Microsoft Streets and Trips 2006 With GPS Locator[Old Version]

The navigation screen with GPS pane. A blue progress bar counts down to the next maneuver. View larger.

Find all points of interest within a given radius. View larger.

Acquire your location with the Wi-Fi Location Finder. View larger.

Taking advantage of the enhanced trip planning software is easy. With a customizable viewing pane, you can display turn-by-turn directions, including street names, in large type for easy viewing, and large, easy-to-see arrows that indicate the direction of your next turn. The pane displays the distance to your destination in miles or yards, and for a quick "at-a-glance" view, a thermometer-style bar shows the relative distance you've travelled. To create a route and generate directions, you simply type in the starting and ending locations and click on "Get Directions." It's that simple. Your trips can include multiple segments, and you can instruct the software to customize your route by telling it what types of roads you want to travel, how much gas your car has, and the general area where you want to stop to gas up. Streets and Trips 2006 will do the rest, giving you your optimal itinerary, down to the precise gas station. Overall you'll have access to over 1.8 million local POIs such as hotels, restaurants, gas stations and ATMs, and by planning ahead, Streets and Trips 2006 will help you avoid delays with construction updates and other recent changes to your route.

With the GPS receiver plugged into your laptop, you'll always know exactly where you are. The GPS panel shows your current latitude/longitude, direction of travel, current speed, and GPS signal strength. This is also the control panel for arranging and customizing the map display, and you can even create a "bread crumb" GPS trail, making your return trip a breeze. Voice-prompted directions announce upcoming turns with precise instructions, such as, "In one point two miles, turn left on Andover Street." If you drive past your planned exit, the software will tell you immediately that you're off track. A single click will get you back on track. The "Re-route from Here" feature quickly recalculates directions if you miss a turn.

To find a certain POI, such as restaurants or gas stations, you simply select from 35 POI types to display on the map. You have the option of searching within a certain radius of an address that you choose, your current location, a specific direction within a planned route, or all of the POIs along the entire route. Your results are displayed in a directory-tree listing. When you click on a POI, a balloon box pops up on the map with detailed information, including an address and phone number, and if you right-click on the POI icon, you can add it to your route list.

MSN Virtual Earth and Other Extras
To enhance to your travel experience, Microsoft Streets and Trips 2006 offers a link to MSN Virtual Earth, Microsoft's online repository of satellite maps. Let's say you're viewing a map of the theater district in Manhattan. If you want to see a bird's-eye view of it, just click the Virtual Earth icon and a satellite image of the area will load into your browser. Another convenient feature is the "Night Map Style" which makes reading your routes at night or in other low-light conditions a breeze. The map's background is black, and roads and street names are shown in shades of green for easy viewing. Also included with Streets and Trips 2006 is Pocket Streets for your Pocket PC or Smartphone, which you can load onto your compatible Windows-based Pocket PC or Windows-powered Smartphone for greater travel convenience.

And best of all, once you register your software, you can access a full year of email and toll-free customer support, and you'll also have access to an online knowledge base dedicated to Streets and Trips 2006. So no matter where you're travels are taking you, you can drive with the confidence that you'll have Microsoft's extensive support and software behind you every click of your odometer.