Remember, Microsoft Has Tons of Maps

[Brad Adrian]

One of our readers, Sweetpete, has a useful reminder for those of us who use Pocket Streets 2003: Microsoft offers downloadable maps from their Web site. You can still create your own maps using Map Point, Streets and Trips or AutoRoute, of course, but you might check these out first and see if they suit your needs.

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/adrian/street_trips.jpg

In all, the site has maps for 318 major cities in the United States & Canada, and 277 major cities in Greater Europe. To download the maps, just go here (http://www.microsoft.com/pocketstreets/mapdownload/MapDownload_EN.html) and search by country, state or region.

I sometimes still create my own maps, simply because I can constrain the exact regions I want to include. But more often than not, I'll grab one of these ready-made maps. I don't want to necessarily open up a huge debate of the various mapping applications out there, but I would be interested to know if there's anything out there that's any easier than Pocket Streets or that includes more information about local attractions or sites.

[Pony99CA]

One of our readers, Sweetpete, has a useful reminder for those of us who use Pocket Streets 2003: Microsoft offers downloadable maps from their Web site. You can still create your own maps using Map Point, Streets and Trips or AutoRoute, of course, but you might check these out first and see if they suit your needs.
Interesting. I posted the link for Pocket Streets maps in the "Pocket Streets Map of Dublin" thread (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9689) yesterday, but Sweetpete gets the credit? What gives? :lol:

Oddly, there weren't maps of Ireland at all there.

Steve

[marlof]

Interesting. I posted the link for Pocket Streets maps in the "Pocket Streets Map of Dublin" thread (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9689) yesterday, but Sweetpete gets the credit? What gives? :lol:

Well, Steve, what can I say? (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/index.php?action=expand,8994) 8)

[tdbunker]

I use MS Streets and Trips 2003 but I also use Mapololis. I have found that a search for a street location to be dead on using Mapopolis while MS will often miss by several blocks or more. I have a CF card for my Axim containing maps for both systems as each has some advantages.

I supscribed to Mapopolis for one year for $24.95 then downloaded the entire country by state to give me a database on my PC for any county in the USA.
Mapopolis was designed for PDA use and works really slick.

I create my own MS maps so I can include exactly the area I want. MS also includes an extensive point of interest collection which Mapopolis does not have (you can get it but it is rather expensive). MS has the better system for generating map areas to download to the PDA that allows the user to slice out the exact area desired (on a PC) while Mapopolis is organized by counties.

I used to prepare for a trip by printing maps from the PC. I initially thought that maps on a PDA would be difficult to use and of little value. Boy, was I wrong! It is so easy to select "Locate Contact" and see a marker showing exactly where I want to get to.

[don dre]

I used to use the 2002 version. However, when I upgraded from 2001 to 2002 I lost all of my pushpins and such. It was ratehr irritating. Has anyone noticed if the 2003 upgrade recognizes 2002 pushpins? I'm interested in a map application I can customize on a more permanent basis.

[Pony99CA]

Interesting. I posted the link for Pocket Streets maps in the "Pocket Streets Map of Dublin" thread (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9689) yesterday, but Sweetpete gets the credit? What gives? :lol:
Well, Steve, what can I say? (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/index.php?action=expand,8994) 8)
Hehehe, I know. That's why I was laughing. :-)

The real reason for my post was the note about Microsoft not having any maps of Ireland. There are maps of English, Scottish and Welsh cities, but no Irish cities that I saw.
Maybe with St. Patrick's Day coming up, Microsoft will fix that. :beer:

Steve

[Pony99CA]

I used to use the 2002 version. However, when I upgraded from 2001 to 2002 I lost all of my pushpins and such. It was ratehr irritating. Has anyone noticed if the 2003 upgrade recognizes 2002 pushpins? I'm interested in a map application I can customize on a more permanent basis.
As far as I know, every upgrade of Pocket Streets requires you to create new maps, and therefore new pushpin files. I don't know why they do that, but it really sucks.

I went from 2001 to 2003, though, so I don't know for sure.

Steve

[Peter Foot]

Interesting. I posted the link for Pocket Streets maps in the "Pocket Streets Map of Dublin" thread (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9689) yesterday, but Sweetpete gets the credit? What gives? :lol:
Well, Steve, what can I say? (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/index.php?action=expand,8994) 8)
Hehehe, I know. That's why I was laughing. :-)

The real reason for my post was the note about Microsoft not having any maps of Ireland. There are maps of English, Scottish and Welsh cities, but no Irish cities that I saw.
Maybe with St. Patrick's Day coming up, Microsoft will fix that. :beer:

Steve

Even though MS has mapping data for the whole of europe they have only published a subset of countries and cities, the Republic of Ireland is not featured on their list, neither is Sweden, Norway, Portugal etc etc. There may well be contractual reasons why MS is not allowed to publish certain maps for free. You can of course purchase Autoroute Europe and download a map for Dublin... :)

[SofaTater]

:?:

Is there an advantage to downloading the pre-made maps as opposed to just creating your own in the desktop version??? Are there any differences in the map styles? I've always created my own -- figured the online versions were for people who didn't use the desktop app...

[tdbunker]

Microsoft is a pain sometimes. I got a Dell Axim and it had MS Streets 2002.
I generated some maps with MS 2001 and tried to use them on the PDA but got am error that said I could not use 2001 maps with a 2002 PDA program. I thought that I would download the handheld map program from the 2001 PC version but it balked, saying I could not use a 2001 map program on Pocket PC 2002. :evil:

I finally bought a 2003 MS Streets but I may never buy another one. :x

[mclaughlinc]

I would like to use this software for my GPS maps but I can not get it to connect to my Bluetooth GPS receiver. When I select a com port to use and go into Pocket Streets the com port is not listed. I even tried to contact MS support to find out how to get this working and can not get them to reply. So I gave up. MS support as listed on Handango sends you to a web support page that does not even list Pocket Streets so you can not even support a support request.

[Pony99CA]

:?:

Is there an advantage to downloading the pre-made maps as opposed to just creating your own in the desktop version??? Are there any differences in the map styles? I've always created my own -- figured the online versions were for people who didn't use the desktop app...
If you need a map quickly, or in a location where you don't have access to Streets & Trips, they can be handy.

Also, if you need a map for a region not included in your desktop version (for Streets & Trips, you don't get European maps), the downloadable maps are nice. That's similar to not having the desktop application, though.

As far as I know, there's no difference from a map you could create yourself.

Steve

[Hank Scorpio]

I found that the pushpins I make in Streets and Trips on my PC, that are s'pose to transfer to the PDA when you make the map are way off, makes the feature completely useless. plus, why can't it let us make bigger map areas, with most of todays owners owning some sort of extra memory in there PDA. I bit the bullet and bought the Mapopolis Navigator maps, with voice prompting and automatic rerouting... it was the best thing I ever bought. I've never been so happy with a piece of software. I love the fact it gives ETA, distance, and everything else. Mapopolis also has all their maps online, so you can just go grab them if your on the road stuck somewhere and you didn't have the map already downloaded. It really is the best! they thought of everything. I find myself getting excited to go get milk.

[gorkon280]

After rebate, you can get the whole thing for about 15 bucks. I'ts much nicer to just drag a box around what you want on your machine and produce a map. Plus if you add things like pushpins to your map before creating it it will create a psp file with the push pin info. My BIGGEST two things I want on Pocket Streets: ROUTING and Bigger maps. If I could get that, I would be TOTALLY sold on Pocket Streets. Better GPS support on it would be great too, but not necessary. I also would not mind if Garmin or whoever would start making USB connections on their GPS's. I want my CF for Memory and other peripherals when I am using my GPS. NOT for the GPS.

[Brad Adrian]

...but Sweetpete gets the credit? What gives? :lol:
Actually, Steve, I gave the credit that way because Sweetpete had sent us this new items a couple of days ago and it just took me until last night to get to posting it. I know your feelings weren't really hurt, but it just goes to show that we get SO many news tips from SO many sources.

My recommendation to everybody is that if getting credit for news tips is important to you, use the news submission form and make sure you put your username in the appropriate blank.

[Will T Smith]

Issue 1:
The "Map Styles" button is hidden two layers deep in menu's. If there is any option that should convenient to toggle it's detail level. When one "browses" a map it's more convenient to to use "low detail" for quicker refreshes. One needs quick access to the detail option in order to get detail and perhaps undo it if they choose to browse again.

Issue 2:
Pocket streets should allow browsing and using a "very low detail" high level map. So for instance one can find out where any town in the US (or your particular country) is and also contain Interstate highways an US routes.

Zooming would be allowed if you had a detail map of that area. Naturally one would have to "install" their maps so that linking could be done properly. One could also browse "over" the boundries of detailed street maps to receive geographic level maps containing only city/state and interstate info.

Such functionality would make pocket streets "at least" as useful as it's paper equivalent: a Grand McNally US Atlas.

Issue 3:
Lack of "routing.

Desktop streets has an excellent routing option. One could argue that navigation may not be the objective of Streets & Trips. Even so, they could still let one export routes to your PDA and make them usable. From their, GPS routing would be a reasonable extension.

Issue 4:
No "Custom" mapping.

A natural extension of a portable computer is allowing one to make their own maps on their own. Especially with the variety of GPS products available. Let users make their own street maps of "undocumented" areas and post them on forums for others to use.

Especially relevant would be "trail" maps from thousands of off-road points across the United States. At that point, microsoft Pocket Maps would be a friend to thousands of Geo-cachers.

[trapper]

I bit the bullet and bought the Mapopolis Navigator maps, with voice prompting and automatic rerouting... it was the best thing I ever bought

I totally agree. I have the Platinum version w/Place Guide and it's the best purchase I've ever made for any computer or PDA I've ever owned. At least for the US maps, it's so far beyond MS Pocket Streets there really is no point in comparing them. Mapopolis is the fastest product on the market when panning and zooming and routing, which are the most common and important features for a mapping app. It also has many other features that make it a joy to use.

My BIGGEST two things I want on Pocket Streets: ROUTING and Bigger maps.

Don't count on ever getting these from MS. I thought it was a great app. when I bought my first PDA 4 1/2 years ago but always hoped they would add these features. After a couple of years of waiting and sending requests that were never answered it was obvious nothing was going to be done. The program has actually gotten worse over the years. The limited map size is a very serious limitation. Yes it may be easier to make a map but what point is it when you're limited to a 40x40 mile area, or whatever it is now. This and other problems like not supporting maps and POI's made w/previous versions, and extremely slow operation make it almost worthless. If all you need are very small maps for occasional use it might be enough. If you do any travelling at all Mapopolis is indispensable.

I just returned from a couple of trips and have never had a better experience navigating as well as having a much better time in general. The frustration using paper maps or fumbling around w/a laptop to find a route are things of the past. It's so easy and fast to make a new route and follow the directions that it is now a pleasure to go anywhere new on a whim, instead of the stress inducing ordeal it could be in the past. I don't use GPS but found you don't really need it w/the Platinum version of Mapopolis, and although I'm sure it would be nice to have, it certainly isn't a necessity.

My advice as far as Pocket Streets is concerned for all but the most casual user, would be to avoid it, it's not worth the trouble. At least try Mapopolis. You'll probably find as I did that it was the best purchase you ever made in your life.

[Jonathan1]

Continuing on where Will T Smith left off:

Issue 5:
Limitation on map size. If I'm going to from Minneapolis, MN to Chicago I would love to have the entire trip in my pocket but MapPoint and Streets and Trips only allow 3.5+/- MB file size which makes taking maps of cross country trips difficult. Its doable since you can export a ton of maps, but nonetheless its still a serious pain in the butt.

[sweetpete]

Interesting. I posted the link for Pocket Streets maps in the "Pocket Streets Map of Dublin" thread (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9689) yesterday, but Sweetpete gets the credit? What gives? :lol:

Oddly, there weren't maps of Ireland at all there.

Steve

Too funny ... I'd sent the news tip over a month ago and forgot all about it when no one posted about it. I was caught off guard when I read this one and it took me a sec to remember :lol:

[sweetpete]

Microsoft is a pain sometimes. I got a Dell Axim and it had MS Streets 2002.
I generated some maps with MS 2001 and tried to use them on the PDA but got am error that said I could not use 2001 maps with a 2002 PDA program. I thought that I would download the handheld map program from the 2001 PC version but it balked, saying I could not use a 2001 map program on Pocket PC 2002. :evil:

I finally bought a 2003 MS Streets but I may never buy another one. :x
Their older maps on the website would have helped you here since they had 2002 maps for the longest time, but now that you have 2003 it's not an issue anymore.

[dacs29]

My favorite place for MS Pocket Streets maps is the German webpage PPC-Welt. While the webpage focuses mainly on Germany (it has almost every German city), there is also a nice collection of maps from other Europeans cities and the United States/Canada. Finally, if you can't find anything, you can submit a request for a map which will usually be up in a couple days. Here's the link:

http://www.ppc-welt.de/karten.html

Also, there are currently 802 Pocket Streets 2002 maps on this page with new ones being added all the time.

David

[revolution.cx]

I have posted a program that converts new style Pocket Streets Maps (2002 and 2003) into 2001 format. The "conversion" process merely changes a single byte in the file so Pocket Streets 2001 will load the maps. There may be some incompatibilities but it has worked well for me so far.

Also there's still at least one place where you can download Pocket Streets 2001 for free (Microsoft used to give it away for free).

More info on our page here:

http://revolution.cx/rcx/pstreets.htm

[disconnected]

For those people using Mapopolis, I see on their site that, although you can put maps on a storage card, it copies them into main memory to open them.

If you specify loading contiguous maps, I guess it copies all of them? I'd assume that this is just one level, i.e., if your requested map (A) is surrounded by maps B, C, and D, then it will copy all of those, if you have them, but not map E, which is on the other side of D from A, if that makes any sense.

Also, can the amount of main memory required come from a combination of Storage and Program memory?

[Will T Smith]

Continuing on where Will T Smith left off:

Issue 5:
Limitation on map size. If I'm going to from Minneapolis, MN to Chicago I would love to have the entire trip in my pocket but MapPoint and Streets and Trips only allow 3.5+/- MB file size which makes taking maps of cross country trips difficult. Its doable since you can export a ton of maps, but nonetheless its still a serious pain in the butt.

That's where an low density "overview" map would come in. It would effectively link up maps from differen't areas. So, you would have a Minneapolis map, and a chicago map, the overview map would contain basic interstate/US Hwy info and city names, nothing more. But, it would encompass the entirety of your journey.

[claud9999]

I'm curious what has changed in S&T 2003 for PPC. I have 2002 and don't really use it (see below) but if there are some serious feature adds, it might make it back onto my PPC.

As for cross-country trips and the like (and map size limits): I've been using TravRoute Pocket CoPilot for about 9 months now. The size of files it exports for the PPC is very small (200mi radius around San Jose [covering millions of people in the extended bay area] is about 34Mb.) You can also select a source addr and destination addr and "width" of buffer to export and it'll export the path between the two points with that much width to either side of the freeways/streets you'd take to go the most direct path.

It also seems to be capable of dealing with multiple maps (not sure if it does so simultaneously/seamlessly though, but you can switch between 'em.)

That said, TravRoute definitely has some data accuracy issues and their s/w, while good, has a fair amount of obvious bugs/flaws and they're slow to fix bugs/add features. (Not like MS isn't!) The turn-by-turn directions are awesome!

Regarding a high-level map, CoPilot has a very high level map that is automatically installed showing a couple of the biggest interstates.

You can certainly run the s/w without a GPS but if you don't have one, get their CF card one if you have such a slot. It works great and is well worth the $ (even through my windshield without an extra antenna.) It'll work with any NMEA GPS.

And, Pocket CoPilot s/w is about $150US, last I checked.

I also have Delorme X-Maps Handheld and it's excellent for Geocaching (too bad it can't import geocaching.com locations, though!) But the export file size is HUGE in comparison.

Note I have no association with TravRoute or any other company listed above...Just a happy TravRoute customer.

[baralong]

Only one thing has stopped me from trying mapping software. I can't find maps for Australia, particularly Perth and the South West (Margret River wine region).

Any help/ideas?

Thanks

[Sven Johannsen]

As far as the Pocket Streets 2002 to 2003 debate. It seems that 2003 is 2002 plus the GPS and Contacts Locator patch. (probably some other stuff internally, but functionally that seems to be it)

Maps cut with either S&T 2002 or S&T 2003 work with either the stock 2002 Pocket Streets, the patched 2002 Pocket Streets and the 2003 Pocket Streets.

[moaske]

Personally i don't like PocketStreets for a bit... it stinks !
Since i ain't got the bucks to buy such a fancy GPS-receiver, i use my mapping software for what it's supposed to offer: reading maps !
The PocketStreets maps are so poorly drawn that you can't see the difference between a main street and an alley :evil:
That's why i use the TomTom applications only; the maps are simply excellent and they really show you what the city looks like, so you don't get mistaken in different streets. Also supports GPS, so when i finally have the pecunia i can get one too.

Something else that would interest me very much in mapping software, would be an application that would allow the use of extremely detailed maps of forrests for off-road navigation. Anyone know about the existance of something like this ? :)

[claud9999]

Something else that would interest me very much in mapping software, would be an application that would allow the use of extremely detailed maps of forrests for off-road navigation. Anyone know about the existance of something like this ? :)

Delorme's Topo works with XMap Handheld to provide topographical maps on the PPC. It's been a while since I've played with it but I don't remember it being earthshatteringly useful but I do think it provides elevation information. (No 3-d rendering, though.)

[tregnier]

I use a Garmin GPS V on my motorcycle. I would love to be able to download maps from the desktop software (MapSource) to my h3955. Does anyone know if this can be done? If so, how? :?:

Thanks!

[ctmagnus]

As far as the Pocket Streets 2002 to 2003 debate. It seems that 2003 is 2002 plus the GPS and Contacts Locator patch.

Pocket Streets 2002 SR1 is 2002 plus the GPS and Contacts Locator patch. You mean they didn't stick anything new into 2003? :confused totally: