Map Styles

MapPoint supports six different map styles. In MapPoint 2009 (and later), these can be selected from the Map Settings Task Pane, or from the Map tab on the Options dialog box (select Options on the Tools menu):

In earlier versions (MapPoint 2006 and earlier), the map style is set from the View menu:

The different map styles are intended for different purposes. Some map styles might be disabled if they are not appropriate for your map – eg. if you have data plotted then only the two data map styles will be available. Here is an overview:

Road Map

The Road Map style is MapPoint’s default map style. It displays a road network, various places, administrative boundaries, plus parks and reserves.

Road and Data Map

Intended to display data in context, this style is very similar to the Road Map style but it does not show quite as much detail. Parks, reserves, and other shaded areas are usually switched off. This allows data to be clear and visible without being crowded out by too much detail, but also provide geospatial context from major roads and places.

The above map plots US population data from MapPoint’s built-in demographic database.

Data Map

This map style is intended to display data only without any roads or streets. This is clearer than the above Road and Data Map style but may lack the additional context that roads can provide.

Terrain Map

The Terrain Map style uses a base map with terrain and elevation information. This is useful for a visually pleasing “atlas-style” map, but it is not appropriate for the overlay of large amounts of information.

Political Map

The Political Map style draws a relatively simple map that is intended to illustrate political boundaries – eg. national, state, and county boundaries. Each area is shaded for clarity and to distinguish it from all neighboring areas, and not to indicate a specific attribute value.

Road Map (Night)

The Road Map (Night) style is a version of the default Road Map style intended to be used for in-car navigation at night time.