Review: Microsoft Streets and Trips 2007
Written by Chad on January 20th, 2007
I finally got a chance to really use my Christmas present, Streets 2007 with GPS unit. Got it from amazon for $99 (yes, present to myself 
) and so far, I think it is very well worth it.
Wanted to review this before.. but I never had a chance to use it too much till I went to the Virtual Globes Symposium on Friday. It came in quite handy in directing me to the location.
The GPS unit is a Pharos 500 which has SiRF star III technology in it. This means it is really accurate. Using VisualGPS on my notebook I saw that I was tracking up to 12 satellites and my accuracy was, at it’s best tracking, 2 to 3 feet off from my location.. a yard or LESS accuracy!
So, this works nice when driving and you have the navigation assistance on. You get voice prompts tell you where and when to turn.
With the GPS pane turned on and the GPS unit enabled, you get an arrow on the map marking your location and speed shown in the GPS panel. What I didn’t like is that you have no GPS information though. You don’t know what your signal strength is or how many satellites you are tracking. You can download the free version of VisualGPS to get this information. It is a very nice piece of software that gives you all the GPS information you could ever want.
All and all I am impressed with the software and the GPS unit. They work quite well together. And the GPS unit also works in World Wind with the GPS Plug-in. The only real gripes I have at this time is the lack of GPS monitoring ability and that the GPS turn-by-turn assistance won’t help you if you get off your route. Other than saying “Off route” it will not help you get back on the route.
This is worth it if you don’t want to spend $400 or more for an in-car navigation system.
23
PM
hiiiiiiiiiiiii i need to free download this program
23
PM
If by free you mean Streets 2007.. it isn’t free. If free by VisualGPS, it is located here: http://www.visualgps.net/VisualGPS/default.htm
27
PM
I purchased the 2005 edition back in 2005 and was really impressed with it. The accuracy of the maps was superior to a Garmin GPS unit that I had and I liked the flexibility of it. The only problem was the lack of voice instruction. My co-pilot does not like reading the map although she doesn’t mind telling me where to go.
So I made the jump and purchased the 2007 edition after building a mount to hold my laptop in our truck. What a mistake! The voice is nothing more then cheap software designed to read text and (hard to believe) but the accuracy is not as good. I can’t understand half of what this voice software says forcing me to look down and read it, (Big mistake) or ask my co-pilot to read it aloud. The 2005 software routed me properly to my favorite camp site, but this new 2007 software would have me going down nonexistent dirt roads.
I really think Microsoft can do better then this.