MapPoint 2004 Shows More Than Routes

Microsofts MapPoint 2004 North American Edition business mapping software improves incrementally over previous versions, but the main reason its attractive is the updated data that comes bundled with it.

In MapPoint 2004, which shipped last month and has a retail price of $299, map data has been expanded to include 6.7 million miles of routable roads in the United States and Canada. Based on my experience with MapPoint 2004, it seems like the driving directions functionality has been improved a bit.

Business listings and points-of-interest data have been doubled in this edition, bringing the number of U.S. listings up to 1.4 million. Scrolling through a couple of city maps showed me there really are a lot more items; a few times (especially in dense urban areas) I had to exclude things from the map to clear the clutter.

Simmons consumer profile data, which tracks a large assortment of data covering a wide range of consumer activities, is an interesting addition to MapPoint 2004. Simmons profiles such data as ownership of video games and enrollment in frequent-flier-mile programs.