Product Overview – Free Plug-in for MS Outlook from CMC International

By: Hal Reid
Senior Technical Editor, Directions Magazine

(Apr 19, 2006)

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Vendor
CMC International
5200 Keller Springs Road
Suite 522
Dallas, Texas 75248 USA
972-960-0800
972-960-0801 (fax)
http://www.cmcus.com/

Product Overview
This free plug-in from CMC International creates Google Maps of individual contact addresses from within Microsoft Outlook. (It has a catchy name, too: "Google Maps plug-in for Outlook.") What makes this product interesting is that it is an advertising vehicle that promotes ESRI’s BusinessMAP (which CMC sells, along with other ESRI and non-ESRI products). Providing free, useful products is nothing new to the advertising world, but this seems like a fairly new twist in the GIS industry.

How to get it
You can download the plug-in.

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After you’ve installed it, you’ll see a new button on the MS Outlook GUI called "Show Map."

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What you see
In this case, I created just one contact in Outlook in Atlanta. Below is my map, showing the contact.

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Here’s a zoomed-in satellite view of my contact.

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Summary
There are two major aspects of this plug-in that I like: it is very useful and it is free. A third benefit is that it demonstrates how mapping functionality can be added to many applications in an easy-to-use manner. Give it a try and see where your contacts are.

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All comments provided in this section are those of the individual who has created the post. These are not the opinions of Directions Media, its editors, staff or owners unless otherwise noted. Directions Media retains the right to edit or delete any comments posted herein.

Outlook Map Plug-in (#1) by Lena Gomes, Halton Region
Date: April 20, 2006 14:54 PM

All my Canadian contacts are being mapped to the US. Should it be working or is this a US plug-in only? If so, it should be specified clearly.

Outlook Map Plugin (#2) by Keith Raymond, Bentley
Date: April 20, 2006 15:11 PM

Seems to work on some of my Canadian contacts but not others. Mississauga City Hall at
300 City Centre Drive
Mississauga Ontario L5B 3C1
causes errors yet if I use Google Maps directly it locates fine.

Outlook Map Plugin (#3) by Keith Raymond, Bentley
Date: April 20, 2006 17:58 PM

After further testing I can say it is best avoided by Canadian users. Pity.

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