PORTLAND (AP) – A small Maine company is riding the growing popularity of global positioning system technology to go head-to-head with Microsoft Corp. in the market for mapping software.

DeLorme sold nearly $1.2 million in mapping software and equipment in June, equaling the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant’s sales.

The Yarmouth-based company saw its mapping software sales nearly triple from about $400,000 in April. Officials credit the success of Earthmate, a $129.95 package that includes a GPS receiver and the company’s Street Atlas USA software.

“We’ve come a long way in the last two months mostly because of the new Earthmate GPS receiver units,” said Caleb Mason, DeLorme’s marketing director. “In this category,” Mason said, “it’s Microsoft and DeLorme battling it out.”

The battle would seem to be lopsided. Microsoft, after all, is the sales leader in nearly all software categories and has the kind of marketing muscle that none of its competitors can match.

“They gave away their product for two years, hoping people would follow,” Mason said. “And they have $50 billion in their pocket.”

DeLorme resisted the urge to try to match Microsoft on pricing, Mason said, focusing instead on making its software convenient and easy to use.

The new version of Earthmate includes voice technology that enables a driver with a laptop computer in the car to give verbal instructions and hear directions over the speakers.

Mason said DeLorme entered the mapping software field in the late 1980s, when it was relatively uncrowded. Microsoft and Rand-McNally entered the market in 1995, and DeLorme lost market share over the next few years.

DeLorme’s troubles culminated in the layoffs of 52 of 200 employees in January 2002. But the layoffs allowed the company to invest in new products, officials said, and DeLorme was also helped by financial problems at Rand-McNally.

Mason said DeLorme’s strategy has been to innovate and to target sophisticated customers who aren’t looking for the cheapest product on the shelf.

He likened the strategy to the course followed by Intuit, which has held the lead in personal finance software despite attempts by Microsoft to dominate that field.

Michael Goodchild, a geology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said DeLorme should be thankful Microsoft entered the market.

Until Microsoft came out with its products, mapping software was something that appealed only to techno-geeks and mapping professionals, Goodchild said.

“Now, it’s possible for anybody with a PC to make a map, and that’s what’s driving the growth,” he said. “Now, people are used to online mapping sources and increasingly use GPS.”

DeLorme has retained a reputation for quality products, Goodchild said. But dropping prices for GPS units is probably another reason for the company’s rapid sales growth over the last few months.

About 20 million vehicles in the United States are equipped with GPS units, Goodchild said, and the receivers will likely become standard equipment within a few years.

DeLorme has the opportunity to provide sophisticated mapping and trip planning software that takes advantage of the technology, Goodchild said.

AP-ES-08-19-03 0215EDT