Chris,

<<If you change the map display to "Data Map" and turn off the map layers, the route line is displayed very clearly.>>
Great suggestion.

<<So clearly in fact, that if you cut and paste to an image buffer, it's fairly straightforward to determine the straight line that runs through the center of the route line in pixel coordinates. And since you're analyzing the image buffer, there's no impact on the map redrawing and flashing.>>
I've been thinking about a solution like this. I thought about saving the map as a jpg image, but I suppose copy paste is faster.

<<We've been holding off until the MP 2004 release before coding, just to make sure that methods haven't been introduced to make all the preceding unnecessary.>>
I believe it is in MapPoint.Net, so maybe it will be in 2004 also. Just a few weeks and we'll know.

Thanks,

Nico