Those of you importing KML data files may have been surprised when the Description comes in with all sorts of "field data" that you think might belong in columns. Unfortunately, there are a number of different ways to represent actual field data in KML and seeing only the Description and Name fields imported by Cartographica is an excellent sign that the maker of the KML file didn't use any of them. However, we have an AppleScript you can use to mine that data inside of Cartographica. For those unfamiliar with AppleScript, we had some more in-depth commentary on it in …

ClueTrust is exhibiting at AAG 2011 in Seattle this week in booth 410, right across from our friends at Avenza. Come see Cartographica and CartoMobile and let us answer your questions and show you how these tools can improve your workflow!

Avenza Releases MAPublisher 8.4 With Support for Cartographica Illustrator Files The new release of MAPublisher 8.4 (www.avenza.com) for Adobe Illustrator, allows data-rich Adobe Illustrator files which have been exported from Cartographica to be opened in Adobe Illustrator with all attributes, layers and geo-referencing intact. This means that there is now a direct path from the Cartographica GIS environment on Mac OS to the powerful Adobe Illustrator design environment without the loss of any attributes and geo-referencing. Now the full suite of MAPublisher cartographic tools can be used on Cartographica generated maps.

ClueTrust is happy to announce that as of Monday of last week, LoadMyTracks is now available on the Mac App Store! We will continue to update LoadMyTracks both on and off the App Store for the known future. However, if you go and download a version from the App Store, you can review it!

ClueTrust is pleased to announce that Cartographica® Mobile (CartoMobile™) is now available on the App Store. CartoMobile is our GIS for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Use CartoMobile to view, edit, and create location-based information in the field without having to carry around specialized equipment. Store and access local data, or use CartoMobile with your existing Spatial Data Infrastructure. Dock with your computer and load the files directly into your desktop GIS.

Although AppleScript is probably not one of the most used features of Cartographica, it's quickly becoming one of the most powerful. Since the first release of Cartographica, we have supported using the Macintosh built-in scripting system to manipulate information in Cartographica. If you're new to AppleScript or an old hand, we think some of the improvements we've made to 1.2.2 are big news. Here are some of the things we've done for 1.2.2: Increased support for analysis functions We've added support for a number of previously-unavailable analysis functions to the Cartographica AppleScript dictionary. Now you can …

Today, ClueTrust is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Cartographica 1.2.2, our latest GIS product for the Macintosh. This version contains a number of significant new features, plenty of enhancements to existing features, and fixes for bugs that have been found since our last release. On the new feature list, we've added: Use font characters as symbols (see More Symbol Enhancements for 1.2.2 for details and ideas) A new warning symbol when a loaded layer has no assigned CRS/Projection. This should help reduce confusion when layers don't line up correctly. Export Map as Picture …

Today we released version 1.2.2 of Cartographica, and one of the features we think people are going to find really useful is the ability to use any character from any font available on your Mac as a symbol on a map. We debuted a new symbol technology in 1.2 that made use of Drag and Drop and introduced our new Symbol palette. Rick gave some great instructions in his article, Introducing 1.2: Color and Palette Management] For 1.2.2 we've upped the ante again, and are now providing support for just about any font character …

Indonesia is currently experiencing several natural disasters occurring simultaneously. The country recently experienced a 7.5 earthquake which resulted in a tsunami near the Mentawai Islands. Additionally, Mount Merapi, a large volcano on the island has erupted. Thus far, the two natural events have displaced nearly 20,000 people and have killed over 400. This post uses Cartographica to map the problems being faced by the troubled South Pacific country. The first image shows the Southeast Asia and the Epicenter of the Recent Earthquake The second image shows a closer extent of the Earthquake Epicenter The third image is of …

In a recent post on Boston.com the website highlighted areas of Florida that have been hit hard by the foreclosure crisis. In this post I use Cartographica to show many of the same areas described by the Boston.com article.The recent foreclosure crisis has left many neighborhoods in Florida, Nevada, and California undeveloped as many construction projects fell through with the collapse of the housing market. The Boston.com article points out several areas of Florida that have been hit hard by the recent halt in development. Using Cartographica's Bing Maps features this post shows how these same …

For those interested in looking at information related to the floods in Pakistan or those who are helping the relief effort, PakResponse has posted some base maps, symbol sets and flood map information. Of particular interest to Cartographica users are the OHCR symbol sets that can be used with Cartographica's new Symbol features. The map sets that are available include administrative maps, hydrology, and information about affected areas from the floods. If you are building a map and want to use the symbols, the OCHA symbol sets can be downloaded and contain a folder named "OHCA_Symbols" which has 2 sub-folders …

Cartographica has added new classifications for displaying data. We have expanded the classifications from Equal Interval and Jenks classifications to Equal Count, Equal Area, Quartile Distributions, Quintile Distributions, and classification that incorporates all Unique Values. The upgrades in classifications schemes gives users better capability for displaying data using choropleth maps. Data classifications are useful for representing continuous data in logically defined categories for use with choropleth mapping. The data classification methods for each have advantageous and disadvantages for representing data distributions. The different data classifications within Cartographica are described below with a basic discussion about what they do and how …

Cartographica 1.2.1, a minor feature update and bug fix release for 1.2 has been released to all users. It is strongly suggested that users upgrade as soon as possible. Follow the link for more details, or read the release notes. We have reset the trial period, so that anyone who has previously tried Cartographica can get a new, 15-day key by visiting the Lost Keys page on MacGIS.com. This update contains feature enhancements and bug fixes for the 1.2 release. Highlights of this new release include a number of important bug fixes and the following …

Recently two inmates escaped from a prison near Kingman, Arizona. The inmates, John McCluskey and Tracy Province have been on the run since July 30th. The two were helped by an accomplice named Casslyn Welch. It is believed that the three individuals are somewhere in Yellowstone National Park. However, it is also believed that Province is no longer with McCluskey and Welch. In this post we use GIS to map locations that have been mentioned in news reports regarding the escape. Also we conduct basic spatial analysis to illustrate how Cartographica can be utilized as a mapping tool for breaking …

The violent tension between Palestine and Israel is no secret to those who watch the news on a regular basis. The violence often escalates into rocket attacks from Gaza that are known to strike civilian targets inside of Israel. Check out the latest NPR report discussing the damage cause by this morning's more recent rocket attack. In this post we will map several rockets commonly used by Palestinian militants to determine how far each rocket can strike. This post uses a combination of several different data sets. The base maps used in this example were collected at Doc Savage's website …

I stumbled across an interesting article today about the expansion of GIS education into Middle and High Schools. The article in the Gainsville Times describes the process of training teachers and ways to discover new applications of GIS. Exposing kids to GIS seems to be the next step in the evolution of GIS as a commonly used technology. As of now it seems that GIS has remained useful only to professionals who gained training while in college. The early exposure will get more kids, and hopefully parents, interested in discovering the world through science and technology. As technology continues to …

The rising cost of energy has left many countries around the world in search of alternative sources of energy that are more environmentally friendly and cheaper than carbon based fuels. The expansion of renewable energy sources has many applications to GIS. Mapping can be used to determine the best places to install energy sources such as wind and solar, and can also be used to monitor where these types of power plants are located. In an attempt to find data highlighting the location of wind farms in the U.S. I stumbled across Wind Energy Database, which has a lot …

Apple has posted a number of great tutorials for users who are converting from PC to Mac. The tutorials give basic tips about how to use the Mac and provide references to the ways that functions done on a Mac are done on a PC. The tutorials talk about everything from controlling the dock to the ways that specific programs work. The mac tutorials are important because many of Cartographica's users have switched from the PC to the Mac, and these lessons might make life a little easier. Click on the link to the Mac Tutorials to take a look …

Not done with Cartographica, but a good visualization of the spill so far, the NY Times has put together a animated series of maps of the oil leak showing the extent and (to the right) the comparison with the Exxon Valdez and the "largest accidental oil leak into a body of water", also into the Gulf of Mexico, but lasting 10 months before it was stopped.

The field of public health is one that has benefited greatly from technology related to GIS. A very famous early example of use of maps to combat a public health problem is when John Snow mapped the outbreak of Cholera in England during the 1850's. The ideas used by John Snow have been greatly enhanced in the nearly two hundred years since his innovative use of maps. In this post data Public Health data on Cancer in the United States is mapped using Cartographica. The public health data used in this post were collected from National Atlas, which has numerous …