Microsoft MapPoint North American Maps 2004 [CD-ROM]

by Microsoft

Product Features

• New One-Way Arrows on Maps show the direction of one-way streets, making it easy to find a good route
• Design your own set of maps, to group common areas and key pieces of information
• Work with new Customer Purchase Behavior Data to expand your professional reach -- extensive information on lifestyles, product purchases, and U.S. consumer behavior
• Track critical information by region, when you attach pie and column charts to your maps
• Create your own pushpin icons to represent data that matters to you -- monthly or yearly sales, total customers, etc.

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 10.4 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: B00009XFRI
• Item model number: B21-00398
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 5, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,668 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #8 in Software > Education & Reference > Mapping
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Microsoft MapPoint 2004 is the data visualization solution information workers need to visualize, analyze, and transform location-based information into insightful business analysis. MapPoint 2004 offers high-quality, street-level, map content for all of North America, valuable demographics, and consumer purchase behavior data, wrapped into an easy-to-use, Office-style application--all at an unbeatable price!

Features:

• Visualize your business in a whole new way to expose geographic trends, opportunities, and issues
• Communicate location-based information effectively by embedding MapPoint documents in PowerPoint, Word, and other productivity applications, saving them as a Web page or printing them in black and white or color
• Integrate maps and other location intelligence into other applications using the included ActiveX Control or through MapPoint's extensive COM APIs

Product Description

MapPoint 2004 is the best way to prepare yourself for any road trip! Point-to-point routing gives you address to address directions, anywhere in the US or Canada GPS support keeps you from getting lost, while the built-in developer tools help you automate common mapping tasks

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars OK, now that I've been using it..., October 8, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Microsoft MapPoint North American Maps 2004 [CD-ROM] (CD-ROM)

If you used Mappoint 2002, you will be very comfortable with 2004 as the interface is identical. The biggest upgrade is the updates to the street maps themselves - although it is still not perfect. I live in a fast-growing suburb of Cincinnati, and Microsoft still missed a major huge street that was actually built in 2002!?! Oh well, it IS Microsoft after all, perfection should not be expected. At least you can't get a virus through this program! I think...

THE GOOD: Other upgrades/changes include 2002 Census update data, and a whole bunch of new data fields that can be mapped thematically. These are consumer-oriented demographics, like households with internet access, computers, etc. There are a lot of statistics on avg. household expenditures (movies, clothing, furniture, food, etc.) Another nice upgrade is the ability to print maps almost edge-to-edge, getting rid of that stupid huge amount of white space at the bottom that took up 25% of your page real estate. There are more pushpins, and it is supposedly easier to import new pushpins (I have not tried that.)

THE BAD: Mappoint 2002 had census data projections for 2005; this version has no projections for anything, 2002 is as current as you are going to get. No upgrades that I have been able to see with respect to territory mapping, they still have the same small (and ugly) selection of colors to shade your territories. Data is still mapped at the census tract level or higher - if you need block group level fuggedaboudit. Data import options seem to be unchanged as well.

THE BOTTOM LINE: If Mappoint 2002 floated your boat, this is a required upgrade just to get updated roads. If the older version didn't have the flexibility or features, you probably should be looking at coughing up the dough for Arcview by ESRI. For a real comprehensive list of all the updates and changes, go to the Mappoint home page on Microsoft's web site.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Microsoft MapPoint 2004, December 16, 2004

By 

Igor Shaskin (Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft MapPoint North American Maps 2004 [CD-ROM] (CD-ROM)

I purchased this product thinking that after using and enjoying MS Streets and Trips (since 2001), that this would be a step up. I was also looking for additional features that I knew were a bit weak in the Streets and Trips product. Boy, was I surprised. Not only is the product, no better than the Streets and Trips product, but the maps for small Canadian cities (ie.,populations of 35,000 to 100,000) were so out of date they were useless. Where I had hoped to use the enhanced features of MapPoint in my business, the abyssmal road maps made the product useless. I had hoped to also track the location of our deliveries to customers within the city and surrounding towns. Again, this was not possible due to the fact that the maps were at least 3 to 4 years out of date. Had I paid only $39.99 to $59.99 for the product, I may have kept it for use when I travel to the U.S., but for $400, I returned to product within the week (the very first Microsoft product I have ever been dissappointed with). MapPoint 2004 is a very, very marginal product and most definitely not worth paying $400 or even half that price, given the poor map qualities.

I'm really dissappointed in Microsoft and their lack of attention to details and accuracy for Canadian towns and cities. Unless you are using it for U.S. locations only, do NOT purchase this product. Having said this, I continue to purchase a lot of Microsoft products,(I continue to use MS Streets and Trips), but this purchase proves that even Microsoft can put out a dud.

25 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ummm, September 5, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Microsoft MapPoint North American Maps 2004 [CD-ROM] (CD-ROM)

How exactly has the first reviewer been able to comment on the 2004 version, as it has not been released yet? Anyhow, the previous version is a great product, so hopefully Microsoft didn't mess it up. Easiest to use, and most powerful, off-the-shelf desktop GIS out there. And believe me, I've bought them all...Maptitude, BusinessMap 3 from ESRI, etc. While Mappoint does not have as many customization options, it is MUCH easier to use, and comes bundled with good demographics dataset. Here is hoping that the new version has really updated the streets, freshened the demographics, and has incorporated a web update feature. Users of Arcview, forget about it, this will seem like a joke to you, Arcview is the best (but a real bear to learn).