@mappingtoolsThe desktop version of MapPoint is the traditional flagship of the MapPoint brand. It is also the product which we specialize in, and this website is devoted to. MapPoint is targeted at business applications, but it is also very flexible. It includes the routing capabilities of Streets & Trips, but also includes data plotting capabilities, demographic data, database interfaces, and a programming interface.
Different editions are available for North America and Europe. The latest version is MapPoint 2011. We have a page describing the new features in MapPoint 2010 & 2011.
This site specializes in tools and add-ins for the desktop version of Microsoft MapPoint. These pages describe how to use the various features in Microsoft MapPoint. Here is quick summary of MapPoint’s capabilities:
Route Finding
Microsoft MapPoint comes with a comprehensive road database and routing capabilities. These could be used in a similar way as the Streets & Trips product, but they can also be accessed through the programming interface. This allows more complex functions to be implemented. For example, you could print a map showing the personalized route for each of your customers. Our MileCharter and MPMileage products both use Microsoft MapPoint’s routing abilities to find route distances and travel times between many locations. Both can also calculate estimated costs.
Microsoft MapPoint can also be used to track an attached GPS (Global Positioning System) unit that meets the NMEA 2.0 standard. This device can also be used for interactive real-time routing.
Geographic Data Analysis and Marketing
Geographic data can be plotted in Microsoft MapPoint in a variety of forms, including shaded areas and pie charts. Microsoft MapPoint is supplied with a range of demographic data, and you can import data from your own Microsoft Excel® spreadsheets, Access databases, flat files, and ODBC connections. Both of these example maps combine Microsoft MapPoint demographic data with external data.
This map plots aircraft delays for a series of airports. Pie charts illustrate both the percentage of delayed flights and the absolute number of flights. In an attempt to understand the causes for the delays, the data has been plotted over the climate data supplied with Microsoft MapPoint.
Geographic Annotation
You can also add your own lines, shapes, and annotation to Microsoft MapPoint maps. For example, it has been successfully used to draw networks, or “freeform” territories on real world maps.
This technique is used by our MPSuperShape tool to manipulate shapes, as well as import/export them to other data formats. In the example to the right, two drivetime polygons have been drawn around two sales offices using MapPoint. These mark areas within a specific driving time of each office. MPSuperShape can combine them into one, to give an effective market territory of the two offices. MPSuperShape can also find shape intersections, calculate pushpin boundary shapes, and import/export shapes in a variety of file formats.
The Single State Mapper also uses this technique to produce maps of individual states for presentation purposes.
MapPoint Versions
MapPoint is available in two geographic editions: North America, and Europe. The European edition is, in turn, available in four languages: English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
MapPoint Books
Chandu Thota’s Programming MapPoint in .NET (Programming)
The older Mappoint for Dummies book (Buy from the US, Buy from the UK) is also recommended. This provides an excellent and comprehensive walk-through of MapPoint’s capabilities. Although it is based on the 2002 version, the programming interface has seen few changes in MapPoint 2009. The menus and toolbars have been redesigned, but all of the original operations are still available. Unlike Chandu Thota’s book, this book is really about using MapPoint as an application. It only has an introduction to using the programming interface.
1. I am not in North America nor in Europe but in Africa. Can I upload my local map on Map Point
and query for direction from origin to destination on my local map?
2. If I buy one package of Map Point can I use it on cellphones or car navigators?
3. If I buy one package of Map Point can I use it on many cellphones or car navigators?
Thank you for your reply.
MapPoint only has those two geographic editions. Although it can display maps of other areas, these are extremely limited – zoom & resolution are limited, there are no roads, and only major cities are shown. The only data map coverage is the ability to plot global maps with data on a per-country basis (eg. you could plot a shaded area of national populations). You cannot import your own roads or other information. You could draw lines/shapes/etc but these cannot be used for routing, and the limited zoom & resolution will limit the usefulness of doing this.
MapPoint and Streets & Trips both require a machine running conventional Windows – eg. a laptop or netbook is fine. It does not support Windows Mobile, Pocket PCs or similar devices.