There are likely at least a few S&T users who are not familiar with MapPoint.  It is our enterprise product geared primarily towards businesses.  It can do everything that S&T can do plus more.  Read more about MapPoint here and download the 60-day trial here.

Today we released a free Add-in for use with MapPoint 2009 that gives you the power to visualize and manipulate your spatial data – stored in Microsoft SQL Server 2008.

To use the Add-in you need SQL Server 2008, MapPoint 2009, and the MapPoint Add-in for SQL Server – all are available to try for free from Microsoft.com/Downloads.

At a high level, you can now:

• Create maps from your spatial and non-spatial data stored in SQL Server 2008.

• Customize the display of your map data using a variety of query and retrieval options and map symbolization.

• Query, edit, and insert individual rows in your database from the map.

• Seamlessly integrate maps into the work you do in Office programs.

Read more about it on Chris Pendleton’s blog.  He has done a great post with all the details.

See also: the KB article: Install and enable the MapPoint SQL Server add-in

Wow!  Amazon has been running some steep discounts on the software on and off lately.   If you don’t have the 2009 release yet – here is an opportunity to make the purchase and keep within your budget.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Streets+%26+Trips+2009

OK, so it happened again today.  This time in Oregon.  A truck driver who said he was following a new route given by his GPS device crashed his semi full of peat moss into a railroad overpass in Washington County.

Here is the part that got me “The crash took place just a few hundred yards from the destination the truck driver was ultimately trying to reach.”

[via: KVAL]