I purchased this product thinking that after using and enjoying MS Streets and Trips (since 2001), that this would be a step up. I was also looking for additional features that I knew were a bit weak in the Streets and Trips product. Boy, was I surprised. Not only is the product, no better than the Streets and Trips product, but the maps for small Canadian cities (ie.,populations of 35,000 to 100,000) were so out of date they were useless. Where I had hoped to use the enhanced features of MapPoint in my business, the abyssmal road maps made the product useless. I had hoped to also track the location of our deliveries to customers within the city and surrounding towns. Again, this was not possible due to the fact that the maps were at least 3 to 4 years out of date. Had I paid only $39.99 to $59.99 for the product, I may have kept it for use when I travel to the U.S., but for $400, I returned to product within the week (the very first Microsoft product I have ever been dissappointed with). MapPoint 2004 is a very, very marginal product and most definitely not worth paying $400 or even half that price, given the poor map qualities.

I'm really dissappointed in Microsoft and their lack of attention to details and accuracy for Canadian towns and cities. Unless you are using it for U.S. locations only, do NOT purchase this product. Having said this, I continue to purchase a lot of Microsoft products,(I continue to use MS Streets and Trips), but this purchase proves that even Microsoft can put out a dud.

I wouldn't pay $2.69 let alone $269.00!!!! for this dreadful program. It is NOT user friendly. The data mapping is worthless. This program makes Street Atlas 2004 (mediocre mapping program) look like the best thing since sliced bread.

Don't waste your money!

For many years, I've used the Microsoft Map feature of Excel. It's a great little tool that only does a few things but served its purpose well, and on occasion even justified using Excel rather than SPSS or some other data-management tool.

Then came OfficeXP, with an Excel version from which Microsoft has stripped that Mapping tool. Now I have to pay hundreds of dollars and gets lots of data I don't want or need (and could find much of on the web anyway)? No thank you.

Time to find an alternative...

If you used Mappoint 2002, you will be very comfortable with 2004 as the interface is identical. The biggest upgrade is the updates to the street maps themselves - although it is still not perfect. I live in a fast-growing suburb of Cincinnati, and Microsoft still missed a major huge street that was actually built in 2002!?! Oh well, it IS Microsoft after all, perfection should not be expected. At least you can't get a virus through this program! I think...

THE GOOD: Other upgrades/changes include 2002 Census update data, and a whole bunch of new data fields that can be mapped thematically. These are consumer-oriented demographics, like households with internet access, computers, etc. There are a lot of statistics on avg. household expenditures (movies, clothing, furniture, food, etc.) Another nice upgrade is the ability to print maps almost edge-to-edge, getting rid of that stupid huge amount of white space at the bottom that took up 25% of your page real estate. There are more pushpins, and it is supposedly easier to import new pushpins (I have not tried that.)

THE BAD: Mappoint 2002 had census data projections for 2005; this version has no projections for anything, 2002 is as current as you are going to get. No upgrades that I have been able to see with respect to territory mapping, they still have the same small (and ugly) selection of colors to shade your territories. Data is still mapped at the census tract level or higher - if you need block group level fuggedaboudit. Data import options seem to be unchanged as well.

THE BOTTOM LINE: If Mappoint 2002 floated your boat, this is a required upgrade just to get updated roads. If the older version didn't have the flexibility or features, you probably should be looking at coughing up the dough for Arcview by ESRI. For a real comprehensive list of all the updates and changes, go to the Mappoint home page on Microsoft's web site.