Installing Streets & Trips is simple, and working from its database of locations and maps is speedy. The package offers more than 800,000 points of interest. Note that this number includes ATMs, gas stations, hotels, rest areas, colleges, and golf courses, as well as restaurants, museums, and galleries. And while the maps extend to worldwide proportions, youre most likely to find the 6.4 million miles of road in the U.S. and Canada the most useful.

One of the newer and more attractive features of the Streets & Trips package is its GPS (global positioning system) capabilities. This requires a GPS device (such as your handheld, a palmtop computer, or a straight GPS device) that supports NMEA 2.0 or higher. A free download from the Microsoft site will have you ready to store all your trip data in your GPS device of choice.

Getting started is fairly straightforward: simply enter your starting address and your final destination. Adding side trips and stops along the way is easy, as is reordering your stops. After youve charted your course, you have five options for printing, including a zoomable map, point-by-point directions, and, of course, mileage between exits. You can also opt for Web output and allow your friends and family to chart your course as you progress.

Our favorite feature in this package is the customization capability. To get Streets & Trips to suggest when to stop for gas or a stretch break, simply tell it your preferences. By entering your cars average miles per gallon (in both city and highway) and your preferred driving speed, you can elect to include gas breaks on your itinerary.