I got a quick glance at Microsoft MapPoint 2006 which has been released to manufacturing and should be shipping soon. New features are aimed mostly at the mobile market. According to Alex Dailey, MapPoint Evangelist, the company wants to "extend the product from on the desktop to on the go." So here are some of the key new features:

** Integration from a tool bar button with Microsoft Live Local. For example, if you have a point of interest (POI) that you've located from within MapPoint, you can click on the Live Local button and it will take you to the information and bird's eye view.

** Map Interface changed for better vehicle navigation. If you used a GPS device with MapPoint 2004, you'll notice a different interface that is targeted at using MapPoint 2006 as a portable in-vehicle navigation system. A new map style changes the view for night time driving and things like dynamic turn views and orienting the map so that it always points north can be accommodated. A compass shows direction of vehicle movement.

** GPS improved. The USB GPS receiver that will be delivered with MapPoint 2006 is different than that which was available for purhase with Streets and Trip. Any NMEA (National Marine Electronics Association) comformant device will work, but the device that will be bundled with it for $50 more is based on the SiRFstarIII GPS chipset.

** Pricing. Price remains unchanged: $299 retail; $349 with bundled GPS receiver.

My take: I'll reserve final comments until I get a full version to do a proper product review. I had hoped to see more spatial querying and analysis functionality to slice spreadsheet-based information better. However, I liked the fact that for mobile professionals that if I were to use this as a vehicle navigation system that I don't have to rent a Hertz NeverLost system everytime I go into a strange city.

[Click either of the images at right for a larger view.]