With the 2004 year products the Thomas Guide DE is now known as the Street Guide Digital Edition. The program is the same (with some new features).

Do you have a Macintosh version of the Street Guide DE?

No, there are no plans to create a Macintosh version.

Are the maps based on magnetic north projection or true north?

True north.  A map projection is a formula by which streets and points on the surface of the earth are located on a map.  The cartographers at Rand McNally have developed a custom set of projections that are used for all Street Guide Digital Edition s.

All projections distort the direction and shape of lines and areas on the curved surface of the earth by displaying the lines and areas as flat.  Occasionally the direction of the roads is slightly tilted.  This is noticeable when the roads are straight and are laid out along north-south and east-west lines.   True north will be slightly different from straight up on the page.

I have installed the Street Guide Digital Edition, but receive a “Win32 Exception Error” the first time I run it.  What causes this?

Errors on startup can occur for any of the following conditions exist:

Norton AntiVirus Live Update or Norton AutoProtect are enabled.

Other anti-virus or scanning software is running.
Other software applications that might be in conflict with the installation program.

Solution: Follow the install procedures described here.

Does the CD have to be in the CD-ROM drive to run?

Yes. The Street Guide Digital Edition  does not need to be in the CD-ROM drive in order to operate, although the Street Guide Digital Edition must be in the drive when loading the program and switching data sets.

If your company has a need to operate Street Guide Digital Edition without the CD-Rom, please contact Rand McNally and ask for the Business Development Group. They will be able to discuss licensing costs and issues with you.

Can Street Guide Digital Edition be setup to operate on a network?

No. The Street Guide Digital Edition is designed as a desktop mapping application only.

When switching between data sets the map display is blank.  Why does this happen and how do I correct this?

Click the PageFinder button.

Street Guide Digital Edition Crashes or locks up when it loads .

The cause of these errors is most likely a problem with your video card or video driver. Street Guide Digital Edition places relatively large demands on the video resources and some low-end card/driver combinations are not able to handle it. Updating your video driver can usually resolve the problem:

a. Identify the video card your computer uses and record this information.

b. Go to your computer manufacturer's website. Find the driver download section.

c. Download the updated video driver for your computer/video card combination.

d. Follow their install instructions for updating the video driver.

After installing the Street Guide Digital Edition, when attempting to run the program it shows the splash screen and freezes, or When moving the splash screen, I see an error message stating that "An unsupported operation has been attempted".  Upon closing the message, another dialog occurs stating "Failed to create empty document".  What should I do?

First uninstall and reinstall Street Guide Digital Edition using the procedures here. If that does not work contact Thomas Bros. Technical Support at TGDESUPPORT@thomas.com.

Does the Street Guide Digital Edition offer cross street lookups?

Yes

Are there any known hardware conflicts with the Street Guide Digital Edition?  If so, what are they?

Yes, we have found a few cases where the video display adapter cannot properly render the Street Guide DE maps. This happens on some older laptop computers.

a. Toshiba models 780,660,440-490 have Neomagic display adapters and do not work with Street Guide DE. Updating to the newest available video drivers does not help. There is no known workaround.

b. Toshiba models later than 780(any make) have Trident video cards, and can usually be made to work with Street Guide DE. You must change the video driver (the program that runs the video card) to Trident Super VGA.

c. All tested versions of Silicon Integrated Systems and Neomagic display adapters fail to work with Street Guide DE. Updating to the most recent drivers does not help. There is no known workaround.

To find out what type of display adapter your computer has, click on Start Programs, then Settings, then Control Panel. Select Display. Select the Settings tab, then Advanced. The video driver model should be listed (those steps may vary slightly depending on your operating system).

How do I rename a User Point?

The query window provides an interface to change point information.
                        a.    Verify that the "query window" is displayed by selecting "Query Bar" from the "View" menu.
                        b.    With the query/select tool, click on the point location.
                        c.    Double-click in the "name" field of the query window. It may take a second to “take”.
                        d.    Highlight over the existing text.
                        e.    Type in desired name and hit "Enter".

Do I have to have internet access to run the program?

No.  Although the Street Guide Digital Edition relies on Internet Explorer components in order to run, and Internet Explorer must be installed, internet access is not required in order to make use of the basic functions of the Street Guide Digital Edition. You do need it in order to download ZIP codes and Census data from the Map Exchange.

How do I recall downloaded map layers once I've downloaded them?

From the "File" menu, select "Open", double-click "cache" where you will find your downloaded map layer files.  Just double-click the desired file

How can I print a larger area with all street detail.

What you see in the map window on the screen is always what will print. As you zoom out the street detail is removed. Elimination of street detail at higher zoom levels is a neccessary design of the program due to performance issues.

What is the "ToolBox" product and what capabilities will it provide?

Check here for a full list of its features.

Why is it necessary for Street Guide Digital Edition to install Internet Explorer?

The Street Guide Digital Edition requires some Internet Explorer components. In order to be certain that they are all present and to meet Microsoft's redistribution requirements, the full Internet Explorer must be installed. This is only an issue for Windows 95 users, or for individuals who have uninstalled Internet Explorer from their computer.

The program will not accept my serial number.

Restart the installation, and enter the serial number in this format: ###-###-###. That is, 3 sets of 4 characters separated by a dash.

I have lost my serial number, or it will not accept my serial number when entered correctly. What can I do?

Contact Street Guide Digital Edition technical support for a new valid serial number.

In the "Address Lookup Can't Find Your Street Name" form, I am unable to use the Limit to County, City, or ZIP feature. It does not display a list of the streets.

This is a known problem with some editions which will be fixed in a future update.

How do I create custom marker symbols?

The markers used for User Points on the map are Enhanced Windows Metafiles (EMF) files. You will need an EMF editor to create them. For best results, copy an existing Street Guide Digital Edition marker and use it as a template.

My installation seemed to be ok but I don’t see any text on the map. What’s wrong?

Either you are not zoomed in far enough, or there is a problem with the installed fonts. The fonts could have become corrupted or not get loaded. Reboot the computer, then start Street Guide Digital Edition. If that does not solve the problem, reinstall the application.