MapPoint GIS Software Extended

The new version of Microsoft’s entry-level geographic information system (GIS), MapPoint 2001, should reach retail stores in April. Designed for use with Office, MapPoint 2001 introduces new routing and navigation features, improves address mapping, and adds coverage for Canada and major European countries.

MapPoint and the GIS Market

A GIS lets users create maps that chart geographically organized data, frequently demographic data. MapPoint is a GIS designed for business users. Typical uses for MapPoint might include:

• Charting family income data on a map of the United States to pick the best target areas for a national mailing campaign
• Mapping a company’s distribution centers and major customer postal codes to help plan shipments of items
• Plotting sales growth for a retail chain by store location to decide where to locate new stores
• Pinpointing the address of a customer who calls a customer service hotline, to find the nearest service center to that customer

Microsoft-which according to industry analyst Daratech hasn’t yet broken into the list of top ten vendors in the US$845 million GIS software market-says it’s aiming at different users than a typical GIS. In general, GIS users are large companies that can pay US$1,500 per seat or more for GIS software, buy their own map and demographic data, and hire expert cartographers to stitch it all together. MapPoint, in contrast, provides a relatively inexpensive collection of prepackaged maps and data that nonspecialist users can apply immediately. “When you open up MapPoint, it shows you a map,” notes Microsoft technical evangelist B. J. Holtgrewe, “many GIS products don’t.”