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Q1: What is Microsoft MapPoint 2004?
Microsoft® MapPoint® 2004 business mapping software combines powerful mapping and analysis tools with the simplicity of Microsoft Office. MapPoint enables users to visually analyze and effectively communicate their business information.
Designed for everyday business use, MapPoint allows users to easily locate and illustrate points on maps, integrate maps into Microsoft Office documents, and quickly identify business trends on a map, with either the user’s own data or up-to-date, detailed demographic information.
Q2: What is New in Microsoft MapPoint 2004?
Microsoft MapPoint 2004 North America contains nearly twice the demographic data as the previous version and, for the first time in MapPoint, a set of consumer purchase behavior data.
Users can map data by state, county, metropolitan statistical area, ZIP code and census tract for the United States; and by province, forward sortation area (FSA), census division and census subdivision for Canada. Many variables are available for the periods 1990, 2000 and the current year, making it easy to analyze geographic and demographic trends over time.
Q3: What are the main reasons to upgrade to MapPoint 2004?
MapPoint 2004 is valuable for current users of the product for the following reasons: Spatial data (roads, postal code boundaries, etc.), points of interest and demographic information change continually. MapPoint 2004 offers updated and additional coverage for the maps and demographics, location information, and business listings.
MapPoint 2004 offers additional ways to visualize data on maps and greatly improved customizability. MapPoint 2004 features nearly 300 demographic and consumer profile variables for the United States and Canada from new and up-to-date data supplied by AGS, Simmons and Compusearch. In addition, Microsoft provides an additional 45 country-level variables.
MapPoint 2004 continues to support GPS functionality, including extension of GPS capabilities to Pocket Streets; real-time location information through connection with a GPS device every second; and compatibility with a greater number of GPS devices.
Q4: How does MapPoint 2004 integrate with Office applications?
MapPoint 2004 is a stand-alone application in Office XP. However, it does enable users to seamlessly import data from Office XP applications such as Access, Excel or the Outlook® messaging and collaboration client, and easily copy, paste and embed maps into work they are doing in the PowerPoint® presentation graphics, Word or Publisher applications.
MapPoint also enables users to geographically select information from maps that can be exported to Excel spreadsheets for further analysis or use. MapPoint smart tags recognize geographic information in the user’s office document, and a MapPoint button is added to the toolbar in the Office applications. These tools allow users to insert a map and driving directions easily, and create maps from their data without leaving the Office application.
Q5: What are some uses of MapPoint 2004?
MapPoint is an ideal business mapping companion to Microsoft Office and is useful to anyone who wants to quickly and effortlessly locate important business information on a map or analyze geographical aspects of their business. Microsoft research estimates that 80 percent of all data has a spatial component. Creative uses for the product include these:
• Targeting new customers
• Penetrating new markets
• Identifying business trends using the geographic aspects of data
• Visualizing geographic information in reports, presentations and on the Web
Q6: Who benefits from using MapPoint 2004?
Three primary groups of customers are likely to benefit the most from utilizing MapPoint 2004:
• Business managers, such as business analysts or managers in marketing, sales, operations or finance departments, want to better understand their business performance, identify risks and opportunities, and analyze customers and competitors.
• Client-oriented professionals, such as account managers, delivery coordinators, service technicians and real estate agents, need to quickly find locations and addresses on a map, as well as create customized maps with this information to include in documents, presentations or brochures.
• Corporate developers and IT professionals can use MapPoint to create custom solutions that support various activities within a company. Independent software vendors and solution providers also find MapPoint to be a unique solution for embedding in customer applications and solving customers’ needs.
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