Streets&Trips Alternatives

I have used Delorme Street Atlas USA for years. Tried S&T one summer and didn't want to deal with the learning curve. I believe both programs are good. You'll probably like the one that you learn first. You may also want to look at Delorme's Topo North America. Millions of points-of-interest.

Richard

I use Delorme Street Atlas, and have for many years. It does have it's quirks, but all in all I imagine it works as well as most.

I use Basecamp for uploading a route to my Garmin Nuvi. I never use it to plan a route, it's too much of a PIA. When you zoom out a little, too many of the roads disappear. So you have to have it in close and then you can't see as much area. MO anyway.

Far as I know both Rand McNalley and Co-Pilot are still in production.. When I was working our office had both "Street Atlas" (Rand McNalley) and S&T depending on your work station. I liked the Rand McNalley better and that was the first mapping software I laptoped.

Alas.. I switched to S&T for other reasons (What I paid for the program WITH DONGLE, was less than Id have paid for just the dongle type reasons)

Thanks for all the comments. I do have Basecamp for my Garmin so perhaps I'll just have to get use to it down the road.

I prefer a offline program in part due to online access and delays. I also have a phone for navigation if I need it for some reason but cells can also have access and delays.

Microsoft replaced S&T with something, I forget what it's called. It is an online service, similar to Google's "My Maps". I really don't like Google's "My Maps" product - I'll still be using S&T until they rip up all the roads.

Oh, Garmin Basecamp has an automotive routing feature and it's a free program versus an online service. It's a bit quirky but might be worth a look. Best thing, if you own a Garmin navigator, you can transfer your route to it as well as downloading previous trips from the navigator.

Also tried Delorme a and found it lacking. As to the campgrounds not being up-to-date, I download from POI Factory the listing of campgrounds in the US and import them to my copy of S&T.

Still the best planning tool but I then use the GPS and local iphone apps for immediate navigation.

I figure the main roads will not change and if I'm going to a specific area I use Google Earth to see exactly what is there and even how narrow the sites are in a campground. I've also double checked to see if a site is long enough to stop and not unhook.

I'll keep watching to see who finds the next best item like S&T.

I also bought the most recent copy of Delorme. So far, it has been proved to be difficult to work with, there are spots on the maps that are totally inaccurate, with roads that mislocated completely. The particulas spot I am looking at is not new, and is completely accurate on all the online maps, as well as the last copy of S&T. And the routes it picks from point a to point b are completely ridiculous, and only suitable for a 4-wheel atv in the dry season. As for any other option, the rand-mcnally product is what all my truckdriver friends, but you are talking about $400 or more.

It seems that smartphones and stand alone gps have seriously eroded the market for laptop based gps solutions.

I currently use on-line Google maps for trip planning. I like it because I can plan the trip, save it, then bring it up on my phone to do the actual navigation.

Here's a List of laptop GPS navigation programs I found on-line. It seems like it's at least a couple of years old but you could look into some alternatives.

Bought Delome - did not like it, wasted money there I am using the goodsam online trip planner

None.

I have bought and am trying to learn to use DeLorme Street Atlas. It is really focused at setting up routes for trucking companies - and much better at setting up smaller repetitive routes.

Unfortunately in my opinion - the future is on-line with an account with Google Maps or something similar.

I seriously doubt there will ever be anything as flexible, as customizable, as useful as S&T - even with it's few quirks.

The RV market is simply too small to justify the expense of developing a standalone program like S&T and buying all the base data necessary to make it useful.

The 'good news' is that S&T 2013 will be useful as long as you own your current computer, and likely the next one.

We will have to do some more research for new highways, updated interchanges in major cities. I do use DeLorme for that.

We will soon have to start verifying the campgrounds are still open, etc.

But the basics of the highway network are not going to change for decades - so S&T will still be the best tool to sit down on a winter evening and plan/dream about trips for next summer, especially if you are at a campground without an internet connection.