Microsoft Streets and Trips 2020 Best Alternative [video included]

Every salesperson has their favorite sales tool to get the job done efficiently. In a rapidly-evolving industry, however, a favorite tool often gets replaced by the next generation of software. 

Back in the day, everyone's favorite sales tool was Microsoft Streets and Trips, one of the most popular mapping software used by hundreds of salespeople

Wonder what happened to it and what the best alternatives are now? Let's find out!

What is Microsoft Streets and Trips?

Released in the 2000, Microsoft Streets and Trips was a mapping and routing software designed to build multi-stop routes

Boasting six million miles of maps including details such as stores, restaurants, and gas stations, it brought about the end of the road atlas as the world knew it, and was a major milestone in the evolution of traveling resources.

Streets and Trips' users loved its route optimization options for multiple stops, which allowed them to choose their preferred route based on multiple criteria (freeway, scenic route, secondary roads, etc.). Plus, routes could be changed on the fly, with no need for Internet connection.

Streets and Trips also showed useful points of interest and allowed to add ratings for businesses along the way. This was especially interesting for field salespeople, as well as the ability to add notes, phone numbers, and any other relevant information about their customers.

Yet, despite its groundbreaking features and popularity, Streets and Trips had some limitations. Software that could only be installed on PCs with a CD-ROM, Streets and Trips suffered from the technological restrictions of its time, leading to a lack of updates. 

It also was a time well before the era of mobile devices, when a lot of pre-planning was still necessary for planning sales routes. As such, Streets and Trips was lacking many of the on-the-go capabilities that today’s field sales industry demands.

Still, Microsoft Streets and Trips enjoyed tremendous popularity with salespeople, who had come to depend on its user-friendly interface and extensive maps to plan and optimize their daily sales routines.

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Is Microsoft Streets and Trips still available?

Unfortunately, Microsoft Streets and Trips is no longer available to consumers. As the saying goes — all good things must come to an end.

Streets and Trips struggled to remain competitive in the rapidly-evolving digital mapping industry. Microsoft switched focus to their search engine, Bing, with the hope that their mapping service Bing Maps could go toe-to-toe with the powerhouse of the industry, Google Maps.

Lost in the shuffle, Microsoft Streets and Trips 2013 was the last version available to the public, leaving many field salespeople without one of their most trusted and well-used resources for outside sales.

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How do I update Microsoft Streets and Trips?

Since it was discontinued, many salespeople have wondered how they could update their favorite mapping software And it’s a good question — will Microsoft Streets and Trips work on Windows 10 or any of the other latest operating systems? 

Even if one were able to make Streets and Trips on Windows 10 work, Microsoft Streets and Trips download options are unavailable, making it impossible to update. 

This left many outside sales professionals looking for the best Streets and Trips replacement.

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What is the best alternative to Streets and Trips?

After Microsoft Streets and Trips and other popular software of the time such as Microsoft MapPoint were discontinued, it left many asking, what will replace Microsoft Streets and Trips?

The answer is — Badger Maps, an app developed and refined specifically with today’s field salespeople in mind. 

Badger Maps is the best alternative to Microsoft Streets and Trips for outside sales because it’s user-friendly, easily customizable, and updated regularly with new features. 

Badger offers advanced features that sales reps and managers were looking for when Microsoft Streets and Trips was first released in 2000, such as routing, data visualization, check-ins, detailed follow-ups etc. However, Badger is optimized for modern-say selling, making it an invaluable tool for all salespeople in the field.

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What makes Badger Maps the Best Alternative To Streets and Trips?

Created with the outside sales community’s foremost needs in mind, Badger Maps enables sales route optimization, customer check-ins, and a host of other features to maximize time in the field. 

One of the biggest advantages that makes Badger the best alternative to Microsoft Streets and Trips is how easy it is to use. Badger Maps even offers new users free onboarding with Account Specialists. They’ll walk you through the app’s features, and quickly get you started on optimizing your sales routes with unlimited stops and increasing your sales numbers.

The #1 route planner for field sales in all app stores, Badger Maps is designed to solve the main problems outside salespeople face in the field — be it planning out their route at the beginning of the day, or keeping track of check-ins in order to better manage their customer relationships, Badger Maps is the all-in-one app for field sales efficiency.

Available on iOS and Android as well as PC, Badger Maps can be with you anywhere in the field, giving you easy access to customer data and optimized routes, which is perhaps the biggest upgrade from Streets and Trips of all. But it’s not just the most convenient mapping software for salespeople searching for an alternative to Microsoft Streets and Trips — it’s also the most effective.

It’s a great Microsoft MapPoint and BatchGeo alternative as well.

The best part about Badger Maps? Its selection of innovative mapping and routing features, designed to maximize field sales productivity. This includes:

• Optimized routing and scheduling
• Check-ins and follow-up reminders
• Improved customer data visualization and filtering
• Lead generation on-the-go
• Integrated team view
• Advanced reporting

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Best Alternative to Streets and Trips — Optimized Routing and Scheduling

Badger Maps makes it easy to optimize your route and plan your schedule - all in one tool. By using Badger as a multi-stop route planner, you can save hours in weekly planning by automatically generating the shortest route to all your appointments. As a result, you’ll spend more time in the field and close 20 to 25% more deals.

When in Route Mode, Badger gives you turn-by-turn directions and live traffic updates to keep you on the fastest track. Additionally, you can cut down planning time by saving routes for use at a later time. 

The route optimization feature in Microsoft Streets and Trips was cutting edge. Yet, Streets and Trips did not live to see the age of smartphones, and was only available on the computer. Badger, on the other hand, is available on the web and across all Android and iOS devices, so you can always carry your routes and customer information, even when in the field.

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Best Alternative to Streets and Trips — Check-ins and Follow-up Reminders

With Badger’s Check-ins feature you can keep track of all your client interactions as soon as they take place. 

When you create a check-in, you can log your interaction (meeting, phone call, etc.), and add date and time stamped notes of the interaction to stay organized.

If you use a CRM, all the notes you make when in the field will automatically sync to your CRM. This way,  you can have all your meeting notes on the go and never risk misplacing valuable customer information. With Badger,  what happens in the field, also happens in the office.

While Microsoft Streets and Trips was an extremely useful software, it was made for a more general market. Badger is an app dedicated to salespeople, so we know the importance of follow-ups. Studies have shown that 80% of deals need five or more follow-ups to close. Make sure you never miss a single one.

The Follow-ups feature lets you add a date for your next follow-up appointment, and set an appointment reminder. With follow-ups to keep you on track, you will never miss an opportunity simply because you forgot to contact a prospect.

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Best Alternative to Streets and Trips — Improved Customer Data Visualization and Filtering

With Badger’s Data Visualization and Filtering features, territory management is painless.

The colorize and filter features give you a smarter view of your territory and makes it easy to view your priority accounts, mass update information, and plan your future sales calls. Filters are fully customizable allowing you to visualize customers based on priority, type, next step, or any other criteria you find useful.

Using Badger’s colorize and filter features is just as easy as editing pushpins in Microsoft Streets and Trips. Badger’s advantage is that once you colorize and filter, you can immediately make your next move. Using the lasso tool, you can quickly select all the pins for which you want to create a route or mass update, with no tedious steps in between.

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Best Alternative to Streets and Trips — Lead Generation On-The-Go

Ever had a customer cancel a meeting at the last minute? With Badger’s lead generation tool 'Places', you’ll always have a back-up plan.

Places, helps salespeople cut back on idle time and find new opportunities around every corner. Whether your meeting was canceled, or you just have some time to spare, you can simply go to the Places tool, search by business category, and instantly view new leads in your selected area.

Since Streets and Trips wasn’t made keeping in view a salesperson's needs, it lacked this important feature. Street and Trips was limited to showing business reviews and ratings. Badger built on what Streets and Trips started and added this crucial lead generation tool to maximize the potential of every salesperson.

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Best Alternative to Streets and Trips — Integrated team view

Teamwork is a huge part of many people’s sales process. One of Badger’s most popular features, “My Team,” allows you to link different Badger accounts together into teams.

Both sales reps and managers can benefit from using My Team. Team View gives reps the ability to see the status of their accounts, a view of their territories, and access to team activity reports.

Managers can use Manager View, giving them access to all team member check-ins, territories, routes, and activity reports. Having this information allows managers to catch problems before they arise and get an accurate view of what’s going on in the field. Managers can also directly edit their team members’ territories and routes. 

Badger knows the importance of collaboration, so the My Team feature can be customized for field sales teams of any size.

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Best Alternative to Streets and Trips — Advanced reporting

Knowing what’s going on in the field is straightforward with Badger. Every time you make a check-in, Badger saves the information in a check-in report. The report includes account information, a timestamp of when the account was visited, and the check-in notes of that visit.

Check-in reports get automatically sent out to your inbox by Badger every Friday, but users can export their own report at any time, allowing them to view the progress they have made without having to go through each account one by one.

For reps, these reports provide the ability to track their own performance, as well as keep notes of the work completed over a given period of time.

For managers, reports help identify sales curves and trends, and allow them to build an incentive program for their reps.

Report generating was non-existent in Microsoft Streets and Trips, resulting in hours spent tending to tiresome administrative duties. Badger automatically generates reports each week, saving you time and enabling you to be more productive than ever.

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More Alternatives To Microsoft Streets and Trips

With so many mapping tools available, it makes sense to explore other options to be certain you choose the right one for you and your business needs. Here are a few additional mapping tools that are worth looking into:

Mapquest

• Price: Free
• Best for: Road Trips, Simple Routing

Launched in 1996, MapQuest was the first commercial web mapping service. This reliable software is used to create simple routes, locate businesses, and book hotels. 

MapQuest limits how many stops you can add to optimized routes, which makes it better suited for road trips and other simple routes.

Roadtrippers

• Price: Free or Plus for $29.99/year
• Best for: Road Trips, Sightseeing 

Roadtrippers is a web-based software application and mobile app designed to help travelers plan epic road trips. With Roadtrippers you can plan trips, discover unique destinations along your route, read reviews of points of interests, and calculate gas cost. 

This app is perfect for adventurers looking to enjoy the journey and not just the destination.

Mapline

• Price: $30 - $90/month, depending on the plan
• Best for: Sales/Data Visualization 

Mapline is a web-based mapping tool for territory and data visualization. By importing your data to Mapline, you can get a customized view of your customer base and use the analytical tools to plan your next steps. Additionally, you can use Mapline to create territories and build routes.

Xactly AlignStar

• Price: Only Available Upon Request
• Best for: Sales Territory Management 

Xactly AlignStar is a territory management tool that allows you to visualize and adjust territories with no hassle. Through data analysis, AlignStar enables you to rebalance territories based on your parameters, and discover new sales opportunities for your reps.

Xactly is geared towards sales managers and does not have features, such a route planning, that sales reps may be looking for.

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Try out the Best Microsoft Streets and Trips Alternative

For outside salespeople, Badger Maps is the best alternative to Microsoft Streets and Trips. Offering many of the same features that came with Microsoft’s popular mapping software, field salespeople throughout the industry have made the switch from Microsoft Streets and Trips to Badger Maps — and are loving the updated features.

Support and onboarding for new users is just a call or email away, so make the change to Badger Maps today, and empower yourself with the #1 route planner for field sales on the market.  Start your free trial today!

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Co-authors: Christina Carpio and Mitch Paglia