Review by Jerry Palmerino

The last time I used Streets and Trips, I was making deliveries in my car with a laptop. I used Streets and Trips 2000 to find the delivery locations (if I recall the version correctly). It did not have the GPS adapter and neither does this version.

To me, the purpose of this software is rather puzzling if you do not buy the GPS version. Unless you find yourself in a similar situation like the one I mentioned above, it is hard to find value with this non-GPS version. You are strictly limited to planning ahead unless you take a laptop and this software with you in the vehicle. Please don’t take your eyes off the road to use this software! Let your navigator do that for you. Anyway, in today’s GPS-enabled world, you begin to miss the en-route flexibility if you cannot take this software out on the road using a laptop. Essentially, you are paying for a software based version of the same functionality provided for free by online mapping sites.

This time around, I am using Streets and Trips on a desktop PC, thereby unfortunately limiting the value of this software.

The installation offers to make Microsoft Live (now BING!) your default search engine along with installing the Windows Live Toolbar. These are completely unnecessary and Microsoft should have grown beyond these tactics, but I digress. It also requires MSDE to be installed. As with all Microsoft products, activation is required along with typing a 25 character code.

That said, this software is easy to use and has a clean interface. Much of the interface (thankfully) is devoted to the map. A true test of any mapping software is the accuracy of its data. I live in a community less than 10 years old, and some online mapping sites do not show all of the streets in my community (hard to believe, but it is true). Streets and Trips 2009 does and this was a very positive indication that Microsoft has up-to-date data. Some additional niceties include information regarding local points of interest, parks, geographic elements, monuments, etc.

Overall, this version of Streets and Trips 2009 is good for trip planning, but without the GPS and a laptop, it is rather limited for navigation purposes.