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MapMakers Australia

..bringing the power of spatial technology to your business!

 

 Before you contact us..


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Please take take a minute or two to familiarise yourself with a few dot points before dropping us a line or calling for a chat. Our business is making custom maps. During the ten years we have been providing these services, a number of common misconceptions have arisen, which these quick notes address:

Contacting MapMakers for the first time - to delegate or not to delegate..
Custom maps - the basics
Can you send us an example or draft map..?
Basic project initiation..
Incorporating MapMakers Postcode data into your project
Using third-party commercial data
What a custom mapping task typically costs
Size matters (but not in the way you might think).!
Paper maps or digital maps ~ common myths..
Security and your maps and data (please read!)

If you are the person who needs the map, please consider making contact yourself. It is common for initial contact to be delegated. Unfortunately this often results in the person making first contact being unclear about exactly what you have in mind. When we ask the inevitable questions about detail, they often cannot be answered by the delegated person, who then faces a potentially awkward position regarding completion of the delegated task.

 

Nothing we create for a client existed beforehand. This is why our maps are custom maps.
  To make a comparison, a custom mapping task is like a suit made for you by a tailor. It will fit you and your needs exactly. Nobody else will have one like it.
If you can meet your clothing needs off the peg - that is from a store in the high street, it will be cheaper than hiring a tailor to dress you.
If you have read this far, it is almost certain you have already approached your local map store, government agency, library, or opened an atlas, and now acknowledge that the map(s) or map derived data you desire and have in your mind's eye DO NOT ALREADY EXIST (although if you are looking for Australian Postcode maps, you're in luck)!

 

Our services are available to you on a commercial basis. Please see our standard terms and conditions where these are specified. In summary though, standard rates are between A$100 - $130 per hour; a rate similar to a typical suburban plumber. We have a minimum charge of $100. Rates exclude GST. We charge pro-rata, so you only pay for the time we spend on your work. We feel this is a lot fairer than many other professionals, who will charge in increments, for example in 15 minute increments (even if you only use a minute or two of the increment). You will need to complete and submit the form on our terms page before we commence your project.
Many customers wish to have their own data integrated with our Postcode Data; sales figures and franchise territories are typical examples, you can see some examples here. If your project requires use of our Postcode Data to generate tabular output, rather than actual maps or supply of the digital Data Product, the rate is 40% of the listed GIS Data Product price. So for example if you have a sales analysis of NSW with output as spreadsheets in mind, the cost would be; time * rate + ($1360 Small Business user / $2040 Organisational user * 0.4) + GST. Of course if you'd prefer to do this yourself, you will need the appropriate GIS Postcode Data Product and a suitable GIS Software application.
Some customers require a "draft" or "example" before making a decision to proceed. We are happy to accommodate such requests, but ask that you proceed to our Terms and Conditions page and complete the form if you believe this is what you require. Draft maps are explained fully on our Terms page here. A draft or example map takes time and competes with other commercial tasks. If your need is urgent (often it is!) please request an evaluation draft at standard rates (copy and paste this into the subject field of our Terms and Conditions form), it will rarely cost much more than the basic project initiation charge of $100 and you will get the prompt service you need.
Sometimes a map requires use of commercial third party data. If this is unavoidable for your particular map, we will arrange for the data supplier to invoice you separately for such data. That means that you pay a minimum for your required data - we DO NOT take a cut of third party data costs.
Doing so would be unethical. Indeed it is our company policy to continue to lobby for cost-free access to and use of spatial data created using your and our taxes. Regrettably in Australia, most State and several tiers of Commonwealth government still attempt to supplement their treasuries by charging us to access data for which we have already paid and continue to fund. So don't get mad with us, lobby your State and Federal Members of Parliament!

 

How much will it cost? Each custom job is different of course. Typically though, 80% of the maps we create result in invoices from MapMakers Australia of between A$500 and A$3,000 + GST,  plus data costs if applicable. As specified in several locations on our site, third party data costs, if required, are beyond our control and become the subject of separate arrangements between you the client and the third party supplier.
Rarely a custom map can be created for less than A$500. Sometimes highly involved map series, data analysis and extraction, or custom installations with on-site and support work can run to tens of thousands. These are unusual.
If the prospect of paying several hundred dollars to satisfy your specialised spatial information requirements is too shocking, please do not proceed any further. Unfortunately, your expectations are unrealistic.
"But we only want a small, "basic" map..!"
"..in the beginning, there was nothing.."
So it is with every custom map. Every single thing has to be assembled from raw, unformatted data.
The amount of work involved (and thus the dollars) bears NO relationship to the size of the map you require. All custom maps are created using digital data. We will use the data sets optimally suited to your specifications, but these do not have anything to do with the size of the map you want. See our "quick tour" for an introduction to digital data, scale and other things which directly influence your job.
It is often a more difficult task to generate a map suitable for viewing on a small page than a large one. It is common therefore that a specification requiring A4 or A3 output will take more work than the same objective destined for a large format A1 or A0 page.
Paper maps are cheaper than electronic maps. Wrong. All modern maps are created initially using sophisticated mapping software in a computer environment. If an actual paper map is desired, as often it is, it is produced after the digital version has been created and as such is an additional cost. Therefore, a paper map is always more expensive than an electronic map!
While you can print an A4 and increasingly an A3 map on your own office inkjet or laser printer, larger pages require use of large format colour plotters. These are expensive machines and so are the pages printed from them. We use commercial printing services to generate large format paper maps. Typically an A1 or A0 paper page will cost between A$100 - 150. Unless you want a large number of copies (over 100 copies typically) there is little scope for multiple copy discounts.
We can supply your maps in pretty well any standard electronic format including Adobe .PDF® or Illustrator®, just about any image format and of course most GIS formats. Please be clear about the formats you wish to receive and ensure your own equipment (computers, printers) can handle both the format and often very large files involved. We will happily work with you to address any issues you may have utilising your output, and can configure your products if you have specific requirements, but cannot be responsible for any incompatibilities or system weaknesses in a client's system. We have found using common operating systems and popular tried and tested hardware to be a sound investment.

 

Security of your and our precious data and intellectual property is taken seriously at MapMakers. All data we communicate to you via e-mail or ftp will be encrypted to at least 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard. This currently requires WinZip version 9 or later (the link is provided solely for your possible convenience) for you to extract the contents of encrypted files we send to you. We will not risk your or our own data integrity and security to insecure transmission - Internet use comes with risks and our policies are intended to minimise them. We do not have any relationship of any kind with third party software vendors including WinZip. If you use a utility incapable of extracting contents so-secured, we will happily create a secure executable file, which will not require you to have any enabling software on your own computer. All our stock products are supplied in this fashion. However for files which could otherwise be transmitted as e-mail attachments or via ftp, but are requested as executable copy on disc, an additional executable creation and shipping charge of $50 plus GST will apply.

 

Please, please, please.. Give thought to exactly what you want in advance. The clearer and more complete your instructions, the more effectively we can generate exactly what you need. A single draft should ideally be all that is required for a well thought out project - it will really save you money! Even small changes require work so please be as specific as you can.
We can have a good guess at what you mean if you say "..just a basic map.." but everyone's idea of a "basic" anything is just that - individual! So please help us and save yourself money - be as specific as you can!

Hopefully you will now be keen to engage our services, confident of our undivided professional attention! A form is included below for your convenience.

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Send mail to info<at>mapmakers.com.au with questions or comments about this web site. Design and content by MapMakers Pty Ltd 2008©.
Last modified: Sunday, 14 September 2008