Mapping the names of American businesses: A teaching and software aid

PhoneDisc Business 95 and BusinessMAP LTF, when used in conjunction with each other, offer a user-friendly, low-cost, and quick method of identifying and mapping patterns of the names of America's businesses. Intended as a teaching/technical aid, this paper provides: 1) descriptions of software capabilities; 2) step-by-step directions for use; 3) examples of student-generated maps, which explored the distribution of businesses with ''Coast(al),'' ''Piedmont,'' and ''Sunbelt'' in their names; and 4) a concluding evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the packages as teaching and research technologies. Mapping the names of American businesses can provide students with: 1) insight into how populations see and define themselves regionally, 2) an avenue to explore the country's spatial economy; and 3) valuable experience using the computer as a tool for collecting and visualizing large amounts of geographic data.