A new release of Geopointe is going out today that upgrades our Google integration to the latest version of their mapping APIs. With this upgrade comes our ability to offer Optimized Routing via Google. The functionality works just as it does in our MapQuest upgrade we did earlier this year.

Optimized Routing allows a user to put together a list of locations to go and then ask the Directions service to sequence the route in the most appropriate order. Here’s an example…

Standard Routing

Below is a standard (i.e. not optimized) route put together in the sequence I specifically set when building my route list.

Optimized Route

In the route options, I can choose the Optimized flag and click Get Route.  This will ask the service for an Optimized route for these points.

The important thing to remember is that an optimized route requests assumes your start and end locations should remain constant.  Only the middle set of points are optimized.  Thus, you need at least 4 locations to actually have the service optimize the route.

After re-generating the route, we have those same points presented in the optimal order.

More to Come
Upgrading to the latest Google APIs gives us a lot more flexibility in the services we can offer. Our roadmap is full of exciting things and development should pickup going forward. Stay tuned!

The Geopointe Geocoder automatically obtains the County for records it geocodes.  This is new, free information you get as a by-product of the geocoding process. What if you want to display that value on your main object?  One option is to use Workflow to copy the value from the Geocodes object to the master record.  Another option is to use formulas.  This is our personal recommendation because it acts like any other field and you get the added benefit of not needing to trigger your data to sync.

The geocoder will usually return the word County in the data (e.g. “Cook County”).  Since your label will likely be County, this is redundant.  Using the magic of Formula functions we can clean this up.  This is a formula you could use right now on your Accounts.

The County resides in a field on a related object.  For Accounts, that field is called geopointe__Geocode__r.geopointe__County_clean__c. We use the SUBSTITUTE function to remove the word “County” from the value.  We then wrap the whole thing with the TRIM function which will remove lead/trailing spaces.

Voila! We can see the County on the Account.

On our YouTube Channel, we posted a video walking you through the highlights of the Analytics user interface.  It is also embedded below.  Geopointe Analytics allows you to perform deep geo-analysis against massive amounts of data in a very intuitive, enjoyable and beautiful user interface.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRP6HAn8RvI

Geopointe received its 70th review today on AppExchange.  We are very pleased to receive such positive reviews from our customers and will continue to work hard to bring innovative geo-solutions to Force.com.

A new version of Geopointe was just released and in it is the ability to perform Geo-Analytics on LOTS of data.  And it’s fully integrated with Salesforce and the current Geopointe app.

We have partnered with SpatialKey to bring you the Geopointe Analytics solution.  The SpatialKey platform allows you to perform deep geo-analysis against massive amounts of data in a very intuitive, enjoyable and beautiful user interface.

Geopointe Analytics is now available in all Geopointe trials.  Existing customers may request a trial of the Analytics solution in their current system (after upgrading to the latest Geopointe version).  If you are running an older version of Geopointe, you can learn about upgrading here.

End-users can access the features via the Visualize tab. There, they can sync their data sets to SpatialKey, use existing org-wide data sets provided by an admin or launch into the user interface using either a full map or “blank canvas” interface.

The Analytics users interface is very interactive and immersive. The following video gives you a taste of what’s offered, but the best option is to try it out for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLSnp79xQPU

If you have any questions about this solution, contact us.

UPDATE: We also posted a User Interface Overview of Analytics that might be of interest.

A new release of Geopointe will be out next week after all systems are on the Summer 11 release. With the update will come the ability to perform spatial/proximity/radial searches via Apex. Two new Apex methods are available for this:

• radialSearchMapObject
• radialSearchDataSet

These Apex methods enable Geopointe customers to utilize the proximity searching of Geopointe into advanced Apex logic. For information on all methods available to you, visit the Apex API page in the Help Center.

Let’s run an example.  The image below displays a query (via the Geopointe UI) of our Geopointe customers within 15 miles of Wrigley Field in Chicago. We want to accomplish this same query in Apex without ever needing the UI. Now we can and the geopointe.API class will help us with this.

Using radialSearchMapObject
This method allows you to perform a radial search against a Map Object (a Salesforce object enabled for mapping) and also allows the passing in of a custom filter. Here we are saying to search around the record with id a1430000001E32gAAC and to search the Account object with a filter of Type = ‘Customer’ for records within 15 miles.

geopointe.API.radialSearchResult result = geopointe.API.radialSearchMapObject(
     'a1430000001E32gAAC',
     'account',
     'type=\'Customer\'',
     15,
     geopointe.API.units.MILES);

system.debug(result);

Using radialSearchDataSet
The method below is accomplishing the same thing, but is using a pre-defined dataset that already has the filter for Customers built into it.

geopointe.API.radialSearchResult result = geopointe.API.radialSearchDataSet(
     'a1430000001E32gAAC',
     '12826856169860.9678661172894504',
     15,
     geopointe.API.units.MILES);

system.debug(result);

The radialSearchResult Class
Both methods result in a geopointe.API.radialSearchResult object, which is defined with the parameters below.

There are other methods available in the geopointe.API class, so check them out. More methods will become available to our customers as time goes on and more use cases emerge.

Oftentimes, you want to integrate a specific map search into your business processes. For example, suppose your Inside Sales team is reviewing Leads and needs to notify your closest partner of the lead information. Geopointe is the tool to help you know who your closest partner is and this entire process becomes even easier when being creative with the available URL Parameters for the Map page.

See this example in action in the video below.

The image below is a copy of the button configuration.

Geopointe includes a Visualforce Component that allows you to create Static Maps on your Visualforce Pages.  A Static Map results in an image file (png, jpg or gif) that you can configure and place on your Visualforce Pages or embedded in Page Layouts.  The nice thing about Static Maps is that they do not slow down your pages from loading.  Rather, you are using the component to intelligently build an image URL.

Geopointe comes with some examples with the “embeddedMap…” pages.  These are pre-configured Visualforce Pages using the static map component to show you the location of a record.

We added a Static Map page on the website to act as the official documentation home for this functionality.  With Geopointe installed, you also get a documentation in your Component Reference regarding the geopointe:staticMap component.

Below are some examples showing off the functionality.

<geopointe:StaticMap mapProvider=”goog” width=”500″ height=”300″ useIconLabels=”true” iconColor=”green” locationIDs=”a07A000000ATQjhIAH,a07A0000006O0qc,a07A0000006NKq2,Evanston|IL,OakPark|IL”/>

<geopointe:StaticMap mapProvider=”mq” width=”800″ height=”200″ useIconLabels=”true” iconColor=”purple” locationIDs=”a07A000000ATQjhIAH,a07A0000006O0qc,a07A0000006NKq2,Evanston|IL,OakPark|IL” mapType=”hyb”/>

Below is a copy of the Component Reference.

A new release of Geopointe went out last night that included a revamped Routing module that should improve performance greatly. We are pleased to have also added Optimized Routing for our MapQuest users (Google support coming soon). Optimized Routing allows a user to put together a list of locations to go and then ask the Directions service to sequence the route in the most appropriate order.

Here’s an example…

Standard Routing

Below is a standard (i.e. not optimized) route put together in the sequence I specifically set when building my route list.

Optimized Route

In the route options, I can choose the Optimized flag and click Get Route.  This will ask the service for an Optimized route for these points.

The important thing to remember is that an optimized route requests assumes your start and end locations should remain constant.  Only the middle set of points are optimized.  Thus, you need at least 4 locations to actually have the service optimize the route.

Here we have those same points presented in the optimal order.

This release put out a number of performance improvements in the routing feature and also set the system up to allow us to push updates much more regularly.  There are lots of exciting things on the roadmap, so stay tuned!

Geopointe has received it’s 50th AppExchange Review.

Dreamforce is just around the corner and Arrowpointe will be there.  There are a number of ways to learn about Arrowpointe’s apps and also to contact Scott Hemmeter.

• Arrowpointe has a Dreamforce booth in the Expo.  Find it at…

• Scott is presenting in the “Advanced Force.com Code (Apex) Development and Performance Considerations” session. Several opportunities to attend.
  • 1:15pm on Monday, December 6 at Cloudstock (Moscone West)
  • 3:45pm on Tuesday, December 7 at Dreamforce (Moscone West 2003) (follow in DF Chatter App)
  • 11:00am on Thursday, December 9 at Dreamforce (Moscone West 2004) (follow in DF Chatter App)
• Follow Scott Hemmeter in the Dreamforce Chatter App
• Follow Arrowpointe in the Dreamforce Chatter App
• Follow @arrowpointe on Twitter

Dreamforce looks to be very exciting and full of good information.  Whether you are a customer, developer, partner, prospective customer, journalist or just a techie at heart, there is content for you at Dreamforce.

If you are attending the show and have not yet gotten involved in the Dreamforce Chatter app, be sure and participate in that.  It has already changed the pre-conference experience and added to the excitement significantly.

See you there!

This post documents all you need to know to make the jump from Geopointe version 1.1.x or 1.3.x to version 1.6. You are a couple releases behind and can learn about the functionality changes in the 1.4 and 1.6 releases.

Start Install

The install can be kicked off using one of the following links:

• Production
• Sandbox

You will arrive at the Salesforce login page. Sign in to get the process started.

New Components

The first screen will show you the current version you are running and the version you are upgrading to. Click Continue.

Access Levels

(does not apply to Group or Professional Edition)

Be sure to apply one of the Geopointe Access Levels to all your Profiles.  This will automatically setup those profiles with access to the new objects and Visualforce Pages in the upgrade.

Finish Install

Click the install button to finish the install process.

You will get this page after a couple minutes. The install is now running in the background. Wait for the email saying that the install was successful before doing anything else.

Deploy Custom Objects

After installation is complete, you need to Deploy the new custom objects that came with the application.  Go to Setup | View Installed Packages in Salesforce and click through on the Geopointe record.

Click the Deploy button.

You will be presented with a list of Custom Objects (Route and Temp) to deploy.  Click the Deploy button again.

My Settings Tab

A new tab was added to the application. Go to Setup | Create | Apps and edit the Geopointe application.  Move the My Settings tab over as an available tab and check the box to apply the changes to all users.  This will add a tab so users can more easily access their settings page. Prior to this, the page was only available via a link above the map.

Update Geo Location Map Object

This step is not required unless you are storing your own latitude and longitude values on the Geo Locations object.  However, you may as well complete the step now in case you ever start to.

Go to the Geopointe Setup tab and edit the geo_location__c Map Object record. You want to fill in the latitude and longitude fields as depicted below.

Search Layouts

You can have buttons on your Views to “Map Records”.  Buttons are included in this release for the following objects: Lead, Account, Contact, Opportunity, Case and Geo Location.  To add a button to your views, you need to do the following for each applicable object.

Navigate to the Search Layout page for the object you are editing.

Edit the List View record.

Choose the Map Records button as a selected button. Press Save.

The Map Records button will now be available to anyone with a Geopointe license.