BusinessMAP 4 FAQs

What's New in BusinessMAP 4

BusinessMAP 4, the affordable database mapping and territory design application, offers all the great features of BusinessMAP 3.5, plus the following new additions.

• Ring Study Analysis—Provides a quick and effective means of revealing and analyzing demographic information for all types of site planning. For example, aggregate demographics and other data within 1, 3, and 5 miles around a prospective store site.
• Drive Time Analysis—Create one to three drive zones around a location that may be driven within a specified time. Analyze the zones by aggregating demographics data for such applications as: targeted advertising campaigns, possible new store locations, or best location for a regional sales office.
• Print Preview—See how your maps will print including various legend options and in various sizes from wall charts to day planner sizes.
• New Wizards—Now color code or customize your map with new easier-to-use wizards. Current users may use the previous version commands in the "Classic Style" should they prefer to use them.
• Canadian Data Now Included—Now use Canadian or North American maps to create territories, add databases, analyze, route, and more. Canadian data includes provinces, municipal and regional boundaries, streets, roads, highways, lakes, rivers, parks, and landmarks.
• Shaded Relief Data Now Included—Add depth and richness to your maps with shaded relief data.
• Updated links—Link to the latest versions of ACT!®, GoldMine®, Outlook, and even Excel to plot your database, group, or current contact on the map.
• ODBC Database Support—BusinessMAP already reads many common files for keeping customer and other data, but now you can use any database that can be accessed through and ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) driver.
• Sort and Calculate Totals in the Database Window—Sort the database by simply clicking on the field header in the database window. Sum or aggregate numerical database fields for easy analysis.
• Free 30-Day Aerial Photo Subscription—See building footprints and other man-made features. Even overlay additional map layers so streets, parks, landmarks, and other image features can be labeled.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: During installation, when the user is asked to insert the next CD in the six-CD set, "wrong volume" error may occur.

A: This message can be avoided by using the DVD installation or by turning off any antivirus software running on the computer. If this error occurs, reinsert the first CD and click Retry to get rid of the error message. Disable your antivirus software, and then insert the next CD in the set to continue the installation. This is a discrepancy between InstallShield and antivirus software when the install spans across multiple CDs. Note that this message will not interfere with the installation whereby if you leave the message on your screen and continue with the installation as directed, BusinessMAP should still install correctly.

Q: BusinessMAP only runs under the user logged in during installation.

A: BusinessMAP is a single user licensed product. When installing to a computer with more than one user, log-in as the planed user of BusinessMAP. This user will need administrator rights at the time of installation, administrator rights are not necessary to use BusinessMAP once it is installed. The administrator cannot log-in and install BusinessMAP for all users at once.

Q: How do I change a map's background color?

A: You may change the background color in the Tools, Options dialog box (Colors tab), which will change it for the current map. If you open a new map, the background color will be the default blue. If you change the background color for a map you have created but want to change it back to the default color, the default color settings are Hue 150, Sat 231, Lum 169, Red 90, Green 165, Blue 247.

Q: How can I add color to my map?

A: BusinessMAP allows you to color your map using various methods. The most common are:

• Color coding (an analysis feature that emphasizes areas of dominance) - analyzing population by region, for example.
• Territory design — creating different colored areas for territories, regions, districts, etc.
• Changing map feature colors — BusinessMAP allows you to edit the colors of each of the map feature symbols (line and fill colors, for example).
• Drawing tools — add shapes, and labels using the drawing tools with various line and fill colors.

Q: Viewing the video demonstrations, you find the videos do not provide a clear picture.

A: The videos were created at a screen resolution of 1024 x 768. If your screen resolution is set to less than that, 600 x 800, for example, the video image will not be clear. To view the videos, your screen resolution should be set to 1024 x 768 or higher. If you prefer the lower resolution, you can change this setting temporarily and then change it back after viewing the videos.

To change your screen settings, right click on the desktop and click properties from the popup menu. In the dialog that appears, select the Settings tab and change the resolution settings using the slider at the lower left of the dialog box.

Q: Does BusinessMAP support ACT! 2005?

A: Yes, users of ACT! 2005 (as well as earlier versions of ACT!) can utilize the great features of BusinessMAP with their ACT! database. BusinessMAP 4 comes complete with this link. BusinessMAP 3.x requires downloading the support file.

Q: How do I go about buying credits to export D&B listings?

A: BusinessMAP includes over 16 million business listings from D&B. When you attempt to export, print, or copy records from the business listings layer (D&B data), BusinessMAP will display the amount of credits you have and how many are needed (number of selected records to export, print, or copy). You will have the opportunity to purchase more credits at this time. The BusinessMAP dialog box will provide a toll-free number to call as well as a code to provide the customer service representative. The representative will then provide a counter code for you to enter as per your purchase.

Q: Why do I need to buy credits for the business listings data?

A: BusinessMAP will allow you to search, view, and map the business listings without purchasing credits. However, if you wish to export, print, or copy the data to use in a mailing, for example, you must purchase credits. This business data is provided by our business partner D&B (Dun & Bradstreet) and per our contract, you must purchase the records in order to use the data outside the scope of BusinessMAP.

Q: What kind of demographic data is available?

A: BusinessMAP includes over 500 demographic variables down to Census Tract level by ESRI. These demographics, such as population, age, gender, race, and income are provided for Census year 2000, estimates for 2004, and projections for 2009. Over 500 consumer expenditure variables for Automotive, Insurance, Financial, Restaurant, Retail Spending and Medical industries are also included at the State and County level. These demographic variables are perfect for various types of detailed analysis.

Q: How do I get an updates to the data?

A: With each new release of BusinessMAP, we include new data. The updated data includes map data, demographic data, and business listings. We generally try to release a new version each year.

Q: How do I create a territory?

A: There are two primary methods of creating a territory. You can select areas by either clicking on the map or by a database search and then designate the selected areas as a territory. You can also use a database to create a territory. The database needs to include a method of geocoding (plotting) so that it has a point in each geography and it needs a territory designation field. In other words, if you are creating territories by ZIP Code, your database would have a ZIP column and a Territory column. Note that you can also use color coding or drawing tools to create a territory map, but you would not be able to later analyze sales by territory, for example.

Q: From which geographies can I create territories?

A: You can create territories from any polygon geography such as states, counties, ZIP Codes, Census tracts, Countries (world map), provinces (Canada), and so on. If you desire to create "territories" between major roads, you may need to use the drawing tools.

Q: What database types will BusinessMAP except?

A: BusinessMAP reads dBASE (dbf) files by default, but will also read Text (.txt, .csv), Excel (.xls), Access (.mdb), Lotus (.wk*), and Paradox (.db). BusinessMAP also includes direct links to ACT!, GoldMine, Excel, and Outlook.

Q: Can I set up BusinessMAP to run on my server?

A: Yes, this can be done by the Administrator if more than one licensed copy has been purchased. Contact Technical Support at 972-231-9317 for instructions.

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