Microsoft MapPoint 2002 [OLD VERSION]

by Microsoft

Product Features

• PC Software

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00005B6U4
• Item model number: B21-00249
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 30, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,192 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #31 in Software > Education & Reference > Mapping
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Business users seeking the shortest route between two points-of-purchase should examine Microsoft MapPoint 2002. It has all the standard features a business map user would expect--place finder, route planner, mileage calculator, and so on--but also permits extensive data manipulation throughout the United States and Canada.

Installation is a breeze, and setting up the program to any user's specifications should take only a few minutes to a few hours, depending on the nature of imported data. Once it's running, MapPoint will pay for itself quickly with improved sales and marketing reports, trip planning, and projections. The interface will be intimately familiar to Office users, so importing and exporting files and data is painless. The look and feel of other Office-suite programs is preserved--the learning curve of nonstandard tools and features is quite gentle.

One extremely powerful new feature is territory creation, which allows user-defined, overlaying boundaries that are simple to create manually or compose from pre-existing data. Combining territorial categories with the vast reams of census and demographic data contained within MapPoint should yield plenty of fresh business ideas. Nonbusiness users should pick up some much cheaper trip planning software; the most expensive features of MapPoint will offer little of value to them. --Rob Lightner

Amazon.com Product Description

Microsoft MapPoint allows Microsoft Office users of any skill level, in any size organization, to easily visualize their business information, communicate key data using maps, and integrate maps into the work they do in Office. MapPoint is a business-mapping program that combines powerful mapping and analysis tools with the simplicity of Microsoft Office, enabling people to see how location makes a difference to their business.

You can pinpoint exact customer or business sites on the map throughout the U.S. and Canada; full address searching is available for over 6 million miles of road in both countries. (MapPoint Europe is available separately.) Step-by-step instructions guide you on how to create maps with your own data, applying sales information and demographic variables to a variety of map types. Make your map look how you want by defining data range, legend label, and ramp color palette. With a feature new to this version, you can associate more data to a map by adding pie and column charts to maps. MapPoint will calculate optimized routes based on imported addresses, and turn simple routes into an analysis tool by generating drive-time zones to or from specified locations.

Import customer and contact information from Microsoft Excel, Access, or Outlook to create a map of their locations. Also, create your own pushpin icons and use them on your data maps, or choose multiple symbols that best represent a series of data. Create maps that group common areas and overlay key information to these regions. The software also includes increased integration with other Office applications, including access points that make basic mapping functions easier to use. MapPoint supports data importation from Access, Excel, Outlook, or any SQL Server database.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Only worth it for the business features, July 22, 2001

By 

Michael Smith (Mountain View, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft MapPoint 2002 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

This product has all the same features as Microsoft Streets and Trips 2001. And for the average home user, that is all you need as the price is significantly lower. What you're paying for with MapPoint is all the data features. It analyzes business info and puts them on a map (usually through an Excel spreadsheet). It also has some more web collaboration features than the standard version.

Unless you are going to seriously use a program to analyze business needs (e.g. where customers are coming from, where you should put a store, etc.), it's not worth it. (It does make some pretty maps and graphs, though.) I would have never bought the program in the first place, but I got it as a promotional sample from Microsoft. I like it, but I will probably never use most of the data tools.

On the mapping side, it's great. Read some of the reviews over for streets and trips and you'll see what a great program it is. MapPoint does all the same things.

(For those who care, this product does not use the controversial product activation sequence as other office 2002/xp programs do.)

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent mapping product but... with one exception., December 23, 2002

By 

T. J. Doss (Commonwealth of Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft MapPoint 2002 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

I have used MapPoint for about three years now and I just upgraded. Overall, it is an excellent, full-featured product that is very intuitive and easy to use.

I use MapPoint along with a full-blown professional ArcView-based GIS system. I find that MapPoint allows me to perform "quick and dirty" and relatively simple GIS tasks without having to get into the more complicated and time consuming - albeit more capable - ArcView GIS system.

Truth is, I could probably rely completely on MapPoint except for one shortfall in the program. You can only create customized boundaries based on the pre-existing included boundaries (Census Tracts, Zip Code areas, etc.).

For example, rather than being able to go in and create a boundary around a neighborhood, I have to conform this "custom" boundary to something like Zip code boundaries or census tracts, etc. that are inluded in MapPoint.

Microsoft, include this feature in MapPoint 2003 and you will get 10-stars!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Obsolete when it hits your door, October 26, 2002

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft MapPoint 2002 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

While the mapping and search capability is awesome, the package is hopelessly obsolete when you get it.

Freeways that went in near me three years ago are not reflected. If the files could be updated, I say it's a worthwhile product. In this case, though, it is not.