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An Inexpensive NAV System that Gets You There

Microsoft Streets & Trips 2006 with GPS Locator

By Jeff Gottesman

For all you folks who are not up for spending $800 or more for a car Navigation System, this relatively inexpensive (around $100) piece of software/hardware may be just for you! With navigation data provided by NAVTEQ, the same folks who make the higher priced models, you can be sure that the maps and routing are as accurate as the factory installed and hand-held models on the market today.

First, let’s see what you get. The software package is a 2-CD set. One CD contains the application software and the second contains all the street mapping information for the USA and Canada. When installing, you have a choice of running the software with the second CD installed in your computer, or you can install the mapping information onto your hard disk and not worry about any more CDs. I chose the latter since my laptop has a huge hard drive with plenty of empty space.

The second piece of this system is a GPS receiver that plugs into any available USB port. Once you plug in the GPS receiver, the drivers are loaded, and the application software is launched, just face the receiver toward the sky and it begins to receive the GPS satellite signals. The receiver comes with a long cord and a suction cup so that you can attach it to your windshield (we put it behind the rearview mirror so it was not blocking the driver’s view of the road). Setting up all of this was a snap.

But hold on a minute, let’s be sure we’re comparing apples and apples. This software must run on a computer! So, the obvious choice is the smallest laptop that you own…and even with that, the “system” is going to be a bit cumbersome. Unless you have a small laptop that will fit nicely on a “shelf” installed in your dashboard, this NAV system is probably best used along with a “live navigator” sitting next to you. Granted, it is possible to map out a route ahead of time, place the laptop on the seat next to you, and then just follow the driving instructions (if you have WindowsÒ XP you get voice prompts instead of just directions on the screen), but if you should get off the mapped route, you’ll need to enter keystrokes in order for the program to map a new route from your new location. I don’t know about you, but trying to drive, watch my laptop screen, move a mouse, and enter keystrokes all at the same time is…well…literally an accident waiting to happen! So again…my suggestion…have someone in the passenger seat.

The next challenge I discovered while trying out my first route, was that my laptop battery died about halfway to my destination. Oops…good thing I knew the rest of the way there. OK, so if your batteries only last 1-2 hours, I highly recommend that you only take short trips, or invest between $20-$30 on an AC Inverter that plugs into your car cigarette lighter. These inverters can be purchased in many places, and convert the DC voltage from your car battery into 110 volts AC so you can plug in your laptop just like you do in the wall outlet at home. Problem solved! Now I can take a long trip!

The software does not come with a lot of written instructions, but like most applications today, there is a HELP pull-down menu that eventually will get you the information you are looking for. Navigation (no pun intended) through the different options, windows, and task panes was not intuitively obvious for me, but I eventually figured it out. There is a “GPS Pane” that basically shows you the information being obtained from the GPS receiver such as number of satellite signals, altitude, latitude and longitude, ground speed (MPH), direction you are traveling, etc.  I found this fun to look at…especially if you are a “back seat driver” and you can monitor the speed of the vehicle and tell the driver that he/she is over or under the speed limit.

Another pane is the actual street map that shows you the exact location of the vehicle on the road along with the direction you are traveling. When viewing this map, you can zoom out, zoom in, keep your vehicle centered on the map or let it drive off the map, and even let it adjust the map size automatically depending on the length of your route. With this last option, the map zooms in as you get closer to your destination or next turn so that you can see down to the street level. Of course, you can also zoom in to this level at any time.

There are also two options in this view regarding the visual direction you are traveling along the map. For those of us used to viewing paper maps, one option keeps “North” at the top of the screen, and your vehicle travels along the route displayed.  But…since many people would prefer to turn a map around as they travel so that the map and your view out the window are always the same, this option is also available.

As you travel your route, the top of the screen tells you the Country (in my case United States), the State, and the town you are in at any moment of time. This too was fun to look at as we went from town to town along a country road.

Entering a route is fairly simple. You enter a street address or city as a starting point. The software displays as many “matches” as it finds and allows you to select the most specific location. At one point I entered “Longhorn Cave” and the results said… “Batman. There are no bridges or ferries to reach this location.” OK…perhaps a little humor goes a long way.

You can go through this procedure for as many points on your route as you desire, and then you connect the points in any order. In my case, once I got to my destination I saved that address, and then when I went on excursions I could always “map myself back home” by clicking a button that would create a route home from my current location. This was probably the most useful function I found with the software.

All of the above information was fun and useful to the navigator, but obviously not something a driver would be doing while operating the vehicle. In fact, when I played “navigator,” my head was so buried in the laptop during my four-hour trip, that I never even noticed the scenery going by! I guess that’s what a “navigator” is supposed to do.

Like other Navigation Systems, this software also provides turn-by-turn driving instructions. Once you enter your route, the driving instructions tell you the next turn you have to make. These directions will indicate a right or left turn, the name of the street where the turn is to occur, and a real time indication of how many miles (or feet) before you actually reach the intersection. Words are displayed on the screen with this information, or if you have Windows XP you will hear voice commands.

On my test journey, I was headed to a small cottage back in the hill country of Texas where there are no streetlights and very few street signs.  We arrived in the dark and had no idea where we were going or how far the next turn was. This software, as with any NAV system, was a lifesaver! It told us where the next turn was and how far we had to drive. Even in absolute darkness (except for our headlights), we knew exactly when to look for a street and when to turn. It got us right to the driveway of our cottage in the woods within a few feet!

Along the way, the software has options to show you points of interest, restaurants (broken down by type of food), historic markers, hotels, ATMs, gas stations, and other useful “places” along the way.  However, my guess is that the only locations pointed out in the software are those who might be paying a fee to Microsoft for this advertising. When I asked to see gas stations, many times I could not find any…yet we were passing them on the road. When I tried to find rest areas with bathrooms…nope, none could be found. However, it seemed that every car dealer along this road between Dallas and Austin was listed as a “point of interest” on the map! Gee…I think as a “point of interest” I would have preferred some parks, recreation areas, picnic areas, and rest areas…but that’s just me.

A few other interesting features of the software is the ability to customize your trip by calculating mileage, time, and expenses based on the average speed you drive, price of gas, starting time, rest stops, etc.  If you enter all of this information, it will even remind you that you need to stop for gas! I’m not really sure all of this is necessary when our gas gauge was right there on the dashboard, but if you are into details and want to plan out every aspect of your trip, the ability is there.

OK…now we’ve all used mapping software available for free on the internet, and when I first looked at Microsoft Streets & Trips I couldn’t imagine it being any better or worse than similar internet sites. In fact, if I weren’t using the GPS feature as a NAV system, would I even want to use Streets & Trips when I can access others for free? My conclusion is that Streets & Trips seems to have more detail in the maps, and more accurately maps routes from starting to ending point.

Would I purchase this software just to use as a mapping tool? Probably not. But as a NAV system it works incredibly well! Since it’s already resident on your computer, you can easily connect to the internet and download the latest construction information along your route, so you are never surprised along the way. I’m not sure if you can download updates to the actual maps, but my guess is that this is possible.

In conclusion, I was very pleasantly surprised by Microsoft Streets & Trips. For only 100 bucks, it is certainly far less expensive than a built-in or handheld NAV system…but its usefulness depends on a personal “navigator” sitting next to you. It is cumbersome to use in a car on a laptop and distracting to a driver going it alone. But…if you always have your navigator with you and they don’t mind holding the laptop for the duration of the trip, it’s a very inexpensive way to get all the features and benefits of the higher priced systems.

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