Geocart provides the best map making features available for the Macintosh.

Who needs Geocart? Professional cartographers will value it for its depth of features and high accuracy. Educators and geography students will value its simple but powerful interface which encourages exploration and experimentation. Art directors, graphic designers, and illustrators can use the program to create exactly the map they want without having to make do with clip art or going through the tedious process of tracing, scanning and redrawing a printed map. Maps produced with Geocart are free of copyright.*

Supported platforms Geocart runs native on Power Macintoshes as well as on Macintoshes equipped with Motorola 680x0 processors and floating point units. Geocart requires System 7.0 or later, and a minimum of 1MB dedicated to the program. Geocart runs on Mac OS X in Classic mode, which is available on any PowerPC Macintosh. (Classic is not installed by default on Macintoshes sold since 2004, but can be installed.)

Installation The Geocart program and support files come on a CD-ROM, and, when installed, occupy 6MB of disk space. An additional 21MB of image data bases can be installed optionally.

Projections The program offers over 150 map projections grouped in six menus. A map projection is a method of translating the three dimensional coordinates of a globe onto a plane such as a sheet of paper or computer screen. Geocart's huge number of projections is just the start. Each can be customized in almost limitless variety of ways. When you choose a new projection the program immediately begins redrawing the map with the default parameters of the new projection.

Basic operation The Boundaries command provides a simple click and drag method of defining the extent of the map. The Projection Center command lets you choose any point on the Earth's surface as the center of the map. The Nominal Scale command lets you change the size of the map, effectively zooming in or out. With just these simple commands, maps of amazing sophistication can be drawn.

Data bases The Database command allows you to add, delete and change the drawing order of data bases. There are three kinds of data bases: vector, image and typesetting.

Vector data bases define geographic features as a series of line segments. The program comes with data bases defining coastlines, lakes, major and minor rivers, political boundaries, U.S. states and counties, provinces for many countries and cities. (A higher resolution coastlines data base is available for sale separately.) You can also create vector data bases from your own data or convert your Adobe Illustrator files into Geocart data bases with the included ArtToData utility program.

Image data bases are raster images or "picture maps" that can be projected by Geocart. The package standardly includes these image data bases at several resolutions: The Living Earth^® image (an enhanced satellite photomosaic of the earth); a gray scale relief map of the earth and a more detailed gray scale relief map of the U.S.; a political map of the world; and two full-color maps of the world. (Higher resolution versions of these maps are available for sale separately). Additionally, using the Convert Image command, you can create your own image data bases from scanned maps.

Text data bases Geocart projects labels from data bases. The following typesetting data bases are included: nations labels, oceans labels, US cities labels, world capitals labels, world cities simple labels, world cities detail labels.

Animation Geocart can export animated maps. There are two kinds of animation - animating from one projection to another, and animating by varying the parameters of one projection. Each frame of the animation is exported to a numbered file which may easily be imported into programs which can produce QuickTime^® or other animation formats.

Interruptions You can create interrupted maps that split the globe into "orange peel" slices to reduce distortion. There are eight interruption styles.

Line types You can draw special types of lines on the map: great circles, small circles, rhumb lines, three types of distortion lines, tissot ellipses and point locations. The program can draw an indicatrix on the map-a series of circles that lets you visually judge the amount of shape and size distortion at each point on the map. The spacing of graticule (grid) lines can be completely controlled and the meridians can be pruned so they don't bunch up as they converge at the poles.

Ellipsoidal datum For those needing high accuracy you can choose to use one of 11 standard ellipsoids (definitions for a slightly non-spherical earth) or define one of your own.

Parameters Many projections also have special parameters that you can adjust. For example, the tilted perspective projection has parameters to control the view point from space.

Distance & direction Computing distances and azimuths on an ellipsoidal representation of the earth's surface is difficult. Geocart can calculate geodesic distance and azimuth to extreme precision. Geocart allows point-to-point calculations of both, or, alternatively, specifying one with a distance and azimuth to compute the second point.

Backgrounding As you work Geocart processes your map in the background. You can change parameters pull down menus or drag and scroll the map without having to wait for the map to finish drawing. In addition you can switch to another program and Geocart will continue to draw or export in the background.

Compatibility Once you have created the map you can save it, print it, or export it for finishing with other programs. When exporting a map you can set an output resolution. The program will save just enough detail for the scale of the output. Maps containing image data bases can be exported in Quickdraw PICT or EPS format that can be opened in image processing programs such as Adobe Photoshop.

Maps containing only vector data bases can also be saved in Adobe Illustrator 1.1 format which can be read by both Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand. When exporting Illustrator format, related lines (e.g. the graticule, coastlines, international boarders etc.) are grouped together, allowing easy editing in your drawing program. You also have the option of converting lines into bezier curves, which smooth them and greatly reduce the number of points in the map.

Manual The manual includes a concise, thorough, and easily understandable introduction to map projections. There is also an easy to follow decision tree which guides you through the process of picking the correct projection for your needs. The package includes two books: An Album of Map Projections and An Introduction to Map Projections. Together the manual and books provide enough information to teach a college-level course in map projection.

*The Living Earth image can be used for non commercial purposes only. Separate permission must be purchased to use this image for commercial purposes.