Microsoft MapPoint 2002

Installation is a breeze, and setting up the program to any user's specifications should take only a few minutes to a few hours, depending on the nature of imported data. Once it's running, MapPoint will pay for itself quickly with improved sales and marketing reports, trip planning, and projections. The interface will be intimately familiar to Office users, so importing and exporting files and data is painless. The look and feel of other Office-suite programs is preserved--the learning curve of nonstandard tools and features is quite gentle.

One extremely powerful new feature is territory creation, which allows user-defined, overlaying boundaries that are simple to create manually or compose from pre-existing data. Combining territorial categories with the vast reams of census and demographic data contained within MapPoint should yield plenty of fresh business ideas. Nonbusiness users should pick up some much cheaper trip planning software; the most expensive features of MapPoint will offer little of value to them. --Rob Lightner

Amazon.com Product Description
Microsoft MapPoint allows Microsoft Office users of any skill level, in any size organization, to easily visualize their business information, communicate key data using maps, and integrate maps into the work they do in Office. MapPoint is a business-mapping program that combines powerful mapping and analysis tools with the simplicity of Microsoft Office, enabling people to see how location makes a difference to their business.

You can pinpoint exact customer or business sites on the map throughout the U.S. and Canada; full address searching is available for over 6 million miles of road in both countries. (MapPoint Europe is available separately.) Step-by-step instructions guide you on how to create maps with your own data, applying sales information and demographic variables to a variety of map types. Make your map look how you want by defining data range, legend label, and ramp color palette. With a feature new to this version, you can associate more data to a map by adding pie and column charts to maps. MapPoint will calculate optimized routes based on imported addresses, and turn simple routes into an analysis tool by generating drive-time zones to or from specified locations.

Import customer and contact information from Microsoft Excel, Access, or Outlook to create a map of their locations. Also, create your own pushpin icons and use them on your data maps, or choose multiple symbols that best represent a series of data. Create maps that group common areas and overlay key information to these regions. The software also includes increased integration with other Office applications, including access points that make basic mapping functions easier to use. MapPoint supports data importation from Access, Excel, Outlook, or any SQL Server database.

Unless you are going to seriously use a program to analyze business needs (e.g. where customers are coming from, where you should put a store, etc.), it's not worth it. (It does make some pretty maps and graphs, though.) I would have never bought the program in the first place, but I got it as a promotional sample from Microsoft. I like it, but I will probably never use most of the data tools.

On the mapping side, it's great. Read some of the reviews over for streets and trips and you'll see what a great program it is. MapPoint does all the same things.

(For those who care, this product does not use the controversial product activation sequence as other office 2002/xp programs do.)


A Look At MapPoint 2002   June 1, 2001
spatialnews@yahoo.com (BlueWater Bay, Florida)
29 out of 36 found this review helpful

From an interview held between Glenn Letham, Managing Editor, The GeoCommunity ... and Rik Temmink Group Product Manager, and BJ Holtgrewe, Senior Product Manager Microsoft Corporation.

MapPoint, now in it's third official release, has been developed by Microsoft's 90 person development team. Temmink tells us that mapping is not really anything newto the company and that the geography team was developed in 1995 when Microsoft acquired UK based Nextbase. The team is organized around two efforts, The Core maps and mapping technologies (responsible for Expedia Maps Encarta World Atlas) and Geo applications utilizing the core maps and technologies (MapPoint, Streets & Trips in North America, AutoRoute in Europe, Pocket Streets).

Scheduled for a May 31 release, clients upgrading to MapPoint 2002 can expect to get the following out of this release: - Updated and expanded map content and demographic data - Greater map customization - Application programmability via ActiveX control, extended object model and Add-ins - Tighter integration with Office XP Particularly exciting about this release is the provisions for programmability through an extended Object Model, COM support, an ActiveX Control, and tight integration with Office XP (XP offers Context-sensitive smart tags provide speedy access to relevantinformation - more info about XP here).

Some key features of MapPoint 2002: - Over 6.4 million miles of routable roads in North America - Over 4.8 million kilometers of roads and streets in Europe - In excess of 70 measures of demographic data - Creates and licenses highest quality spatial and demographic data from - GDT, NavTech and Claritas - Create territory wizard enables users to create custom areas from existing data or manually. - Custom designed push pins - Charts on maps, including pie charts, shaded circles, and column charts. - Integrate MapPoint functionality into line of business applications and custom solutions - ActiveX control - More comprehensive object model - Improved support for COM Add-Ins - Tighter Office XP integration - Incorporate maps into everyday work - Take data from Excel, Access, Outlook or Word - Include maps in documents, email messages, presentations or newsletters - Office XP Smart Tag technology - MapPoint buttons on Office application toolbars - Users can create custome drive time zones with MapPoint 2002

When asked about the multiple versioning required for North American and European based users, Temmink notes that developers will be provided with an ActiveX control allowing users to quickly switch between US and European versions. MapPoint and custom app's are now easily customizable by taking advantage of existing VB programming skills - no custom programming skills or third party add ons are required. Like many GIS developers and map product users, I'm always curious about the data that comes bundled with software and once again it appears that a real strength in the MapPoint product lies in the data. In the North American version, more than 100,000 miles of road data have been added to the database of 6.4 million miles of streets and users will also find 3 digit zip code data now available. The most recent demographic information has been provided by Claritas and CompuSearch. In total, the product ships with an impressive 65+ gigs of compressed data! The European version is shipping with 4.8 million kilometers of roads and streets in the data base and includes address matching in all of Europe. MapPoint 2002 Europe has significantly improved data for Spain, Italy, France, and Germany.

"...Making maps is real serious for us" Rik Temmink, MapPoint Group Product Manager"


Microsoft's Copy Protection Scheme   August 20, 2002
Peter S Higgins (Malibu, CA United States)
17 out of 24 found this review helpful

I recommend you be very careful of this program. It may also use the draconian copy protection scheme of Streets & Trips 2001. It was installed on my primary workstation, and cannot be completely uninstalled no matter how you try. Microsoft puts the basic program file in a hidden directory on the drive where you keep your operating system. Windows NT and above cannot even see this directory, regardless of the settings for hidden and system files.

The only way to see it is to boot native DOS (assuming you have a dual boot system). Then you can see it by removing the hidden attributes of all files, but can do nothing to remove the files. All attempts at deleting files, directories, trees, etc. are met with "access denied". This in native DOS which isn's supposed to have such access rights to begin with.

Another example of "undocumented DOS", which Microsoft is using to keep you from "misusing" their software. In this case I uninstalled the software to put it on another computer in the house, and can't regain several hundred MB on my small DOS C partition which is already strained to hold NT alone.

If you install this program, you may likely never be able to uninstall it, or at least will never regain a lot of disk space if you stop using the program, or (heaven forbid) want to use someone elses mapping software instead.


Map Point 2002 is a tumor   July 7, 2001
ilv-mb (WA United States)
14 out of 25 found this review helpful

For no reason, Map Point went into a reinstallation seizure in much the way that Office 2000 was notorious for doing.

Every time we tried to load Outlook 2002, there would go the Map Point installation and configuration engine taking over our computer. When clicking on the cancel button, it would just start over again. Only by madly clicking away on the cancel button could we get it to stop so that we could use the PC.

We have uninstalled Map Point 2002 until Microsoft fixes its highly defective installation system.

We are also disgusted with the Microsoft registration system. It presupposes that their operating systems and the computers that they run on are totally stable and never have to be reinstalled. If you are not that exceptionally lucky, you get to waste 15-20 minutes on the phone justifying the installation of the software that you already own with a Microsoft inquisitor.

If you already have Visio 2000, Office 2000, and/or Office 97, just say NO! to this upgrade and the Microsoft invasiveness that comes with it.


MapPoint 2002 Documentation Poor   October 19, 2001
12 out of 14 found this review helpful

The program is a good idea and has potential but the documentation is very poor. Don't expect to get help from the Microsoft web page. When you call Microsoft for assistance they tell you that because you didn't buy the program as part of the office suite, they don't support it.

I still manage to get great maps but I always feel like I'm only using about 25% of the programs potential but then again, how would I know? The program also has Microsoft's goofy new validation scheme on it. You can find better software at lower prices that are easier to use.