Automated client/center distance calculations

Hi! I work for a nationwide chain of health centers. We have many national clients with locations all over. We need to find the closest clinic to each client's locations, displaying mileage, and export the data to Excel. The process needs to be automated, since the Excel lists can be over 1000 locations sometimes.
We currently use MapInfo/MapMarker for this, but it's too expensive to renew our license. I was wondering if this process can be done in MapPoint, maybe with a little programming. It'd be great if we could do this without a full-blown GIS with features we don't need. If MapPoint won't work for this, any suggestions on what will?
Thanks for any help! :)

Hi, we have a web based system and desktop tools. See Your MapPoint, MapPoint Web Service and Store Locator Software Specialists (http://www.spatialpoint.com). The Web-based tool is called ProximityAnalyzer.

Feel free to email me at amachinis at spatialpoint.com. for more details.

Hi,

This can indeed easy be done with a little programming. If you use the MapPoint ocx control, then you can embed the map in your own appliction without all the whisels and bells, and then you use it just for the thing you need.

I shoul do it this way:

You have a database with the geocoordinates of each clinic. In your program you find the 2 or 3 most close ones in the birds eye of view. Then you do with MP the most close route.

Or you take 1..n most close (in bird eye view) until the distance between n and n - 1 is more than 20 procent or so.

Wy first calculate in your own application is for speed. Calculating a real route take more time than just calculate the distance in a strait line.

You mention Excel. I think you can do it all in Excel in VBA. But almost any other language will do.

The Professional version of our MileCharter production will also do this.
Load your data as two pushpin sets.
Set it to find the Closest 1, and leave it running. Default output is to an Excel spreadsheet, finding the closest destination(s) for each source.
More info:

MileCharter: Create Mileage Charts with Microsoft® MapPoint® (http://www.mapping-tools.com/milecharter)


Richard

Thanks for the responses! I found MileCharter after I made the original post and it looks like it will do exactly what we need! :D I'm still waiting to get a copy of MapPoint 2006, but have 2004. Will MileCharter work with MP2004 so I can try it out?