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Welcome to GISWeekly! MapPoint 2006 was recently released, building upon the success of its predecessor, MapPoint 2004. All the functionality of 2004 is in the new release, plus a number of new features. Read about it in this week's Industry News.

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Susan Smith, Managing Editor

Industry News

MapPoint 2006 Targets the Mobile Professional

by Susan Smith

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MapPoint 2006 was recently released, building upon the success of its predecessor, MapPoint 2004. All the functionality of 2004 is in the new release, plus a number of new features.

Robust features focus on getting from the desktop to mobile, so, as Alex Daley, technical evangelist for Microsoft, explained, MapPoint 2006 is both an application for the business professional and the mobile professional, extending beyond the core data visualization functionality that characterized the previous version.

One of the primary new features is the data visualization tool, which includes the ability to use the map and the GIS information in order to make quicker, faster, better decisions. One of the more obvious uses for MapPoint 2006 is as a powerful tool for businesses who want to gain some insight into their data and make decisions regarding placement of their new offices or retail establishments based upon this knowledge.

can export that back into Excel," demonstrated Daley.

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territories." Even if you're not doing it in pre-set territories and if you want to see sales by state or city in a particular area, you can see projected growth in certain areas. and can use this information to learn how to better deploy your sales force, or how to engage with accounts, etc.

"Because of the data management I can make simpler decisions, and have this experience on the go. I can have hundreds or thousands of territories and import any type of data I want, can import shaded areas, zip codes or census data, population density, etc., and can add multiple layers."

The Location Finder tool is great for those who might be in a city for business, who want to schedule meetings and places to eat near their hotel. The Locate me tool uses your WI-FI signal to geolocate you without the use of a GPS!

There are 4.6 million pieces of point-of-interest information available for search on the map. Pockets Streets allows you to make custom maps in MapPoint and export them to your mobile device. "Once I've got a location, I can actually use MapPoint 2006 to calculate the route to actually get directions to the location but also, to act as a navigation application now," said Daley. With this feature you can type in the names of restaurants, coffee shops, meeting locations that you might need during your day, and plan out a route using the GPS tracking.

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higher sensitivity in the GPS that works inside a car, and in very dense urban areas."

It is also possible to start the GPS tracking with full tracking and to arrange the map view automatically, and also the rotated heads-up view to watch it go as a north facing orientation using the driving guidance functionality. W hat this means that as the car turns, the map will turn. You can create GPS trail data so you can track the route that you've driven. Also included are voice prompted directions so you can turn them on and off as needed, and repeat the instructions.

This tool provides you with full turn by turn navigation guidance as well as data visualization, and enterprise data management capability.

"It will detect when you're off route and will allow you to recalculate the route from there," Daley said "If I see a traffic jam ahead I can pull up a new route from the off route location. I can also skip stops, move ahead to my end destination. If I decide not to stop for coffee I can just keep on going and recalculate my route from there. It supports full multi waypoint routing so I can put in 10-30 destinations if I wanted to plan out whole days' activities, en route from one to another."

Another very cool feature is the ability to explore the location to which you're going in more depth. You can see what the restaurant you're going to looks like by hitting the button on the toolbar for

Windows Live Local (Live Local is not incorporated directly into MapPoint, but the "show in Windows Live Local link" works completely offline and online) and it will bring up a visual of the restaurant.

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Daley said that MapPoint has the same trip guide information that you find in other packages which include distances and journey durations, but it also includes cost estimations and highway construction information. Highway construction updates can be downloaded free and connect out to Microsoft's web service. This information can help drivers to avoid unnecessary delays.

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-- Susan Smith, GISCafe.com Managing Editor.