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Business Mapping
Customer Mapping
Member Mapping
Mapping Tools |
You are reading this page because you are thinking about learning
to do your own Business Geographics... ...so here is a 30-second
overview on a fairly complicated topic.
First, you need to have a general understanding of statistics
and/or business finances. Also you need some understanding of
mapping (cartographic) principles. If you are a novice to
mapping, the single best book I recommend you read is How to Lie
with Maps by Mark Monmonier (University of Chicago Press, 1991
ISBN 0-226-53415-4) In particular the 20 pages of Chapter 9
cover the basic issues of data maps better than some tomes.
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Web-Based Tools
I expect this to be a rapidly growing area (and one that I am trying
to move this site into after resolving some licensing issues).
Even now though, you can find specific locations easily using the sites
listed on the right. Other
geographic-related data that is available online includes reverse-phone
lookup, relocation cost-of-living comparisons, industrial site
availability and real estate information. However, a
non-scientific survey in the spring of 2001 found very few
mapping-related applications online yet.
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Try These Sites:
www.MapQuest.com
www.MapBlast.com
Yahoo Maps
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Microsoft MapPoint®
If you like (or even if you don't like but still use)
Microsoft's Office® suite, you should look at their MapPoint product.
It is not yet included in any of the Office bundles, but it does "play
well" with the other applications.
We use this product and will help you get started with custom solutions that integrate with your
Word®, Excel®, or Access®
files.
For under $300 this product is a good value. Read more at
Microsoft's website or at the MapPoint users' website.
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Where to Find It:
Microsoft (List Price $249.00 )
Amazon
($214.99 10/2001)
Buy.com
($219.95 10/01)
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MapInfo Professional®
I will state right up front that this program is my personal favorite. It is easy to use and
fantastic for database work and
queries. It is not particularly good for creating map drawings
from scratch, but imports both map files drawn in other programs and
many kinds of data files.
Most of the examples shown on this site were created with this
product. We can provide you with services and/or custom
automation routines for repetitive work. For
about $1,400 this product is a good value for sales/marketing work and
all kinds of "pin mapping."
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Where to Find It:
MapInfo
MapInfo
Professional (List - about $1,400)
MapInfo
Proviewer (Free with registration)
This software is not carried by many retailers. Your best bet
for a price break on multiple copies is one of the MapInfo reseller / solution
providers listed on their site.
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ESRI ArcInfo®
The 500 pound gorilla in the GIS (digital mapping)
market is the ArcInfo family of
products. This is probably the best and
most powerful set of software tools in this arena. My opinion is that in general
they are too complicated for the casual user. If you need this kind of horsepower, you are better off
hiring a consultant proficient in it to do it right. But if you are
really serious about computer mapping, check out their website at http://www.esri.com.
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