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New Version of Microsoft MapPoint Revolutionizes Business AnalysisREDMOND, Wash., March 22 - Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) has demonstrated its continued commitment to transforming the way businesspeople analyze and communicate information with today's introduction of Microsoft(R) MapPoint(TM) 2001, the latest version of its business mapping software. "MapPoint 2001 reflects what we have heard from our business customers: They want easy-to-use, familiar tools that will allow them to communicate their information more clearly," said Michael Graff, product unit manager for MapPoint at Microsoft. "Our goal is to improve the daily productivity and decision-making for businesspeople where location is an important factor in their work. We provide them with detailed geographic and demographic information that helps customers see their business data in a whole new way." MapPoint 2001 business mapping software, a member of the Microsoft Office family of applications, allows customers to visualize their business data effectively by using high-quality maps and demographic information that seamlessly integrate with documents created with Microsoft Office. Because MapPoint incorporates familiar Microsoft Office tools, menus and features, customers find it easy to use right out of the box and can begin projects right away, without a lot of time spent in training. "Through our market research, we have found significant enthusiasm among businesspeople for using maps and geographical information on a daily basis," said David Sonnen, president of Integrated Spatial Solutions Inc. and International Data Corp.'s senior analyst for spatial information management. "With its high-quality data and easy-to-use functionality, MapPoint 2001 has the potential to tremendously increase the use of spatial information in the business community." Microsoft MapPoint 2001 provides users with a complete set of geographic and demographic data, eliminating the need to purchase additional information to begin work right away. Highly accurate address-matching is accomplished through the use of street map information licensed from Geographic Data Technology Inc., Navigation Technologies Corp. and Compusearch Micromarketing Data and Systems -- leading providers of digital map data for the United States and Canada. New MapPoint 2001 features include fast routing, which allows users to get detailed maps and driving directions with multidestination routing; increased programmability, which allows the application to be customized for specific business solutions; and detailed street address information for Canada, including data for every postal code in the country. Jeff Bergman is the national sales manager of Danfoss, a company based in Denmark that manufactures speed controllers for industrial electric motors. Bergman, who works in Atlanta, uses MapPoint to determine where, based on population, it makes sense to locate new sales operatives. Since growing municipalities are the most likely to build or upgrade their water and waste-water facilities, Bergman merges location and demographic data from a variety of sources, including the Claritas data that comes with MapPoint, to identify growing municipalities. "MapPoint allows me to put on great presentations and get great hard data very quickly," Bergman said. "It's also easy to use -- I probably picked it up within an hour." "Essentially, MapPoint turns information into insight," Graff said. "It gives people an entirely different way of looking at data." Other new features include these: MapPoint 2001 is available today to manufacturers and is expected to be available in retail stores in early April at an estimated retail price of $249 (U.S.). Microsoft is also offering a MapPoint Technology Guarantee that enables people who acquire MapPoint 2000 between March 15, 2000, and May 31, 2000, to automatically qualify for an upgrade to MapPoint 2001. More information, including a guided tour, sample scenarios, sample maps and details about the guarantee can be found at the MapPoint Web site, http://www.microsoft.com/mappoint/. Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software -- any time, any place and on any device. NOTE: Microsoft and MapPoint are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Check out our Review of MapPoint 2000
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