Being the curious sort, I closed out my review of the routing feature with an interesting test. I thought it would be fun to see how long it would take to actually drive back to my original home in Canada from Niceville, USA!

Instantly, I discovered that if I ever want to drive home to see my family I could expect the following:

Driving distance: 2945.5 miles
Total travel time: 6 days, 1 hour, 54 minutes
Driving time: 47 hours, 52 minutes

With this information in hand, I think I will fly!

2. Programmability - Users are now able to extend the functionality of MapPoint with COM add-ins, which are supplemental programs designed to customize and automate MapPoint tasks. Developers can use the objects, properties, and methods explained in the MapPoint Visual Basic Reference area to create these programs.

For example, a developer could create a COM add-in that imports or links to a set of user data, creates a Pushpin map using that data, saves the map as a Web page, and publishes that map to a live Web site. Once a developer has created an add-in, it can be added to the MapPoint Tools menu so that anyone can use it. Example Graphic

3. Demographic data - The MapPoint demographic data sets now provide you with more than 8 million pieces of information to help you in your business. Statistics include 136 categories of data for large to small areas throughout the United States and Canada, as well as [up to] 43 categories of data for other countries worldwide.

Canada - Population (1991, 1996; 1999 estimate; 2004 estimate) Population by gender, Population by age, Households, Dwellings, Average number of rooms, Average income, Population by ethnicity, Families, Households by size, Population by home language, Population in labor force, Population by occupation, Population by age.

Data can be presented and viewed thematically using the mapping wizard. Once completed, the data can be easily exported to Excel using the File/Export to Excel option.

United States - Demographic data falls into two general groupings: (1) Population and (2) Household and Housing Unit Statistics. This information is based on government census data and data that was compiled from numerous other public and private sources. Once collected, the data was massaged and compiled by Claritas Inc.

Worldwide - The demographic country statistics are based on data provided by a variety of sources. The data were reported in years varying from 1990 to 1998. Country statistics include values for the year that data was available for the maximum number of countries.

Statistics are provided for the following categories:

• Population
• Health
• Economy
• Communications and transport
• Education

4. Detailed street address information for Canada - MapPoint now has data for every postal code in Canada, allowing you to quickly and easily locate detailed street address information, and plan routes from address to address. Using MapPoint you can pinpoint every postal code in Canada and find addresses for all Canadian cities with a population of more than 10,000 - Example Graphic

5. Business listings and travel planning resources - MapPoint now contains hundreds of thousands of listings for businesses and attractions across the U.S, including hotels, restaurants, convention centers, gas stations, and retail businesses, as well as campgrounds, freeway exits and rest areas, and more. Users can located campsites and RV parks, then go online to check for additional details at the Woodall's Web site.

To give you an idea of the level of detail in the MapPoint database, a 1 mile search around a point in downtown Seattle, Wa. turns up over 1,000 records including 400 restaurants, 770 places of interest including hotels, landmarks, restaurants were revealed. Users can easily control the display of these points or toggle on/off feature types by selecting the Format/Show or Hide Places option on the menu bar...Graphic

6. Search The Web - Once users have mapped a certain area, MapPoint enables searching the web for websites related to that particular location. As a test, I zoomed into Destin, Florida, hit the “search web” button which resulted in my web browser being called up and a MSN website search initiated (search.msn.com) for “Destin Florida”.

7. GPS support - MapPoint now supports GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) receivers, so you can see and track your own location on the map. When you have a GPS receiver installed, MapPoint checks for your location every 15 seconds and displays it on the map. You can choose to have the map always centered on your current location.

Using the GPS Sensor, you can also view the latitude and longitude coordinates of your current location. To work with MapPoint, your GPS receiver must be compliant with NMEA (National Marine Electronics Association) standards, and its input/output format (interface) must be set to support the NMEA 0183 version 2.0 or later format.

8. Fast, accurate data mapping - Data mapping is faster and more accurate than ever. MapPoint 2001 also has better importing & linking capabilities, and improved mapping wizards to guide you through every step of mapping and analyzing your data.

9. Improved drawing tools - Annotate and personalize your map with improved drawing tools. These improved drawing tools allow you to quickly and easily produce drawings, callouts, and shapes, including squares, rectangles, circles, and ovals, and to export to Excel any data contained within a closed shape. You can use the new Radius tool to draw a circle of a specified radius around any point on the map, allowing you to analyze address and other information.