This is a feature of Outlook that I really appreciate. If you have your contact information, including addresses stored within Outlook, you can easily get driving directions from the MapPoint Web site.

Once Outlook is open, click on your Contacts folder. Double click the contact that you want to find driving directions to. From the General tab, you will see an address field. As long as you have the contact’s address typed in, you can get driving directions. From the Actions menu, click Display Map of Address.

Internet Explorer will immediately connect you to the MSN MapPoint Web site and give you the directions to the address. I have used this feature for contacts in both the United States and Canada. So if you want to save yourself some driving time, use this feature of Outlook to find out where you’re going before you actually go.

MSN MapPoint version 2.0 includes the following new features:

• New map data. MSN MapPoint has updated map data for the globe from a variety of distinguished information providers.

• Expanded search ability. MSN MapPoint now includes the ability to search addresses for Canada and 11 Western European countries in addition to the United States.
• Ability to save maps and directions to a Pocket PC.
• Route highlighting. MSN MapPoint now highlights routes on maps with driving directions.
• Turn-by-turn map with driving directions. MSN MapPoint now gives users a turn-by-turn map with driving directions so they can better visualize their journey.
• Fine-tuned user interface. The MSN MapPoint user interface was refined based on usability tests and user feedback.