To: All WinTOTAL Aurora (version 5) users
From: Adam Calvery, VP Appraisal Products, a la mode, inc.
Re: Introducing WinTOTAL's new Virtual Earth mapping
Today's WinTOTAL update contains an entirely new location mapping system powered by Microsoft Virtual Earth™, providing you with better, more attractive maps optionally overlaid on aerial photography. We're not the only ones excited by it; judging from the comments we've gotten from the hundreds of appraisers just like you who have helped us develop and refine it, it's a significant step forward. It has both a high "wow" factor due to the aerial photography and substantial improvements in time savings and ease of use.
To download the update, click the "Get Updates" button on the toolbar in your Appraisal Desktop.
The most obvious improvement is that Virtual Earth, or VE as we call it, gives us the ability to integrate aerial mapping imagery into WinTOTAL. In fact, you can now flip between Street, Aerial and Hybrid maps using a dropdown at the top of the Map Wizard to get the style you want on the fly. The hybrid maps are full-color aerial images with street overlays.
Be careful about thinking that aerial photos are just fancy eyewash – to the contrary, they add a new level of professionalism to reports which your clients indeed notice. The customers we've had testing the VE integration have told us that clients pick up the phone to call and say how impressed they are by the added aerial photos and the information they impart. It's especially helpful on complex or commercial assignments where nearby land use is a significant factor. (You're not just explaining that the sewage treatment plant is close to the subject; they can see it.)
On the workflow front, we improved the process in the Map Wizard based on your feedback. You're now shown the various mapping options first when getting a map, much like the way Athena worked. And rather than having to click buttons to move in pre-determined chunks North, South, East or West, you now just push the map around smoothly to pan, and your mouse's scroll wheel zooms in or out. It works beautifully and is a big improvement over the way you've had to position maps previously.
We've found that in some areas the accuracy of "geocoding" (actually locating the property) is better with Virtual Earth, but of course in some places you may not see much change. Also, because the aerial maps are created from photography from airplanes and satellites, some areas don't yet have the super high resolution imagery (though the high altitude overviews are still impressive). These are mostly rural, but Microsoft and its data partners update the aerials all the time. As they improve, you of course see the benefits immediately.
Because mapping is such a key component of your reports, there are some things you'll want to be aware of as you begin to use it. We've put together a short training video on the Virtual Earth integration. To view it, click here. To read up on it in the WinTOTAL manual, click here.
Once you've downloaded the update and tried out the Virtual Earth integration, let me know what you think and let me know if you have any questions. Just reply to this message or e-mail me at adam@alamode.com.
As always, thanks for your business, and from all of us here we hope you have a Merry Christmas.
Adam Calvery
VP, Appraisal Products
a la mode, inc.
adam@alamode.com
WinTOTAL Aurora (v5) – December 11, 2007 Update
The bulk of this update contains our new Virtual Earth mapping wizard.
Contacts:
• Ad Hoc contacts will no longer be created each time an Athena report is upgraded to Aurora.
Report Delivery:
• DaVinci sketches should now transfer correctly when delivering through AppraisalPort.
• The addenda section on the major form now converts to the AI Ready XML correctly when delivering through GAC.
• The GAC plugin no longer has a problem if an image with the same name is used more than once in a report.
Forms:
• Existing reports containing the Satisfactory Completion Certificate [Lgl/Y2K] form can now be opened correctly.
• Satisfactory Completion Certificate [Lgl/Y2K] can now be successfully added to new reports.
WinTOTAL Conversion Wizard:
• ClickFORMS reports with an Appraisal World Order Form will now successfully convert to WinTOTAL format.
• Reports created with version 5.4.0 of ClickFORMS will now successfully convert to WinTOTAL format.
• State Certification # will now be converted from ClickFORMS reports.
• Neighborhood section of the Condo [Form 1073], URAR [Form 1004], Small Income [Form 105], and Exterior-Only Condo [Form 1075] will now convert correctly from ClickFORMS.
