New CIS tool kit
TerraLogics announces Terra View, an object-oriented cartographic toolkit that provides geographic information systems (GIS) display and manipulation capabilities. It is a library of cartographic functions which facilitate the creation of applications that present and manipulate spatial information. It provides a means of integrating and visualizing user data with maps. Applications developed using Terra View can simultaneously overlay, display, and operate upon User Data, Census TIGER, ETAK, USGS-DLG, GBF/DIME, Rand McNally and other specialized map data. Terra View enables programmers to treat maps and user data as objects without being concerned about screen graphical operations or disparate map data formats.
Terraview functions can be called directly from many programming languages, facilitating the integration of mapping functionality into existing applications. Applications may run on numerous platforms ranging from PCs to mini-computers to workstations and may run under MD-DOS, VAX/VMS, UNIX, ULTRIX, MS-Windows, or X-Windows.
U.S. female population data available
A compilation of data specific to the female population of virtually any U.S. market area is now available from National Planning Data Corp. (NPDC). The "Women's Report" is a three-page, customized report that includes such information as age, fertility, selected Major Diagnostic Categories (MDC), and Diagnosis Related Groupings (DRGs). The data are useful to providers of healthcare services for women, such as obstetricians, gynecologists, and geriatric specialists, as well as providers of breast cancer screening and post-menopausal care. In addition, the report can be used in site evaluations, in developing marketing plans, and in forecasting market potential and share for services targeted to women. Specifically, each report includes 1980 census counts, 1989 estimates, and 1994 projections of females by age, as well as counts of females 18 to 44 years of age by race or Spanish origin. It also includes national fertility rates (total births per 1,000 women 18 to 44 years of age) by race or by Spanish origin from the Bureau of Census' Current Population Report June, 1988) and 1989 estimates and 1994 projections of numbers of cases, as well as cases per 1,000 females, for selected MDCs and DRGs.
The Women's Report is available online, or by using NPDC's phone-in service. It can be obtained for any U.S. market area, for standard geographies such as census tracts, ZIP codes, counties, and metropolitan areas, as well as areas defined by rings and polygons. NPDC can also provide color-shaded maps of selected data by census tract and ZIP code, and diskettes containing the same information for use with the company's PC-based MapAnalyst mapping software.
Mapping system for Canadian market
Sammamish Data Systems announces the distribution of a new product for the Canadian market, called GeoDOM, that combines proprietary geographic infor-mation systems (GIS) software, databases, and boundary and street files for the entire nation of Canada. GeoDOM lets users encode, analyze, and display multiple data layers derived from various internal and external data sources. The system comes equipped with the entire Statistics Canada database (the equivalent of the U.S. Census information) on one CD-ROM optical disk as the main source of marketing information. Subareas within Canada can be purchased separately.
GeoDOM incorporates official census data (updated every five years, rather than ten years as in the U.S.), street addresses, and area boundary files into an interactive geographic information system. GeoDOM's data can be combined with any other internal or external data sources for enhanced analysis.
The database function of the system lets users create, evaluate, and interactively change the demographic profiles of geographic areas as they are displayed. Multiple "what if scenarios can be created before commitment to final changes. When the changes are finalized, the results are saved and detailed maps and reports can be prepared.
Users can display areas from the entire country down to individual streets, as well as everything in between. Multiple layers of relationships within data from different files can be analyzed. This information can be displayed simultaneously within various levels of geographic detail (such as postal codes, political boundaries and streets).
In addition to the mapping software, GeoDOM includes GSReport - a custom report generator, GSPlot - for outputting maps to files, plotters, and laser printers, and Gateway - for importing ASCII, dBase, or Lotus 1-2-3 files into Geo-DOM.
Interface for A-CROSS and ACS QUERY
In conjunction with its acquisition of the marketing rights to Strawberry Soft-ware Inc.'s A-CROSS cross tabulation software program, Analytical Computer Service, Inc. (ACS) has developed an interface between A-CROSS and ACS-QUERY, called Q-LINK, which loads the answer text and card column definitions from an ACS-QUERY questionnaire into A-CROSS and creates tables and a dummy banner for each question.