Visual Fusion 4 Raises the Bar on Microsoft Office Integration

Lansing, MI, May 27, 2009 – Visual Fusion 4.0, comprehensive visual mashup software released this month by IDV Solutions, introduces unprecedented integration between Microsoft Office, SharePoint, and geospatial mashup technology.

Using Visual Fusion 4, organizations can easily geo-enable Word and PowerPoint documents, SharePoint Lists & Libraries, and Excel spreadsheets, or gather information with InfoPath forms and seamlessly integrate it into map applications and other mashups.

"This degree of integration in Visual Fusion 4.0 erases the boundaries between geospatial functionality and ubiquitous Microsoft Office," said Scott Caulk, Product Manager at IDV Solutions. "Visual Fusion empowers individuals to work in familiar tools like Microsoft Office to build compelling visual applications."

Data flows from Office to the mashup

Visual Fusion achieves this integration by extending features of SharePoint-lists, libraries, templates and Web parts-to automate geo-tagging and provide an interactive, visual user interface.

Users can add any Office document (from Word, Excel, or PowerPoint) to a library built with a Visual Fusion template, and specify a location; Visual Fusion automatically assigns latitude and longitude coordinates to the document. For Excel spreadsheets, Visual Fusion can assign coordinates to each row in the spreadsheet that has a location. When the resulting library is added to a mashup, users across the enterprise can see the geographic relationships among the data and access the underlying documents with a click.

Similarly, Visual Fusion supplies a template for geospatially enabling InfoPath forms. Information entered in one of these forms flows to the map without importing, reformatting or programming.

With this degree of integration, users can work with familiar programs, while their data and documents become united in a mashup view that enhances communication and promotes collaboration.

Data flows from the mashup to Office

Visual Fusion's Office integration is a two-way exchange. Data from multiple sources can be consolidated in a Visual Fusion application and exported to a single Excel file. Mashup views can also be exported as image files or PowerPoint slides, allowing users to share mashup-driven insights and make Visual Fusion part of their normal workflow.

About IDV Solutions

IDV Solutions is an enterprise software company committed to helping Global 2000 and government organizations make their information more accessible, understandable, and contextual. Their suite of products, Visual Fusion, forms an enterprise mashup platform for creating interactive, visual applications utilizing the power of SharePoint. This software empowers everyone in an organization to create interactive, geospatial mashups from unlimited sources of data. It provides a streamlined platform for building Enterprise 2.0 apps that drive agility, collaboration, and insight. Contact IDV Solutions at http://www.idvsolutions.com.