Brand new kernel making map based analysis faster and easier
Written with a whole new kernel, the GeoConcept developers have made major advances in ease of use, enhanced display options, faster analysis and improved control over user access rights.
Released here in May 2006 by the UK distributor, MapMechanics, this new version of the GeoConcept Geographical Information System (GIS) is designed to make both map analysis and sharing results, both faster and easier.
The key advantage of a GIS is the ability to bring together data from disparate sources, using geography as the common theme. Many analysts use hundreds of factors and it is sometimes difficult to locate the right fields of information for each task. GeoConcept 6.0 now provides users with the ability to create field folders within each type of data. For example, the Census data fields can be easily grouped into folders such as “car ownership”, “age bands” etc.
Hovering over an item brings up an information box and users retain the ability to select what appears in the box by simply ticking the “eye symbol” on each item. Now they can also drag the chosen fields into any order to, for example, bring the most important to the top. And the hover box can be displayed as solid or translucent fill, so large information boxes do not obscure map details. Photographs, logos and other pictures, together with URLs have all been added to the information box options.
There is a whole new wizard for thematic mapping including regression analysis, translucent fills and more ways to classify data (including mean, standard deviation etc). The user can also now create new groups by simply dragging categories together. For example, if each sales territory is a different colour and the users wants to group by area manager, there is no need to add an extra field or create a new territory boundary. Just drag the relevant sales territories (in the thematic wizard) into new groups for each manager and the map will colour accordingly.
There are lots of helpful user friendly functions. In fact there is a dedicated widget manager to organise tools which, for example, enable the user to drill down through the data or rapidly move between saved locations (such as depot catchments or competitor sites).
GeoConcept continues to offer exceptional control over the way in which features appear at different scales. A road can be wide with line casements each side when the user zooms in and a tiny thin line or not shown at all when the user zooms out. Or a property location maybe represented as a big symbol at street level and as a small dot when looking at a whole county. Now instead of setting each style at different zooms, the user can just choose the style for the largest and smallest scales and press the new “fit appearances” option to automatically set appropriate sizes for the zooms between these extremes.
Increasing the speed of the analysis is achieved in a number of ways. The map can now hold more data with a size limit of 4GB! The user can choose to load only the categories of information used for a particular project and/or only the data for a particular area, so memory use is optimised. Calculation fields are now faster with new indexing options and “Volatile fields”. And the user does not even have to “import” large data sets, the fields from external databases such as Access or Oracle can simply be “bound” to the map but retained in the original database. Binding fields in this way means that thousands of records can appear instantly on your map and be manipulated as required.
With such a powerful system which is also very easy to use, access rights need to be controlled. Fortunately, the GeoConcept developers have thought about this too and provided very specific controls over user access rights. For example, individuals or groups can be restricted to editing but not deleting, or full creation and deletion of individual objects, but not of the structure of the database. So marketers can make shaded maps, but not delete field structures. Or the administration department can view and print maps, but be denied the right to edit or delete objects. And the logistics manager may be the only person empowered to edit the capacity values at each depot.
Sharing results is also easy with the new integral PDF writer which provides a wide range of facilities including the ability to add watermarks and meta data (meta data is information about the map such as the vintage of the source data, the author, the name of the project manager etc).
The product will be shown in detail in Reading on the 4th July at a FREE half day seminar entitled “Developments in Market Analysis”. More information about this event, about the UK distributor, MapMechanics and about the GeoConcept product itself, can be found at www.mapmechanics.com or you can call MapMechanics on 020 8568 7000.