MapForums

1. Include in the Main “Find” Menu the ability to recognize Latitude and Longitude. It already parses data like street, city, state zip. It would not take more than a few hours at most to have “Find” recognize that when that field contains only two numbers separated by a comma that the user is looking to position latitude and longitude. Also find a way to stop prompting users, if they are in geoCountryUnitedStates and want to find "Calgary, Alberta, Canada", there's only one, why prompt?

2. Improve the Office/ MapPoint documentation & interface to make it easier for novice users/developers to access maps.

For example the below undocumented code would allow a novice user/ developer to get flashy results with a minimum of code.

Sub ViewMapPointFind(variableStreetAddress as string, variableCity As String, variableState as String, variableZip as String)
Dim StrHyper As String
StrHyper = Replace("file:\\C:\MapPoint Maps\Empty.ptm#find=[" &
variableStreetAddress & ", " & variableCity & ", " & variableState & " " & variableZip & "]&style=0&state=3", " ", "%20")
Application.FollowHyperlink StrHyper
End Sub

Poof; MapPoint opens to the desired location and if the file is already open it finds the address on the open map.

Additional notes:
If you have a zip code, in the US you usually get better address matches by leaving out the city name.
StrHyper = Replace("file:\\C:\MapPoint Maps\Empty.ptm#find=[" &
variableStreetAddress & ", " & VariableState & " " & VariableZip &
"]&style=0&state=3", " ", "%20")
If you want to open to a zip code (works for US or Canada):
StrHyper = Replace("file:\\C:\MapPoint Maps\Empty.ptm#find=[" & VariableZip & "]&style=0&state=3", " ", "%20")
If you want to open to a City State:
StrHyper = Replace("file:\\C:\MapPoint Maps\Empty.ptm#find=[" & VariableCity & ", " & VariableState & "]&style=0&state=3", " ", "%20")
If you want to open to a PushPin use:
StrHyper = Replace("file:\\C:\MapPoint Maps\Account Map.ptm#find=[" & variableVeryUniquePushPinName & "]&style=0&state=3", " ", "%20")
Note: variableVeryUniquePushPinName must be not like a zip code or any other native data, otherwise it won't be so slick.
If you're using account numbers, try an alpha prefix to the number if it's like a zip code.
The style in the hyperlink refers to the Menu: View> Map Style and the state refers to the route planner (0=off).

3. Add a separated menu items for lookups like Latitude and Longitude or Zip/ Postal Code.

4. Improve you Canadian data. For example there are over 100 Postal Codes in MapPoint for Bass River, NF. Where is it on the map? There are 198 Postal Codes stacked at Lat= 46.4716 and Lon = -65.10143 that represent 14 different cities (2 FIPS), only one city is actually visible on MapPoint (Harcourt, New Brunswick, Canada). There are many, many obsolete Canadian Postal Codes “Live” in MapPoint.

5. Mexico data is poor. Mexican Postal Codes are readily available with latitude and Longitude. They should be included as well as more cities.

6. The Visual Basic help area needs improvement. Perhaps 2 or more sample code procedures for each item would not be too taxing on the people responsible for HELP. Robust sample MS Access and MS Excel applications would be nice too.


My 2 cents.

Regards,

The Lone Turtle