No, if you don't need the functionality of the Professional Edition, you are welcome to use the Educational Edition, which is free to download and use for everyone.

There are some functions which are not particularly useful in an educational setting, but which may be important if you use Flowmap in research or planning. These are the ability to make a log file recording all your actions, and to 'replay' this log file, the ability to use other database management systems than DBase, the ability to import and export distance tables, and exploration of the Mean Trip Length for a range of values for the distance decay parameter in a gravity model

Just choose 'Ignore'. The file will not be copied, but apparently it is already there (Windows is using it, that is what causes the error message). The installation will continue normally and Flowmap will function properly.

Not without modification. Since degrees longitude have variable length while degrees latitude have constant length, using a map in decimal degrees will cause distortion of the map image and errors in distance calculations (except if your study area is near the equator). However, Flowmap has an option (under File/Convert) to project BNA files from lat/long to an equivalent azimuthal projection. This will allow you to convert your decimal degrees dataset to local plane coordinates. These can then be imported into Flowmap and used without causing the problems mentioned above.

Your maps are apparently stored in different projections or coordinate systems. This is a thing you have to sort out in your GIS. If you get your maps from different sources, using different projections or coordinate systems, you should store them in one projection and coordinate system, appropriate for your study area. ('Unprojecting' all data by storing them in lat/long is a good idea, if you keep in mind that you need to 'Reproject' the data before you can use them in Flowmap. See the previous question on decimal degrees). Make sure your maps fit together nicely on top of each other in your GIS, and then import them in Flowmap.

Yes it does. In the first place, it is very important that the different maps that you use together are in the same projection and coordinate system (see the previous question). Which projection you should choose, depends partly on what you are going to do in Flowmap. In many cases you will want to compute distances (or distance-based relations such as traveltimes, transport costs etc.) between origins and destinations. In that case you should choose a projection that minimizes distortion of distances in your study area. Unfortunately, no projection is completely without distortion of distances. If your study area is not very large, almost any projection can be used, as long as you choose the projection's parameters in such a way that the central point, meridian or parallel of the projection is in or near your study area. If your study area is larger than, say, some hunderds of kilometers in diameter, distortion becomes significant and you should be more careful choosing your projection. In general, an equivalent azimuthal projection is a reasonable choice, but you may wish to consult a local projections guru.

Well, several things can be wrong. Hence, there are three things you should check:

1. The file format. Was the file save in dBASE III format? dBAse II or IV do not work!
2. Do cells contain so called 'null values' (not zero; but empty cells)? If so, put a value in these cell (zero, for instance).
3. Is the order of the first three columns of your dBASE file correct? The order should be LABEl, X, Y.

You have not opended a distance matrix yet. You need to have a distance table to connect your origin location(s) to your destination location(s). Go to Files, Open files, Distance Matrix. If there is no distance matrix available, you must build one first yourself. You can choose to build either a distance distance table based on network distances, or one based on airline distances. The former usually provides more accurate analysis results, but in order to build one you need to import and open a network. The latter one is quicker and easier to build. Do not forget to open the distance matrix within your project after you have built it.

Flowmap stores its settings, like opened files and map display preferences, in a file called 'flowmap6.00' in the data directory you have chosen to work with. If you decide to work in a different directory, a new file is created with your new setting in it. Should you return to your old data directory, you can automatically use your old settings again.

It is crucial that the networksegments are digitally connected to each other. This is because Flowmap uses shortest path analysis to build the distance table between your data points. If certain roads are not connected, Flowmap will take a detour instead of the shortest path you would want to be taken. A network that looks as if it is connected in your GIS when you display it on your screen, is not necessarily a really fully connected network, even when you zoom in. Make sure that your networks segments are really connected, for instance by:

1. correcting overshoots and undershoots,
2. snapping unconnected line ends to each other, and
3. snapping crossing lines to each other.

Using your own GIS both to weed out digitizing errors and to test if all segments are really connected.

The multiplication factor is only relevant if you compute a distance (travel time / transport cost, ...) matrix based on a transport network and some or all of your origins or destinations are located at some distance from the network. For each origin O and destination D, Flowmap looks for the nearest points (O' and D', respectively) on the network. Then it computes the shortest path over the network between 'O' and D'. Most GIS systems simply take the network distance from 'O' to D' and store it in the matrix. Flowmap allows you to take account of the off-network distances, from O to O' and from D' to D; it multiplies these distances with the Multiplication Factor and adds the results to the network distance. Hence, there are three different cases:

1. You do not want the off-network distances to be added to the distance that is stored in the matrix, you just want the network distance as it is calculated by other GIS systems. In that case you should set the multiplication factor to zero (0).

2. Network distances are based on LENGTH and you do want the off-network distances to be added to them. You can set the multiplication factor to 1 in order to just add the off-network distances as they are. You can also choose a somewhat larger value to reflect the fact that off-network travel will usually not follow a straight line. Empirical research has indicated that reasonable values are between 1.2 (for large distances) and 1.5 (for shorter distances).

3. Network distances are based on another attribute than LENGTH and you do want the off-network distances to be added to them. Now you need to compute the ratio between the unit of LENGTH used in your maps and the unit used in your network distance calculations. The most frequently occurring case is that you have map coordinates in meters and network travel times in minutes. You have to make an assumption about the off-network speed of travel; this speed will usually be given in km/hour. Now the multiplication factor must be 0.06 divided by the speed; this may be multiplied again with 1.2 or 1.5 to reflect the impossibility of straight line travel. For instance if the off-network speed is 30 km/hour, your multiplication factor should be 0.06 / 30 = 0.002 (or 0.0024 or 0.003). For more detailed explanation on how to compute the multiplication factor, consult the manual.

This depends on a number of things. First of all, if you are fitting an interaction model and you have real world interaction data, you should use these data to compute the mean trip length (MTL). Fill in this MTL in the box 'Model Parameters'. In the box 'Beta value', choose 'Calibrate to MTL'. Now, if you run the model, Flowmap will automatically look for the beta value that best reproduces the mean trip length. If you do not have data to compute the MTL, you may be able to make an educated guess. I you do not have data and can not make an educated guess for the MTL, you will have to choose a beta value. This depends on the type of distance decay function you choose. With a power function, a value between 1 and 2 usually works well (1 indicating a rather weak distance decay, 2 indicating a strong distance decay). With an exponential function, you can choose a value between 1 and 2 and then divide this by a 'representative distance'. In both cases, you may want to repeat the analysis with slightly different parameter values in order to get some insight into how the parameter value influences your model results.

Usually it is best to prepare all the maps and related attribute data in your GIS, before you import them into Flowmap. However, in case you want to quickly move a certain point to a new location, for example to see the effect of that in an analysis you want to run, you can do the following in Flowmap:

1. Draw the map of which you want to relocate the centroid;
2. Draw the (unique) label using the 'Display'/'Draw label menu' (LABEL, first column);
3. Write down or remember the label of the point you want to move;
4. Click on the new location on the map where the point should be relocated to;
5. Write down the coordinates of that location (will be displayed in a window);
6. Close the <file_name>1.DBF file in which the point that has to be moved is stored;
7. Open the <file_name>1.DBF point file in a database or spreadsheet application;
8. Move to the row in which the unique labe (LABEL, first column);
9. Change the X and Y coordinate in the second and third column respectively;
10. Save the file, preferably under a new name, in dBASE III (DBF) format;
11. Reopen the new <file_name>1.DBF file in Flowmap;
12. Draw the map on the screen to verify your changes.

Note: now you can use this map for a new analysis or modelling session, but in case distance matrices are involved: do not forget to build a new one!

No, Flowmap supports neither spreadsheet nor typical GIS data manipulation capabilities. Flowmap is basically an accessibility analysis tool. However, it's quite easy to further process results in other programs. Flowmap stores analysis results in dBASE III (DBF) files, a widely supported format which can be easily imported or just opened in applications like Microsoft Excel, Corel Quattro Pro, Microsoft Access, and Lotus.