This software works great if you're looking for driving directions. I wanted it for that purpose, but also to map out locations of business accounts, to see where they are spread out geographically. This software was not right for that purpose and didn't help me at all. The biggest problem is that you can't change the view very much... you can't hide highways, or show more/less detail. But if you just want driving directions, it's wonderful.

Even if you buy the 2002 maps. The maps are older than 2002. A update feature is not there. You will be stuck with maps that are older.

After paying for this software, I was very disappointed to find out that it will not locate addresses that are three years old. I thought that was the reason for buying the 2002 year edition. Other free very well known services have the address I was trying to locate. The only thing I find useful is the pocket streets feature. But it can't be very useful if the address you are looking for is not in the database.

I purchased Streets & Trips 2002 so that I could download state maps into a PDA. Installation and operation are familiar and straightforward. And maps download quickly to the PDA if you have a USB connection. But despite the fact that my PDA is equipped with a 128mB flash disk, Streets & Trips 2002 severely restricts the size of a downloaded MPS map file to a region that is about the size of Rhode Island, pretty much a joke out here in the Western US. The restriction seems more related to the size of the region rather than its density. Pocket Streets is useful for an urban area, but disappointing for a roadtrip.

The software is highly inaccurate and therefore, unreliable. We have traveled in many states and have yet to have the software produce accurate information. Save yourself a lot of grief and buy a road atlas and city maps when you arrive at your destination.Furthermore, it does not allow you to name selected roads on the maps as you can in "Road Trips Door to Door". Possibly because they don't have the names in their database.

The very first route I planned with Microsoft Streets and Trips was from an address in Rochester, NY to an address in Sterling, Va. The software took me east through Syracuse, on a 446 mile, 7 hour and 48 minute route.I *knew* it was better to go directly south, so I coached the software by telling it to add stops in Corning, NY and Harrisburg, PA. Sure enough, now it found a 370 mile, 7 hour and 12 minute route.Further experiments show that the software's "shortest" and "quickest" routes are often longer and slower than the routes you can force it to plot by adding well-chosen stops. But of course if you know what route you want to force, you don't really need the software.I'm switching back to Delorme's Street Atlas. I've been using Version 6.0, where the interface is truly awful but at least you get the right routes. I'm hoping that in the current version 9.0, they've improved the interface and the underlying mapping algorithms are still as good as they've always been.