One way to answer the "Are we there yet?" question is to know exactly how far you have to go, and how much longer you'll be on the road. Streets & Trips automatically calculates your estimated drive time when you plan your trip. And if you're using it with a GPS device while you're on the road, the drive time is automatically updated as you travel.

Another way to make travel time more enjoyable is to plan breaks as you go. Stopping for a meal or to enjoy the local sites can make a long trip more pleasant, for both the driver and the passengers! Read on to learn how Streets & Trips can make road trips less stressful and more fun.

Before you leave - Calculate driving time and distance

One way to make travel more relaxing is to plan ahead – not just your route, but the types of roads you prefer to travel, how fast you'll be driving, how far you want to go between stops.

To calculate your driving time and distance:

1. Select Route Planner from the Standard toolbar.
2. Enter your starting point in Type Place or Address and click Add.
3. Enter your destination Type Place or Address and click Add.
4. Click on More Options to set driving preferences or enter fuel costs, then click OK.
5. Click Get Directions.

Your route Summary will automatically display your driving distance, driving time, and estimated fuel cost.

Plan stops and breaks along the way using Find Nearby Places

Did you know that Streets & Trips contains more than 1.6 million points of interest, including hotels, historical sites, national parks, restaurants, and ATMs? You can use points-of-interest information to quickly find destination attractions and new local sights, or plan short stops along your route.

To find places near your route or a point on the Map:

1. Select a point on the map.
2. On the Standard toolbar, click Find Nearby Places.
3. In the Find Nearby Places pane, in the Search box, type or select the radius for your search.
4. In the Around list, select what the search should be centered on.
5. In the Sort list, select whether you want to see the results listed in alphabetical order (by name) or by distance (how far they are) from the selected point on the map.
6. Click Search to display a list of nearby places.
7. Click a place name in the results list to see its location on the map.

Tips

• Use ZIP codes or postal codes for the most precise results.
• Include state names to reduce search times.
• Do not include an apartment, suite, post office box number, or rural route address in the street address. Also, do not use fractions (for example, if the address is 654-1/2 Carlson Street, type 654 Carlson St).
• If you are unsure about how to spell a street or city name, type the closest approximation.
• To find an intersection, type two street names separated by an ampersand (&). For example, type Beach St & Hyde St, San Francisco.
• Avoid using abbreviations in place names (for example, use Fort instead of Ft).
• Separate the place name, city, and state or province with commas. For example, type Pike Place Market, Seattle, WA.

Connected to the Internet? Try Live Search to find more places.

If you can connect to the Internet, you can find even more places to import into your travel plan. All you have to do is use the Live Search functionality built into Streets & Trips 2009.

To use Live Search

1. On the Standard toolbar, click Live Search.
2. In the What box, type or select the business or category to search.
3. In the Where box, type or select the city, address, or landmark to search, and then click the Find button. If more than one location is found, a list appears in the Find dialog box.
4. Click the desired location in the list, and then click OK.

Note: You can search for any category in any location in the U.S. or Canada — for example, pizza restaurants in Memphis — regardless of the visible map area. You can also use the What and Where boxes separately.

Want to back-track? GPS Locator can help!

If you're using your own GPS device, or Streets & Trips with GPS Locator, retracing your route is easy and automatic. Here's how to have Streets & Trips create a GPS trail of your trip:

1. In the GPS pane, select the Start GPS Tracking check box.
2. Select the Create GPS Trail check box.

Note: With this check box selected, the map display will update as you move to show a visual record of your route. If you save the map, the trail will be saved as well.

To view the latitude and longitude coordinates of your current location, open the GPS pane. Your latitude and longitude appear to the left of the compass.

Note: You can also see your latitude and longitude in the GPS Sensor dialog box, even when the GPS pane is closed. To have the GPS Sensor dialog box open automatically if the GPS pane is closed:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. On the GPS/Navigation tab, select the Show GPS sensor when pane is closed check box, and then click OK.

Tips

• If you prefer, use the Tools menu to change GPS options by pointing to GPS, and then clicking a command on the submenu.