MapPoint .NET, Microsoft's Web service that enables developers to add location-awareness to their applications, has been updated with the ability to map geographic coordinates to street addresses, provide detailed business listings, and offer other enhancements. The updated service could prove useful to carriers experimenting with location-based services for cell phone and mobile device users.

Enhancements in Version 3.0

MapPoint .NET 3.0 is the first update to the service since Microsoft made it available to the public in Apr. 2002 (version 1.0 was used by Microsoft only), and it offers the following enhancements:

Reverse geocoding. Geocoding is the ability to determine longitude and latitude from a street address, and it is already used by MapPoint .NET and other geographic information systems. MapPoint .NET 3.0 introduces the opposite functionality: the ability to determine a street address based on a set of geographic coordinates. This is particularly useful for mobile applications. For example, a wireless service provider could use a customer's cell phone signal to determine her geographic location, then use MapPoint .NET to create an application offering a street-level map with her location at the center. AT&T Wireless and Microsoft have demonstrated a product, tentatively named Enterprise Location Server, that uses MapPoint .NET to offer this type of functionality for internal corporate applications, but the companies have not yet revealed the product's details, pricing, or release date.

Detailed business listings. The new version of the service includes access to more than 16 million U.S. business listings collected by Acxiom Corporation. These listings include not only addresses, phone numbers, and geocode information for each business but also public business information, such as its Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code (a standard numerical designation that describes different types of businesses), annual sales figures, and number of employees—information very useful for applications targeting sales and marketing. For instance, a company might want to focus its sales efforts on retail outlets with less than US$10 million in annual revenues; developers could then use MapPoint .NET to create an application for mobile salespeople that located appropriate prospects within their sales territories.

Other enhancements. MapPoint .NET 3.0 also includes expanded data for several European countries; greater flexibility in rendering maps; improved driving directions; the ability to use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to secure communications between client applications and the MapPoint .NET service; and enticements for developers, such as sample applications, example code, and improved documentation.

Separately, Microsoft has completed its acquisition of Vicinity Corporation, a company that offers similar location-enabling technology. However, the new features in MapPoint .NET 3.0 were generated entirely by Microsoft, and Vicinity's products and technologies have not yet been integrated into MapPoint .NET.

Availability and Resources

Companies interested in MapPoint .NET must contact Microsoft to get a 45-day free evaluation account, which will help them decide whether per-user or per-transaction licensing makes more sense for their business. Prices, which have not gone up with version 3.0, start at US$15,000 per year.

For more details on MapPoint .NET 3.0, see www.microsoft.com/mappoint/net/overview/whatsnew.htm.

For general background on MapPoint .NET, see "MapPoint .NET Shows Way to Commercial Web Services" on page 21 of the May 2002 Update.

For background on the Vicinity acquisition, see "Location-Based Technology Company Acquired" on page 28 of the Dec. 2002 Update.