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Help's Database Query Tool Gets Google Maps Interface
Published: November 7, 2006
by Alex Woodie
Help/Systems' SEQUEL business intelligence software has been integrated with Google Maps to support interactive map plotting of geographical data housed in DB2/400 and other databases, the Minnesota iSeries software developer announced last week.
Help/Systems, which bought the original SEQUEL developer, Advanced Systems Concepts (ASC), last month, says several potential uses result from the integration between SEQUEL and Google Map.
For example, SEQUEL can now select almost any location-dependent database information, such as customer locations, branch offices, or a semi-truck tracked with real-time GPS coordinates--and display it on a Google map. All that is needed to display a map are an address, zip code, or latitude/longitude coordinates housed in a database.
SEQUEL is a business intelligence tool that provides users with the capability to generate graphical reports and executive dashboards from information housed in a database, and have the reports distributed via e-mail and over the Web. The software was designed for DB2/400 but also supports Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server databases.
Rob Peterson, a former ASC manager who now works for Help/Systems, says several System i users in the trucking industry already use the Google Maps function in SEQUEL to track trucks. "Depending on the available database information, SEQUEL could show a dispatcher the type of cargo the truck carries, whether it has available space, or the overall status of the shipment," he says. "In addition, they could run a SEQUEL request to drill-down into detailed database information, such as a bill of lading."
But the SEQUEL-Google Maps integration isn't relegated to the transportation industry, Peterson says. "Companies in other industries can use the mapping function to quickly identify product or equipment installations within a region or across the country," he says.
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