Welcome to the MapsOnline Newsletter. As most of you know, MapsOnline is a tool for the publication of GIS mapping on the Internet. Many of you are already using MapsOnline. Others of you have expressed interest in MapsOnline. This newsletter is intended to provide you with the latest information about software updates, expanded functionality, tips on using the software effectively, and stories about how communities are leveraging their MapsOnline to achieve particular goals.

If you know of colleagues who should receive this newsletter, please forward this email to them and have them subscribe using the link at the bottom of the page. Any comments and/or suggestions can always be forwarded to  info@peoplegis.com.

Lastly, please let us know if you would like to tell your MapsOnline story in our newsletter. We will feature case histories of our clients in every issue, and invite all of you to submit your stories.

Based on client requests, PeopleGIS recently developed a new function for MapsOnline that enables users to create lists of Abutters To Streets. Users simply pick the focal street from an alphbetical list of streets in their community and enter a buffer distance. The tool then finds the abutters and presents an abutters list...just like the classic abutters list that MapsOnline has provided most of our clients for the past four years.

Abutters to Streets is typically installed as a municipal staff tool on password-protected sites. There is no charge for the Abutters to Streets tool itself. PeopleGIS only charges for the time necessary to setup the tool for your MapsOnline site.

The new Print Page in MapsOnline represents a large step forward in printing functionality. All of our sites already have the new Print Page, complete with two paper size options, a print-to-scale option, and full PDF mapping.

Users can save the map locally, email the map to a friend, or simply print the map. The PDF format utilizes free Adobe Reader software on the end-users computer to contain the mapping, enabling the user to zoom-in, pan, and otherwise explore the map product before printing.

PeopleGIS recently developed a new extension to MapsOnline that enables users to print abutters lists directly to Avery 5160/8160 mailing labels. Users can also download the resulting mailing label "sheet" in PDF format or in comma-delimited format in order to "feed" mail merge software. This new functionality can drastically save time and effort, and demonstrates the continued growth of MapsOnline.

Thus far, we have installed the Mailing Labels/Mail Merge extension on a dozen password-protected client sites used by municipal staff only. Therefore, this tool is not typically available to public users. This is a trend with alot of our development lately: to develop MapsOnline extensions for municipal staff, enabling them to benefit from their GIS without having to become GIS experts.

The Town of Weston MA recently setup two MapsOnline kiosks in their Town Hall to provide public access to their GIS. Once their hardware was in-place, establishing the kiosks was a simple matter of connecting to the Internet where Weston enjoys a public MapsOnline website.

"Using MapsOnline as a public kiosk makes alot of sense" says Anne Swaine, Office Administrator for several departments in Weston. Because we all use MapsOnline ourselves, helping new public users over the counter is easy and we don't need to get nervous working with unfamiliar software in front of the general public.

"In addition", explains Ms. Swaine, "we make sure that we tell everyone that the very same website and data are available to them online. It's like we are training people not to come back....since they can answer most of their questions on their own at home or in their offices. We have definately seen a drop-off in the number of realtors we have talked to since we installed the kiosk, thereby reducing the number of interruptions we have to deal with every day."

The Town of Littleton, NH worked with PeopleGIS and a student intern on the development of two new mapping layers for their MapsOnline website: handicapped parking and wheelchair access points.

Using a wooden yard stick and a handheld tool that measures slope, Littleton's student intern was able to determine which businesses were wheelchair accessible according to guidelines for door widths and ramp slopes. Businesses were extremely cooperative, and in return their names are labeled on the MapsOnline website when users zoom-in close.

These two mapping layers are currently available to the public on the Town of Littleton's MapsOnline website.

The Search routines in MapsOnline have been designed to help you find what you are looking for even if you have incomplete information.  Most MapsOnline websites have search routines, such as "Find By Owner" or "Find By Address".  These routines are often the most popular functions on our websites.

Did you know that you do not have to enter complete information into these functions in order for them to work?  For example, if you were looking for Jon Smith, but were not sure of the spelling of this person's first name, you could just enter "Smith" and see what MapsOnline gives you back.  Since this name is relatively popular, you will likely get back a table with many "Smiths", and you can review the results to find "Jon" and zoom-to that property.  This approach adds a step to your search, but it also keeps users from running into dead-ends.  What if you typed in "John Smith"?  In this case, you would never have found Jon!

This same approach applies to the Find By Address function.  If you were looking for 124 Cranberry Lane, you might just type in "124 Cran" and hit GO.  It is better to type in less information than too much.

Here are a few quotes from folks about MapsOnline...

It has been a great experience to have MapsOnline so well received.  I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the process of enhancing the software, and let all of you know that great things are coming.  I look forward to new projects, and to continually adding value to your GIS with MapsOnline.