I have a client who sometimes needs to see stats displayed via a geographic map, showing counties or states. For example, they might want to show what percentage of people in each state use a particular product. They supply me the data file with all the data that needs to be mapped.

What is some of the best software to use to produce the maps?

Thanks in advance to all for any info.

Hello,

Have you ever heard of Geographic Information Systems? If not, have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_information_system.

The brother of my g-friend uses this program and says the features are endless. Only problem with this program (as I've heard) is that you practicaly need to major on this, if you want to be able to use it effectively.

Good luck with finding other systems that you may be able to use in one go, if they exist. (If they do exist, please send me an email and let me know, I'd be interested!)

Two of the bigger players in GIS in the United States are MapInfo and ESRI (who makes ArcView and ArcGIS). Both are quite expensive for the individual user, and have a somewhat steep learning curve. Further, you'll generally need to provide your own base layers (e.g., road maps, political subdivisions, terrain coverages, etc.). These can also be somewhat pricey, although there are some resources on the web that can be downloaded at no cost (try the US Dept of Census).

That said, depending upon the complexity of the analysis that you are trying to conduct, simple analyses can be performed using off-the-shelf software such as Microsoft MapPoint.

I have locations in a state, these locations where sent a survey about half of them replied i want to make sure that those that replied describe the population. (i have locations of both just dont know how to do the test or if the test exist.)

If you want professional maps you can also use mapviewer (golden software product). It is easier than Arcmap (but not too easy), and it is perfect for visualizing geo-data.