To:  All WinTOTAL Aurora (version 5) users
From:  Adam Calvery, VP Appraisal Products, a la mode, inc.
Re:  Aurora:  January update is ready

This month’s WinTOTAL Aurora update is now available on our servers.  To download it, click the “Get Updates” button on the toolbar in your Appraisal Desktop.  You can read the complete release notes here, or visit the Aurora Status website for information on the update as well as other upcoming items, specifically contacts (more on that in a moment).  To visit it now, click here.

As you know, last month’s update contained the new Virtual Earth™ mapping system.  The release was exceptionally smooth, and I’d like to thank everyone that e-mailed to give us feedback.  As you can see in the release notes, we’ve made a significant number of improvements to VE, and they stem directly from that feedback.  Please feel free to continue to send us any other comments or suggestions you have.

The “next big thing” coming soon in Aurora is a much improved contacts management and synchronization system.  It’s been in development and testing for some time and the improved merging, synchronization and management tools work very well.  For those of you who have had issues with duplicate contacts and synchronization of contacts between various appraisers on an XSite, you'll be very pleased with the changes. We plan to release the improved contacts in an Aurora update towards the end of February.  If you’d like to try out an early release, just hit reply to let me know or send an e-mail to wtcontacts@alamode.com.  We’ll have it available next week, and we’ll get with you once it’s ready for download (including all of you that have already asked to test it out).  In the meantime, you can read more about what improvements have been made to contacts on the Aurora Status website.  To visit it now, click here. 

Again, I’d like to thank everyone for the feedback over the last few months as we’ve released both our sketcher, DaVinci Desktop Standard, and the new Virtual Earth maps. It's been very helpful.  As always, thanks for your business, and feel free to shoot me an e-mail any time for any reason.

Adam Calvery
VP, Appraisal Products
a la mode, inc
adam@alamode.com

WinTOTAL Aurora (v5) – January 10, 2008 Update
This update contains fixes to the Virtual Earth mapping wizard, as well as enhancements to our support for DaVinci desktop in WinTOTAL.

Virtual Earth Mapping:

• Driving directions can now be disabled from Step 3 of the map wizard.
• The map wizard will now check to see if compatibility mode is set for the WinTOTAL program executable and will prompt you to correct the issue automatically.
• Updating the GPS coordinates of a property on Step 2 of the map wizard will now move the balloon to the appropriate position on the map.
• The "Add Trusted Sites" link in the configuration options now includes addresses used by Virtual Earth.
• The map wizard will now prompt to retry when an error occurs downloading a flood map.
• A "Retry Geocoding" link has been added for cases where geocoding fails.
• The map wizard has been optimized to minimize geocoding failures.
• Balloons saved off screen are no longer removed after saving the map.
• Decimals in the “Use XX blocks per mile” option will no longer cause the map wizard to fail to load.
• Double-clicking on a Virtual Earth map merged from another report now opens the map wizard correctly.
• Double-clicking on the scroll wheel no longer jumps to another location on the map.
• Double-clicking property information on step 1 of the map wizard no longer blanks out the latitude and longitude fields.
• Editing a flood map merged from another report no longer drops the annotations out of the map.
• Editing a merged Virtual Earth map will now allow steps 2 and 3 to be edited.
• Hovering over the map wizard in the background no longer takes focus from the window in front.
• Invalid system fonts (Such as Verdana) will no longer cause problems loading the map wizard.
• The OK and Cancel buttons in the map wizard are now accessible via the keyboard in the Balloon Placement window.
• Retrieving a map from the Comps Database no longer changes your settings in Map Options.
• The map wizard now checks your Internet connection settings before loading.
• The scroll wheel is now enabled in the “Title” drop-down list.
• Choosing “Flood Map Only” via the Tools | Get Maps option now works correctly from all PowerViews.
• When getting a new map or replacing a map using Virtual Earth, the balloon properties will now be immediately available.
• Attempting to retrieve a location map before adding a subject address now launches to Step 1 of the map wizard regardless of your settings, so that an address or GPS coordinates can be entered.
• Balloon color & font options and the Google/MapQuest Links are no longer disabled when going back to step 2 from any other step of the map wizard.
• Editing a location map has been optimized to minimize screen flashing.
• The onscreen location of the map wizard is now remembered for future use when it is moved by the user.
• Adding certain icons to a location map or flood map now requires only one click of the mouse instead of two.
• When entering GPS coordinates as degree and minutes, it will now correctly convert the coordinates into decimal format.
• Resetting the toolbar no longer adds an extra "New Map" button in the "Add or Remove Buttons" list.
• When using a dial-up Internet connection, the map wizard will now complete without error.
• Editing location maps will now allow the use of the page icons to navigate between steps 2 and 3.
• Maps downloaded with only a subject property will now be zoomed in to the correct level in the map wizard.
• Right-click options to “Center map on subject” or “Center map on all addresses” have been added to the map wizard.
• Switching between balloons with different text colors will now update the text color dropdown with the correct color.
• The map wizard will now remember whether “Use address” or “Use GPS coordinates” is checked on Step 1.
• Updating the subject address from the Maps PowerView will now update the subject address in the map wizard.
• When adding custom balloons, the back color dropdown will now accurately reflect the balloon color.
• Zoom level will now be correctly set in the map wizard when editing legacy (MapPoint) maps.
• The replace button is no longer enabled for map pages that do not contain any map info.  
• If the map wizard establishes a dial-up connection, it will now be successfully closed when the map wizard closes.

DaVinci:

• DaVinci Mobile Pro reports opened within WinTOTAL will no longer have extra spaces inserted into multiline fields.
• Sketches created in DaVinci Desktop Standard will now be editable after merging them into a new report.
• Data for comp #4 is no longer lost if you go directly to the Comps PowerView in WinTOTAL after opening a report created in DaVinci Mobile Pro.
• All sketch areas will now transfer from DaVinci Mobile Pro reports to WinTOTAL and will be displayed in the Sketch PowerView.

Instant Customer Update: 

• Clicking the close button twice will no longer cause SafeStart to be launched twice.

New Forms:

• HomeFocus Desktop Valuation [01/2008] [use on/after 01/12/08]
• W-9 Request for Tax ID Number [Rev. 10-2007]
• W-9 Request for Tax ID Number [Rev. 10-2007][Major form]
• W-9 Request for Tax ID Number [Rev. 10-2007][Supr. Sig.] 
• W-9 Request for Tax ID Number [Rev. 10-2007][Major form][Supr. Sig.]

Updated Forms:

• GP Consumer [Signature][10/2007][Ltr]
• GP Consumer [No Signature][10/2007][Ltr]
• GP Consumer Short Form [Signature][10/2007][Ltr]
• GP Consumer Short Form [No Signature][10/2007][Ltr] 
• Wachovia Desktop Valuation [Ver 2.1 - 12/06]