These are a few questions that our new Streets & Trips users ask when they start using the product.

• How can I customize my trip Start/End times?
• How can I save automatic rest stops?
• How do I save custom driving Speed adjustments?
• How can I save fuel consumption and tank capacity?
• How to save Custom fuel cost values?

To get them start using Streets like a Pro and to make use of the powerful template feature we decided to create this post.

If you go to the ‘More route options’ window by clicking the <More options> button, then you will see a series of tabs. Each of these tabs (except segments) lets you customize your route information based on your trip needs

Say for example,  you wanted to set your custom values for Fuel costs and also include refuel warnings on your trips then you change the values under the Fuel tab according to your needs and click <OK>, likewise for other tabs.

Now, select ‘Save’ from the File menu. And change the ‘Save as type’ field to be ‘Map template (*.stt)

Create a copy of the original New North American Map (right-click on New North American Map, choose copy, Ctrl_V to paste it with a new name)

Now single-click on the New North American Map (this will populate the 'File name' text box with the correct name of the default template).

click <Save>.

You have now successfully created your very first custom Streets & Trips template file. Every time you launch Streets, it will open with this new default template.   Now you won’t need to edit the mileage or other route preferences each time you plan a trip.

Christmas is around the around the corner and Santa Claus has planned his special deliveries using Streets & Trips. But how is Santa going to keep track of pending deliveries and the ones he has completed. Using Streets & Trips that will be a very easy thing to do.

This is the map that Santa has created. It has 2 pushpin sets: Pending Delivery and Delivered. All pushpins in the map are now associated with ‘Pending Delivery’ pushpin set.

As and when a delivery is made, Santa needs to transfer the pushpins from the ‘Pending Delivery’ pushpin set to the delivered pushpin set. To do that right click on the pushpin and select its Properties.

In the Pushpin Properties window, change the Data set name to be ‘Delivered’. This will move the pushpin from one pushpin set to the other.

What if you wanted to move multiple pushpins from one pushpin set to the other. You will not be able to select multiple pushpins from the map but you can do this from the Pushpin set properties window. Right click on the ‘Pending Delivery’ Pushpin set and select Properties. The pushpin set properties window will open. Now select the ‘Matching’ tab. You will be shown a list of pushpin that belong to ‘Pending Delivery’ pushpin set. Select the pushpin that has been delivered and then right click on the selected pushpins and select ‘Cut’

Tip: Use combinations of Ctrl/Shift keys to multi select the pushpins from the list

And then click the <OK> button on the pushpin set properties window. Now right click on the ‘Delivered’ pushpin set and select ‘Properties’. The pushpin set properties window will open. Now select the ‘Matching’ tab. You will be shown a list of pushpin that belong to ‘Delivered’ pushpin set. Right click on the list and select ‘Paste’

By this way you can transfer multiple pushpin sets from one pushpin set to the other.

Import Data Wizard has always been a killer feature in Streets and Trips that differentiated this software from the rest. Streets & Trips users have taken advantage of this feature in the past and have created custom data and overlay them on the map which they use for business or travel purposes. From Streets & Trips 2010 this feature got a little more exciting by the addition of the show/hide pushpin set feature. Now users can import multiple collections into a single est file and also have the ability to turn on/off the sets that they want to see on the map.

Here is how to import additional POI collections into your existing map file:

1. If you do not have Streets & Trips 2010 then please download the 60 day trial version from here and then launch the program.  

2. Open the .est file that you use for your trips or business

3. Go to the DiscoveryOwners.com POI downloads page. And select ‘Text Only’ from the dropdown list

3. Then the page would refresh and will display the list of data that is available as shown below

4. Select the zip file from the download column against the collection that you want to download and save the file on to your local disk.

5. Now go to the file saved location and unzip the downloaded file.

6. In Streets & Trips application, select ‘Import data wizard’ from the ‘Data’ menu or press Ctrl+I to invoke the Import Data Wizard. Then select the text file that you just downloaded and click <Open>

7. Once you have selected the text file, Streets & Trips will automatically select the separator character (ie, tab, semicolon or comma) that is appropriate for the file.  Normally you can just click <Next> on the dialog below:

8.  If there are valid location headings found then Streets & Trips will match them accordingly to the data types if not you will need to match them based on the data. Below shows an import that needs some manual column matching: 

9. To match column headings with the data types, simply select the data types from the dropdown list and match them against your data. And then Click <Finish>

Tips:

a. Select data type as ‘Name’ to show the POI / business name as the title of the Pushpin balloon in Streets & Trips
b. If you want any additional info to be shown in the title of the balloon then select ‘Name2’ as the data type against that field
c. If the source text file does not have a column heading (it says F1, F2, F3 etc) then type a more descriptive heading in this screen.
d. You can select an appropriate pushpin icon to use for the set or import/create your own custom icon.  (see post on Using Custom Pushpin Icons in your Maps).
e. For additional free POI collections visit: POI-Factory.com (registration required to download).

Now Streets & Trips Import data wizard will import the data and will display in in the map and will also create a Pushpin set in the ‘Legends and Overview’ pane. Right-click on the pushpin set to view properties and all pushpin management options that are available for you.

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

All major features of Streets & Trips application can be invoked by a shortcut key and even the power users don’t make the best use of the available shortcut keys in Streets & Trips. You can quickly accomplish routine tasks by using the keyboard shortcuts.

A keyboard shortcut is a key or set of keys that performs a predefined function. For example, in Windows, pressing ALT + ESC switches among loaded applications.

The following are the shortcut keys that I use most often.   I would consider these as the most useful and they'll help you to effectively and efficiently plan your trip.  If I missed your favorite let me know and I can added to the list.

For a list of all the available shortcut keys in the application, press F1 from Streets & Trips and read the help topic ‘keyboard Shortcuts’ under the Window Features section.

Aerial photography dramatically improves the usefulness of map data. Good aerial photos can provide details about communities, structures, vegetation and other features that will help in understanding an area. Especially when you are driving to a new city / town aerial imagery helps you to see how the streets and the neighborhood look like, you can imagine yourself driving thru the road and when you actually drive there the place will look quite familiar to you.

In this post we will see how to use Microsoft's aerial imagery and Bird’s Eye View to help us while planning trips using Streets & Trips.

1. Search for a city or any address from the FIND box
   

2. click Show in Live Search Maps    (note: older versions may have a different icon for this)

Live Search Maps will open in your default web browser and show you photo imagery of the same area.  This is great because it saves you from having to do another search and pan and zoom to the same location.  Streets & Trips does this all for you. 

If Birds Eye View image is available for that area then select Bird’s Eye from the top navigation bar, this will display the same map area in bird’s eye view.

Note:

1. You must have an Internet connection to use this feature.
2. Bird's eye view is available for many major metropolitan areas including US and Canada
3. This feature is available in Streets & Trips from version 2006 and newer.

All versions of Streets & Trips allow you to add pushpins to your map.  This a great way to personalize your trip with annotations that are meaningful to you.

There are a variety of built-in standard pushpin symbols but you can also create your own custom symbols and use them just as you would standard symbols.

Step 1: Creating a custom symbol

Note: sometimes you can find images on the web that will work but remember to respect copyright laws :D

MapPoint supports the following file formats for custom symbols:

• Uncompressed Windows bitmap (.bmp) file format with a maximum size limit of 128 × 128 pixels and color depth of 16 or 24 bits

• Windows icon (.ico) resource file format with a maximum size limit of 128 × 128 pixels and a color depth of 16 or 24 bits

• Windows cursor (.cur) file format with a maximum size limit of 128 × 128 pixels and a color depth of 16 or 24 bits

If needed you can use Microsoft Paint (built into the Windows Operation system) to convert your JPG, PNG, or GIF to a BMP format that will work in Streets & Trips just make sure that Save As…24-bit Bitmap as shown below.

Step 2: Importing your custom symbol

Click on the small down arrow next to the Red pushpin on the Standard Toolbar to display the pushpin chooser.

Click on “Import custom symbol…” and browse to your custom image and click OK.

Your custom symbol is imported into Streets & Trips and added to the list of available symbols. You can use a custom symbol the same way as any standard pushpin symbol.

Save this map file and your new custom symbol gets saved with the map.  That way if you share it out to a friend they can see your new custom symbol too!

As always, don’t forget to refer to the help files if you need more details on using custom symbols in your maps.

Please feel free to leave a comment if you have a question or a suggestion for future posts.

I have been asked how to do this enough times that I need to do a blog post on it.

If you want to use Streets & Trips with your DeLorme GPS including:

• USB Earthmate GPS
• Earthmate GPS LT series
• Earthmate GPS PN series
• Earthmate GPS BT-20

It can be done.  You’ll need to install the DeLorme Serial Emulation Driver so that your DeLorme GPS can be recognized by Microsoft Streets & Trips (and other NMEA 0183 compliant mapping applications).

Note: This driver is not for use with the 64bit version of Windows. This driver is also not supported when coming out of sleep or hibernation mode.

Before installing this update, plug the Earthmate GPS into an available USB Port to allow Windows to recognize the GPS as an HID device.

1. Click here to download the serial emulation driver (file size: 14 MB).
2. Save the file to the desktop.
3. Locate DeLorme Serial Emulator1.1.exe and double-click it.
4. Click Next.
5. Select the "I accept the terms of this license agreement" option.
6. Click Next.
7. Restart the computer when prompted.
   Note: The installation will resume once the computer has restarted.
8. Click Next.
9. Click Finish.
10. Right-click on the DeLorme Serial Emulator system tray icon and select Ports... from the pop-up menu.
11. Select NMEA next to the COM Port you wish to use and close the utility.
12. Open the mapping application.
13. In the GPS Settings, select NMEA as the device and the COM port you selected in step 11 as the COM port the device is connected to.
14. Start the GPS.

For further details and how to configure the emulator please visit the DeLorme link below:

http://www.delorme.com/support/supporttemplate.aspx?id=319

Retailers are actively competing for your holiday shopping purchase.  Here is a quick link that will show who has the best price.

Amazon is currently (at time of posting) in the lead with the best price.

You have read about the latest version of Microsoft Streets & Trips 2009 and now you can give it a try!

Many of you have asked in the past for a trial download.  We heard your request and have made the trial download available (even before the full boxed product has made it to the stores!).

I am amazed and how fast the news has traveled around.  Already, 100's of folks have downloaded S&T 2009 and are asking questions.

Here is a quick FAQ:

Q: What is the difference between the Trial Edition and the final edition?  Have any features been withheld?

A: Other than the 60-day trial limit,  there is no difference between the trial and the final version.  It is a fully functioning version of the product.

Q: When does my trial begin?

A: You will begin your trial on your first launch of the application.  You will have 60-days to try it out (regardless of how many times you use the application).

Q: I have a previous version of Streets & Trips installed - do I need to uninstall it first?

A: No, both versions can be installed at the same time.  Be sure to check the "Keep Previous Version" checkbox while installing.

Q: How do I convert my trail to a full edition without the 60-day limit?

A: Purchase the product from your favorite retailer and choose "Activate now" and follow the instructions to enter the Product key that came with your purchased product.  Note: there is no need to uninstall the trial edition and re-install from the purchased edition.

Q:  Can I just buy a Product key online?

A: Currently, this option is not yet available.

Q: Where can I download it?

A: Streets & Trips 2009 Trial Edition can be downloaded from the Microsoft Download Center:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=56ccd694-4df8-4602-abfc-aea24c1dbf45&DisplayLang=en

Use comments for further Q&As.

I recently received a mail from a Streets & Trips user who was having difficulty finding their mouse cursor while on the road.  With the daylight glare on the screen it can be a challenge.

Here is the solution that I use and I thought I'd pass it along:

1. Open your Control Panel

2. Click on "Hardware and Sound"

3. Click on "Mouse" and go to the "Pointer Options" tab

4. Check the "Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key" checkbox.

5. Click "OK" button.

Now when you press the CTRL key - you'll see a quick animation of concentric circles that will draw your attention to the location to your mouse cursor.

Note: this is a system wide setting and not only for Streets & Trips.

Streets & Trips contains almost 1.6 million POI (Points of Interest) and while that is helpful and very useful it never enough to satisfy every users need.

So where can a user go to find specific POI databases to import into Streets & Trips?  As it turns out there are several sources - if you have additional POI sources please add them in the comments.

One of the great features of Streets & Trips is the import data wizard.  It allows you to easily import data in many different formats and file types.  

For example, here are the supportee data sources for S&T 2009:

Here are a few sources for POI data - some charge, but many are free to download.  There is a huge community of POI enthusiasts who join together at a grassroots level with other members of these forums and they collect POIs to share on these sites.  Maybe you'd like to contribute? 

• http://www.poi-factory.com
• http://www.RVdirections.com
• http://www.poigenie.co.uk/
• http://www.lowbridges.com/
• http://www.truckstopsplus.com
• http://www.gps-data-team.com/poi/
• http://discoveryowners.com/cginfolinks.htm
• http://www.poiplaza.com
• http://www.poifriend.com

The most common format is *.CSV files (comma separated values).  If Streets & Trips is not specifically mentioned as a supported application just download whichever is available in the *.csv format.

Someone was asking about creating multiple waypoints in Streets & Trips / MapPoint and wanted to know what the maximum possible number of waypoint one could have for a route.

Good question.   I wrote a script to create a humongous route to see if I could find out.

After testing this for some time I believe the answer is this:

• There is no hard-coded limit.  We never show a message box saying "Unable to add waypoint.  You have exceeded the max. number of stops".
• As you add more waypoints to a route getting directions can become very resource intensive.  To optimize your stops can take even longer.
• I created a route with about 65,000+ stops and it worked but I had to leave it running overnight before the route appeared!! :-)

The resulting test file was very difficult to work with.  Even scrolling through the route planner plan brought my machine to its knees. So, yes it may be POSSIBLE to create a route that includes every city east of the Mississippi I wouldn't recommend it (but it was fun trying it out).

Here is a helpful tip that many folks have asked me about.  It is all documented in the help file but who reads that, right? :-)

Note: This applies to all versions of Streets & Trips.

Out of the box when you launch S&T - you will get the default North America Map View:

The application reads a file called "New North America Map.stt".  You can replace this file with a custom map view that is geographically more relevant to your location.  For example, if I want to show the New York area with pushpins showing all the Wall-Mart locations (download Wallmart zip file from http://www.discoveryowners.com/cginfolinks.htm).

Load the map file and get the zoom and position exactly how you want it for the default.

Step 1: Choose File | Save as... "Map Template (*.stt)

Step 2: Save in the required location (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Streets & Trips\Templates\)

Step 3:  Overwrite the existing "New North America Map.stt".  Optionally, you may choose to make a copy of the original template file under another name if you ever want to go back to it.

Step 4:  Confirm (click 'Yes') to overwrite existing file.

That's it.  Now try it out.  Whenever you launch the application you will see your custom map.  How cool!

spacebar = repeat current instruction

Picture yourself driving some unknown roads using Streets & Trips as a navigation aide.  As you approach your next turn "Anna", the computers TTS voice, speaks up and starts saying something. "Huh? You talking to me?" you might say.  Repeating the spoken instruction is as easy as hitting the spacebar.  This is great for driving since it is nice and big making it easy to hit.  Very convenient I must say.

Since the distance to the next turn is also spoken - some users like to hit the spacebar frequently just to get the update on the distance to the next turn.

double-click on spacebar = speak the next instruction

If you would like Anna to tell you where to turn after the current instruction - hit the spacebar twice quickly.

By the way, if you have muted the spoken instructions Anna won't say anything UNLESS you hit the spacebar.   We have designed the feature so that the spacebar still invokes spoken instructions even when voice is muted.  I think of it as a manual speech mode. 

Happy Driving!

In celebration of the completion of Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 this week I wanted to post a little known hack for Streets and Trips to provide "turn beep" functionality.  Before today, this info was only known by a few on the immediate engineering team. 

Disclaimer:  This tweak applies to 2006 and 2007 products.  Any edits your registry risky and should not be attempted unless you know what you are doing. The registry editors bypass the standard safeguards provided by administrative tools. These safeguards prevent you from entering conflicting settings or settings that are likely to degrade performance or damage your system. Editing the registry directly can have serious, unexpected consequences that can prevent the system from starting and require that you reinstall Windows.  

What is a "Turn Beep"?

In addition to speaking the next turn instructions the turn beep will alert the driver with a sound at or immediately prior to the turn.   The 'ding' can be helpful to tell the driver a) that was the intersection you were supposed to turn on and you just missed it or b) that they have chosen the correct turn. 

Remember: any change is global.
The example below uses the Question event to associate with the TurnBeep.
In the Windows control panel you can change the sound associated with the various windows events but you will hear the associated sound anytime your get a question message box (for example: confirmation dialogs – “are you sure you want to….”?)

Steps:

1. Go to Start --> Run and type "regedit"
2. click OK (Registry Editor window should appear)
3. On the left pane - navigate to:
    For ST06: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Automap\13.0\USA]
    For ST07: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Automap\14.0\USA]
    Note: Autoroute users need to use EUR in place of USA
            MapPoint users need to use MapPoint instead of Automap
4. From the FILE menu choose "New --> DWORD Value"
 
5. Name it "TurnBeep"
6. Right-Click "TurnBeep" and choose "Modify"
 
7. Change Base to "Decimal"
8. Enter 32 for the value data
 
8. Click <OK>
9. Close the Registry Editor

Beep sound options:
Here are the other available value data options available for step 8 above:
Decimal Value          Result
 0                            Default "OK" beep     
 32                          Default Question sound (used in example)
 48                          Default Exclaimation sound
 64                          Asterisk sound

What if I don't like it?
Follow the same steps 1-5.  In step 6 choose "Delete" to remove the key.

Have Fun!

What are they?
Each month (usually on the 9th of the Month) users get prompted to download the monthly construction updates.  These updates are FREE and are offered to S&T and MapPoint users for several versions back.  When you create a route you'll see on the top of the itinerary pane a message to click to update your construction file.  It downloads a small .DAT file which contains all the US construction projects for the month that MS knows about.

What do they do?

First let me say what they DON'T do.  They don't block you from routing through theses areas or change your travel time.  If your route includes a road segment that has known construction on it - this is listed in the itinerary pane.

Where does the construction information come from?

Oh, how much easier it would be if there was a single provider for all such information however it is collected from hundreds or maybe thousands of regional Department of Transportation (DOT) and highway camera datastreams across the US.

In any given State there are somewhere between 6 and 30 Regional Departments each providing the construction information as soon as the project is funded. 

Why doesn't the update include the major construction going on in my neighborhood/city?

This happens from time to time for several possible reasons.  For example, maybe it was never reported to us.  Also, the construction project must last for a month or longer in that location for it to be included.  The construction information could have missed the monthly deadline to be included.  You get the idea.  Anyways, remember it is a free service.

IN STREET & TRIPS 2007 WE HAVE GIVEN ANNA A LOUDER VOICE!  :-)

There are so many ways to "pump up the volume" on your laptop even with previous versions of S&T.  I'll discuss a few of volume increasing tips to help Anna speak up.  Keep in mind that most laptops were not designed with high fidelity audio output in mind.  Many laptops have tiny speakers which are limited in the volume they can produce.  If you are having trouble with hearing the spoken instructions try these tips:

1. Crank up the levels: How? Click on "Start" then "Run..." (in XP) enter "mmsys.cpl" and click <OK>.  On the Volume tab click "Advanced..." and verify that the volume sliders for the Master and WAVE are all the way up.
2. Does your laptop have a hardware volume control?  Make sure it is turned up.  For example, I have a Toshiba M200 TabletPC and there is a thumb dial along the front edge that controls volume.  
3. Use external portable speakers.  Do a search for "USB powered speakers" and see what is available.

If any readers have speakers or other tips to increase volume please share them in comments or email them to: 

Our products (MapPoint and Streets & Trips) licenses much of its map data from NAVTEQ.  They are clearly the leaders of the map data suppliers.  You can see their logo/watermark on 100's of applications not just Streets & Trips.

This is why if you find a inaccuracy it can often times be found in other applications or websites that are using the same NAVTEQ data.

If you notice that that new subdivision in your neighborhood isn't on the map or the new highway that was extended recently is missing - tell NAVTEQ. This is the fastest and most efficient way to improve the map data.  When they fix the inaccuracy you will have helped improve Yahoo, Google, MapQuest, Window Live Local all at the time! 

Here is the link to the NAVTEQ feedback form:

http://update.navteq.com/df_form.asp?language=en&Submit=Submit