MAP II: A free education in GIS

ThinkSpace Inc. this week made available a freeware version of MAP II, a specialized mapping program aimed primarily at university students of GIS.

The product, now at Version 1.5, was previously available only as a commercial product, ThinkSpace said. The package, intended to teach the basics of raster-based GIS (geographic information systems) applications, lets users assign data points such as elevation or temperature to points on a scanned map image.

Users can then manipulate the file in various ways. One possible scenario is to filter the numbers to create a shaded relief map; another is to create a statistical model that will reveal proximities.

While the program can import some mapping data, ThinkSpace said it is best as a teaching tool. (The company pointed to its MapFactory as a better choice for importing GIS data.)

MAP II 1.5 is a free download from the company's Web site, which also contains documentation and sample data for the program.

ThinkSpace Inc. of London, Ontario, can be reached at (519) 858-5047 or (800) 342-1335; fax (519) 858-5048; info@thinkspace.com; http://www.thinkspace.com.