http://www.mp2kmag.com/ The Latest Articles from MP2Kmag - The Magazine for Microsoft MapPoint Technologies Wed, 11 Mar 2026 21:55:45 -0500 custom MP2K Magazine 1999-2009 website@mp2kmag.com (Eric Frost) website@mp2kmag.com (Eric Frost) http://www.mp2kmag.com/update/mappoint.newsletter/2004-02-27/mp2kmag_mappoint.gif http://www.mp2kmag.com http://www.mp2kmag.com MP2K Magazine is your source for independent news and information about MapPoint technologies and products and is home to the popular web forum for MapPoint users and developers. http://www.mappoint2010.com MP2K Magazine is now taking orders for MapPoint 2010. See ordering page for more details and shipping information. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a176--prioritize.mailing.list.mappoint.html This article demonstrates how MapPoint's Drivetime Polygons can be used to prioritize a mailing list. "The Texas Bluebird Society is a non-profit organization in Texas with a mailing list of over 7,000 (members and former members). We wanted to send word of an upcoming event in Kerrville, TX with as much bang for the buck with a limited budget for postage." "The Kerrville Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) agreed to pay an amount for 1st class postage for the event flier for those most likely to attend and stay overnight." http://www.mp2kmag.com/a175--state.identification.game.mappoint.html The complete code and uncompiled .xlsm file are available for download. Post any questions about the code or how it might be adapted to your projects in the discussion area below the article. "Since the publication and release of the game in late 2012, the State Identification Game quickly became the most popular download of all time on MapForums. "The State Identification Game was developed using Excel VBA and MapPoint. The MapPoint version must be at least 2010 as it was in this version that you were first able to manipulate map layers and turn off labels. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a174--state.game.setup.mappoint.html This article demonstrates a couple preliminary steps involved in setting up the State Identification Game. "The "State Identification Game" was released in 2012 and has gotten a lot of attention from both gamers and developers. "The concept is the game is very simple. The game shows the outline of a random U.S. state and asks you to identify the state. The outline of the state and surrounding states as well as water bodies (major lakes and oceans) can all be used as clues to identify the state. It sounds simple, but I did in fact miss a few before practicing a little bit. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a173--mappoint.excel.automation.mappoint.html This article shows a relatively simply way to control MapPoint and paste map images into Excel based on some event or changes in Excel, bringing powerful mapping capability into Microsoft Excel Dashboards. "I would posit that more than 50% of the work done with MapPoint also involves Excel in some capacity. To some degree, this is by necessity and design. MapPoint does not have it's own, built-in Table Viewer and Editor such as other mapping software like MapInfo Pro and ArcGIS." http://www.mp2kmag.com/a172--bingmaps.ios6.iphone5.mappoint.html We take a look at some misplaced labels in Bing Maps app for iOS 6 and compare to MapPoint. The Magnificent Mile and the River East labels appear on Chicago downtown piers, not too far from where they should be, but clearly not in the right place. Apple Maps doesn't have a monopoly on digital map errors. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a171--python.displaydatamap.mappoint.html This article is sort of an addendum to the previous three-part article on using ImportData and DisplayDataMap. As the title indicates, this articles contains code and examples in Python for using the ImportData and DisplayDataMap methods. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a170--importdata.displaydatamap.mappoint.html This three-part article by Richard Marsden discusses and demonstrates how to effectively use Microsft MapPoint's ImportData and DisplayDataMap methods. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a169--time.zone.optimal.route.mappoint.html In this final installment of a three part article, Doug Popken discusses "lessons learned" and provides insights into obtaining the time zone, obtaining optimal routes, and programming an application to work with both MapPoint North America and Europe. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a168--milecharter.mileage.charts.mappoint.html Richard Marsden writes about how MPMileCharter (formerly MileCharter) can be used to compute a matrix of distances between pushpins and pushpins sets. A major re-write was recently released as MPMileCharter 3.0. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a166--geocoding.route.display.mappoint.html In part two of a three part article, Doug Popken discusses the implementation of several key aspects of Route Factory functionality that rely upon MapPoint including time and distance calculations, geocoding, and route display. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a165--routing.application.mappoint.html Systems View Software, a provider of route management software and consulting, uses MapPoint in a new application known as Route Factory Spreadsheet. The C# .NET application, which has a MS Excel interface, creates optimal routes for fleets of transports subject to a variety of timing and capacity constraints. In this article, Dr. Doug Popken shares some of his experiences developing the application, including lessons learned, that readers may find useful in their own applications. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a164--geonames.python.mappoint.html Richard Marsden wrote this article on how to add cities for countries not covered by the North American or European versions of MapPoint using the free Geonames database. All programming is done using the powerful Python scripting language. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a163--visual.studio.mappoint.html In this follow-up to his article last year on Developing with Visual Studio 2010 and MapPoint, Wilfried Mestdagh now shows how to get started with the ActiveX Control http://www.mp2kmag.com/a162--businessmap.mappoint.html Kathleen Anne Gaiser writes about her experiences in looking for a replacement for BusinessMap (now discontinued by ESRI) for their mapping needs. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a161--mobile.devices.mappoint.html In this article, Eric Frost shows how maps created with Microsoft MapPoint 2010 can be automatically published to the web and displayed on mobile devices. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a160--visual.studio.2010.mappoint.html Wilfried Mestdagh shows how to get started with Visual Studio 2010 and MapPoint 2010 development in this first of a two-part article. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a159--location.api.mappoint.html Richard Marsden discusses the new “Location and Sensors” API and how to get started with development including a complete working example with source code available to download. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a158--mapfeatures.mappoint.html Richard Marsden explores the new MapFeatures Collection in MapPoint 2010 and how to programmatically control the "Map Settings" via the API. Includes a table with the complete list of the MapFeature indices. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a157--2010.gps.layer.control.mappoint.html Richard Marsden highlights the new features in MapPoint 2010 including the "Map Settings" or cartographic layer pane, new programmatic capabilities for GPS control, GPS import/export and several other major enhancements including MapPoint 2009 "Fixes". http://www.mp2kmag.com/a156--back.forward.mappoint.html MapPoint 2009 introduced a new redesigned and streamlined interfaced which eliminated a couple of little-used buttons - the back and forward buttons for navigating map views. Richard Marsden shows how to get the functionality back using a .NET Add-in. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a155--fsharp.wetlands.mappoint.html In this, the second of a two-part article on functional programming with MapPoint, Richard Marsden uses F# in a practical example classifying data points as wetlands based on hydrology, vegetation, and soil measurements. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a154--fsharp.functional.programming.mappoint.html The first of two articles by Richard Marsden on MapPoint and F#. Recently released as a full product by Microsoft, F# can be used as a functional language or as an imperative or object-oriented language, and is useful for multi-threaded programming. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a153--late.binding.mappoint.html Richard Marsden shows how to call MapPoint from C# using late binding or dynamic invocation. Late binding has a number of advantages in certain scenarios including being about to support multiple type libraries. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a152--shape.name.mappoint.html The Shape Name Utility is a simple utility developed by Richard Marsden that allows a user to examine and/or change the names of MapPoint shapes. This article describes the code and how it works. http://www.mp2kmag.com/a151--commercial.routine.mappoint.html Matt Fritz shares his experience developing a routing application including discussion of MapPoint's strengths and limitations. The articles includes several screenshots illustrating the various components of the routing application.