001 (I think it was 2001) to 2002 and the maps were non-backwards compatible.

If they do that again, I am finding another solution. I love having Streets and Trips on my laptop. I slide in the receiver and while in the car I have an amazing set up. Or I can export the map to my PocketPC, slide in the receiver and WHAM! and even smaller device for GPS.

I want to say this has the highest features for a desktop/laptop solution but in PocketStreets it is so-so. Directions do not have voice commands, I have yet to find out how to locate "nearest ATM". I will stick with putting a "REAL" mobile GPS in my next car, Accord coupe.

[bdeli]

The Pocket PC Client which comes which Streets & Trips 2003 is version (10.00) (07.2500).

[PPCRules]

Sam's Club has it for about $35, and has a $20 rebate. I'd expect Costco to be very similar, as they usually are.

This is the best $15 you can spend on your PocketPC. If you haven't tried it, you should. If you haven't dug into it, you should. Just last week I discovered another great feature I wish I'd always known about.

This is an app that should be selling PocketPCs, if people knew about it. And it's essentially free when you consider you get the desktop(/laptop) version with it (I don't expect that feature to last much longer).

[fyiguy]

Yes, I have a copy and it comes with a new Pocket PC client that installs onto the device.

So what is new in the Pocket Streets client? any exciting improvements over 2002?

Peter

I know they still have the annoying unconfigurable 15 second refresh time...

It would be nice if they added a patch/option to be able to change this...

The rest of it looks a lot better than S&T 2002 and for the prices people have mentioned it is still a great piece of software for the money... in mind well worth the upgrade, I just wish all MS Products were so affordable.

More info on it here:
http://www.microsoft.com/streets/

and here:
http://www.microsoft.com/pocketstreets/

Note: There is no mention of the PocketStreets changes yet...

[ThomasC22]

I'll pick it up and give it (yet another) try but I do have to say I've found both PocketStreets and PocketMoney to be a bit lacking in the past. That being said I have to ask...


Just last week I discovered another great feature I wish I'd always known about.


Which was? (I hate being left hanging :))

[trapper]

If you want more for your PPC mapping than simply displaying maps and points of interest forget about PocketStreets. The maps have always looked great but MS has added almost nothing to it in 4 years. Plus the scrolling and zooming update delays are very irritating and have never gotten better over the years. The MS approach is wait until faster CPU's are available. If you you need more advanced features like routing, distance estimating, etc, forget it. MS has no incentive to add anything new or improve the performance, and good luck trying to get them to address these issues. I'd be suprised if they ever get around to it.

If you need these extra features and want better performance try Mapopolis. It not only has routing and other nice fetures it is also very fast, and extremely easy to use. The maps are at least as detailed as PS. The maps don't quite look as nice as those on PS, not that the Mapopolis maps are bad looking, quite the contrary. But if you're looking for speed, functionality and need routing, etc, it is way beyond what PS is now and probably ever will be. I can just imagine how quick routing would be on PS even if they ever did implement it. You'll probably finish your trip before it does.

Mapopolis is also about the same price as the retail version of the MS package. I know other products support the advanced features but they generally don't offer the software separately and are much more expensive.

To JR asking about whether it's worth updating to PS the answer is almost certainly no. Once a PS user see's the speed, power and ease of use of Mapopolis you'll never go back.

[ECOslin]

Pocket Streets and Trips 2000 was the last one I bought and used on my PDA.

Try looking for Baskerville, Virginia, just south and west of South Hill, Virginia.

In 2000 this place was not in the database, but was on the map. There were probably more. I've used some of these programs to go out to customer sites and find I wasn't at the right place. I also carry a paper map(ADAC?) in my truck which has proven more accurate.

Edward

[Hank Scorpio]

I have used Pocket Streets here in Canada with a cheap $50 hacked DeLorme GPS, and it does okay for what I want. I would love to get the voice prompts and stuff that goes with the better GPS software but they aren't very Canada friendly, unless anyone else knows different? I was hoping Microsoft would have added at least one new feature to warrant an upgrade, but it looks like they haven't. My dream would be getting one of those bluetooth GPS units but I screwed myself when I grabbed a t-mobile PPCPE with no sdio to utilize bluetooth. Oh well, thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Jonathan1]

Any chance they eased off the map export limitations for Pocket streets? I would like to actually get the entire multi state trip in my PPC. *smacks forehead* What am I saying. Its MS. :roll:

Can someone explain the 15 second limitation in GPS updates? I heard that this was a licensing thing. Anyone know? I love MapPoint. I got MapPoint 2002 for free last year when I was at a MS Extreme event. I used it over the summer on a trip from MN to Detroit to Philadelphia. Whoever MS bought this software from ;) I want to kiss. ;) Only one wrong turn the entire time and that was because of the bloody 15 second update limitation.

[Mike Temporale]

Any chance they eased off the map export limitations for Pocket streets? I would like to actually get the entire multi state trip in my PPC. *smacks forehead* What am I saying. Its MS. :roll:

You can always use http://mappoint.msn.com for trip directions. It has a very handy save to PocketPC link. And it's free. Of course that doesn't work with GPS units....

[whoopus]

Can someone explain the 15 second limitation in GPS updates? I heard that this was a licensing thing. Anyone know? I love MapPoint. I got MapPoint 2002 for free last year when I was at a MS Extreme event. I used it over the summer on a trip from MN to Detroit to Philadelphia. Whoever MS bought this software from ;) I want to kiss. ;) Only one wrong turn the entire time and that was because of the bloody 15 second update limitation.

Check this out!!!! It is a shareware add-in to MapPoint. In my opinion, it doubled the value of an already usefull MapPoint. Try GPS functionality that includes Voice Prompts, bread-crumbs, and real-time GPS updates in mappoint. This addin rocks! I went ahead and paid the guy the pocket change he was asking to register it. Now if he would just write something for the PocketPC!!!!

http://www.techgt.com/agps/

Mark 8)

[PPCRules]

Just last week I discovered another great feature I wish I'd always known about.

Which was? (I hate being left hanging :))
You had to ask, huh? But I guess I left the door wide open. I felt so dumb missing this for years that I didn't want to admit it, but I guess it's all for the sake of the community ...

I had for years boasted about address lookup (try to do that on your paper map), and made great use of the on-map icons for eating places (just poke the icons around where you are and it lists the businesses by name), but I just discovered you could put, say "red lobster" in 'find places' and it lists all the locations on your map snippet. Pretty obvious, right. Oh, well ...

As far as errors, there have been a few, but more amusing than debilitating. As far as incomplete maps, I've been amazed the little towns around where I grew up are included. I didn't know anyone had ever bothered to make a map of them. As far as map export size limit, I can get my metro area on one 3MB map, but I would think this limit is left over from when machines were less capable and is due for an increase.

[cpoole]

I'm not sure if I'm getting this right, so if I'm missing a step somewhere, let me know:

I'm using Mapopoils on the desktop right now. It makes maps for my PPC (currently running PPC2002). Is there any advantage to me updating the Pocket version to 2003?

Thanks.

From what I see on the Mapopolis web site, I would need the Platinum version for Canadian cities & they only have city maps for Ontario, BC & Quebec. Did I read this wrong?

[cpoole]

I have been quite disappointed with the MS product. When I make a trip map between 2 cities, I want ALL the villages, towns and cities on the route to be shown on the map. Streets and Trips quite regularly and randomly leaves out towns on the route. Expand or shrink the magnification and villages and towns magically appear and disappear.

There is a similar problem with the pocket pc verion when using city maps. I want to see street names... it will decide to show some stupid little side street and leave off the names of the major streets. Expand or shrink the magnification and street names magically appear and disappear.

[Jonathan1]

Check this out!!!! It is a shareware add-in to MapPoint. In my opinion, it doubled the value of an already usefull MapPoint. Try GPS functionality that includes Voice Prompts, bread-crumbs, and real-time GPS updates in mappoint. This addin rocks! I went ahead and paid the guy the pocket change he was asking to register it. Now if he would just write something for the PocketPC!!!!

http://www.techgt.com/agps/

Mark 8)

OK Mark. I’m straight and all but dude I’d kiss ya if you where here. Oooooo :eek: I SO needed this app this summer!!! Where the heck is my wallet!?!?!? I’m buying this thing now!

Only 10 bucks?!?!? *drools* Does he take donations? If the feature set is half of what I’m seeing there I would pay 30 for this!!

[Pony99CA]

I will say count me out if they pull that scam when Streets and Trips went from 2001 (I think it was 2001) to 2002 and the maps were non-backwards compatible.
I think "scam" is a bit harsh. How are they scamming anybody? If you have Streets & Trips, you can still export maps to the version of Pocket Streets that you have for as long as you want. True, you won't have the latest data, but that's true if you're using old maps, too.

However, I agree that having the exported maps tied to one version of Pocket Streets stinks. I think this has been true of every version of Pocket Streets, so you'll likely be disappointed now. I suppose you can argue that the user experience of using old maps with the newer versions could be worse (because you're using old data), but as you can still use the old maps with old versions of Pocket Streets, this rationale would be weak.

The reason that I don't like the incompatibility is because I have to create new maps every time I upgrade and recreate my pushpins. I might want to create new maps to get the latest data, but why should I have to recreate my pushpins? If map and pushpin files were coded with latitudes and longitudes, I'd think pushpin files would be easy to migrate.

Steve

[Pony99CA]

If you need these extra features and want better performance try Mapopolis. It not only has routing and other nice fetures it is also very fast, and extremely easy to use. The maps are at least as detailed as PS. The maps don't quite look as nice as those on PS, not that the Mapopolis maps are bad looking, quite the contrary. But if you're looking for speed, functionality and need routing, etc, it is way beyond what PS is now and probably ever will be. I can just imagine how quick routing would be on PS even if they ever did implement it. You'll probably finish your trip before it does.
Don't Mapopolis maps expire after a year? Reading the Mapopolis Navigator thread (http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=98813) on Pocket PC Passion makes it sound like they do.

Steve

[Peter Foot]

Ok, a few people state that they have Pocket Streets 2003 and it has a new version number (great :) ) but what I asked before, and no-one had an answer for it is - what is new about the client?.

Most talk seems to be speculation about whether PS2003 maps are a different format to PS2002 but hang on, people are stating they have PS2003, so whats the definitive answer, has anyone even installed it yet? :wink: if so what changes are there from 2002??

[welmoed]

I've gotten burned by software that is "for PPC" only to find out that it will only work with PPC2002, or with StrongARM processors. As the owner of an obsolote but still kicking Casio E125, I can't use such software. But it's sometimes difficult to determine whether or not the software will work with my old PPC. The MS web site didn't specify either. I really like S&amp;T and would like to upgrade but I won't until I know the pocket version will work with my Casio E125. Any clue?

--Welmoed

[trapper]

Don't Mapopolis maps expire after a year? Reading the Mapopolis Navigator thread on Pocket PC Passion makes it sound like they do.

The Mapopolis subscriptions expire after a year. This means you can't keep downloading maps after that. However, you can still use the maps, at least with the Platinum Plus GPS version I was referring to. In the high end Navigator version the maps apparently expire after a year but you can still use the Platinum maps after that.

They have a nice demo that apparently doesn't expire. You can see for yourself how much better Mapopolis is than Pocket Streets. The first thing you'll notice are the panning and zooming speeds. They're instantaneous. You can even pan by dragging the stylus. Mapopolis is so much better than PS in every way there isn't even any competition. The MS Streets & Trips desktop version is nice but if you need a mobile solution, PS doesn't even begin to measure up. And don't count on MS to improve it. It's never going to happen, they have no incentive.

To put it mildly Pocket Streets is a joke compared to Mapopolis. If you don't believe me check out the demo.

[Peter Foot]

I've gotten burned by software that is "for PPC" only to find out that it will only work with PPC2002, or with StrongARM processors. As the owner of an obsolote but still kicking Casio E125, I can't use such software. But it's sometimes difficult to determine whether or not the software will work with my old PPC. The MS web site didn't specify either. I really like S&T and would like to upgrade but I won't until I know the pocket version will work with my Casio E125. Any clue?

--Welmoed

Having checked out the microsoft information at www.microsoft.com/autoroute and www.microsoft.com/pocketstreets it appears that both autoroute 2003 and streets and trips 2003 include pocket streets 2002. This means the file formats will be the same as 2002 except with apparently more places of interest etc. You havn't specified which version you are considering upgrading from? if you use pocket streets 2002 then an upgrade on the desktop to 2003 should not be a problem. If you are using an older version I suspect that support for additional processors has been thinned down since PPC 2002 standardised on ARM so you may be out of luck.

[Sven Johannsen]

OK guys, here's the scoop. Pocket Streets that came with MapPoint 2002 with the GPS/contact finder add-on is "Microsoft Pocket Streets 2002 Service Realease 1 (09.05) ( 08.0902)" I expect the same came with S&T 2002. The one that comes with S&T 2003 is Microsoft Pocket Streets (10.00) (07.2500). In the about screens there are some changes, mostly in copyright dates (years).

I see no difference in any of the menu's. The new version did install with the GPS support and the contact finder already in it.

My 2002 cut maps do seem to work fine with the new Pocket Streets.

I get the feeling you can cut bigger maps, though not unlimited. I was able to select the greater LA area, from Simi Valley in the north to San Clemente in the south and east out past Redlands. It indicated it would make a 10,029K map. I think that is bigger than before and I thought LA used to be broken up to get it all. I tried to select about the same area with MapPoint 2002 and it said it was too big. I had to back it off to about half the area before it would make a file. So that at least is a plus (I think. Could be a difference between MapPoint and S&T)

Haven't played enough to get a feel for performance, but I never thought it was bad in the first place (YIMV, That's your impression may vary :))

So there you have it. Doesn't seem like a big jump, does work with 2002 maps, and it seems you cn cut bigger maps, but those of you with the 5G PCCards still aren't getting the whole US, in one cut.

[ECOslin]

Is anyone here relying on the product?

I had tried in 1999/2000 to use the product to get to customer sites. One or two times, enough times, I found I was in the wrong place or I had to use Mapquest or some service online to verify I was even going to be on the correct side of James river to the customer's place. Nothing like crossing a medium sized river 3 or 4 times to cement an opinion of a software maker.

Is anyone still relying and will always likely keep an 'ADC' Mapbook in their vehicle? Me, me, me.

Edward

[dequardo]

I've gotten burned by software that is "for PPC" only to find out that it will only work with PPC2002, or with StrongARM processors. As the owner of an obsolote but still kicking Casio E125, I can't use such software. But it's sometimes difficult to determine whether or not the software will work with my old PPC. The MS web site didn't specify either. I really like S&T and would like to upgrade but I won't until I know the pocket version will work with my Casio E125. Any clue?

--Welmoed

Having checked out the microsoft information at www.microsoft.com/autoroute and www.microsoft.com/pocketstreets it appears that both autoroute 2003 and streets and trips 2003 include pocket streets 2002. This means the file formats will be the same as 2002 except with apparently more places of interest etc. You havn't specified which version you are considering upgrading from? if you use pocket streets 2002 then an upgrade on the desktop to 2003 should not be a problem. If you are using an older version I suspect that support for additional processors has been thinned down since PPC 2002 standardised on ARM so you may be out of luck.

Correct. Today I tried loading the PS version from S&T 2001 on my Toshiba E335. No go.

[Glisson]

OK I know this thread is way old not but I need some help please. Now there IS an update to PocketStreets that will allow you to adjust the refresh rate for your gps. I just can't remember where it is.... Can anyone help me?

Thanks,

Glisson

[Pony99CA]

OK I know this thread is way old not but I need some help please. Now there IS an update to PocketStreets that will allow you to adjust the refresh rate for your gps. I just can't remember where it is.... Can anyone help me?
Is this a third-party update? I don't see anything about it on the Pocket Streets Web page (http://www.microsoft.com/pocketstreets/). The only thing I saw was that the position was updated every 15 seconds.

Steve

[MWWeston]

I have used both Pocket Streets and Mapopolis. Mapopolis is far superior and worth the fee if you need access to maps on you PPC. The maps are smaller in terms of memory. The program is several times faster. You can load continous maps to cover an entire state or more. You can get point to point driving directions on you PPC. The list goes on. I purchased Mapopolis and plan to renew next year. It is money well spent.