Macsimum Migration Kit: GIS software, part III

Posted by Dennis Sellers Apr 18, 2008 at 12:50am

(For those new to the column, Macsimum Migration is our term for companies moving from Wintel machines to Macs—or at least adding or increasing the number of Macs they use. A Macsimum Migration Kit is an overview of Mac OS products for a particular occupation, such as dentistry, accounting, etc.) This week we’re offering part three of our four-part look at GIS (geographic information system) software for the Mac OS. Part one can be found here and part two here.

MacMap

MacMap is mapping software that features numerous representation options with many presets and tools. It is PostScript compliant and can export documents in EPS. MacMap also comes with a software development kit in C so you can extend its functions..

MacTopos

MacTopos is a series that incorporates topographic digital raster maps of all 50 states of the United States on one DVD in three crystal-clear map scales: 1:24K, 1:100K, and 1:250K.

Major Cities USA

Major Cities USA is a collection of royalty-free Illustrator files featuring the United States’ 36 largest metropolitan areas.

MapGrafix

[url=http://www.comgrafix.com]MapGrafix Mapping System is designed to “give you the power of a geographic information system on your desktop at a fraction of the cost of large-scale systems.” It simplifies the access and use of spatial data and is targeted to those in land use planning and analysis, transportation planning, environmental studies, demo-graphics and much more. MapGrafix has the ability to link every map feature, graphic or text, with database information. It works with Mac OS 7.-9.x.

Map Picture Viewer

Map Picture Viewer is a Japanese application that lets you browse, print, connect and scale maps based on Digital Map 25000 and Digital Map 200000.

Map Memo

Map Memo lets you place your files on whatever graphical data you wish and give them a visual or location-based relation. MapMemo uses only aliases of your files, so called “memos”, and all files open in their original application.

Map Objects

Map Objects—Java Editon is a suite of Java-based developer components for creating client (J2SE) or server-side (J2EE) mapping and GIS applications. A collection of visual Java beans and high-level components are provided for application development of robust client-side application. In addition, server-side mapping components can be used to build Web services, Java Server Pages (JSPs) and custom servlets.

Mapping Toolbox

Mapping Toolbox is a Mac OS X (10.1.4 or higher) solution that provides a set of functions and graphical user interfaces for creating map projection displays, performing geographic computations and data fusion, generating presentation graphics and accessing external geographic data.

MapProjector

MapProjector is an application that that can be used to view, alter and process images of global maps. Some of the primary functions of the program include the ability to re-center images, extract specific regions, and convert images to different projections (mollweide, orthographic, stereographic). Functions are also available to annotate images with features such as scalebars, latitude and longitude grid lines and continental overlays.

MAPublisher

MAPublisher is a suite of filters for Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia FreeHand that imports GIS vector data directly into the graphics programs with no conversion required. All feature codes and data attributes are intact and editable. With MAPublisher tools you can import, scale, project, transform, edit, analyze and query. Map finishing tools include labeling, raster image registration and instant legend rendering.

Master’s Mate

Master’s Mate is a celestial navigation program that handles most of the calculations involved in this traditional, but still widely used method of navigation at sea.

McDwiff

MacDwiff lets you open, view, print and convert Autodesk DWF files with this easy-to-use Mac application.

Meander

Meander is an application that plots points, plans routes and measures distances using any map, including maps you’ve scanned or those you’ve found on the web. Save your routes for later. Export or print and share them with others.

MeshViz

The Mesh extension from Mercury is a high-level data visualization component for Open Inventor, designed for 2D/3D scientific, manufacturing, finite element, fluid dynamics, crash simulation, GIS, Oil and Gas exploration and statistic visualization systems. It provides a development tool for all types of engineering analysis, visualization, and communication, and allows the developer to integrate visualization into a wide range of applications.

MFWorks

MFWorks is an grid (raster) based mapping package. It couples mapping capabilities with a suite of analytical and modeling tools, and can be used for thematic mapping, terrain processing and spatial modeling.

Mountain High Maps

[url=http://www.digiwis.com/]Mountain High Maps offers a collection of relief maps of the world’s continents, countries, and ocean floors. This collection contains 74 flat projections and 39 global views (over 1000 images total).

Multispec

Multispec from the Purdue Research Foundation is a free image processing/GIS package. It’s a processing system for interactively analyzing Earth observational multispectral image data such as that produced by the Landsat series of Earth satellites and hyperspectral image data from current and future airborne and spaceborne systems such as AVIRIS. The primary objective of MultiSpec is as an aid to export the results of our research into devising good methods for analyzing such hyperspectral image data. It has also found significant use in other applications such as multiband medical imagery and in K-12 and university level educational activities.

My World GIS

My World GIS is a GIS system designed for students, featuring drag and drop layering.

Numerical Map Viewer

Numerical Map Viewer is software that makes planimetric maps, birds eye view maps, sectioned maps and stereographs based on digital maps from the Geographical Survey Institute.

OpenOSX Grass GIS

OpenOSX configures Grass and a range of related software and utilities.

Orbit Explorer

Orbit Explorer is a free GIS map data viewing and consulting tool.

Orbit GIS

Orbit Explorer is a desktop geographic or geospatial information system (GIS) system, allowing design and structuring or datasets, creation and editing of data, both local and remote using an EOS or OFM server. Orbit GIS supports 64bit processing and Mac OS X, and includes Compare extension and others.

Ortelius

Ortelius is a dedicated map-making illustration program that “knows” geography. Instead of building maps from lines and primitive shapes, you draw directly with roads, railways, boundaries, buildings, woods and streams. You can generate contour lines from elevation plots and label items using a consistent style. Roads (for example) know how they connect to each other and junctions are drawn properly, fully automatically.

Outdoor Navigator

Outdoor Navigator lets you pick from over 60,000 topographic maps and nautical charts that are downloaded to the Mac and Hot Sync’d to a Palm device.

OwlView

OwlView is a thematic mapping application which combines data exported from a spreadsheet or database with geographic boundaries to produce maps which visually display patterns of spatial distribution within the data.

Next week: the fourth and final part.

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