Redlands, Calif. - Esri released Esri Maps for Office, a new analysis tool that allows business professionals to visualize data by creating and sharing interactive maps directly within Microsoft Office. Esri Maps for Office is a downloadable add-in for Microsoft Office 2010 that helps organizations make better decisions through location analytics.

"By bringing the power of location analytics to Microsoft Office, Esri Maps for Office extends mapping and geographic intelligence capabilities to new people and departments," said Jack Dangermond, Esri president. "Esri Maps for Office is the next necessary step to offering more robust business analytics throughout an organization."

With Esri Maps for Office, business professionals can quickly create interactive maps from their data in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. These live maps, which can be based on any geographic component such as customer locations or sales by ZIP Code, can be simply added to Microsoft PowerPoint presentations or shared through Esri's cloud mapping platform, ArcGIS Online. Maps shared through ArcGIS Online can then be distributed throughout an organization or embedded into mobile or web applications.

The interactive maps and presentations business professionals create with Esri Maps for Office provide a powerful way of exploring issues ranging from gaps in existing service to opportunities for growth. Esri Maps for Office allows analysts to investigate their data as color-coded maps, point maps or heat maps, and provides full control over the way data is displayed on the map. Organizations can overlay their data on a set of standardized Esri background maps or search through the extensive library of geospatial content available through ArcGIS Online.

Esri Maps for Office is available as a free download to organizations with ArcGIS Online subscriptions. For more information on Esri Maps for Office, visit esri.com/maps4office.