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MAPSource Reaches End Of The Road

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By ANGELA DELGADO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 6, 2008

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - The last map store in Tampa Bay has closed its doors.

MAPSource, which published maps and supplied real estate agents from several counties with detailed maps, filed for bankruptcy Jan. 28, three months after its three stores and printing plant closed.

The stores were in Orlando, Pensacola, and its flagship at 5712 W. Waters Ave. in Town 'N Country. The printing plant was in St. Petersburg.
MAPSource opened in Town 'N Country in 1991, but this wasn't the first time Vice President and Publisher Gene Ingle ventured into mapping. Ingle loved maps since he was 10 years old. He drew them for newspapers in the 1960s, and after some time working as a newspaper editor he decided to make his interest in maps a career.

Ingle began noticing that his business was in trouble in September 2006.

"But hope springs eternal, and we thought 'well maybe we can pull out of it,'" he said.

They didn't. Since September 2006, every month had declined revenue. Among other things, Ingle blamed the collapse of the real estate market.

"Realtors bought our books," he said. "Books were our bread and butter."

He also acknowledged that the rise of Internet and GPS use by consumers has affected the mapping market.

"Our demise is part of a definite malaise in the map industry as a whole," Ingle said. "What's happening to the map industry is the same thing happening to newspapers. I was slow to understand what effect this would have in our operations. I don't think we're heading to a completely paperless map society, but it's definitely hurt map companies."

Ingle said MAPSource is not the only map store to fall.
MAPSource supplied maps for service industries, utility companies and government entities. Ingle suggested those customers go to companies such as Map and Globe and Universal Map for quality maps.

Although he's not happy the stores closed, Ingle is looking at the bankruptcy as an opportunity to start fresh.

"People normally think of bankruptcy as a negative thing, but for the company that declares bankruptcy, it offers the opportunity to start with a clean slate," he said.

Ingle said he might dabble in maps again, be it doing research for a company or consulting.

For now, he plans to take it easy.

"I'm enjoying my newfound freedom," he said.

Reporter Angela Delgado can be reached at (813) 865-1501 or adelgado@tampatrib.com.

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