In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

Frisco, TX – ThinkGeo has released version 5.5 of Map Suite, its full line of GIS software components for .NET developers.  This major milestone refresh introduces two important new features: a robust map printing and page layout system, and support for generating visually stunning contour lines (also known as isolines).  A wide variety of bug fixes and stability improvements round out the 5.5 release of Map Suite.

With Map Suite’s new printing system, .NET software developers can use the Map Suite GIS controls and components to add robust map printing capabilities to their GIS applications.  Map Suite 5.5’s new PrinterLayer can programmatically prepare and print attractive page layouts containing not only high-resolution maps, but also images, labels and titles, scale bars and lines, north arrows and data grids.  In addition, Map Suite Desktop and WPF Desktop Editions have the added bonus of the PrinterInteractiveOverlay, which allows the end user to assemble their own custom page layout using a graphical user interface.  Either way, the end product can either be printed, exported to a PDF document or a raster image file.

Contour lines (also known as isolines) are also new to Map Suite 5.5 and offer a compelling way to visualize breaks between different groups of data – such as elevation levels, soil properties and much more.  All editions of Map Suite now have the ability to generate contour line maps either dynamically or via a set of input data.

Both the new printing and contour line features are supplemented with sample code available on the ThinkGeo Wiki (http://wiki.thinkgeo.com) and 30-minute instructional videos narrated by David Rehagen, Map Suite’s Chief Architect.

Other noteworthy enhancements in the Map Suite 5.5 release include a high-performance rewrite of the Bing™ Maps overlay (which also now includes support for Bing Maps Enterprise Keys), the ability to download tiles from a WMS layer simultaneously instead of serially in Map Suite Web Edition, an update to the latest address data in Map Suite Geocoder, and an overhauled routing API for improved performance in the Map Suite Routing Extension.  Beyond that, a variety of bug fixes and stability improvements have been added throughout the Map Suite GIS product range.  Complete change logs are available at the ThinkGeo Wiki (http://wiki.thinkgeo.com), the company’s official online source for Map Suite documentation, reference and learning material.  The 5.5 update includes new builds of all of Map Suite’s major editions, including Desktop, Web, Silverlight, WPF Desktop, Services and WMS Server Editions, as well as the Map Suite Geocoder, World Map Kit and other Map Suite extensions.

ThinkGeo has also announced plans to release special “daily builds” of each Map Suite product in the coming weeks, which will introduce several new features that did not make it into the final Map Suite 5.5 release.  Developers will be able to test these new capabilities, which include memory usage and drawing speed improvements, support for the latest versions of MrSid and ECW files, and XML serialization for storing layers, styles and much more across different Map Suite versions.

ThinkGeo’s biannual release plan puts them on track to unveil the next major milestone of Map Suite, version 6.0, in May of 2012.  GIS professionals who wish to request specific features or enhancements for the next revision of Map Suite are encouraged to visit ThinkGeo’s Enhancement Tracker at http://helpdesk.thinkgeo.com/EnhancementTracker, where they can vote on their favorite enhancement ideas and suggest new ones directly to Map Suite’s development team.

For more information about Map Suite, or to download a free 60-day evaluation of any Map Suite 5.5 product, visit ThinkGeo’s website at http://gis.thinkgeo.com.  New users and existing users alike can discuss and get help with their Map Suite applications at ThinkGeo’s official Discussion Forums at http://gis.thinkgeo.com/forums.

ThinkGeo is an industry leader in GIS mapping components and customizable GPS tracking solutions.  The company offers a wide variety of high-quality geospatial products for software development, asset tracking and much more.  They have clients from a wide base of industries ranging from agriculture to aerospace.  For more information about ThinkGeo products or professional services, visit www.thinkgeo.com or contact a ThinkGeo sales representative at [email protected] or (866) 847-7510.

<p><strong>London, Zagreb, November 14, 2011</strong> - GIS Cloud announced on their blog that they have exited beta on Thursday,  November 10th. The cloud based geographic information system (GIS) for visualization, sharing, collaboration and publishing of geo data on-line <strong>starts offering commercial services although the free service will be kept available as well</strong>.</p>

<p>Both existing as well as new GIS Cloud users will have a 15 day trial period during which they can test its functionality. The users will have all the features and the storage at their disposal. Once the trial period has ended, they will be offered to subscribe to commercial services or continue using GIS Cloud with their limited free account. Free accounts will be limited to:</p>

<ul>

<li>1.000 vector features (total number of records)</li>

<li>100 MB of raster data (total raster storage)</li>

<li>1 WMS layer</li>

<li>Limited API usage, fair usage policy applies</li>

<li>Limited publishing and collaboration</li>

</ul>

<p>Anyone exceeding these limits will have to adjust their usage or start using available commercial services which among others include:</p>

<ul>

<li>Large data storage</li>

<li>Scalable map publishing infrastructure (serving millions of features and map tiles on the fly)</li>

<li>Full collaboration (soon with new features)</li>

<li>Enterprise API usage</li>

<li>Enterprise SLA</li>

<li>Co-branding (custom logo and domain name)</li>

<li>Firewall install (GIS Cloud on your own hardware)</li>

<li>Full phone and email support</li>

<li>Education</li>

</ul>

<p>For more information on commercial services contact <a href="mailto: [email protected]">[email protected]</a>. Read the full article and get more information about the release on <a href="http://www.giscloud.com/blog/gis-cloud-exits-beta/">GIS Cloud blog</a>.</p>

<p><strong>About GIS Cloud</strong></p>

<p>The mission of GIS Cloud is not only to supplement desktop solutions, but extend and enrich their capabilities through the potential the Internet provides. It is a more accessible way of visualizing, analyzing and sharing geospatial data, provided using the software as a service model, but also available free of charge.</p>

<p>The emphasis is on collaboration between colleagues or fellow GIS Cloud  users, easy access to data regardless of the user’s location and giving  users a chance to quickly and easily publish and access maps on the web  or mobile, share them anywhere in the world or use the provided GIS Cloud  platform to build geo and location aware applications.</p>

<p>GIS Cloud believes it is the way of giving GIS a new dimension.</p>

<p><strong>Contact:</strong><br />

 Vanja Andric<br />

 <a href="mailto: [email protected]">[email protected]</a><br />

 London, Zagreb</p>

Last month, V1 reviewed the book "Web GIS: Principles and Applications" by Pinde Fu and Jiulin Sun.

From the review: "While many GIS related books discuss what these software are, very few of them talk about the connection of the world wide web and GIS. The opening chapters of this book discuss and describe this relationship, helping readers to conceptualize and understand what is meant by Web GIS. "GIS is seen as the supporting science and technology for GeoDesign" and "Web GIS is unlocking the power of the technology to a wider audience." One might very well argue that GIS has evolved more fully and to become more useful worldwide as a result of the GIS + Web. [...] In summary I find this to be an important book to have on the personal library shelf. It is full of Web GIS basic information. It provides an excellent summary of the current state of GIS over the World Wide Web and is not written solely for ESRI products alone - this book applies to any product attempting to deliver geographic data as a web service. "