Review by Brian A. Wolters

In this day and age where we have just about every kind of mapping program available to us via the web or even on Smartphone’s, why would we need a standalone software map program? That was my mindset when getting into Microsoft Streets & Trips. While I still find many of its features on par with the free web mapping options, it’s trip planner option makes it worth the investment.

Microsoft’s Streets & Trips has a very easy to use interface. All of your mapping and trip options are well labeled and are easy for the most novice users. The trip planner was very fun and exciting to use as we could schedule side trips to take on our way to our main destination. While it was nice to have an option to send info to your mobile device, I think it would be great to have a full, mobile version of this problem.

If you want to plan a road trip with many stops, this is the best option out there. If you just want some basic mapping options, your best bet is the free online mapping programs.