Many travelers and Streets & Trips enthusiasts have asked for additional POI categories.  Great idea!  We’ve added 5 new categories for the 2010 release.

1. Pharmacies
2. Post offices
3. National parks
4. Community centers
5. Ferry terminals

These new categories (as well as the other 50+ categories) can be turned on/off from the Categories dialog.

Then click on the “Find nearby places” toolbar button and they will show up on the map.

You don’t see many like this anymore…that is for sure.

[Source: TopCultured]

Here is another little improvement that will improve the usability of Streets & Trips 2010.  We added the ability to rename your route points.   What a great idea – can’t believe this wasn’t included in previous versions.

Here are some easy links to some posts that have been very popular on this blog:

• How to Use Your Earthmate GPS with Microsoft Streets & Trips
• How to copy latitude and longitude (lat/long) coordinates in Streets & Trips 2010
• New for 2010 – Improved Pushpin Control
• Sending pushpins and route details to your GPS Navigation Device
• How to send route points to your Garmin Nuvi
• Using Custom Pushpin Icons in your Maps
• Looking for POI collections?  Try These
• How do I find Points of Interest (POI) along my route?
• Make Finding your Mouse Cursor Easy

More good times today at the RV show.  I got high-fived today in response to telling him we brought all the pushpins icons back in 2010.  :-)

I showed many people today how to import 3rd party points of interest (POI) using the import data wizard.  If you have never done this…you are missing out. 

One gal was asking if I could find a collection of Quilt shops as she was really in quilting.  I did find a huge collection with over 4400+ locations at http://www.POI-FACTORY.com.  The collection was only available in GPX format but since 2010 now supports GPX it was perfect.  I imported them right into Streets & Trips and she was amazed!

I met up with more internet celebrities and as they filmed for an upcoming episode of RV Buddies.  Here is me with RV Buddy co-host Elise Baughman.  The whole crew was great to talk with and I would encourage you to visit their website and subscribe to their podcast on iTunes.

Time to sleep for a few hours before heading back to the show. 

The new 2010 product has been well received by the attendees at the show.  I think more than any other release we’ve really delivered a bunch of new features that were based on suggestions from our user base.   Many times I’ve heard people say something like “I LOVE your product and I’ve used it for years but….”  This  release has removed many of those buts. 

Today I met with the internet celebrities Jim and Chris Guld who run Geeks on Tour.   They are full time RVers and computer support professionals who give seminars at various RV rallies across the country and generally help RVers with their computer needs.

Check out their website (with videos) here:  http://www.geeksontour.com

If you are in the Hershey PA area, stop by the Giant Center and catch some of the action going on at the RV show. 

Now you can send places on the map or routes that you created in Streets & Trips to your GPS navigation device. When you send data directly to your GPS navigation device, Streets & Trips sends the name, latitude, and longitude of the location. Additionally, if the information is available, Streets & Trips also sends the address, phone number, description, and Entertainment Online coupon.

You can send data directly to your GPS navigation device using either of the following methods:

• Wirelessly, through MSN Direct, if you have an MSN Direct-enabled GPS navigation device. For more information, visit MSN Direct Services, and then click Send to GPS.

• Through a USB connection, when you don't have MSN Direct. To use a USB connection, you must have a Garmin navigation device and you must install the Garmin Communicator Plug-in

Note: both methods above require an internet connection

How to Send a location to your GPS navigation device?

1. Open the map that contains the location that you want to send to your GPS navigation device.
2. In the map or in the Find nearby places pane, select the location that you want to send to your GPS navigation device, and then, on the toolbar, click Send to GPS device .
   
   
   
3. If you have an MSN Direct-enabled GPS navigation device, click Send wirelessly with MSN Direct.
   
   - Or -
   
4. If you do not have MSN Direct but you do have a Garmin navigation device, click Send with USB.
5. Click Next, and then follow the on-screen instructions. (Separate download of free plug-in may be required)
   
   

You can also send a route to your GPS navigation device by selecting the route and then, on the toolbar, click Send to GPS device .

Note: To check if your GPS navigation device is compatible with MSN Direct service, visit MSN Direct Service Compatibility. You must be connected to the Internet to view this website.

Note: Garmin devices such as the Nuvi 885 support routes via MSN Direct.  These devices have a “Send to GPS” button.

In an earlier post we showed how you can send data to your personal navigation device using Garmin’s POI Loader, which transfers the Pushpin data (waypoints) that you have created in Streets & Trips. In this post we will see how you can transfer the route that you have created in Streets & Trips to your Garmin Nuvi device provided that your Garmin device supports Multi point routing.

1. Start Streets & Trips application and create a route,

2. Then Export the route into a .gpx file by selecting the ‘Export to GPX file’ menu from under the Data menu. And save .gpx the file to the local machine.

3. Plug-in your Garmin Nuvi device and then browse to the.gpx file (exported from S&T) on your local machine, copy the file and paste it into the GPX folder in your Garmin device.

4. Now unplug the Garmin device from your computer. And wait for it to boot up. Then Select <Tools>

5. Scroll down and select <My Data>

6. Now select <Import Route from File>

7. And Select the <Route.gpx 1> file you just transferred to the Garmin Device. And click <Import>

8. Once the route is successfully Imported then go back and select <Routes>

9. Select the Route you just Imported.

10. That’s it, now you can see the route in your Garmin device

Even though you have transferred the route successfully from Streets & Trips to your Garmin device you may not get the same directions in your Garmin device as seen while planning your route using Streets & Trips. So review the route in your Garmin device before navigating on your route.

You now have the ability in Streets & Trips 2010 to open or close all the balloons for the visible pushpins on the map with just 2 clicks.

1. Right-click the pushpin set
2. click Show all pushpin information or Hide all pushpin information

    Result:  All the info balloons for that specific pushpin set are displayed or hidden.

If you have info balloons open from many different pushpin sets you can close them all at once by right-clicking on ANY balloon and choosing "Hide all information" and all the balloons on the map will close.

This is yet another simple feature (requested by several users) that makes Streets & Trips 2010 easier to use than ever.

Here is a change for all the power users.  Have you ever found yourself trying to import 20,000 addresses from an access database or an excel spreadsheet using the “Import Data Wizard” and you see this error? 

In past versions the maximum number of addresses you could import at one time was 10,000.  If you wanted to import more than 10,000 addresses you could do it but you needed to do multiple batches of less than 10,000 each.

The 10,000 address hard limit has been removed in the 2010 release!  Go Crazy!

Note: no such limit ever existed for importing data using latitude and longitude coordinates. So if you are importing a CSV or XLS file with Name, Lat, Long - this was never limited.

Many people rely on S&T to do their road trip planning.   Have you ever wished you should share this information with your Garmin without having to re-enter all the stops etc? Now you can!! In the 2010 version you can share the data from Streets & Trips to your Personal Navigation Device using the new GPX feature. GPX (GPS Exchange Format) is an industry-standard file format for exchanging GPS information between applications or devices. Click here to learn more about GPX.

You can export: 

• waypoints (pushpins) (no maximum limit)
• routes (where you plan to go)
• tracks (GPS trails - where you have actually been)

If your GPS navigation device has the capability to record data and save it as a .gpx file, you can then import that data into Streets & Trips.

Import / Export GPX menus are listed under the Data menu. Once you have exported a GPX data you can then use the Garmin POI loader and transfer the data into your Garmin device. Garmin POI loader can be installed from here. Once you have successfully installed the Garmin POI Loader, plugin your GPS device to your computer and launch Garmin POI Loader. Then follow the onscreen instructions and select your GPS device from the drop down

Then select the folder in which the GPX file(s) are stored and Finish the wizard.

It will take a few minutes for the data to get transferred and once it is done, you will get a confirmation message.

Now unplug your Garmin device and browse to ‘Where to’ –>‘Extras’ and select ‘Custom POIs’ and now you will see the POI that you had just transferred in to the device.

There are no limits in the number of Pushpins or route points that you can export from Streets & Trips, however there may be a limit in the number of custom POI’s that a Personal Navigation device may accept. In case of Garmin Nuvi it is usually 500 custom points of interest.

The exact route is not transferred even though the route points (waypoints) are exported in order but the receiving device will use its own routing algorithm.  Not a big deal but if you have customized your road preferences in S&T you may see a slightly different route. 

Here is a set of features in 2010 that I’m really excited about .  People have been asking for many of these changes and we’ve listened!

The Problem:

Imagine if you are someone with a huge collection of POI (points of interest) that you collected from somewhere like RV Directions, TruckStopsPlus, DiscoveryOwners etc.  It doesn’t take long before your map gets overloaded with information.

Here is an example of how bad it can get.  The map has all the info but it becomes impractical to use. --->

The Solution:

Actually, when we thought about it there were many ways to fix this.   Here is what we’ve done:

1. Allow the ability to show/hide pushpin sets.  This is great because your default map can contain all of them but you can just turn on (or “show”) the sets you are currently interested in.  For example,  Low on Fuel? – turn on your Flying J set,  Hungry? – turn on your Cracker Barrel set. 

Here is what I do.  I have a save map file (*.est file) with all my favorite poi loaded.  Then I hide them all.

Look how easy it is to do this:

Right-click on the “Pushpins” and click “Hide all pushpin sets” from the context menu that pops up. 
Poof! They’re gone!  Ur…well…hidden to be more exact.

Displaying all the pushpins again is just as easy. 

Notice how each pushpin set says “…(hidden)” to indicate its current state.

Q: What if you want to show a single pushpin set but not all of them?

A: No problem…right click on the name of the individual pushpin set and click “Show pushpin set”

2. Allow the ability to delete the pushpins in the areas you don’t need.  So if you never leave the Pacific Northwest – why keep all the pushpins outside your traveling area?  In the past you could delete each pushpin manually or the entire pushpin set but not partial sets.  Now you can.  Just draw a select box around the area, right-click and choose “delete visible pushpins outside selected area”.  You can also do the reverse – that is – create a select box then choose “delete visible pushpins inside selected area”.  But wait there is more….if you hide a pushpin set then it doesn’t get deleted!  Only visible pushpins get deleted. 

Below: Delete Pushpins OUTSIDE selected area:

Below: Delete Pushpins INSIDE selected area.

I have more to say but I’ll save that for another post.  Please put any questions in the comments.

Gladwin and Larry will be at booth #123 (easy to remember) at the 41st Annual PA RV & Camping Show in Hershey, PA.

One of us will be giving a seminar - “The Perfect Trip Is At Your Fingertips” Wednesday through Saturday (9/16--> 9/19) from 4-5pm in the Green Room.

We will be giving the first ever public demonstrations of Streets & Trips 2010! We’ll also be giving out free 60-day trial DVDs of Streets & Trips 2010 to everyone who comes by our booth to say hello.  So if you are in the area please come by and bring your list of questions, comments and suggestions.  We look forward, as always, to meeting many of you.

For more information visit PRVCA.org.