MapInfo Corp, the Troy, New York-based desktop mapping software company, plans to make its software non-proprietory when it launches a Data Partner Programme called MapOpen this year. According to Brian Owen, MapInfo’s president and chief executive, the move will lead to consistent documentation and also assist in the merchandising of MapInfo’s software. Partners in the programme are yet to be announced, but the chances are that Microsoft Corp will be included since both companies have recently signed an agreement whereby a sub-set of MapInfo’s Mapping technology will be integrated into future versions of Microsoft Office and Excel. Owen says integration will ensure that software is kept intuitive. MapInfo has chosen to limit the functionality of the final integrated product in order to avoid cannabalisation of the existing market for its higher end product. Microsoft software will incorporate sub-sets of MapInfo data to give users ‘best guess’ scenarios, making it easier for them to analyse d ata from Office and Excel. MapInfo predicts that the Office product will ship in late spring this year once Windows95 has been launched – but of course Windows95 has been put back to August. Owen says the agreement with Microsoft is a key element within the company’s business strategy to broaden the desktop mapping market and also to strengthen its global presence within this market. MapInfo moved into Europe in 1989 and intends to step up activity within Europe in the forthcoming fiscal year. The company feels that the potential for its mapping software is immense. MapInfo currently derives 27% of its $30m annual business from international markets and has set its sights on high double digit growth in this market in the next couple of years. According to Rikke Helms-Wienszczack, European managing director, The software market is poised on the edge of the next big corporate application category. She predicted that the mapping technology market will go the same way as the spreadsheet market, which started out as a financial niche market but expanded into general usage. According to Ms Helms-Wienszczack, selling to European markets is radically different from doing it in the US because European governments decide what type of data can be used commercially. This subsequently affects the applications the company can develop. She sees the market for MapInfo software in the UK taking off, now that the Royal Mail has made postcode information commercially available. MapInfo has released a UK postal data product that provides a mapped display of a user’s database by postcode. UK Post Code Units is a data set that matches a postcode from the customer database to the corresponding postcode in the data file, enabling the user’s data record to be plotted on a map. MapInfo says potential applications include accurately targeting mail shots for direct marketing activities and sales territory analysis, where the tool can precisely pinpoint where the most profitable areas of business are. The Post Code Data Unit product runs under Windows, Mac OS, Solaris and HP-UX systems and is shipping now for ú2,000.
