Streets & Trips Vs. Street Atlas

[+TeamK-9]

Okay, so I'm looking for software that can be used for multiple purposes. Basically I'm deciding between Microsoft Streets & Trips and Delorme Street Atlas, but it needs a few major functionalities:

 

1. It needs the ability to me to add GPX files as pushpins or waypoints in one way or another. Basically, the primary use for this would be planning cache trips. But I'm also working on a website, where I'd like to have links to all the caches in my county. Basically, what I want to have is the ability to upload a large pocket query and then be able to look at the map and tell wether it's in one county or another, or zoom in a little bit if it's right on the line.

 

2. I didn't really think this was necessairy at first, but I now know that I can use the computer serial cable that came with my GPSr to hook it up to the computer and get real time tracking and better detailed/prettier maps than my GPS (with the topo maps loaded on) can get. This again would be helpful for major cache trips.

 

And I guess this wasn't much of a criteria until I decided that I wanted to hook up the GPSr to the laptop for real-time tracking, but it would also need to be not a total hog. Basically, it would need to be able to run on an older model Dell Lattitude laptop (not incredibly old, just older) I looked at the websites for both products and I think it meets the system requirements for both, but I'm not 100% sure...

[+Team DEMP]

GPSBabel (or GSAK which uses GPSBabel behind the scenes) will convert to either format. I don't know if one or the other's converted format is better for what you want to do, but for grins I had converted some to Delorme Street Atlas and had it calculate the best route to take to hit a series of caches and that worked.

 

Both programs shouldn't have an issue working with your GPS assuming the output is NMEA compliant, which I'd imagine it is.

 

As for which is a better program, at a high level I think Delorme SA is more feature rich, but is less intuitive out of the box. Once you are familiar with SA, I think you'd appreciate the added features.

 

I haven't played with the latest MS S&T, but it was more of a basic mapping/routing program comparable to a couple versions back of the SA product. Maybe there's a good head-to-head comparison someplace on the net.

[+Prime Suspect]

Featurewise, SA blows S&T out of the water. As the previous poster mentioned, the interface takes some getting use to. It's not a standard windows interface, like they had with SA9. The biggest downside for me is how long it takes to load. SA9 is up and running in about 5 seconds on my machine. SA2004 can take 20 seconds or longer. I keep both loaded on my machine, and use SA9 most of the time. I use SA2004 when I need the most up-to-date info, or need to plot multiple routes at the same time (something SA9 can't do).

[+TeamK-9]

Okay, so obviously Street Atlas is better according to you guys, but I've read very bad reviews of Street Atlas...

 

But tommorrow's the day of truth, and I think I'll go with Street Atlas...

Edited May 21, 2004 by TeamK-9

[+Team DEMP]

Where were the bad reviews? What issues did folks have with it?

 

Might want to wait until the weekend - see if some other folks post some more of their experiences.

[robertlipe]

I'll throw in a dissenting, though somewhat wishy-washy vote the other way. I own both. They each suck at different things.

 

SA's interface is indeed from planet zargon. I'm confused by the earlier post; it's about indistinguishable from SA9. The one trick it could do that I used it a lot for was printing multi-page maps. When I was planning a multi-day cache trip, it was really nice to print a big ole 3x3 map with teh caches plunked down on it. Route calc times were horrible and the "add nearby waypoints to route as vias" interface was really klunky for caching. Some people get aroused by the spoken turn-by-turns when used in a car, but it didn't turn me on personally. Delorme will spam you mercilessly about their wonderful new version upgrades which, in reality, are priced higher than street price on the shrink-wrapped version.

 

S&T is the only Microsoft product I've voluntarily paid for since the 80s and I've paid for it twice. (And still paid less than SA) The zooming/panning interface really is nice. (Mapsend, Mapsource, and SA all drive me crazy.) The "caches along a route" feature is really nice and when travelling long distance, the "get road construction" interface is handy. I find the routing interface faster and more in line with the way I think. It isn't without problems: sometimes pushpins turn funny colors, it's hard to separate icon types into layers once imported, and the print interface is klunky. Oh, the other thing that's very nice when planning geocaching is the "right click on a pushpin to get the cache page". (See the 'importing' link in the GPSBabel pages below...) Microsoft doesn't pretend to have an update program, but with a little shopping, you can often find it for under $20.

 

I do have to give an edge to S&T for map completeness in the areas I've compared, though I'm sure that counterexamples that would tilt the other direction could be found. My experience is the maps closer match reality in S&T.

 

On my laptop this moment I have 823 caches laid into both DirectRoute (so I can see cache type with custom icons courtesy GPSBabell - a trick I could never get these other two to do without much pain) and S&T. Since I started using S&T a little over a year ago, I've probably only started SA for reasons other than GPSBabel support probably 2-3 times.

 

With a shelf full of mapping programs, I can't really say I have ONE that's a clear winner in all categories. I keep whipping out the credit card in search of nirvana and keep getting disappointed.

[+Rusty & Libby]

I own about 5 different versions of SA and a couple S&T including fairly new versions of each.

 

With SA2003 they went to a new base map database and interface from SA9. After several attempts to get used to SA2004 I have bagged it and went back to SA9. I have also noticed in my area several roads that appeared on SA9 but were not in SA2004. SA works great for creating an arc filter to use with GSAK/GPSBabel.

 

S&T is much better for routing and I like the display better than SA, mapwise they are very comparable. I don't like the way you have to save things to a file instead of just opening up to what you last saved like SA.

 

I have SA9, SA2004 & ST2003 loaded on my laptop all the time, but SA9 is the weapon of choice. I just ordered an IPAQ and will be switching from Palm so I'll see how well the Pocket Streets works.

[+SandRaven]

Just to throw out another idea, how about Delorme Topo USA 5.0

 

There was a link posted somewhere on the forum so that you can get it for $60.

 

You would not have much in the way of Points of interest, but you would have lots of trails.

 

It also does autorouting.

 

Just a thought.

[+IV_Warrior]

I have SA2003 and S&T2004, and of the two, I prefer S&T. SA is cumbersome, and clunky. It also doesn't have, at least that I've been able to find, ROAD CONSTRUCTION warnings, like S&T does. Unfortunately, my new laptop doesn't have a serial port, so I end up using SA more than S&T, since I got the Delorme Earthmate USB GPS.....which I can't figure out how to use with S&T, or I'd drop SA in the trash..........oh, and when it comes to roads and addresses, neither one is up to the level I expected. Both are missing major roads that have been open for years, show exits improperly, have addresses that the actual location is MILES from the location shown on the map......have roads tracking in the wrong locations, sometimes showing a bridge at one street, when really it's a block down, or showing a street where buildings or hillsides are there, but no street.....