During my absence, Microsoft released their previously announced MapPoint add-in for SQL Server. Although this might not appear to be a "geo web" news item, this add-in promises to be a useful offline tool for developers, managers, and administrators who use SQL Server 2008 as the backend database for online mapping applications.

Microsoft added a range of powerful geospatial data types and queries to the 2008 release of their flagship SQL Server database product. Although any RDBMS can handle geospatial coordinates in the form of two double precision numbers, the geospatial features of the latest generation of databases allow muchy more sophisticated queries to be performed - eg. calculating distances, polygon inclusion/exclusion/overlaps, etc in SQL. Therefore we shall be seeing greater use of these advanced databases in web applications over the next few years.

Managing these databases can be a problem, and often require a parallel "back office" web interface. The use of an offline "map viewer" performs the same job but much more efficiently and without the need for additional web ste development. MapPoint would be a logical choice, except its support for SQL Server is limited to relatively basic data plotting - ie. teh same as Excel or even CSV files. The new Microsoft MapPoint Addin for SQL Server is a free add-in from Microsoft that adds true native support for SQL Server 2008. High level facilities include:

• Ability to view spatial and non-spatial data as MapPoint maps
• Drawing styles and pin images can be set with sophisticated data queries
• Query / Edit/ Add individual rows in the database
  

The final feature is the one which promises to make MapPoint (and the add-in) a powerful tool for SQL Server geospatial administration.

The (free) download page, overview, and further information can all be found on the Microsoft site, here.

MapPoint typically retails for about US$300. The current version is MapPoint 2009, but the release of MapPoint 2010 is due "soon". Our sister site, Mapping-Tools.com, in partnership with MP2KMag currently has MapPoint 2009 listed for US$249, including US shipping.

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