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Exercise 4: Plan a business trip

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You want to discuss your new line of furniture with some of your more important clients, so you decide to take a business trip to visit them.

In this exercise, you use MapPoint to display your clients' addresses on a map by priority and then create a route. You create a Multiple Symbol Map because this map type allows you to map your point-based information (which contains specific street addresses) as well as assign values to the symbols based on a priority ranking.

Step 1: Map your clients' addresses as a Multiple Symbol Map

  1. Clear the current map by clicking New New button on the Standard toolbar.

    Note  If you are prompted to save changes to your current map, you may do so, but it is not necessary for completing this exercise.

  2. On the Data menu, click Import Data Wizard Import Data Wizard button.

  3. Open the Excel sample data file by browsing to C:\Program Files\Microsoft MapPoint\Samples\, selecting SampData.xls, and clicking Open.

    Note  This is the default installation location. If you installed MapPoint in a different location, use Search or Find in Windows Explorer to locate the file.

  4. On the Choose the sheet or range you want to map page, click Clients, and then click Next.

    Why?

    The Clients worksheet contains the contact information (name, address, phone number, and so on) that you want to locate and display on the map.

  5. Look at the headings in the row labeled Data type to confirm that MapPoint has correctly determined the types of data contained in your columns.

    Why?

    MapPoint assigns a data type for each column of your data based on the name of the column heading. Sometimes you may need to make adjustments. For example, if you have a column heading for countries named CTY, but it's assigned a data type of City, you need to change the Data type assignment to Country.

  6. Click Finish.

    MapPoint determines where your records will be placed on the map, based on the location information contained in your data.

  7. On the Choose a map type page, click Multiple Symbol, and then click Next.

  8. On the Select the data field or column to map page, select Priority.

    Why?

    The Priority column contains the information that MapPoint will use to categorize the symbols as high, medium, or low.

  9. In the Show the data by box, make sure that Street Address is selected so that your clients are mapped by specific street locations, and then click Next.

  10. In the Legend title box, change the text Priority by Street Address to Clients by Priority to more clearly identify the data set.

  11. Click the arrows next to the Symbol boxes, and change the symbols according to their priority ranking by scrolling down to and selecting the appropriate symbols:

    Change the High data range symbol black circle symbol to the number 1 symbol white 1 in maroon circle symbol.

    Change the Medium data range symbol white 2 in maroon circle symbol to the number 2 symbol white 2 in maroon circle symbol.

    Change the Low data range symbol red circle symbol to the number 3 symbol white 3 in maroon circle symbol.

  12. Click Finish.

Result

You now have a Multiple Symbol Map with your clients categorized by priority. You notice that there is a cluster of three high-priority clients in the southeast: one in Georgia, one in Alabama, and one in Tennessee. You decide to visit those three clients on your trip.

Step 2: Create the route

  1. On the Route menu, click Route Planner.

  2. You will fly into Atlanta to begin your trip, so in the Type place or address box of the Route Planner, type Atlanta International Airport and then click Add to Route.

  3. After Atlanta International Airport shows up in the Find results list, click OK.

    The airport is added as the first stop on your route.

  4. To return to the previous map view, click Back Back button.

  5. If it is not already enabled, click Select Select button on the Navigation toolbar.

  6. Drag the pointer diagonally until you've drawn a box around the three white 1 in maroon circle symbol number symbols in the Georgia/Tennessee/Alabama area, and then release the mouse button.

  7. On the Route menu, click Add Pushpins as Stops.

    The three clients in this area are added as stops on your route.

  8. Select Hartsfield-Atlanta International Airport in the Route Planner pane, and on the Route menu, click Add as End to designate the airport as the end point of your route.

  9. On the Route menu, click Get Directions to generate your route.

Result

You now have a Multiple Symbol Map with a route and driving directions to visit three of your high-priority clients. You can customize the route in many ways, such as changing the order of stops, changing the departure and arrival times at stops, and changing your driving preferences. You can also print the route and driving directions or save them as a Web page.

After you complete this exercise, your map should look like this:

Road map with a route

Next exercise  Move on to Exercise 5: Track your inventory

Back to Tutorial start page  Go back to the MapPoint Tutorial start page and try another exercise.