LeadDog provides services to a variety of clients, including the U.S. government and large commercial companies, but Anderson said GPS tracking companies comprise their largest customer base.

“Say you're a GPS company based in Dubai, and you have a fleet of trucks driving all over the Middle East,” Anderson said. “Acquiring the GPS chip is easy, mapping software is readily available, and there are satellites all over the place. Most people assume maps are readily available, but that's not always the case. That's where we come in.”

The U.S. government, and the U.S. military in particular, often purchase maps from LeadDog.

“We're the only commercial map provider for Iraq and Afghanistan,” Anderson said.

Online map sites such as MapQuest, and ESRI, the largest GIS and mapping software company in the world, have also purchased Anderson's maps.

“Usually we don't even know the client who's getting our map,” Anderson said.

Anderson started LeadDog in Anchorage seven years ago. After graduating from the University of New Hampshire with a bachelor's degree in political science, he “fell in,” as he explains it, with a local mapping company. Anderson started out as a digital mapping technician, then began running the company's production department. He soon headed up the international division.

LeadDog Consulting built this digital road map of Baghdad, Iraq, from a home office in Anchorage. LeadDog is the only commercial provider of maps of Iraq and Afghanistan to the U.S. military. PHOTO Courtesy of LeadDog Consulting

With little more than a computer, an Internet connection and a telephone, Anderson started LeadDog shortly after arriving in Alaska. The original goal of the company was to provide clients with the best maps that were already available.

“Basically, I re-sold other people's digital maps,” Anderson said. “This was before the Internet really took off. Through contacts I had made while working in New Hampshire, I knew which companies were the most reputable and who had the best maps. Essentially, I provided a service.”

It soon became clear that clients wanted maps that weren't available, so Anderson began creating road maps using satellite imagery.

Business was booming, and with more phone calls and e-mails coming in than Anderson could reasonably handle, he decided to hire two additional employees. Carrie Sandin, a graduate of Smith College, manages accounts and marketing. Marc Bourdon, who holds a master's degree in geography from New Mexico State University, works as the company's GIS map manager.

Anderson works with two commercial satellite providers. He and his team take the satellite image, digitize it, then scour paper maps and make phone calls to local contacts to make sure every street and major landmark is named. The raw materials are then sent to a production company in Guadalajara, Mexico, which sends the map to the client in electronic and paper form. The map is delivered to the end user without Anderson ever having to leave his house.

Anderson said he is constantly updating his information based on the feedback he receives.

“That's one advantage of working with a small company,” Anderson said. “Our response time is less than 24 hours. We can fix problems right now, not two quarters or six months from now. We also provide the same technical specifications across the board.”

He says that value-added resellers often integrate LeadDog's map into their solution and sell it to the customer.

That's just fine by Anderson.

“We're just one piece of the solution,” Anderson said. “We don't sell software, and we don't create solutions. We're the world's expert at that one piece, and that's good enough for us.”

As far as the company setup goes, little has changed over the last seven years. Anderson still works from his Anchorage home and requires little more than a computer, a high-speed Internet connection and a telephone.

Marc Bourdon began working for Anderson in 2006.

“I've been with LeadDog a little over a year, and every day I'm working on something different,” Bourdon said. “What I like about making maps is that there's a tangible link between the earth and where I'm sitting. I've never been to, say, Lima, Peru, but I can see it on the computer right in front of me.”

Anderson says the key to his company's success is having a niche product.

“What's allowed us to grow so quickly is the amount of intellectual property we own,” he said. “We're often the only digital map provider of a particular country. It's not uncommon for us to re-sell a map several times over.”

Anderson said there are costs related to maintenance and updates, “but we can update the maps right from home because we use satellite images.”