| | |  | Geography | Home » » » » Microsoft Streets & Trips with GPS Locator 2011 | | | | | | | Description: | | Whether you are a heavy-duty traveler, or even if you are just planning simple trips with the family – do it all with Streets & Trips with GPS Locator. This product is faster and easier to use GPS locator than with previous editions of Streets & Trips and it plugs directly into the USB port on your laptop PC. Ready to use immediately. | | | Features: | |
• Microsoft Streets & Trips 2011 with GPS Locator features updated..
• GPS Locator features updated street-level maps for U.S., Canada, and Mexico with over 1.9 million points of interest
• Includes GPS locator that plugs directly into your laptop's USB port, for spoken directions, automatic re-routing, and full-screen navigation
• Change your plans on the go, with no Internet connection required; choose specific roads by dragging and dropping the route
• Calculate fuel usage and costs before you leave, along with free construction updates to avoid potential delays
• View the quickest routes with one-click trip optimization; add notes for planned stops, reservations, phone numbers, etc.
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Width:
| 5.3 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.3 pounds | | Package Length:
| 7.6 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.4 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.6 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.4 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 34 reviews |
| | | System Requirements: | | | Platform:
| Windows Vista / Windows 7 / Windows XP | | Media:
| DVD-ROM | | Item Quantity:
| 1 |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 34 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
76 of 77 found the following review helpful:
 Great Software. GPS Receiver, not so much.Apr 23, 2011
By Donna Mirabile
I am Donna's husband and I got Microsoft Streets & Trips 2011 with the USB GPS receiver a few days ago. I didn't really notice any changes between the 2009 version and the 2011 version of Streets & Trips. Just newer maps. I give the software 5 stars.
The GPS receiver that comes with Streets & Trips is the "u-blox 5 GPS and GALILEO Receiver" by ublox. [...] I downloaded the "u-center GPS evaluation software" [...] and installed in on my desktop computer and my Acer netbook computer. I then plugged the USB GPS receiver into each computer and, using the u-center software, monitored the GPS receiver's performance. Here is what I found:
The GPS receiver would not lock up when plugged directly into the netbook no matter how long I left it. It would find one or two satellites but that was all. When I connected it to the netbook using the included USB extension cable, it would lock up in 5 - 10 minutes. After it got a lock, it's performance seemed about as good as the other GPS receivers that I have. When I plugged the GPS receiver into my desktop computer it took 5 - 10 minutes to lock up and again, it's performance seemed about as good as the other GPS receivers that I have. The GPS receiver does not have any type of battery or super-capacitor backup so every time it is unplugged it forgets all of the satellite almanac data and has to do a cold start each time it is plugged in.
I also have a GlobalSat BU-353 GlobalSat BU-353 Waterproof USB GPS Receiver. It is a much better GPS receiver. Because it has a super-capacitor backup, it retains the satellite almanac data and is able to do a warm start when it's plugged in. It is able to acquire a lock in less than a minute. It also works fine with the Streets & Trips software. I recommend you buy Streets & Trips WITHOUT the USB GPS receiver and get the GlobalSat BU-353 GPS receiver instead.
33 of 34 found the following review helpful:
Microsoft...Ugh!!May 05, 2011
By Gadget Junkie
As a general mapping software, Streets & Trips doesn't do a bad job, though apparently Microsoft doesn't allow their programmers out of their cubicles to understand the real world. After the number of years this program has been out, and with all the new releases, this should be an incredibly good program by now. You can find locations a number of ways...by street address, intersection, and even GPS coordinates (don't forget to add the minus symbol for longitude if you're in the U.S.). Streets & Trips adds some great capabilities over your portable GPS devices. You can see a large screen version of your route and, where you have a stop planned, you can see the mapped locations of a variety of different businesses and points of interest based on your selections. They leave a lot of businesses out, unfortunately, but, still, it provides a fair amount of information. One of the unique features, and a saving grace in the face of other design buffoonery, is the ability to alter the automated route by clicking and dragging the route. Let's say that Streets & Trips sends you one way because it's the shortest route, but it takes you through an area you want to avoid. Simply click and drag the route as necessary to get it to use the route you want to go. Usually this works without a hitch, but occasionally you have to fight the programming.
I just upgraded...strike that...UPDATED from the 2008 version and was shocked that they did away with the selection tool that allowed you to draw a box around a general area and then zoom to that selection. That was a great tool for when you're looking for a location that you know to be in a general area, but you're not sure of the street name...or you need to see an area to look for routing options. Typical Microsoft...if it's working, let's take it out of the program.
Streets & Trips provides you with the travel distance of the route and, based on a fuel cost option setting, will tell you how much the trip will cost. Valuable information. Information basic to planning a trip is how long it will take to arrive at your destination. Thanks to Microsoft's programmers ignoring the user feedback on their design issues for years, the time figure they give is arbitrary. They'll tell you in the Help area that the travel time calculations are based on "average speeds" for different roads. Whose average that may be is anyone's guess because they don't tell you what theirs are. Speeds on different roads can vary significantly from state to state, and even from one area to the next. There is an option where you can vary the speed calculation for different road types via slider controls, but the control labels simply say `faster' and `slower'. You have to go into the Help area to find out that the slider alters the calculation speed in increments of 5%, but it still doesn't tell you 5% of what speed. Unfortunately, this results in you having to get your calculator out if you want any travel time figures that you can rely on.
If you use an external GPS receiver, you can keep yourself located on the map. If you're traveling unknown territory, that's a great feature. The Microsoft GPS receiver is mediocre at best. It doesn't do well unless it is exposed to unrestricted open sky. The USGlobalSat BU-353 is a good receiver choice, but its cord is very short. For my application (operating the laptop in a car in the center console area), the cord was so short that I had to use a USB extension cable to reach the USB port, but then there was TOO much cable. The Holux GR-213 USB receiver was the best of both worlds. It provided excellent reception inside my house and under trees, and had a fast start-up time while the cable length was perfect.
16 of 16 found the following review helpful:
Does not work with GPS NavigationJun 09, 2011
By Masazumi Kotani
"Nikon Lover"
I purchased Street & Trips 2011 and Microsoft GPS receiver separately and installed 15.6" laptop and connect 3.5mm mini cable to Ford Escape speaker system to use next 6,000mile trip.
Installation is very easy and GPS receiver is very good and trip planning is very easy except some street number are in-correct.
Microsoft Navigation program need much improvement as bellow:
1) Speech engine is very poor, very difficult to understand voiced instruction, need another speech engine like AT&T natural voice, Real Speak or Acapela speech engine.
2)Instruction for off ramp on the freeway is too late to change lanes, need warning at least one mile before off ramp.
3)Need instruction which way to enter the freeway, like " Enter Interstate 5 north"
4)Need instruction of destination is which side of the street, Left or right side.
I purchased and installed AT&T Natural voice speech engine and much easier to understand voiced instruction.
I am now final week of 3 weeks road trip(June 30,2011), this gps with Street & trip is useless for long trip, I could not get signal in Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park,Banff,Alberta area and many highway near the National Park.
I got lost in Great Falls, Montana using voice instruction to change I15 south to Highway 87 south.
Installed on Windows 7 64 bits
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
 Great for "big rigs"Jun 19, 2011
By Ann, Littleton, CO
If you are an RVer with a "big rig" this is much better than the GPS in your RV. We drive a 45' with a car in tow, this software allows me move the route to bypass places you just don't want to go. I plan a route, but then take them down to what we are going to drive the next day. Many interstates go directly through a city (St. Louis) which is where the installed GPS will go. We don't want to go there, we want the bypass. The maps are very helpful in letting us know if the exit is going off the the right or left, we don't change lanes quickly. I stick the GPS receiver high on the window and have few problems. Would probably recommend you use an upgraded receiver for the best results, but the maps will keep you going with few problems.
13 of 15 found the following review helpful:
 Lost in TexasJul 06, 2011
By Michael D Imbimbo
I only gave this software one star because Amazon won't let me give it less. The whole package is junk. The first GPS receiver was faulty, and Microsoft ultimately replaced it, but the new one wasn't a lot better. It takes 5 to 10 minutes for the GPS to find a satellite, which is bad enough, but it then frequently looses the signal for extended periods of time. The software is pathetic. Its list of points of interest is primitive. In fact, it couldn't find a single one of the places I searched for. As an example, I entered "Tanger Outlet, San Marcos, Texas". It's an enormous outlet mall, right in the middle of Texas, on the IH-35 corridor, and has been in the same location for more than a decade. S&T had no idea where it was. It presented alternatives, some of which actually started with "T", including suggestions in other states, even, but nothing even remotely close to what I was searching for. Google, using the identical input, found this and all the other POI's I searched for instantly.
On vacation in California, we couldn't get the GPS to connect long enough to give us directions to ANYWHERE. Just using the mapping software and following the written instructions, the route it chose got us hopelessly lost. Finally, at the persistent urging of my 90-year-old father, we turned the damned thing (his words) off, followed his directions, and got there straight away. We were testing the S&T program at that point, so we frequently had my brother's Magellan GPS unit in the car as a backup. The Magellan never had a problem connecting and never failed to find the locations we sought.
The straw that finally broke it was the other night, when we were in a small town in Texas and were searching for another small, historic town very close by, with a very good restaurant. S&T sent us on a 10 mile wild goose chase that showed a final destination in the middle of a country road. When we reached the location there was nothing but fields all around, and S&T announced "Off Route". It took us to the middle of nowhere and dumped us. We had to backtrack to a service station and ask directions. The next day, putting the same information into Google, which identified the center of the little town perfectly, we found that our destination was only 3.4 miles from our starting point, and easily found driving through the one town and into the next.
One of the other reviewers commented that the software gave goofy instructions, like telling you to turn right and left at the same time. I didn't experience that, but it frequently gives instructions like, "Turn right, south, on North Spring St." It's all accurate, but it's too much goofy information to process when you're actually trying to follow the instructions in real time.
All I can say is, DON'T BUY THIS SOFTWARE. You're way better off using an old-fashioned paper map and occasionally stopping to ask directions.
Finally, after all this, I called Microsoft and asked for a refund. Of course, I was told that, because it was more than 30 days old, and because I'd opened the package, they wouldn't accept a return. I pointed out that 1/ It took longer than a month to figure out the GPS problem and get it replaced, and 2/ I couldn't have known the software was gargage if I didn't open the package and try it. Apparently, Microsoft, at least at "Customer Support" Level 1, is willing to sell completely useless software and then try to beat you out of your money when it doesn't work. I had to go up a few rungs on the ladder before someone felt like I had a legitimate claim and extended the refund. G-r-r-r-r-r
See all 34 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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