MAPINFO PROFESSIONAL NEWS

New Upgrade Policy
Pitney Bowes Business Insight (PBBI) has recently changed their MapInfo Professional upgrade policy to include versions up to four releases back.  Users who are as far back as version 8.0 are now eligible to upgrade.

New Pricing
One Year maintenance and technical support (MATS) is now included with the purchase of new licenses and upgrades of MapInfo Professional.  This results in significant cost savings for organizations. With the purchase of a new license you will see savings of $495 and those upgrading existing licenses save up to $743! 

Please contact us to take advantage of the new pricing and upgrade policy.

Maintenance Release
A maintenance release for MapInfo Professional version 10.0 is available for download as of Friday December 18th. The maintenance release can be accessed by using the Help > Check for Update command in MapInfo Professional. The improvements in this release include:

- Performance improvements to start up and shut down times, layer control, PDF printing, and more

- Layer Control bug fixes
- Raster data and seamless table fixes
- Redraw issues for map and layout windows resolved
- Object processing improvements - erase and combine using column
- Toolbar and menu changes
- EasyLoader updated - new SRID's added for New Zealand Oracle support
- Support for Windows 7
- And much more

The maintenance release can be applied to MapInfo Professional or MapInfo Runtime and can be applied to localized language versions. The 10.0.1 maintenance release is also being supplied as a .MSP file so that it can be used with software deployment systems and can be deployed silently to users. The maintenance release can only be applied to v10.0, not earlier versions. V10 has been extremely well received by users due to the significant improvements such as a new interactive, layer control, dockable toolbars with new icons, layered PDF's, layer groups, support for SQL Server 2008 and PostGIS, and more.

INSIGHTS USER CONFERENCE MIAMI 2010

This is an excellent event to see how other organizations are using location technology to improve customer service, reduce costs, manage assets, and improve their business process.  DON'T MISS IT!

Insights 2010 User Conference

May 12 - 14, 2010

Miami, Florida

Insights 2010: New ideas to help you connect with customers

This fast-paced, three day conference will help you realize the full potential of your software, data and enterprise solutions. Learn from the experts, share innovative best practices and network with your peers in the vibrant, cosmopolitan city of Miami. If you’re serious about your business, you can’t afford to miss this real world, results-oriented conference.

Location Intelligence Forum
The Location Intelligence Forum features nearly 40 sessions covering the latest tools and technology for geographic data analysis and mapping. The programs are designed to help you realize the full potential of your location intelligence solutions for improved operational efficiency, deeper understanding of your business and markets and better decision making across your enterprise.

Location Intelligence Forum Highlights:

• Hands-on training, techniques, tips and tricks
• Best practices and innovative solutions to real-world customer needs
• LI case studies from Government, Insurance, Financial, Retail and more
• A look at the future of mapping and geographic data analysis tools
• Improving risk exposure management practices with LI
• The Power of Location - Experience MapInfo Professional’s latest version
• MapInfo Professional training: getting started, tips & tricks
• Developer Tools for custom LI applications
• On-demand solutions for location intelligence
• Using parcel boundary and point-level geocoding
• and much more (view Insights 2010 agenda)

Detailed information and registration for the Location Intelligence Forum are available at the conference website - http://insights10.pbbusinessinsight.com.

MAPINFO PROFESSIONAL TRAINING SCHEDULE

MapInfo Professional Level I – Fundamentals

February 22 - 23, 2010:  Halifax, NS

(Registration Deadline: February 8, 2010)

March 22 - 23, 2010:  Charlottetown, PE

(Registration Deadline: March 8, 2010)

Two Day Course. Unleash the power of MapInfo! This course has been designed around a series of short, hands on, problem solving exercises. You'll use MapInfo to create, display and analyze a variety of maps and by the end of the course you will know your way around the software. No prior knowledge of Business Mapping is required.
 
MapInfo Professional Level II – Advanced

February 24 - 25, 2010:  Halifax, NS

(Registration Deadline: February 8, 2010)

March 24 - 25, 2010:  Charlottetown, PE

(Registration Deadline: March 8, 2010)

Two Day Course. Dig deeper into the functionality of MapInfo Professional! This course is designed to enable you to utilize more of the complex features available to you in MapInfo Professional.

For more information on Baseline’s training courses click here.

Onsite training is available upon request.

FEATURE PRODUCT: MapXtreme

MapXtreme® is the leading software development kit (SDK) for integrating location intelligence with existing business systems. It allows developers to build custom mapping applications, provide tailored views of geographic data and automate and augment business processes. MapXtreme’s powerful spatial capabilities are geared toward solving real business problems, with a powerful, user-friendly feature set. Flexible deployment options include both desktop and web from a single SDK.

With MapXtreme, application developers can:

-          Deliver mapping applications for one to many users
-          Customers can see coverage areas or find nearest locations
-          Engineers can spot network disruptions and notify customers
-          Sales and service reps can get directions to their next call
-          Share location intelligence across the organization
-          Access original enterprise databases and varied data formats
-          Manage growing web traffic with highly scalable architecture
-          Turn spatial information into a valuable corporate asset

MapXtreme 2008 enables you to create custom mapping applications and map-enabled applications for deployment in both Microsoft Windows desktop and web environments.

Key benefits include:

100% .NET object model

Enables application development of map-centric or map-enabled applications for use throughout an organization

Provides a single environment for deployment of applications to desktop or the web

Complies with both geospatial and IT industry standards ensuring interoperability

Includes the addition of many new features and functions

Please click here for more information on MapXtreme or to download a free trial version.

FEATURE STORY: COLES' MUSSEL FARMS LTD.

Coles’ Mussel Farms, located in New London, PEI, came to Baseline in need of a system that would help manage their 2000+ mussel lines, tens of thousands of socks, and ten million pounds of mussels annually.  No problem! 

In this business, forgetting to harvest a line could cost up to $8,000 or being late to add buoys to a line could reduce the yield by 30 percent.  Having tools to allow management to monitor and manage the inventory has an almost immediate return on investment.  The rough seas the crews often work in meant the solution must be easy to use in those conditions.

Baseline provided Coles’ with a means of collecting basic data in the field and sending this data back to the office via the Bell cellular network, using a GPS-enabled PDA equipped with GBM Mobile software.  Baseline designed and created the geographic and attributes tables and developed some simple queries that would enable Coles’ to track the various stage of production for each line.  This involved creating a set of tools that manages all aspects of the production cycle and assigns tasks to the right crew at the right time which allows for the traceability of the product and improved yields and productivity.  Keeping track of what has been done on each line and when each line has been seeded or harvested is imperative in the mussel industry.  Missing a couple of lines would be costly.

Working with Baseline, Coles’ Mussel Farms is now able to:

- record activities on the water using simple to use custom forms (GBM Mobile) on handheld computers (cell phones) – no need to record on paper and input data later;
- wirelessly send data back – no need for captains to bring data to shore;
- quickly access data through a Management system (MapInfo Professional and GBM Pro);
- build thematic layers and run pre-built queries;
- easily manage activities and see what needs to be taken care of;
- save time managing operations; and
- trace operations from seed source to seeding to harvest.

In addition to data collection in the field provided by Phase 1 of the project, Baseline has also proposed a more robust inventory/works management tool. 

For information on how Baseline can help your organization, please contact us!

THANK YOU

We hope you enjoyed this edition of LOCATION MATTERS.  Do you have some news of your own?  We would love to hear from you!  Please send us your success stories using MapInfo Professional and/or working with Baseline.  You can also send your press releases, project news or article suggestions to info@baselinegeo.com.

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