Every day thousands of users of the internet use Google Maps to find out where things are. Maybe they are trying to find the nearest Chemist, the quickest route between the office and a restaurant for a child's birthday, or planning the cities and attractions to see for the next holiday. And it is such a simple tool too, a map and a search box, and so many places have been found, questions answered, and possiblities realised.

It is only fair then that businesses can take advantage of Google Maps using the Know How module Mapbook to visualise their business information geographically and ask of it the same questions: where is it, what is near, how do I get there?

The most common question a business asks of its information is "where are my customers?" It's an important question and answering it will cause many more questions that require a geographical answer to follow such as:

1. Where are my outlets or warehouses so I can supply my customers quickly and cheaply?
2. Where are my suppliers so I can produce my products and fill my outlets so I can meet my customer demand?
3. What are the best locations for my outlets so I can supply my customers faster and at less cost?
4. Where are my alternative sources of supply so I can produce my products at a better level of quality for less cost per unit?
5. Where are my competitors? Are they in a position to take away my customers or suppliers?

Mapbook provides the means to answer these questions and many more by allowing any piece of information that can be geographically located, to have a geographic location. When a Know How user is creating a record or a Person or Occaison using the Blackbook module for example, they can use Mabpook to 'pin' its geographic point (its latitude and longitude) to the record. When that record is viewed later by another user he or she can exactly where on Earth the record is.

Additionally the record is now searchable using Mapbook's internet style free text search engine. Ever wanted to know how many Smiths were working for your company across its ten overseas offices? (probably not but...) Mapbook makes answering this question simple and it will show you where all those Smiths are.

A more realistic search would be to find all the warehouses of where a particular SKU was currently being held for a particular sales region. Mapbook takes a step further than Google Maps to allow users to draw, save and reuse regions – because they too are important pieces of business information and have a geographic space. The searching user picks from a list the region they want to use in the search and it will appear on the map and he can then enter the SKU number and start the search and view the results that match the text and geographic criteria. It couldn't be any easier.

Mabpook be used for applications than just pinning and searching. The location of things is not always static. An office building is unlikely to move but a travelling Salesman or a shipment will. Both the Salesman and the Shipping Clerk can plot their respective travel plans via Mapbook. At the end of the quarter the Salesman can review all of its trips and see where he spent most of his time and how successful each trip was, accounts can use this information to compare it with the Salesman's expenses, and his Manager can plan the Salesman's activities better for the next quarter. The Inventory Manager could see trends in shipping that necessitate a warehouse to be placed closer to demand or change in travel mode (i.e. Truck to train) to reduce freight costs, or how long the shipment stayed at each drop off point and whether the time taken was within the KPIs or not.

Right now your mind should be brainstorming the possiblities that Mapbook can offer. In combination with Know How's other business information visualisation modules and the PCAM process management suite, Mapbook is the solution to those possiblities.