Delorme Mapping Street Atlas USA 2005

Rating:
Summary: Inexcusable Oversights
Review: As a long time Delorme Street Atlas user, I have always been bothered by the inability of the program to export route directions. The user has always been limited to a "quick print" in a small font that is extremely difficult to read. Thus, when the 2005 version boasted the ability to copy route directions to the user's clipboard, I was delighted. However, in actual use the feature has serious problems in that doesn't do a complete copy . . omitting at least one key column--distance traveled.

Another issue is that the program doesn't remember view settings. Thus, if like me the user likes to have "map center cross hair" showing, it's necessary to set this up on each new map . . . very annoying, especially since previous editions remembered the setting.

The shame is that these issues were brought to Delorme's attention early on, and could easily have been addressed with a service pack. Unfortunately, the company doesn't seem at all concerned with customers' complaints.

Rating:
Summary: Upgraded from the 2004 version and like this one very much
Review: I have been using the 2004 version of this program for about 5 months before I finally upgraded to this version. On my P2/250 laptop it runs slowly, but not nearly as slow as the 2004 version did. I just purchased a GPS device for it and love how it integrates with it. I travel extensively in my job and having the GPS feature makes finding where I'm going very easy.

There are some inaccuracies with the POI's as others have stated, but they aren't so far off that you couldn't find them with a little looking around. At least with them marked on the maps you get a very good idea where they are.

Web based maps are good to have, but when you have to travel to several locations in a day its impossible for me to get online to find where I'm going. With this in my vehicle I can get where I'm going anywhere in the country with just a little typing and a few mouse clicks. I recommend this program to anyone looking for a mapping program, especially if you have a GPS device to find where you are and where/when you have to make your next turn.


Rating:
Summary: Delorme uses cheap trick
Review: I have had Street Atlas 2003 for 2 years and wouldn't have had a bad word to say about it until Jan 1, 2005. All of a sudden, my Street Atlas 2003 wouldn't load. Being suspicious by nature, I set my computer date back to 2004 and it loaded fine. WHAT A CHEAP (and easily defeated) TRICK. I'm sure there's no coincidence that this happens just when all the Street Atlas 2005 solicitations arrive in the mail. The truth is, not much changes in this database, so you don't have to upgrade very often...UNLESS YOU ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO CHEAP TRICKS!!!!!!!!

UPDATE: I received this reply back from Delorme. It would have been nice to get this notice in the solicitations for Street Atlas 2005, but better late than never. As I said above, I really like the product, but I still question this tactic:

Dear William,

Most DeLorme mapping applications use the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) magnetic declination file to perform various functions within the applications. On December 16, 2004, NOAA released a new version of the file that will make the previous version (which was released with most DeLorme mapping applications) obsolete. The new file will go into effect on January 1, 2005. If you do not install the update on this page by that date, the Find and Route tabs within your DeLorme mapping software may not function correctly.
The update can be downloaded before or after January 1, 2005. Once downloaded, it will automatically update every DeLorme mapping application that is installed on your system (you do not need to install the update multiple times). The link with the necessary information is enclosed.

http://update.delorme.com/

Regards,

The DeLorme Sales Team


Rating:
Summary: Poor Northern Virginia Data
Review: I have used Delorme products for a number of years and love the features. The 2005 Street Atlas is a little slow to start, but still nice to work with.
BUT!!! they seem to have spent their time on "features" and not updating the database. I live in Northern Virginia and was very disapointed with this release.
Street Atlas 2005 is headed for Ebay and I cringed as I installed
*#**#.

Rating:
Summary: DATA NOT UP TO DATE
Review: I travel on the road all the time and I use my GPS and laptop to find my way around. I would have to say that the software that comes with the Garmin GPS is a hundred times more accurate and useful.

I have found that many of the roads in Street Atlas were labeled wrong or just plain drawn wrong. There is a lot of old information and not updated regularly. I live in a neighborhood that was built almost ten years ago and in Street Atlas 2004 it still didn't have my neighborhood in it and I live near a major city.

I can't recommend this software for other than very basic information. You can get a paper map that will work better.

Rating:
Summary: Never get lost again!
Review: I'm not the greatest remembering maps, so when I got a USB GPS receiver, I was psyched. Granted, at that time I didn't have any software, but I didn't know that. So I went out and got Street Atlas, which happened to be the first piece of navigation software I found. That was version 2004. I've been hooked ever since. I used to get lost in downtown Buffalo all the time, now I don't get lost anymore. I loved 2004 so much I got 2005 and it is a big improvement. The user interface is much easier than in 2004 (and in 2004 it was EASY, and I mean super-EASY). You can install the entire continental United States and fit it comfortably on your hard drive and map out a trip from one end of the country to the other and get there without getting lost. For those techie people like me who get lost all the time, this program is like a godsend. You can even print out directions on your desktop and e-mail them, give them to friends, so on and so forth without a GPS receiver!

Rating:
Summary: Slooowwww....
Review: I've used the older Street Atlas 7.0 for about five years and have been really happy with it. I use it on the home machine for planning and on the laptop with a GPS for traveling. My gripes have been minor, some small annoying errors in the database and its refusal to remember my settings when I exit. I upgraded because DeLorme offered a discount and I figured in five years they might have fixed those annoyances.

The annoyances remain, and this version is glacially slow. Twenty two seconds to load (three in 7.0), fifteen seconds to search for an address (1-2 in 7.0). Likewise panning and zooming is slower. This product is promoted as "faster", and other reviewers confirm that it is, compared to 2004. I pity anyone using that version. I was going to complain that "Find" stopped working a month ago until I read about the geomagnetic update thingy from another reviewer. That fixed my problem, but now my complaint is: Why didn't DeLorme tell me about it. They certainly have my mail addresses, both e- and snail-, as evidenced by all the promotions they send me.

The maps are prettier and easier to read once you get used to them. The user interface is entirely different, resembling an old version of TopoUSA that I have. I guess the new one is better, but for me not worth all the relearning.

I've returned to using the old version.

Rating:
Summary: GPS works great BUT map functionality lacking
Review: I'ved worked with Microsoft's Streets and Trips and the Delorme Mapping Street Atlas. The panning, zooming in and zooming out functionality is an order of magnitude better in Streets and Trips than Delorme's Mapping Street Atlas. I also like the mapping details in Streets and Trips better. There are more points of interest in Streets and Trips and the "directions" function is also much much easier to use.

I found the Delorme product generally cumbersome to use by comparison to Streets and Trips which worked elegantly and seamlessly.

The GPS receiver OTOH worked fantastic! It locked on to the satellites quickly and provided excellent real time location on the map. Despite the wonders of the GPS receiver however I still found the program awkward and difficult to use compared to Streets and Trips.

Honestly, I cannot envision any application for which this program would offer any significant advantage over Streets and Trips.

Now I realize I sound like a Microsoft shill. Believe me, I am not. Nothing would have pleased me more than if this product blew the drawers off the Microsoft product. But, unfortunately, this just wasnt' the case.

Overall this program was a disappointment.


Rating:
Summary: Inaccuracies of no concern to publisher
Review: If, and it is a big IF, you never encounter any inaccuracies with this product, it is an acceptable product. On the other hand, if you encounter one, and you contact the publisher about it, expect to be ignored. In my case, I attempted to route a trip from Tok, AK to Destruction Bay, CAN. I was routed many miles in a round about fashion. I tried to use the Draw function to introduce the most direct route but that failed also. The response from Tech Support was that I could return it for a refund if I had owned it 30 days or less. So, buyer beware!

Rating:
Summary: Terrible accuracy
Review: In some areas the software worked great, but in others it was off by hundreds of feet, showing me on totally different streets. Around my house it was consistently off by 800 feet and displayed my position one street away.

This is not due to the GPS receiver. The receiver gives the right coordinate data. If you plot that data by hand on the map you will be positioned wrong. This indicates that the maps are not calibrated right.

Tech support was worthless. All they tell you is that you can return it before 30 days. Of course, you're still out the tax and the cost of sending it back.

Do not buy this product until they have fixed the maps. Consider yourself warned.