MapPoint Web Service

The MapPoint Web Service is a programmable web service hosted by Microsoft and used by enterprises and independent software developers to integrate location-based services such as maps, driving directions and proximity searches into software applications and business processes. By using the MapPoint Web Service, companies can improve business results through better discoverability of store locations and business assets.

•	The Solution: MapPoint Web Service
•	Benefits
•	Solution Scenarios
•	Features/Components
•	More Information

The Solution: MapPoint Web Service

The MapPoint Web Service helps companies improve business results through better discoverability of store locations and business assets.

The MapPoint Web Service is a programmable web service hosted by Microsoft and used by enterprises and independent software developers to integrate location-based services, such as maps, driving directions and proximity searches, into software applications and business processes. The MapPoint Web Service also provides an extensive set of mapping-related content such as business listings and points of interest (POI) that can be used within applications. By using the MapPoint Web Service in their business solutions, companies will improve business results through better discoverability of store locations and business assets. The MapPoint Web Service currently supports more than 15 million transactions daily.

Specifically, the MapPoint Web Service:

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Provides powerful mapping capabilities for integrating location into business solutions.
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Delivers a cost-effective investment by removing the IT management burden.
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Enables developers with common developer tools and builds upon a standards-based programming model.
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Delivers a service level commitment with at least 99.9 percent uptime.

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Benefits

The MapPoint Web Service helps companies improve business results through better discoverability of store locations and business assets.

Specifically, the MapPoint Web Service helps companies:

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Improve customer satisfaction by more seamlessly integrating location of assets into web presence.
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Increase sales by improving the online purchase process experience.
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Decrease costs by reducing the burden on phone centers.
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Share store location information between businesses.

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Solution Scenarios

The ability to expose locations and driving directions via the MapPoint Web Service enables a broad array of business scenarios across a variety of industries.

Provide Nearby Points of Interest: Companies can quickly and easily integrate key points of interest (POI) associated with a specific location. For example, hotels or restaurants can provide the nearest location of all automatic teller machines (ATMs). Or a manufacturing company can list all gas stations within a short drive from a supply center. The MapPoint Web Service includes a database of more than 15,000,000 POI and customers can upload custom POI datasets as well.

Search By Location Attributes: Companies can specify up to 300 location attributes for use with MapPoint Web Service applications. For example, a retail outlet can allow website visitors to search for stores that are open early or stores that handle return items.

Deliver Driving Directions: Companies can offer driving directions with a map and step-by-step instructions. For example, an insurance company can easily provide driving directions from a customer home address to an insurance agent location.

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Features/Components

The MapPoint Web Service includes the following features:

Finding Addresses. Find geocoded addresses in North America, South America and Europe. The street name can be combined with city, state, postal code or intersecting street to deliver a specific search result.

Finding Non-Addressable Places. Search for geographic entities such as cities, postal codes, states, counties, rivers, lakes, airports, landmarks, and other structures that do not have street addresses.

Reverse Geocoding. Access a list of geographic entities that are associated with a particular coordinate such as county or designated marketing area.

Finding Nearby Places. Quickly return a list of points of interest based on the proximity to a selected location. Searches can be performed for POI along a specified route. MapPoint Web Service includes a database of more than 15,000,000 listings and customers can upload custom POI datasets as well.

Customizing Locations. Easily geocode and storing of custom databases to be used with MapPoint Web Service applications is possible. Customers can include up to 300 searchable attributes for each record such as types of services and hours of operation.

Routing. Provide optimized driving directions with step-by-step instructions.

Worldwide City-to-City Routing. Build applications that will determine the location of places (such as cities or towns) worldwide and route between them. This capability includes routing across a waterway, a continent or country boundaries.

Polygons. Define and render a region on a map and then use this region to find relations to other polygons, point data sources, addresses, and specific geographic locations. Common uses of polygons include defining neighborhoods, delivery areas, cell phone coverage and territories. The MapPoint Web Service offers a polygon creation tool and several command line tools for converting existing ESRI, MapInfo, Autodesk, Intergraph and GML files to the MWS polygon file format. MapPoint Web Service also offers a COM Add-in for MapPoint 2006 North America and MapPoint 2004 Europe which allows you to draw your own polygons and save them to the MapPoint Web Service polygon XML file format.

Real-Time Traffic Incidents. Gain access to real-time traffic incidents (accidents, congestion, or construction) for over 70 major metropolitan areas in the United States. Data about the traffic incident include the severity, traffic flow diversion, the expected duration and the expected delay.

Map Rendering. Render maps in many different styles and font sizes, optimized for a wide variety of devices and applications, including:

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Line Drive Maps. Modeled after hand-drawn directions, Line Drive Maps help customers easily see where they are going on a map printout by simplifying the map route and removing untraveled roads.
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Night Time Maps. The black background and bright green roads in this style aid in viewing maps at night on mobile devices. The black background saves your eyes from having to readjust between the screen and the dark.
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Urban Inset Maps. These are static maps identifying significant roads and points of interest in major urban areas. They are often used to aid travelers.

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