Talking To...
Steve Lombardi Discusses the Highlights of Microsoft MapPoint 2004
MapPoint is a business mapping software that integrates with Microsoft Office to help organizations track their business opportunities. On the heels of its latest release, MSDN Magazine spoke to Steve Lombardi from the MapPoint product group.
MSDN What's new with MapPoint 2004?
Lombardi The basemap, demographic, and point-of-interest data in the product is all new. A mapping tool is only as good as the data that ships with it. MapPoint 2004 (with versions for Europe and North America) includes the latest data available from our data suppliers. We've also added consumer profile data, ideal for market analysis where understanding buying patterns and consumer behavior is needed. For instance, with just a few lines of code you can include a shaded map in your application indicating where households have cable TV versus satellite, which is highly valuable for someone in the cable industry planning a marketing campaign. MapPoint 2004 also has support for more GPS devices, as well as real-time GPS positioning. The enhanced GPS support, along with existing features such as multipoint driving directions, "do not drive" zones, drive-time polygons, and Yellow Page listings make MapPoint a great tool in fleet management.
MSDN What can developers do with MapPoint 2004?
Lombardi There are two ways developers can utilize MapPoint 2004 in their applications. First, it is easy to use Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to quickly customize the UI. This is a great option if the MapPoint UI is close to what you need but you want to create custom dialogs or automate tasks such as data import. Second, the included MapPoint ActiveX control allows you to build mapping into standalone applications. Developers and ISVs have been building some great vertical applications for industries such as crime analysis, advertising, and insurance to name a few. Whatever approach you take, you have programmatic access to all of the rich functionality in MapPoint. For instance, it's very straightforward to write a custom application that reads sales data from a SQL database or local data source such as an Excel spreadsheet, and have MapPoint generate a thematic map showing territories where sales are strong. Imagine an executive dashboard that could show underperforming markets in real time. MapPoint has even been integrated in point-of-sale systems for delivery optimization and customer management. However, if MapPoint 2004 doesn't meet your requirements, the MapPoint Web Service might.
MSDN What is the MapPoint Web Service?
Lombardi The MapPoint Web Service is a hosted XML Web Service that exposes its functionality via a SOAP API. It's loaded with features including interactive mapping, driving directions, geocoding, reverse-geocoding, and much more. All the functionality and geographic data needed in most location-based apps can be found here, without building this infrastructure yourself. The MapPoint WSDL can be added to any Visual Studio .NET project. The MapPoint Web Service is the perfect tool for any Web-based app such as a store locator, but since it's an XML Web Service, it works with any other device or platform. Integrating location into existing apps, regardless of their architecture, is now quite easy.
MSDN What about performance and scalability?
Lombardi We back the service with an aggressive Service Level Agreement that guarantees our uptime and performance. The service has been live for nearly two years and is currently handling over 15 million transactions per day. Some of our largest customers throw a billion requests per year at the service. The great thing about this model is that the same service that supports these mega Web properties can be used for applications with much more modest needs—and since you pay only for the transactions you use, it remains totally cost effective.
MSDN Tell us a bit about Microsoft Location Server.
Lombardi We anticipate shipping Microsoft Location Server (MLS) in early 2004. The initial release is focused on enterprise customers who want to track mobile assets to solve business problems. MLS exposes its functionality through a SOAP API. The API has methods for managing privacy and contacts, and proxies to all of the MapPoint Web Service functionality as well.
To illustrate, I built a simple Web app at https://www.whatididwaswrong.com/whereissteve. It displays an interactive map centered wherever my mobile phone happens to be. I created it with just five lines of Visual Basic.
MSDN What's planned for the future of MapPoint technologies?
Lombardi We're focused on delivering the same mapping and location technologies on any device or platform and to making it easy for third parties to do the same thing. To that end, you're going to see more user applications that integrate the MapPoint Web Service with different devices.