9 Reasons Why MapBusinessOnline Sales Territory Mapping is Top Dog

Posted on June 3, 2020 by Geoffrey Ives

Most MapBusinessOnline users choose MapBusinessOnline because of its superior sales territory alignment capabilities. When you compare the MapBusinessOnline sales territory management capabilities with our competitors, paying careful attention to the feature list and the pricing, the analysis results are clearly in our favor.

Sales Territory Management is not a basic mapping software function. It is advanced in part because it combines map visualizations with business analysis, and further because it incorporates almost every aspect of business mapping software. Sales territory mapping involves:

  • The collection and identification of administrative areas, as assigned areas of account responsibility
  • The import of customer and prospect address databases for display, analysis, and reporting
  • Territory creation through the ability to gather districts via lassoing or importing a territory dataset of ZIP codes, counties, states, or city limits
  • The aggregation of sales results by territory for information sharing and decision making
  • The ability to incorporate market analysis and demographic analysis into territory assignment logic which is also used for general expansion planning, competitor analysis, and market analysis
  • Constructing a map visualization and analysis of your business’s sales structure

MapBusinessOnline is Wicked Easy

And with all the above basic functions for advanced territory mapping, MapBusinessOnline manages to sustain the moniker ‘Easy-to-Use.’ Ease-of-use tends to be overused marketing jargon except when it represents the exact character of the product being sold.

I always describe sales territory adjustments or tweaks, as the best example of MapBusinessOnline ease-of-use. Adding or removing a ZIP code or a group of ZIP codes from a saved territory is a few mouse clicks to completion. Select a ZIP code, hold the shift key, select a few more. Now click the Puzzle Piece Icon and choose the territory targeted for adjustment. Remove the group, add the group, update the territory. You have choices, but it’s all fast and done in an instant. Let me know when you find a tool out there that’s this easy. Read more about editing territories.

Importing territories from a territory spreadsheet is fast and easy as well. Follow prepared dialogue pages and march right through the process. Most users create ZIP code-based territories which entails a spreadsheet as simple as two columns: one for ZIP code and one for Territory Name. Read more about territory creation.

Ease-of-Use comparisons are commonly won by MapBusinessOnline against all competitors but none more so than against Maptitude. It is important to remember that Maptitude is a GIS tool and GIS implies complexity.  This can be a good thing if you’re a scientist, or geospatial analyst, or my father-in-law (may he rest in peace with his organized workshop.) But for most busy businesspeople simple and fast is better. Maptitude is also a desktop software. Cloud services are more convenient, provide easier access, and simplify update headaches. But we understand, it’s a lot of work to migrate a product from desktop to the cloud. Maybe they’ll get there, someday.

During the first part of this decade, we targeted replacing Microsoft MapPoint, as the territory mapping product to beat. We had just surpassed their capabilities in 2014 when Microsoft eliminated the product. Our software continues to evolve.

Additional Differentiating Features

MapBusinessOnline territory alignment capabilities beat the competition in a variety of ways. One of those ways is ease-of-use as outlined above. But there are other differentiators:

  • Demographic Analysis – MapBusinessOnline’s comprehensive library of demographic data layers is readily available for sales territory analysis including at the click of the More Data button. Data Window analysis views are quickly developed and apply to all territories with a common map layer base (ZIP code, County, etc.)
  • Territory Balancing – Gauge territory fairness and workload balance by Data Window totaling. Level your territory allocations by demography, sales history, or another metric.
  • Multiple Alignment Layers per Map – Create a mix of territory alignment configurations on one map. One set by ZIP code, another set by County, two sets by State. You decide!
  • Overlap – It happens for a variety of reasons. What’s important is being aware of territory overlap. Allow overlap in MapBusinessOnline territory intersection settings. Choose a bright color that informs the map viewer, “There’s overlap here.”
  • Access to Business Listings – The ability to search for and download business listings within the territory mapping application is unique to MapBusinessOnline. Purchase just those businesses you require in the areas where you need them most.
  • Support for Regions and Divisions – Some organizations require levels of management. Nationwide regions or zones help define or reflect a sales organization’s structure. (Requires MapBusinessOnline Pro)
  • Price – We believe we are the most affordable advanced territory cloud-based solution available. Not one customer has told us otherwise
  • Technical Support – Support is always available through Chat, Email (Contact button), or by calling (800) 425-9035. Check out our YouTube video library and weekly application blog. Don’t hesitate to request a web demo.

Multiple Alignment Layers Across One Territory Map

We know the reasons you require territory mapping software. We service franchise businesses, local service providers, large insurance conglomerates, pharmaceutical companies, big-box retailers, and industrial manufacturers.

So, whether your company is just organizing customer sales accountability, restructuring after a merger, or simply rebuilding a territory scheme from scratch, MapBusinessOnline is the sales territory mapping solution that provides easy access to tools you require at the most affordable price on the market.

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Are you using the MapBusinessOnline Desktop App for MAC or PC? It’s hipper than Instagram and it comes with your subscription. Dump Adobe Flash Player!

Value-Added Resellers – Offer the tool to your customers as a reseller. Make money on training and consulting. Contact us with further interest in reselling MapBusinessOnline.

Win a $20 Gift Card! Refer a business associate to MapBusinessOnline in exchange for a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

 

 

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Maintain Situational Awareness During the COVID Reopening

Posted on May 20, 2020 by Geoffrey Ives

Some business owners and managers have come to understand the value of business mapping software. Perhaps you are one. You may already subscribe to MapBusinessOnline.com or one of our top five competitors. Or you may be an ex-Microsoft MapPoint user itching to get back in the mapping game since you were set adrift by Microsoft in late 2014. Still, you may be one of the many who have yet to use business mapping software for the betterment of your business.

Regardless of your experience with business mapping, or the lack thereof, affordable map-based business analysis offers an array of tools that can help you jump start your business as the country returns to normal. This return promises to be a gradual lifting, at best, of State-enforced shelter-in-place orders.

Business mapping provides a visual pallet that enables a variety of compiled and overlaid data layers to provide an awareness of your location situation, better known in the geospatial world as Situational Awareness Mapping.

Think of situational awareness as a map visualization that exposes both resources and threats for and to business as usual.

Visualize Your Precious Customers

Now you’ve returned to normal business. Time to reacquaint yourself and your workflow and with your customer base. Import the complete address list of customers into a business map. View those precious customers on a map and think about what your first steps should be for reaching out to those business partners.

Let’s face it. We’re all aching to get back to a normal workday. Your customers are no different. But they’ll have lots to catch up on, so don’t waste their valuable time. Connect with your customers by offering something valuable. No, not a face mask. You know your customers, if there’s a service you can provide or a product you can discount or give away, now is the time.

Develop a marketing campaign based on geography. Hit all those customers within a 20-minute driving time of your retail store or service headquarters. Make it worth their while to come to your store for the first time since the outbreak. Make sure everything is clean, sparse, and safe – including your staff. And for now, that means everyone wears a mask.

Reach Out to Your Patients

By importing an address-based dataset of patients, medical companies can visualize their census, color-coded by diagnosis, age, or other identifiers. Armed with this situational awareness a marketing coordinator can determine the appropriate message to proactively send. Many patients are in a holding pattern for routine, yet serious medical conditions. They’ve been scared or warned away by the COVID-19 crisis.

Reach out based on medical classifications within specified geographic areas. Use MapBusinessOnline to segment your patient list and develop messages for area residents accordingly. Provide a set of resources and ‘back-to-normalcy’ options for those who should be renewing their regular medical visits.

For example, scheduling all patients over the age of 80 with heart conditions makes sense for the first few days. Include an extra half hour for each patient for cleaning and social distancing support. We certainly do not want crowded waiting rooms at this time. This age group will probably be your highest risk segment, so plan for their safety first and foremost and let other segments fall into place based on that experience.

Working from Home

Millions of businesses across the nation have suddenly, and by necessity, been forced to allow employees to work from home. Many of these businesses have found allowing employees to work-from-home has ongoing benefits. Twitter recently announced an indefinite extension of work-from-home rules. At best, the return to working at the office will be a gradual transition.

Communication is critical to all businesses. Efficient communication under shelter-in-place scenarios is just plain difficult. If your business is faced with extended work-from-home schedules a business map can be the perfect solution for tracking who is where and when. Upload address lists of employee home locations. Color-code and symbolize based on work status:

  • Working office
  • Working home
  • Paid Time Off
  • Sick leave

Share these maps with your constituents. Work status maps provide an instant location-based resource update and enable immediate decision making around meeting requirements and staffing needs. Add coverage area maps by ZIP code or county to display service area coverages hour-to-hour.

Let business maps help your company organize their communication requirements and stay organized. Focus on moving the business forward, not finding out where the hell Dave is today. Maps keep you organized.

Track Ongoing Virus Hotspots

The sad reality is COVID-19 could be with us for the next 18 months or more as the world awaits a safe vaccine and the virus runs its course. By tracking and sharing business maps that highlight recent outbreaks, organizations can:

  • Alert employees and partners where recent outbreaks have occurred
  • Provide location-based information about safe vacation spots
  • Minimize risky business trips

We’ll need to stay vigilant for a while to come. Maps help make the communication of risk more effective and efficient. A daily or weekly visualization of COVID hot spots may assist in planning. Which Counties or cities across the USA are growing at the fastest rate?

One area I continue to look closely at is the North Shore of Massachusetts where I have family. I found that certain cities located along the Route 128 corridor show extremely high case quantities of COVID-19. If I was a repair services tech or a traveling business person, I might think twice before visiting those areas. And if I did visit those areas, I’d make damn sure I had all the proper equipment required to remain as protected as possible.

Mass Cases by County Tracking – Situational Awareness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Business mapping software makes it easy to import datasets related to the spread of COVID-19 and build comprehensive maps that highlight impacts on your business. Data sources we’ve uncovered:

Any or all of these map layers can add value to a situational awareness map. But don’t overcrowd your map. Make sure add layers add value.

For those with interest in viewing an interactive view of the below map, click here.

COVID Situational Awareness for Mass as of 5/20/2020

 

 

Access Low-cost Optimized Routing

Six weeks ago, getting from point A to point B in a vehicle didn’t matter to your business. Routing was just something people did to direct themselves to a new destination. Today, your company is trying to survive, and many companies are reaching out to customers by delivering products and services. Suddenly routing a vehicle from a restaurant with to-go services to a patron’s home may be critical.

MapBusinessOnline offers optimized routing with up to 150 stops per route. Turn-by-turn directions are generated for each route. Best of all, you can send the route file itself via email or generate a shared map URL for your workforce to pull up on a web browser and use at home, at no additional cost.

None of us know how long our new business environment will require special services. MapBusinessOnline provides optimized routing for deliveries without a huge up-front investment. It also provides the tools to conduct general business analysis on your new business model, to assess whether or not new processes might are profitable and/or effective.

Build a Situational Awareness Map

We’ve all been at this for a few months now. Life gets complicated when you’re evading a virus. That’s not going to stop until the virus decides it’s time, or we all get vaccinated. A situational awareness map can help our constituents and associates develop plans for dealing with an emergency outbreak.

Situational Awareness maps should include the most important nearby resources for your state or area that improve safety, help operational efficiencies, and inform the map viewer. These map visualizations will include:

  • Medical centers, hospitals, and clinics
  • Grocery stores, with map labels noting hours and senior citizen access status
  • Pharmacies and current access policies
  • Police and sheriff department locations
  • Emergency shelters
  • A location dataset of your go-to friends in the event of an emergency
  • Pick-up locations for critical PPE
  • COVID testing locations as they are posted

Required pandemic resources for the reopening will vary by company, area, or by industry.

We are all in this together, and we’ll get out of it together. Can you imagine if eight weeks ago, if you approached a person works at your local grocery store and suggested they wear a mask while they work or shop? Our world is changing rapidly. Being more aware of your local situation only makes sense.

Team Collaboration Using Business Mapping

One way to achieve advanced business mapping is to implement team map collaboration within your organization. MapBusinessOnline team subscriptions encourage cross-departmental contributions to a core situational awareness map.

Teams of multiple users accessing MapBusinessOnline can create and share maps for editing. Shared maps are accessed from your Maps Shared with Me folder in your Map Library. Map collaboration is great for problem-solving, loading data for collaborative views, and to make sure maps are kept up-to-date while some users are out of the office.

Any two MapBusinessOnline subscribers can share maps directly for collaboration. Team subscriptions add an administrative component that allows an administrator control over shared subscriptions and team set-up.  Discounts are also offered for purchases of five users or more.

Being fully aware of our current situation may be more important now than at any other time in our lives.  We need to do all we can to remain vigilant, no matter how tired of virus mitigation we may be. Situational awareness maps could help your team return to business successfully and safely.

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Are you using the MapBusinessOnline Desktop App for MAC or PC? It’s hipper than Instagram and it comes with your subscription. Dump Adobe Flash Player!

Value-Added Resellers – Offer the tool to your customers as a reseller. Make money on training and consulting. Contact us with further interest in reselling MapBusinessOnline.

Win a $20 Gift Card! Refer a business associate to MapBusinessOnline in exchange for a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

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Six Crucial Elements of Sales Territory Mapping Software

Posted on May 13, 2020 by Geoffrey Ives

So, you are shopping for sales territory mapping software. MapBusinessOnline is used by thousands of salespeople and sales managers to set up and manage sales territory alignment. Ten years ago, the mapping software to beat in this area was Microsoft MapPoint. Alas, MapPoint exited the business in late 2014.

MapPoint is no more. Look to MapBusinessOnline to replace MapPoint and regain your sales territory mapping advantage.

Sales territory mapping is a major feature of most business mapping software offerings, but there are specific functions you’ll want to make sure are covered by the software product you select.

Get the Help You Need

MapBusinessOnline has outstanding technical support. You can call, email, or chat with your questions. You’ll find plenty of help documentation, blogs, and videos to assist as you learn how to use the software. Most people find it an easy tool to learn, but everyone learns differently and we try to accommodate.

Here’s a blog on the Top Ten Videos for New MapBusinessOnline Customers. And here’s another blog describing the Top Six Sales Territory Mapping Questions we get from our customers.

Import and Visualize Customers

Every serious cloud-based business mapping software allows the user to import location datasets. These would-be customer or prospect address lists imported to generate customer map visualizations. MapBusinessOnline Standard supports the import of up to 100,000 location records or customer addresses per map. That’s a lot. If you require more than that you may want to consider MapBusinessOnline Pro which allows up to 250,000 records per map. You can always upgrade from your original purchase and we’ll prorate your pricing to protect your investment.

Importing a list of customers or prospects is a simple process. Read more about importing customer data here.

You can also import sales territory datasets to create territories by ZIP code, City Limit, County, or State from a spreadsheet. We have many blogs and videos describing various aspects of sales territory management. There are help docs, a YouTube video library, an online Chat feature, and we can always provide live web-demos.

Territory creation can also occur by lassoing jurisdictions, like ZIP codes, with your mouse cursor or by selecting jurisdictions one-by-one. Likewise, territory edits are just a few mouse clicks. Select a group of ZIP codes and remove them from a territory or add them to a territory. The territory editing process is fast and easy. Read more here.

Sales Territory Labels

Now you’ve got sales territories on the map and a dataset of customers overlaid on top of your territories. Labels are an important aspect of territory mapping. MapBusinessOnline automatically labels your territories as they are created. You can edit them by selecting the Territory Nameplate and clicking the Edit Gear option. Under Labels, you can add up to five flexible fields to those territory labels.

Flexible Label Fields lets you aggregate data – sales data, demographic data, or other business data – to your territory label. In MapBusinessOnline you can even create formulas that will calculate percentages or tabulate totals right below the Territory Name. Great for sales reporting at month-end or end-of-quarter wrap-up. These flexible label fields can be used for non-sales numeric sharing as well – like COVID stats, account statuses, or even secret codes. (My Dad loved secret codes.)

Image is not a Kardex Remstar map – which are protected by confidentiality

Highlight Territory Intersections

Many sales organizations have territories that overlap with other territories. MapBusinessOnline includes territory setup options that can account for territory overlap or intersection. You can define which color represents sales territory overlap. You may believe that territory overlap is unnecessary, but it happens and for varying reasons. Reasons for territory overlap might include:

  • Rapid account growth in relatively confined areas
  • Legacy account assignments
  • Logistical realities
  • Customer requests

MapBusinessOnline provides tools that let a sales territory manager control the reality of territory overlap. If your organization decides to allow it, you need to be able to show where overlap occurs.

Optimized Vehicle Routing

Vehicle routing is a critical element of sales planning. It makes sense for a sales territory mapping program to also include optimized vehicle routing. MapBusinessOnline subscriptions can provide standalone sales planning support for a salesperson. Each subscriber would have access to:

  • Sales territory map views that define sales accountability
  • Customer and prospect location datasets with contact information
  • A full features vehicle routing tool that allows routes with up to 150 stops
  • The ability to share map images or interactive web maps

MapBusinessOnline shared interactive web maps include the ability to share optimized vehicle routes with turn-by-turn directions at no charge for non-subscribers. Read more about map sharing here.

Generate the Reports You Need

There are a variety of reports you can generate from business mapping software.  In the MapBusinessOnline community, a common request is for the list of ZIP codes with corresponding territory assignments.  These reports are exportable in CSV format, easily imported into Microsoft Excel and saved per your business requirements – XLS, PDF, TXT.

Business mapping reporting is flexible and sometimes involves spatial queries to generate results. For instance, perhaps you’d like to generate a list of all major prospects outside of all major territory areas. That’s a spatial query. The results, once generated are exportable.

Sales territory analysis views can include demographic data, sales histories, and even product information. Once compiled to your satisfaction these analysis views are exportable.

And don’t forget, a business meeting can always be fed a live MapBusinessOnline map for elucidating the particular aspects of a sales situation. Sales results are always complicated. That’s why sales territory mapping with its multi-dimensional intelligence is so important for active sales organizations.

Armed with territory assignments, sales planning tools, a list of customers and prospects, and the ability to share maps, your sales team is ready to rock and roll. Now, where is my facemask? Who’s got my facemask?!

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Are you using the MapBusinessOnline Desktop App for MAC or PC? It’s hipper than Instagram and it comes with your subscription. Dump Adobe Flash Player!

Value-Added Resellers – Offer the tool to your customers as a reseller. Make money on training and consulting. Contact us with further interest in reselling MapBusinessOnline.

Win a $20 Gift Card! Refer a business associate to MapBusinessOnline in exchange for a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

 

Posted in Business Mapping Software blog post, Sales and marketing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

How Do I Build a COVID-19 Map That Supports My Org?

Posted on May 6, 2020 by Geoffrey Ives

Many home care and nursing home businesses use business mapping software in their operational environments to better understand the challenges they face. Location awareness has become a primary concern for medical organizations as they do battle with COVID-19 and do their best to protect both their clientele and their employees.

For a long time, the most common application of MapBusinessOnline for home care agencies has been field staff management. The ability to view home locations for home care nurses and aides enabled the creation of efficient vehicle routes to client homes or medical resources. Coverage area visualizations and territory maps have helped define the areas assigned to each clinician and how they fit into the agency’s overall coverage area patterns.

Today, location awareness has become even more important as the COVID-19 contagion works its way through our most at-risk populations across the United States. Assisted living centers, nursing homes, and the personal addresses of home care agency patients are all at-risk locations that medical professionals and public safety organizations need to be very location-aware of.

I did a Google search for USA congregate living centers by address. In no time I downloaded a .CSV file of all the nursing home addresses across the USA. There are 39,763 of them. MapBusinessOnline Standard will allow the import of up to 100,000 records per map. MapBusinessOnline Pro allows up to 250,000 records per map. Clearly, if you need to construct a map visualization of all possible congregate centers Pro may be the way to go. You can always upgrade and we’ll pro-rate your investment.

Business mapping software provides basic visualizations that can assist in prioritizing clinician visits, elevating support services, and assisting with hospital placement decision making. These business map functions include:

  • Client home address locations marked with color-coded symbols that define patient medical status. A glance at a color-coded coverage area map can instantly prioritize and qualify the most critical patient for next morning assessments, repeat visits from specialists, or simply a visit from the closest clinician.
  • Client Address Labels include flexible fields for notation of the top 3 to 5 diagnosis statements. It’s important to understand quickly who has respiratory issues or heart conditions when COVID-19 us suspected.
  • COVID-19 Priority Status has become a critical diagnosis. The disease has definite stages and balancing where a patient is on the progress scale along with their standard non-COVID co-morbid conditions can assist in prioritizing for the day. Import COVID symbols  to assign visual priority to critical patients.

Tracking the Virus’s Progress

Coverage area map views can include a variety of location datasets, relevant to the Coronavirus pandemic. Medical centers, dentists, and health care specialist addresses are easily imported into the map view. Believe it or not, during a pandemic the occasional tooth still needs to be pulled. These locations can be mapped to reflect status:

  • Medical Service Centers – Open or closed for business and business hours.
  • On-call Offices – Of the various health care services, who are on-call for emergencies?
  • Pharmacies Offering COVID Testing – This is a thing that’s happening now. Which pharmacies are offering testing?

Some industries are more susceptible to COVID outbreaks. Meat plants were the latest COVID hotspots over the past few weeks. Locally new industry hotspots will likely develop that are a surprise to local authorities. Maps are a great way to track and share such hotspots among constituents.

Are there churches in the communities that have high numbers of COVID-19 cases confirmed? Add them to your map. Which restaurants are open for touch-free to-go service and delivery? As the states open back up for business which restaurants are certified for safe social distancing and cleanliness? Add these location-based address datasets to your COVID map.

Search for COVID-19 case and death data for your area by county, town, or ZIP code. MapBusinessOnline makes it easy to post those location records. If you do this regularly or access data with multiple weeks’ results, you can use the Graphs and Bar Charts symbol tool to show the virus’s progress in each area. These results will visually display whether the virus is subsiding or expanding in a county or town.

Sharing Your Map

As a famous cartographer once said, “Maps are for sharing.” Yes, I know, so is COVID-19.

Seriously, MapBusinessOnline provides multiple ways to share your resource map with people who will get value out of it. MapBusinessOnline maps can be shared as image files or as interactive web maps.

Use the save as an Image File button on the Master Toolbar to snap a picture of your map view and drop it into a web page or PowerPoint.  I often use my Windows 10 Snipping Tool to collect a map view snapshot. The Share Interactive Map button will enable a map link you can drop into an email and share it with constituents.  They can click the link and access the map view – pan and zoom, route, save files, but no editing.  There will be a non-Flash Player version released later this month as a downloadable app for free viewing – so look forward to that.

MapBusinessOnline provides the critical tools necessary for your business to go visual with your particular COVID-19 data. Share it with us. We’d love to see how you use the tool.

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Are you using the MapBusinessOnline Desktop App for MAC or PC? It’s hipper than Instagram and it comes with your subscription. Impeach Adobe Flash Player!

Value-Added Resellers – Offer the tool to your customers as a reseller. Make money on training and consulting. Contact us with further interest in reselling MapBusinessOnline.

Win a $20 Gift Card! Refer a business associate to MapBusinessOnline in exchange for a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

 

Posted in Business Mapping Software blog post, How to instruction | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

5 Steps to Create a COVID-19 Pandemic Map by City Limit (Updated for 4/29/20 Data)

Posted on April 29, 2020 by Geoffrey Ives

By now many of you have looked at the various COVID-19 pandemic maps we’ve published by both County and by State. That data is pretty easy to find and grab. We’ve used the data released on weekdays by USAFacts.org. We thank USA Facts for the use of their data.

This week I wanted to write about the process for developing a simple map using a different dataset and a different map layer. The goal for me was to highlight how easy and compelling a MapBusinessOnline map is to create. I set out looking for ZIP Code data that I could easily transform into a ZIP code map.

ZIP code maps are nice because they provide a granularity in business mapping detail that we can all relate to. All of us, as far as I can surmise, understand our hometown ZIP code – where its located and the rough boundaries that define it. But while I did discover that COVID-19 ZIP Code data is starting to appear, most of it was only available in the form of maps, not the raw data. So, my major challenge in building a city-limit based COVID map was the first step in creating any business map – Step 1 – find good data.

Secure Accurate, Recent & Reliable Business Map Data

Location data is important. Your business map is created to share information with an engaged audience. Obviously securing the right data can make a big difference in how your map audience reacts to your map and perhaps in whether or not you keep your job as the designated Map Geek at your place of work.

Since the COVID-19 crisis began I  believed that MapBusinessOnline’s best map perspective describing the pandemic would be a City Limits map. But when I searched for pandemic data in March I only found County-based and State-based data.  Evidently, things have shifted, because I stumbled across some COVID data for the State of Massachusetts by city and town. The data was published by Mass.gov so I felt pretty good about the source. I mean, it wasn’t like Salad Master COVID data or something. I also grew up on the North Shore of Mass so I felt wicked pissa about building a map of my old stompin’ grounds.

Mass, where soda is tonic and a good time is wicked-mental. At least it was in my day.

The data was not in a nice downloadable spreadsheet format. It was published as a webpage or PDF, but after a few failed attempts at pilfering the data from the PDF I noticed I could download a Word Doc from which I was able to copy the data and paste into an Excel sheet. Classic Mass North Shore move. You should see me drive through a rotary.

Now, this data is last week’s publication. A new version will be released tonight 4/29 and I will update the map and blog when that happens.

It took me a bit of finagling to get the data cleaned up. The data noted all towns with less than 5 cases as “<5” to protect privacy. The < symbol isn’t going to fly in the MapBusinessOnline application. I converted those < 5 records manually to a 4 in the data. Wherever there’s a 4, that indicates there are between 1 and 5 cases in that jurisdiction, at least as of the date of this publication.

Hint: It is always a good idea to look for data errors and anomalies that may mess up your business data import. Rogue characters and spaces are showstoppers, so clean up your data. MapBusinessOnline will tell you things aren’t right. Color coding won’t present in the usual way. Points will not geocode on the map. Always suspect your data. I’ve been doing this for almost a decade now and MapBusinessOnline has rarely been wrong.

UPDATED! – Massachusetts COVID-19 Cases by City Limit as of 4/29/2020

Establish the Map Parameters

With data cleaned and imported, I made a few map adjustments that made sense for a state level map highlighting cities and towns:

  1. On the master toolbar, I clicked into the Add Map Layers button and added the City Limits layer to my map. In Map and Data, I adjusted the City Limit boundaries to a dark color purple
  2. While still in Map and Data I also adjusted the State layer boundary to black
  3. I turned off the Streetmap background layer (on by default) so that there was no background map. I felt that a lack of a background map would keep the focus on COVID-19 cases. Most Mass people are familiar with all the towns because we’re sports freaks and played them all in high school
  4. Using the Map and Data main toolbar, I chose the State Filter funnel and selected only Massachusetts. This puts the focus on just the state I have interest in for this business map. Go Mass!
  5. Finally, clicking into the Map and Data main toolbar Edit Gear I:
    1. Set up a Map Title
    2. Adjusted the background to a color I felt worked as a nice map background

Color-Code the Map Layer

Now for the fun part. We want to color-shade each town on the map based on the number of reported COVID-19 cases.

  1. Select the Color Code Map button on the Master toolbar (3 Puzzle Piece Icon) or in Map and Data hover over the City Limit layer, click the Edit Gear and choose Color Code Map Layer – same diff.
  2. Select your data layer for color-coding – COVID-19 Mass Data
  3. Select the City Limits Layer
  4. Select the data column in your data that will control your color-code
  5. Select the range of quantities and apply colors
    1. For pandemics, I start at Qty 1 or in this case 4 because of the Mass data adjustment for small towns. Just below the numeric range selector, you can choose a color for zero or no data records. I like gray
    2. Figure a scheme that works for your data. I chose 6 ranges/colors but I think five will do. More would make the map confusing
    3. Break the ranges into sensible groups. MapBusinessOnline will suggest a weighted average. I tend to break it down like this – 1-5, 6–25, 26–50, etc. Pay attention to the number the application puts in at the bottom range box – that’s the largest quantity by map layer unit or city limit in this case
  6. You can always go back a quickly edit the color-coding. It’s dimes to redo. (Dimes is Mass for easy.)

I like to add pandemic stats to the City Labels. This is done in Map and Data under Labels. Read more about labeling here.

Read more about color coding here.

Read more about growing up in Rockport, MA here.

Admire Your Work

Now review your map. You may like what you see, or you may see room for improvement. Does the map inform your map audience? Can they read the details like town names and any other data labels? Think about text colors on map colors. Are their conflicts.  There are many little adjustments you can do to fix color clashes:

  • In Map and Data, Label Tab you can remove the white shadow
  • Adjust the text coloring to minimize conflicts. What text color least conflicts with your color coding scheme
  • Try bold or italics fonts to see it they help
  • Adjust the color scheme if it is not working well
  • Avoid bright obnoxious colors – use pastels

Tweak it To Improve Your Map Intent

You’ll notice a few more fine points on my map. The Map Legend reflects the data and the color-coding scheme. Those lines of legend text are entirely editable. Read more about the legend here. Legend placement is up to you. As you can see, I placed the legend for this map in Mass Bay, a fine place for a legend. Likewise, I found a nook on the map for my map title. Placement of these text boxes should be in empty spots within the map landscape rectangle, if possible. Try to save space and to communicate without blocking map information.

I like the City Limit map view because it offers more detail over a smaller jurisdiction. We also tend to think in terms of the city, more than ZIP code or County.

Stay safe, wear a mask, and wash those hands.

______________________________

Are you using the MapBusinessOnline Desktop App for MAC or PC? It’s hipper than Instagram and it comes with your subscription. Impeach Adobe Flash Player!

Value-Added Resellers – Offer the tool to your customers as a reseller. Make money on training and consulting. Contact us with further interest in reselling MapBusinessOnline.

Win a $20 Gift Card! Refer a business associate to MapBusinessOnline in exchange for a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

 

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How Do I Apply Mass Edits to Imported Location Data in MapBusinessOnline?

Posted on April 22, 2020 by Geoffrey Ives

Once you have imported your location-based or address data into MapBusinessOnline you may decide you want to update that data. Updating data semi-automatically can be done using MapBusinessOnline but you must plan ahead to accomplish this.

Remember to download the Map App for MAC or PC

MapBusinessOnline includes an imported data Update Process through the Map and Data tab. Find your imported data is listed in Map and Data with a Checkbox next to it. Hover over the data layer and click the Edit Gear when it pops up. Under General, at the bottom of the panel you will see two Data Update options – one option is From File (on your desktop) and the other is From your Server.  You may want to touch base with your IT department about internal access to stored data used for business mapping purposes.

Now, here’s the ‘planning ahead’ part. For the imported data update process to work, you must have a column in your data for a Record ID or, as we like to call it, a Unique ID. That data column could be a list of Unique ID’s exported you get from your business system, ERP or CRM. A customer number is a good example if the data you’ve imported is customer data. You can always assign your own Unique ID just start with 100 and then move down the column – 101, 102, 103… Simply pull those numbers down the column which should add a 1 to each number.

So, because MapBusinessOnline needs that Unique ID to enable mass record updates, you’ll have to reimport your data into your map. You will not be able to use files you’ve already imported. Once your data is deleted in the current map and the original spreadsheet is updated to include that unique ID column, you are ready to reimport the data and you’ll be all set for updates in the future.

Special Note: Unique ID updating does not apply to territory imports. Territory updates are a manual process

The Mass Update Process

After your Unique has been applied and your data imported into a business map, semi-automated updates can take place. To conduct a mass update:

  1. In Map and Data hover over the target imported data layer and click the Edit Gear
  2. At the bottom of the General Panel Chose from one of the two data update options
    1. Update Dataset from File – this means the file is stored on your desktop or laptop
    2. Reload Dataset from Server – this means you access the data from a shared network

Choose the appropriate button and process the update. MapBusinessOnline will present a status notification after the update is complete. The notification will tell you how many records were updated, added, or deleted.

A Unique ID Column in Excel

The Incremental Update Process

Users can always choose to update one record at a time in the Data Window or by selecting the individual location point on the map.

  1. In the Data Window hover over the far-left colored dots of the data row you would like to edit
  2. Click the Pencil Icon
  3. Choose either to edit the Address or Location or Choose to edit the Properties and Data
  4. Choose Properties and Data to edit a record
  5. Make the Adjustments
  6. Save the Data Adjustment and Exit

Or select the point on the map itself and in the mini Toolbar choose the Edit Location Properties and Data button.  Edit your data in the resulting dialogue box.

Editing the Format of Your Imported Data

Perhaps you want to add a column or change the field formatting of an imported dataset. Well, you can do that. Keep in mind adding or editing columns and formatting is likely to break your Unique ID required formatting, disabling your semi-automatic updates.

  1. Go to Map and Data
  2. Hover over the target imported data layer and click the Edit Gear
  3. Click Customize Dataset
  4. Use the dropdown to select the right pathway. To adjust formatting for:
    1. Location columns choose General
    2. Your imported business data choose Custom
    3. Calculated Data Columns choose Calculated
  5. Save and Exit

Please note at the bottom of the dialogue pages you have the ability to add a column to your data.  Just be aware adding columns can break the Unique ID update process.

Updating and editing data in a business map is important. Perhaps a little boring, but important for efficiency and accuracy.

MapPoint Update

Yours is not the only company still using MapPoint. Contact MapBusinessOnline today and join the thousands of MapPoint users who have a replaced Microsoft MapPoint  with MapBusinessOnline.com.

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We recommend users access MapBusinessOnline via the downloadable Map App.

The Map App install is fast and easy. The Map App is a cloud-based service, once you’ve logged in you’ll have access to all of your previously saved maps and data. The Map App is a better user experience and provides access to more features than the Web App. The Flash-based Web App link will remain available until December 15, 2020.

The Map App includes the new Map Viewer app for free non-subscriber map sharing.

Value-Added Resellers – Offer the tool to your customers as a reseller. Make money on training and consulting. Contact us with further interest in reselling MapBusinessOnline.

Win a $20 Gift Card! Refer a business associate to MapBusinessOnline in exchange for a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

 

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The Top 6 Questions We are Asked About Sales Territory Mapping

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Geoffrey Ives

Sales territory alignment or territory management is a very common application of MapBusinessOnline, or any business mapping software for that matter.  For years, first as BusinessMAP and later as MapBusinessOnline, our software developers competed with Microsoft MapPoint, targeting MapPoint’s sales territory mapping tools as a key feature to beat.  And beat it we did, so much so that Microsoft canceled MapPoint in 2014.

MapBusinessOnline sales territory management tools are second to none, in my opinion.  Both easy and affordable, they are a fun set of tools to demonstrate or sell. For the most part, a user’s ability to create territory maps is just a few clicks away. There’s the option to lasso a group of ZIP codes to create territories or just import a list of counties and states to generate a territory scheme from an Excel spreadsheet.

The below-listed aspects of sales territory mapping are the top 6 questions we get asked about territory mapping.

How do I export all my territories with a list of Corresponding ZIP Codes?

I write about this process often, and we respond to this question at least once a week through chats and emails. Once you understand the process, it’s really easy. In the Data Window select the Map Layer (ZIP, County, State) in the data drop-down (upper left) that your territories are based on, then move your cursor over to the right, along the Data Window toolbar and click on the Yellow Puzzle Piece button. Once you’ve done that you’ll be presented with a few formatting options for exporting your territories. Watch a Video

Why Can’t I Create or Edit Territories? Do you hate me?

No, we don’t hate you. When you place a check in the Filter Data on Map box to isolate a territory, you must uncheck it. That’s why you can’t add or delete territories. Probably our most common technical support question. Go to the Map and Data box and hover your mouse over the Territory Data Layer listed there. Click the Edit Gear, and in the General dialogue panel that opens up uncheck the Filter Data on the Map box. Watch a Video


How Do I Edit a Territory?

If it was a snake, it would have bit you. Use your mouse cursor to select a ZIP code or a County, or any other base map layer map object you’ve already used to build your territory. You can select more than one by holding down the Shift Key. Notice the mini-toolbar associated with that map object. Select the Blue Puzzle Piece button in that mini-toolbar. A list of edit options appears – Create New, Add to, Remove From, Update. You choose what you want to do. And BTW – selecting a map layer object with your cursor is another way to create a territory from scratch – Create New. Your welcome. Watch a Video

How Do I Mix ZIP Codes and Counties in a Territory?

The short answer is you don’t. In MapBusinessOnline you must choose to build your territory structure-based either on ZIP Codes or Counties. (You can build them on States, City Limits, Census Tracts, MSA’s and ZIP 3 Codes too.) In general, think about the extent of your territories. Do they include full states and a section of a state? If they do you should build your territories on Counties or ZIP codes. But you cannot mix the map layers in one territory.  Read more.

My Territory Label is Gone, How Do I Get It Back?

Double click your cursor on the Territory in question while holding down the control key. Eh, voila! Your label is back Monsieur.

How Do I Manage Overlapping Territories in MapBusinessOnline?

After you’ve created your first territory In Map & Data click the overall Edit Gear on the Map & Data toolbar. Choose Territory Options. Here you will find controls that allow territory overlap and designate the color that defines an overlapping territory. This feature allows the map creator to alert the viewer to the fact that an overlapping territory exists on this territory map.

In addition to the above proactive approach to territory overlap, we sometimes get questions about ZIP Codes appearing in the wrong territory. This is almost always a result of including Point ZIP codes when importing a dataset to create territories. MapBusinessOnline territories are created from Boundary Territories. Point ZIP codes are different then boundary ZIP codes. Point ZIP codes are a point on the map that represents large mail drop-offs like skyscrapers, military installations, or assisted living centers. When these two distinctly different types of ZIP codes, points and boundaries, are imported together to create territories, point ZIP codes can get incorrectly assigned.

In general, keep point ZIP codes out of territory creation imports. Import point ZIP codes separately as points for inclusion in sales analysis. Read more about Point ZIP Codes here.

Those are the most common questions we get surrounding sales territory management. MapBusinessOnline is an intuitive territory alignment solution. With a little practice, you can add Sales Territory Management as a bullet on your resume. You know, for when we all have jobs again.

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Are you using the MapBusinessOnline Desktop App for MAC or PC? It’s hipper than Instagram and it comes with your subscription. Impeach Adobe Flash Player!

Value-Added Resellers – Offer the tool to your customers as a reseller. Make money on training and consulting. Contact us with further interest in reselling MapBusinessOnline.

Win a $20 Gift Card! Refer a business associate to MapBusinessOnline in exchange for a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

 

 

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Five More Boring Application Examples of Business Mapping Software

Posted on April 8, 2020 by Geoffrey Ives

At the dinner table at home or perhaps at a cocktail party, you might be tempted to discuss application examples of your work. Just be sure to pay attention to the body language of your audience. If everyone is checking their cell phone for a text message, you might want to wrap it up.  Still, I get excited about application examples of MapBusinessOnline.com business mapping tools.

Sales Customer Visualization

Almost every MapBusinessOnline.com client wants to view or visualize customers on a digital map. It’s a routine application of the tool. But there are many types of maps that can be created to support simply viewing customers across a region or the whole nation.

A basic import of data reveals where customers are located by address or by lat/long coordinate. While those dots on the map are just circles with color-fill, they can reveal a lot about the market area a map viewer might be considering.

Are there clusters of customers in unexpected areas? Maps tend to show clusters of location points which are indicators of sales activity. Business map users should seek to understand why customers are grouped geographically or demographically.

Location clusters can also help create efficient sales route planning and balance the customer load between reps. Address groups are obvious stop locations for a sales route.  They indicate areas where salespeople will want to spend some time knocking on doors. The nature of the grouped business may warrant additional resources for the particular trip – more literature or an expert travel companion who can speak to key issues.

Likewise, map visualizations of address groupings enable more efficient planning for other types of business as well:

  • School bus drop off locations
  • Package delivery routing
  • Home cleaning services

Marketing Planning for Retailers

Just like customer visualizations, retail store locations can be imported and viewed against an accurate map of the United States and Canada. Armed with such a view, marketing coordinators and managers can conduct spatial queries that build business intelligence and enhance marketing response rates.

Spatial queries are another way of defining a geographic area of interest and investigating the data within those boundaries.  Spatial searches assist retailers by presenting a variety of views all designed to expose customers by distance parameters. Retailers need customers to come to the store. A business map can turn a high traffic neighborhood into a greasy slide leading right to the store’s front door:

  • A simple radius search out 10 or 25 miles from a center point can reveal much about an area’s ability to support a retail business. Demographic Data within that market area, coupled with sales results over a period of time can indicate whether an area defined by a specific radius is going to be a successful market or a dud. Are there better areas to explore? Conduct the same spatial analysis somewhere else
  • A drive time search is like a radius search except it explores all the client locations within a polygon defined by the driving time or distance to a store location. A good retailer will have an understanding of their customer’s tolerance for driving times.  A 15-minute drive time is a common driving distance segment. Highway access and traffic can have an impact. With a defined drive time area, a retailer can fine-tune their marketing messages by area, population, even age, and ethnicity, making email or direct mail marketing more targeted and less expensive per client. Customers located thirty minutes away might receive a more enticing offer.
  • A proximity search looks for all of the locations or data points within a specified range of a central point or a set of points. Such searches can be done by radius or drive time searches. The results are more complex and more complete, especially for a retailer with multiple stores.

Spatial queries explore the geographic area defined by marketing managers enhancing their business intelligence. By combining an awareness of existing business, local area demographics, and prospective business opportunities, marketing plans develop organically, rooted in the environment where the store exists.  Use business maps to help make marketing efforts more attuned to the local clientele. Know your customers.

Access Demographic Data

Insurance Risk Assessment

Insurance companies depend on risk assessments in all that they do. Understanding a client’s geographic distribution of assets must include business mapping analysis. All buildings, machines, resources, and even employees can be located and mapped. Asset valuations are assigned based on market resale, replacement costs, salaries, or commodity values, and aggregating a total value by region is important. Values are compiled and used to asses risk based on regional, industry, and societal factors.

If a business is located on the Gulf Coast of the USA, risk assessment is critical due to the likelihood of a major hurricane. There are insurance businesses that will not build or occupy buildings located within ten miles of the Gulf Coast.  The Mayans moved inland for a reason.

Business mapping software provides a platform for the importation and analysis of disparate datasets, all in one place with both a visual geographic perspective and associated datasheet views. Spatial queries enable obvious and incongruent comparisons between data layers. Risks are revealed in unexpected places. Patterns emerge, no matter what the subject. Decision making always has a location component.

Public Safety Mapping

As I write this blog and you read the blog, COVID-19 is teaching all of us about the nature of public safety. Pre-planning is so important. Oh, but if we could take but a few steps back in time to last summer and revisit that inventory levels in the USA stockpile of medical equipment.

Business maps display inventories by location across the nation or world. Surplus levels of N-95 masks, face shields, and the now oh-so-precious ventilators, are easily grasped based on color-coded symbols. Click on the map object to drill down into the data.

Contagious viruses aside, public safety map views tap into available recent and archived criminal data to reveal patterns in crime statistics. Serial crimes geocoded on a map for thoughtful viewing can tell a story about where a criminal is likely to live, what security cameras may have picked up video, and common geographic aspects of victim experiences.

We’ve all read the news stories of how location patterns led to an arrest. We’ve watched the CSI episodes. Geographic mapping applications for public safety are real and business mapping software plays a role. MapBusinessOnline map projects have been used to supplement search and rescue missions, exposed serial criminals, and to track insurance fraud.

Call Center Applications

Many of us have worked in or supported a call center in some way. Business maps are great for call centers because the map views are easily sharable. Maps are created by a central map editor in charge of cultivating and maintaining accurate location data sources. The map curator builds and shares the map with the call center associates who can add an address or ZIP code on the map to determine:

  • Where to ship the package
  • Who to bill for the phone-order
  • Where to send the tow-truck for a service call
  • What address has lost its power
  • What home requires HVAC services
  • Where the package pick-ups are located for this afternoon’s run

Call center maps can be used to define sales territories or coverage areas which can aid in instant decision making for people on the phone helping others in the field.

It’s all boring when discussing it at the dining room table, but business maps help the world stay stable and move forward, something we all appreciate just a little bit more these days.

______________________________

Are you using the MapBusinessOnline Desktop App for MAC or PC? It’s hipper than Instagram and it comes with your subscription. Impeach Adobe Flash Player!

Value-Added Resellers – Offer the tool to your customers as a reseller. Make money on training and consulting. Contact us with further interest in reselling MapBusinessOnline.

Win a $20 Gift Card! Refer a business associate to MapBusinessOnline in exchange for a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

Posted in Business Mapping Software blog post, Sales and marketing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Weekly Time-lapse Map of the COVID-19 Contagion & Vaccination Status as of 01/22/2022 | MapBusinessOnline.com

Posted on April 2, 2020 by Geoffrey Ives

Beginning on April 1, 2020, MapBusinessOnline will post a bi-monthly time-lapse map depicting the spread of the Coronavirus across the United States by county.

As of Jan 23, 2022, COVID-19 Full Vaccination status across the USA – Of note Vermont is at 79% fully vaxed:

USA Full Vaccination Status as of 1/23/22

To access the map download the Map App and then click this link.

Today’s map is accessing data and depicts the spread from early March 2020 up to Jan. 22, 2022:

COVID-19 USA Deaths by State as of 1/22/22

Medical Data source: Definitive HealthCare

Thanks to Bill McNeil for the idea.

Learn more about MapBusinessOnline and business mapping.

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MapBusinessOnline access has officially transitioned from Web Browser (Adobe Flash Player) access to the Map App download access.

  • Please download the Map App from the website – https://www.mapbusinessonline.com/App-Download.aspx.
  • After installing the Map App, the MapBusinessOnline launch button will be in the Windows Start Menu or Mac Application folder. Find the MapBusinessOnline folder in the Start Menu scrollbar. Click the folder’s dropdown arrow and choose the MapBusinessOnline option. You can drag the icon to the taskbar for a quick launch button.
  • All saved maps will be available through your Map Library Folder, the second button in from the left on the Master Toolbar. (Green File Folder icon.)

Map App access to MapBusinessOnline.com provides enhanced features and a better user experience.

The Map App includes the new Map Viewer app for free non-subscriber map sharing.

Value-Added Resellers – Offer the tool to your customers as a reseller. Make money on training and consulting. Contact us with further interest in reselling MapBusinessOnline.

 

Posted in A story, Business Mapping Software blog post | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

How Do I Record a COVID-19 Time-lapse Map Using MapBusinessOnline

Posted on April 1, 2020 by Geoffrey Ives

https://youtu.be/BBfuBREB1tc

For the second week in a row, I’ve interrupted the usual blog schedule to talk about mapping the Novel Coronavirus.

Tracking the spread of a virus is certainly an interesting use of business mapping software. It can also be quite overwhelming when you are paying attention to the numbers day-to-day and they are increasing at an exponential rate. Further, as many of us are finding now, people we know are getting impacted by the disease. It’s personal.

In the included map image below, I’ve used the Chart symbolization options from MapBusinessOnline to compare six days of COVID-Case status. Notice that the spread is rather uniform when compared state-to-state. By that I mean the rate of the spread is similar from state-to-state, while the overall numbers are larger where there are more people.

Covid-19 Spread in the Northeast U.S.A. USAFacts.com source data

This tells as much about the nature of the United States as it does about our overall response efforts or the contagion’s aggressive spread. We are truly living in a global community. So many hotbeds of COVID-19 are the result of traveler carry. From a city in China to a world shut-down in three months. It’s impressive.

The map tells a story about testing too.  I believe one important factor in accounting for the rapid rise of confirmed cases is the availability and application of more tests.  We found out this week on national news of a company located right here in Maine, Abbott Labs, that has developed and received FDA approval for a testing kit that will provide COVID-19 case confirmations in 15-minutes. The company hopes to manufacture up to 5 million test kits a month. Yikes! Rock on Abbott Labs.

Time-lapse Maps Using MapBusinessOnline

Another approach we came up with is a time-lapse map. A time-lapse map records one map view with data changes over time.  We’ve tried several approaches to this concept.  As in all business maps, considering your map audience is important. Try to consider what your map viewers might be looking for.

In this case, there were several critical factors to include in the time lapse map:

  • Contagion data – reflect the case count by day or by week
  • Post the date of the data
  • Include a legend describing the color-code scheme by county
  • Provide the right map background to keep the focus on the spread over time

The process is relatively easy, but the time-lapse map creator needs to pay attention.  In addition to MapBusinessOnline, you will require a recording software. I used SnagIt from TechSmith.  SnagIt is a great, low-cost screen recording tool.

Once you have a recording complete you’ll need to share the map somehow. Www.YouTube.com is a great presentation option.

Once the MapBusinessOnline map is solid, with all the parameters required, get ready to record.

Test the Recording Process First

Because I was recording a color-coded county layer map, I did a couple of trial slides changing the data column from day-to-day. The USAFacts data includes every day of the contagion by column. Therefore, I set up my Color-Code Map button with the first date, made sure the date was referenced in both the Map Title and the Legend and applied the color-code scheme across the range of confirmed case values.

One way to control the data ranges is to set up a broad numeric range that covers the contagion for the entire period and leave it that way for all slides. This presents a more striking visual contagion growth pattern. Another way to view the ranges is to adjust the ranges as the contagion grows – every five days seemed to warrant a larger range spread. On March 1 there were only 1 to 10 confirmed COVID cases, but by March 29 the total caseload had risen to about 13,000 cases across the USA. The latter method offers a little more value detail as the contagion maps march through time.

Another thing to consider during your trial recording is the length of time for each map slide. I felt four seconds was a minimum time requirement for the viewer to absorb the map view. A map viewer can always pause the YouTube video.

Once you’ve decided on how you will or will not manipulate the range presentation, get ready to record.  In your mind, or on paper have a process for each slide:

  • Press record and count or watch the count for four seconds and stop
  • Update the Color Code Map process with the next data or column of data
  • Adjust the color-code ranges as required (or not)
  • Adjust the map title and legend as required
  • Rinse and repeat (Shampoo joke)

Record your first slide. Now keep going for the thirty days in the month, and don’t fall asleep.

That’s the process for creating a time-lapse map experience using MapBusinessOnline. It probably takes two to three hours from map creation start to recording finish. Once you’ve done it, it’s an easy way to show map changes over time.

Special thanks to Bill McNeil for the idea.

______________________________

Are you using the MapBusinessOnline Desktop App for MAC or PC? It’s hipper than Instagram and it comes with your subscription. Impeach Adobe Flash Player!

Value-Added Resellers – Offer the tool to your customers as a reseller. Make money on training and consulting. Contact us with further interest in reselling MapBusinessOnline.

Win a $20 Gift Card! Refer a business associate to MapBusinessOnline in exchange for a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

 

Posted in Business Mapping Software blog post, How to instruction | Tagged , , | Leave a comment