What's Happening in Mapping

In this months edition of the Australian Financial Review magazine - BOSS, asked a couple of global trendspotters to look at the "tenties" and came up with 21 Trends of the Tenties.

In the article, Ann Mack, Director of Trendspotting at JWT identifies her top 10, and at number 5 was -

'Tenties' trend #5 Location-Based Everything

"As smartphones become unique location guides, users will connect better with their surroundings. A multitude of geo-targeted applications will find everything from restaurants to cash machines and retail deals. And as more location-based services and mapping technologies arrive, the conversation will become "where I am", rather than "what I'm doing". Real-time messaging and interaction based on location will become the new micro-targeting."

MDS is seeing this evolve in front of our eyes (on our developers' screens). The personal use of spatial technologies is rapidly bringing home the potential of its use within the business and government environments.

As "location" provides knowledge then location based information, business analysis, boardroom reports and business decisions will include the understanding of spatial relationships. In some cases a map may not be necessary in interpreting the spatial component of data (although a map will always help).

If you would like to discuss how "location-based everything" can help you and your business, please contact us by email or +61 2 8436 2800.

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Product News

Data updates, updates, updates

MDS data updates for GNAF Address Table and QuickLocate GNAF Spatial Databases, CadLite and NZ Cadastre will be shipping early next week.

If you are not on subscription, please contact Margreet to find out more via email or +61 2 8436 2812.

QuickMap® Developer Toolkit

This month MDS was pleased to announce the release of a brand new product, the QuickMap® Developer Toolkit.

This powerful set of JavaScript API's provide developers with the ability to build smarter applications with a feature rich set of tools that will enable them to not only geocode and display points on a map, but to utilise MDS' comprehensive QuickFeatures functionality to answer critical business questions by utilising spatial concepts such as near, within or along.

Read more on the website and access the API today.

Read the press release

Built for web developers, applications, business analysts and spatial/mapping enthusiast.

Contact Loretta for further information and licencing via email or direct on +61 2 8436 2811

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Coming to a cinema near you

MDS has just completed a cinema listing to add to its existing Point of Interest (POI) data sets. Customers now have access to the locations of over 400 cinemas across Australia. This raises the number of data sets to 23 with over 55,000 locations accurately pin pointed.

Stay tuned - "Video Store" POI data set coming soon.

To find out more about POI data sets, please contact Margreet by email or +61 2 8436 212.

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What's new in Tactician Online V6

The latest upgrade to Tactician Online, released this month, further enhances the tools needed to make more informed decisions, reduce risk and respond to rapid change through the application of location-based business intelligence. Enhancements to this powerful tool for site selection and trade area analysis were made in the following areas:-

* Quick Launch
* My Sites, Territories and Data
* Menu Highlights
* New Data
* Refresh Map
* Print Preview
* Tactician Territory Manager

What is Tactician Territory Manager?

Tactician Territory Manager is an additional module to the base Tactician Online service. It is a system used by manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, sales organisations and other marketers to maximise the ROI of sales, service and distribution field resources.

Using your data, Territory Manager generates a view of your current territories, and offers interactive alignment and optimisation tools for managing them. Goals can include: maximising underlying market potential; balancing workload; minimising travel time; and more.

For information or to discuss territory management, market analysis and site selection, please contact Tony via email or +61 2 8436 2845.

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Partner Corner

ABC radio - impact of flood on insurance premiums

"Let the buyer beware"

ABC radio recently had a discussion/talkback segment with regard to an increase in home and contents insurance for those identified as living in an "area of peril" and possible flooding.

Living in such areas can cause premiums to increase by around $1,000. Many people are asking why they weren't informed by council that they are living in a classified area of peril when the details should be publicly available?

Australian Consumers Association says that homebuyers need to be aware of this information when purchasing a property. It is becoming more common that insurance companies are reviewing insurance premiums and in some cases where flood cover used to be optional, it is no longer the case ie. inland flooding.

Flood maps for Australia are produced by Risk Frontiers (Macquarie University). MDS partnership with Risk Frontiers brings this information and other natural perils into a rich database that is available online via the MDS service providing a street address level report.

Some councils provide the information for over $200 once you complete a "Flood Information Application" about a property. MDS' Risk Frontiers report is only $50 and can be obtained instantly and cover additional perils such as bushfire, cyclone, hail and earthquakes.

Listen to the full discussion.

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Events

MDS will be attend the following events:-

3-5 Mar, OZRI/APUC 2010

(Gold Coast, QLD)

MDS has been invited to exhibit at the exciting Asia Pacific User conference, offering quality, cost effective mapping data product options for ESRI users.

We look forward to seeing you there. If you would like to arrange an appointment during the conference, please contact Margreet via email, +61 2 8436 2812 or mobile, 0438 310 515.

30-31 Mar, Field Service Management

(Sydney)

MDS will be exhibiting and discussing the 4 Pillars that support service efficiency. Plan, Track, Deliver and Report.

To arrange an appointment during the conference, please contact Steve via email, +61 2 8436 2824 or visit us at the conference.

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Did you know?

Just how dangerous are level crossings?

The National Transport Commission (NTC) has welcomed the launch of the National Railway Level Crossing Safety Strategy (2010 – 2020) that delivers a nationally coordinated action plan to reduce deaths and near misses at Australian railway level crossings.

There are 8,900 public railway and pedestrian level crossings across Australia. Deaths and injuries at the crossings are a serious national issue, with an average of 37 deaths per year and many more non fatal incidents…(read more)

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