MapInfo Shareholder’s Meeting: All Smiles

The Albany Business Review covers MapInfo’s 2006 stockholders meeting by noting the company’s best first quarter ever was this year. The company closed 2005 with $149.4 million in revenue and three acquisitions.

The efforts in diversity - of geography, products and industries is paying off, the article goes on. And, more acquisitions are expected.

“We are no longer just a software company,” said Mark Cattini, MapInfo’s president and CEO.

Update: There’s a bit more on the meeting, including Q&A, from the Times Union.

MapInfo: “Fair Game for a Battle”

The Albany Times Union, MapInfo’s local paper, has a brief article about the company’s ownership and a quote from a financial writer saying it could be in a battle at some point.

Two out-of-town money managers have large equity stakes in MapInfo Corp., and James Altucher, a writer for RealMoney.com who also is a hedge fund manager, says the company could eventually become “fair game for a battle” along with a handful of other companies he’s watching.

I’m not sure why this was brought up since in the filings before its annual meeting (to be held on February 16) suggest no big fireworks.

MapInfo Pro Will (sort of) Access Google Data

MapInfo responded to a quote from its recent conference call suggesting that technology would be included in a future release to allow access to Google map data.

In this comment a MapInfo product manager explains MapInfo Pro will be able to output to KML format, so the information can be used in Google Earth. Pretty much every vendor is now offering or will soon offer such a tool.

He further notes, in a second comment, that “MapInfo Professional Link Utility for Google Earth has a feature to launch Google Earth to enable immediate use of their imagery data as a backdrop for the map built into MapInfo Professional.  Of course we recommend that before you leverage this feature, that you have the appropriate Google Earth license for your intended use.”

MapInfo Pro to Access Google Data?

In a conference call last week CEO Mark Cattini said as much. Reports the Albany Times Union: “Cattini said his company has added features to its MapInfo Professional software that allow customers to access Google’s map data. He stressed in an interview after the conference call that Google is not a competitor and uses its maps primarily to drive people to the Google Web site.”

Another valuable tidbit from the call: MapInfo has 900 employees worldwide now and expects that number to perhaps increase by 20% next year.