"Perhaps one of the most powerful yet overlooked features of the SAS System is the ability to display information as map, using the GMAP procedure. The ability to use the GMAP first presumes that SAS/GRAPH is available at your site. To the uninitiated, using SAS to create a map may appear to be a daunting task. Fortunately, one of the great SAS masters of using SAS to create maps has authored a book to fill this need.

Although I am familiar with using SAS to create maps, I learned some new, useful information. Chapter 1 had a clear explanation of how to use the GREDUCE procedure. Chapter 2 has as good an introduction as to how to use fonts in the SAS/GRAPH as one is likely to find elsewhere. The example of how to create maps with two ID variables and map areas should prove useful to many readers. Adding circles to indicate a radius is a neat feature for which I can foresee many applications. Last, the information in Chapter 5 on how to create drill-down maps and use the JAVAMETA and ACTIVEX device drivers is extremely valuable.

Until the SAS Books By Users program published this book, the only introduction that I could offer to someone new to mapping with SAS/GRAPH was a conference paper that I authored several years ago. Now, I will tell them to invest their funds to purchase this excellent book."

"Anyone who has ever tried to create a map using SAS and ended up with a skewed, backwards view of the world will appreciate Mike Zdeb's book, Maps Made Easy Using SAS. This book is a clear, succinct primer and reference tool on creating maps within SAS. Experienced SAS users will find the book a breeze to use and will quickly gain from its in-depth examples. Novices can type in the examples and follow the numbered points explaining the lines of code and easily follow the map-creation logic. The multiple examples build upon each other, producing more-complex maps, and pull together and explain the sundry SAS commands involved.

The first few chapters take the reader quickly into the world of map-making in SAS. Later chapters go into detail on how to create complicated choropleth maps, although most examples and instructions can be easily adapted for other types of SAS maps. Even web-ready maps using JAVA and ACTIVEX are covered, showing drill-down and pop-up capabilities.

Mr. Zdeb has created a most-useful tool, demystifying map-making in SAS."