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(More customer reviews)As a frequent traveler, one of the main reasons for updating my venerable 2000 version (which I thought would be outdated by now) was the changeover some 2 years ago of Florida interstate exits from sequential progression to the more intuitive mileage marker numbering system. Surprise! Florida exits remain numbered in S&T-2003 exactly as they were in S&T-2000; for instance, the I-95 intersection with US-1 (now exit 339 in South Jacksonville) still is shown as I-95 exit 98 - which, these days, would have placed me nearly 250 miles farther South -- in Palm Beach, to be sure.
Little new of practical value has been added in the intervening 3 years, other than more Microsoft (MS) bells & whistles and, admittedly, handsomer screens. But where the rubber really hits the road - updating maps and fixing erroneous cartography - precious little seems to have changed for the better. The 5-page instruction booklet barely gets you started and, as far as installation goes, is entirely silent (perhaps wisely so); instead, in usual MS fashion, it refers you to the Help section which, again in usual MS fashion, is shallow and virtually useless unless you happen to know the relevant keyword; the website, likewise, doesn't go into sufficient detail. For instance, the handy labels attached to pushpins to mark a location of interest can obscure a point of interest. If only one could rotate the marker to point to a different quadrant the annoyance would be resolved effortlessly; that minor irritation seems not to have been addressed as yet - perhaps I haven't discovered the proper `Help' buzzwords. Need phone help for an irritation like that? Sure, but MS will charge you for what should have been included in the software price.
Quibbles and warts aside, this still is the best mapping software package around - meaning that others are worse yet. The price, with the inevitable rebate is modest, installation (WIN-98SE) was painless, and the legible screen presentation quite attractive. Maps print beautifully on a color printer and can be emailed, and for black and white you can select gray-scale or fax mode for perfectly fine readability. The route mapping over major roads generally is reliable (but I wouldn't count too heavily on the printed directions), less so in cities where cartography may not have been updated for recent one-way streets or new suburbs; if you travel where major roads or exits have changed over the past years, I'd take an AAA map along, just to be sure. Clearly, updating every year is overkill; every 3 to 4 years should suffice unless MS forgets the glitz and digs into the basics of accuracy and currency of maps. S&T-2003 rates better than a 3-star average, and has the potential for a 4-star product in years to come.
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Around town or across the country, hit the road with Microsoft Streets & Trips 2003. Accurate and easy, the 2003 release has everything you need to navigate, travel, and explore the U.S. and Canada. An all-in-one mapping solution, Microsoft Streets & Trips 2003 delivers a comprehensive array of maps, points of interest, routes, driving directions, and Pocket PC compatibility in one value-priced software package. Instantly meet your mapping and travel needs without an Internet connection. Pinpoint exact customer or business addresses on the map by simply entering an address or location. Enjoy the convenience and confidence of full address searching for 6.7 million miles of roads throughout the U.S. and Canada. Streets & Trips 2003 also offers complete Global Positioning System support: just plug a GPS receiver into your laptop running the program to find your exact location anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. Or, create and download maps to your Windows CE 3.0 or later PDA or handheld PC to take on the road with you.
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