![]() ![]() There's a lot to like here, including the GPS-trail feature that tracks your progress as you drive and detailed maps that rotate to follow your travel direction. For example, it's something for older kids to use while navigating from the backseat. ![]() Still, Streets & Trips with GPS is a good first step toward a portable navigation system that isn't hard-wired to your car. ![]() With the GPS trail feature activated, Streets & Trips 2005 displays the territory you've covered, as indicated by the blue line on the map. Needless to say, that's asking too much, but we cannot recommend that you attempt to read the directions while driving, unless you're fond of whiplash and the sound of crunching metal. If alone in the car, you should pull over, launch Streets & Trips, find your position (represented by a car icon on a street map), enter the address of your destination, and memorize the directions the product gives you. Unless you have a passenger who can help you navigate while you drive, you'll want a GPS system that tells you when to turn, not one that makes you read onscreen directions. Streets' lack of voice navigation is, in fact, its biggest shortcoming. Streets & Trips 2005 with GPS locator could be helpful to lost travelers trying to navigate an unfamiliar city, but it is not a replacement for a full-fledged GPS navigation system with a dash-mounted LCD screen and voice navigation or one of the several available PDA solutions with voice prompts, such as CoPilot Live Pocket PC 5.0. The display, which changes in real time as you cruise down the road, is fun to watch but, therefore, distracting and dangerous, particularly if your laptop is perched solo on the passenger seat. The Streets & Trips 2005 interface retains much of last year's appearance, except for the new and nifty GPS Task Pane that displays your speed, heading, altitude, and even (for lost off-roaders) latitude and longitude. We wound up hanging the receiver outside our car window instead. Unfortunately, the suction cup we tested couldn't support the GPS device. The Streets & Trips software immediately recognizes the receiver, but you'll need to click the Track position box in the GPS Task Pane to view your location on a street map.Īttached to the GPS's USB cable is a simple suction cup, which should be used to attach the GPS receiver to a location with a clear view of the sky, such as your car's dashboard or rear package shelf. It's effortless: just plug one end of the supplied USB cable to the PC and the other to the biscuit-size GPS device. Second, after the software is installed, you connect the GPS receiver to your PC. We installed the software, including the GPS driver, in about 10 minutes without incident. You'll save 450MB of disk space by running Streets & Trips from the CD, but that'll make the software as slow as a Yugo up a 9 percent grade. First, you load the Streets & Trips CD, which by default installs 1GB of data, including program files and maps, on your hard drive. The setup for Streets & Trips 2005 with GPS locator is a two-step process. You'll save money, and your insurance agent will thank you. Our recommendation: Buy Streets & Trips without GPS. That said, the software is handy for planning long-distance trips or when driving with a passenger. The GPS receiver has trouble getting a satellite signal unless placed near a car window, the software lacks voice commands to guide you, and cruising while reading a laptop screen is so dangerous it should be illegal. Combining the latest version of Microsoft's popular mapping software with a two-inch square GPS receiver, Streets & Trips 2005 pinpoints your vehicle's exact location on street and highway maps, and it even tracks speed, direction, altitude, and other coordinates. Microsoft Streets & Trips 2005 with GPS locator is a bargain alternative compared to expensive auto-navigation systems that cost hundreds of dollars more. ![]()
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