 Digital mapping and related data for geographic analysis and business applications is becoming increasingly detailed and broad-ranging in scope, and full availability is extending to parts of the world where coverage was previously much more limited.
These trends are reflected strongly in the MapMechanics Data Catalogue 2008-9, the latest in the popular line of printed and online catalogues, which documents and describes the availability of an ever-increasing range of mapping, business and geodemographic data sets.
The new edition of this full-colour A4 publication, at 100 pages, is the largest so far, and sees the introduction of new features to help users navigate among the many types of data, including colour-coded page-margin tabs to identify different regions of the world.
The development of detailed street-level maps is reflected in the wider coverage for MLD and NAVTEQ vector (scalable) map data for countries such as India, Russia and Peru. Now mapping is even available for smaller places such as Belize, Bali and the Virgin Islands. Coverage of Southern Africa has also been extended beyond South Africa to take in neighbouring countries such as Lesotho and Namibia.
The coverage of raster (image-based) mapping from MapMechanics has also been extended, and includes for instance Andes mapping of Russia and Eastern Europe.
Eastern Europe now figures more strongly throughout. For example, the new catalogue sees the introduction of very detailed Naviteq vector mapping for Bulgaria, including features such as building outlines.
Meanwhile, NAVTEQ Premium Streets data for the USA has been enhanced, and now offers greater potential for detailed thematic mapping and geocoding. It includes features such as 5-digit ZIP and 9-digit ZIP+4 points and boundaries, together with boundaries for Census blocks, Census block groups and Census tracts.
Back in Britain, the MapMechanics catalogue includes the AA’s new 1:100,000 raster map data set, which provides more detail than the established 1:200,000 set, and is ideal for applications such as remote vehicle tracking. The catalogue also introduces users to the AA’s new GB Street Plans, which replace the former town plans, offering more detail and much wider coverage for each town and city in Britain, including suburbs as well as town centres, for example.
Other improvements to the AA range include enhancements to the 1:200,000 raster GB map data, which now includes the organisation’s 1:500,000 raster set as well as its RoutePlanner raster set – ideal for applications where users zoom in and out frequently, since software can now switch to a more appropriate map data set instead of relying on enlarging or shrinking a fixed-scale map.
To support the use of map data in geographic analysis, MapMechanics’ new Data Catalogue includes an enhanced range of resources for geocoding (adding geographic locations to your own data). Whether you need 6 digit postcode points for Switzerland or centroids for Macedonia, the range of new options includes them. In addition, point address data is now available for USA, locating each land parcel address along the NAVTEQ street network.
The Data Catalogue’s listings of geodemographic and business data has been strengthened significantly. A notable addition is Barbour ABI Home Improvers, which records outline and detailed planning applications for domestic conversions such as kitchen and loft extensions, providing an invaluable source of information about likely major retail purchases per unit postcode or postcode sector.
PitchPoint UK data is another useful data set. It provides a quantitative measure of the retail strength (and hence sales potential) of over 3,000 retail locations. Another new UK option is Workplace Destinations, which characterises some 6,000 locations according to such factors as the number of employees and social grading of workers.
Detailed Census and demographic profiling has now also been extended and includes extra countries such as Australia, Brazil, Poland and Slovakia. The MapMechanics 2008/9 catalogue now offers such diverse information as counts of indigenous population in Australia, the language spoken at home in Singapore, and educational attainment in Mexico.
Speed information, increasingly important in determining meaningful catchments and for routing and transport planning, benefits from various new additions. NAVTEQ street maps can now be supplied with legal speed limit data attached, and a new set of data for the USA, Traffic Speed Patterns, shows typical real-world speeds at different times of day, differentiating between Monday to Thursday, Friday and weekends. In the UK, MapMechanics’ established GB Speeds and GB Speeds Plus data serves a similar function, and is now available with a choice of car or truck speeds.
New truck-related information in NAVTEQ Transport shows height, weight, length and other restrictions for the UK, the USA and many European countries, and is augmented by NAVTEQ HAZMAT data, showing similar restrictions applying to hazardous goods transport.
The Data Catalogue 2008-9 is available to business customers on request from MapMechanics, and the contents can also be viewed online at www.mapmechanics.com.
|
