MapInfo Answers Federal Call for Open Standards and IT Interoperability

Business Wire, Feb 13, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

TROY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 13, 2003

Collaborative Information Sharing Among Federal, State

and Local Agencies, Global Allies and Private Sector

is Essential for Protecting the Nation's Homeland Security

MapInfo Corporation (NASDAQ: MAPS), the leading provider of location intelligence solutions for the enterprise, today announced that its technology fully supports the White House's Office for Homeland Security (OHS) call for open standards and IT interoperability in the fight against terrorism and the development of a successful homeland security strategy. MapInfo's location-based technology requires no proprietary interfaces to access data from GIS or enterprise database systems.

The sharing of location-based information -- such as data on people, assets and facilities -- across departments, among agencies and jurisdictions is essential for rapid response and accurate reaction to crisis situations. For instance, government agencies need to have immediate access to critical information such as where the emergency is occurring; what kind of structures are involved; what buildings or open spaces can be used for staging emergency responses; and how best to move emergency responders to the site quickly and safely. Yet, this information undoubtedly resides with different agencies and departments and in various formats. Based on this, the Department of Homeland Security has called for the development of information integration architectures that will allow for easy sharing of homeland security information with state, local and private organizations.

MapInfo technology is built on open standards and does not rely on proprietary middleware or data formats, which is essential for organizations to be able to effectively pull together information from various sources whenever and wherever they need it. For instance, MapInfo provides a rich set of data interchange capabilities that enable an application to read and write data from all major geospatial sources. In fact, MapInfo was one of the first providers of location-based technology to leverage database management systems for storing and retrieving information, and these interfaces are open and can be used to transfer data to MapInfo's own internal formats or provide seamless access from its products.

Importantly, MapInfo works closely with or follows standards-based groups such as W3C, ACORD, OMA and Open GIS Consortium to ensure its solutions will conform to current and emerging standards that allow interoperability among vendors. For example, MapInfo supports the Web Map Service (WMS) Implementation Specification, a standard that enables government groups worldwide to more efficiently and effectively share and collect data. MapInfo also helps drive and guide these standards as appropriate.

"MapInfo, a long standing member of the Open GIS Consortium, has been an active participant in our Consortium programs to develop, document and make available OpenGIS(R) specifications for open and global use," said Mark E. Reichardt, executive director, Outreach and Community Adoption Program at OGC. "Through the implementation of "plug and play" OpenGIS specifications in its products, MapInfo along with other forward looking companies is helping to enable distributed users to share geospatial information easily across multiple organizations and systems, to improve choice in the marketplace, and to minimize the burden of introducing new technology capability. This is of great importance as government organizations work to more effectively support national to local objectives in support of e-government and homeland security goals."

"Interoperability is very important to MapInfo. We recognize the importance of being able to access critical information regardless of its location and how it is stored," said George Moon, chief technology officer at MapInfo. "In times of disaster, speed is of the essence and the last thing people want to think about is how to access and integrate technology that may not reside in their own computer systems. MapInfo is committed to providing open interfaces and standards so organizations can pull together the information they need and then analyze it visually to make the best, most informed decisions."

About MapInfo

MapInfo Corporation is a global software company that integrates software, data and services to help customers realize greater value from location-based information and drive more insightful decisions. MapInfo solutions are available in 20 languages through a network of strategic partners and distribution channels in 60 countries. Headquartered in Troy, NY, MapInfo Corporation is on the World Wide Web at www.mapinfo.com.

MapInfo and its products are registered trademarks of MapInfo Corporation. Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Of Note

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. For this purpose, any statement that is not a statement of historical fact is a forward-looking statement, including without limitation statements concerning market demand for MapInfo's products and solutions, the potential benefits of MapInfo's software to customers, and the integration of MapInfo's software offerings with existing solutions. Factors that may cause these statements not to be true or to differ materially from the manner in which they are presented include potential difficulties related to third party integration of MapInfo's software, market acceptance of MapInfo's offerings, decreased spending by customers or potential customers on technology solutions and the impact of economic trends that affect generally the market for MapInfo's software and other product offerings. MapInfo takes no responsibility to update any forward-looking statements.