Would you like to know where to put the new store - without having to hire experts? Would you like to reassign sales territories to reflect changing demographics? Do you want to track cable routes, tax parcels, land-use zones, utilities or facilities?
MapInfo lets you do all that. And it's so easy to use, anyone can become an expert in a day.Basically, MapInfo is a special kind of database - one that can show data on a map as well as a graph. There are versions for Macintosh and IBM compatibles (either MS DOS or Windows). It's used by federal bureaus, utilities, insurance, banks - and many other businesses, big and small, that analyze location-related data. A big-city police department uses MapInfo to analyze crime patterns and assign traffic and crowd-management patrols. A Realtor checks availabilities in various locations for clients.
Each version comes with a selection of ready-to-use U.S. maps. In addition, the maker sells thousands of add-on street maps for the United States and parts of Canada. We tested the Windows version on our fast ALR 386. An excellent tutorial and sample data files taught us to use the program in a few hours. About two dozen simple tools helped us move around in the maps. We zoomed out instantly to a worldwide level or in to a square one-hundredth of a mile wide.
The first problem the program tackled was where to take our favorite client to lunch. Zooming in to a map of San Francisco and loading a street-name file, the program quickly marked where the client's office is. Then, loading a sample data file of San Francisco restaurants grouped by cuisine, we had the program place boxes on the map to show all Chinese restaurants. In a second, we could find the Chinese restaurant nearest to our client's office.
Another learning task was to find the best place to locate two new automatic teller machines. Following instructions, we told the program to load a data file of customer addresses. In seconds, it put an X at each address. We `picked up' another tool, a radiusmaker, and set it on a spot on the map. As we moved the tool, the program told us how big a radius we were making. We decided half a mile was the biggest we wanted. A dialogue box showed how many customers we were capturing with that radius, and each captured customer's X turned red for emphasis. In under three minutes, we saw the best place to put those teller machines.
The program can layer lots of data files. Both IBM and Mac versions of the program can read any 1-2-3 and Excel data files; the IBM versions also read dBASE and ASCII files. MapInfo's add-on StreetInfo programs provide detailed street maps for any county in the United States. A number of software companies, including MapInfo, sell demographic files from the 1980 federal Census Tracts and Block Groups.
They also sell 3-digit and 5-digit zip-coded maps. In addition, MapInfo sells StatInfo, a line of programs that show population, income, and market survey data. Each of their files comes coded with longitudinal and latitudinal data for each record, so they show up right on MapInfo's digitized maps without any street-address translation needed from the program.
Banks can use StatInfo to check regional real-estate appraisals. Marketers can compare population trends with data that show relative buying power.
To add to its versatility, the program also comes with tools for drawing your own maps and editing ready-drawn maps. (The Mac version works with digitizers.) It also lets you type in data files from scratch. A graphmaker, included, creates and prints graphs from either imported or self-made databases.
You can open windows to see all three elements onscreen at once: database, graph and map. If you change any data in one window, it changes in all windows. In fact, the database itself is no slouch. (It's relational and can do SQL querying.) MapInfo for DOS and Windows cost $995, MapInfo for Macintosh $695. For Hewlett-Packard 9000, Apollo 9000 and Sun SPARCstation computers, the price is $1,795 for the first floating license, $1,495 for each additional.
Here's a big plus: Files created by any version can be read by all other versions! An exciting new spin-off program, RealTime MapInfo, tracks moving objects on a map to give you the exact location of repair trucks, pizza delivery cars and so on. To do that trick, you need to equip each vehicle with a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. It's a communication device that relays signals by satellite to home base.
RealTime MapInfo uses a modem to pick up the signals and moves its data into MapInfo for DOS. With serial communication, it costs $2,495. Local stores rarely carry programs like these. If you need further information, phone MapInfo Corp., (800) 327-8627 or (518) 274-6000.