Marathon GIS offers the following custom mapping services directly to race directors:

• Race Course Maps -- Specialized for either websites (flash or .pdf) or oversized hardcopy prints
• Course Profiles -- Will show every hill and valley of the course
• Custom pace calculators -- Uses actual course profile data to calculate personalized mile splits that "roll" with the topography.
• 3D Fly-Through Animations -- Ultimate "wow-factor". Great for websites.
• Souvenir Poster Maps -- A unique souvenir for runners and a source of revenue for race directors.

Marathon GIS utilizes ESRI ArcGIS 9.2 and Manifold Systems 7.x to create the geographic database for the race, and Adobe CS2 for graphic artwork, image enhancement, and map layout. This use of Geographic Information Systems in tandem with graphics, imaging, and layout software allows production of unique and accurate digital maps that can be easily modified and exported in any size and format.

The GIS-based approach to map creation gives a huge advantage over other software and cartographic methods in that the maps are composed of individual layers in a geographic database, and can support an array of queries, analyses, and on-the-fly editing. The end result is a series of maps, elevation profiles, and 3D animations that are integrated from the same database, which ensures maximum accuracy, consistency, expandability, and ease-of-use. The course routes are digitized from high-resolution aerial photography, and the profiles were extracted from the digitized route overlain on a 10-meter Digital Elevation Model. Although all geographic data has error associated with it, using this layer-based GIS approach minimizes error and ensures the best accuracy possible for the course route and profiles.