National Geographic Maps has released a series of maps for the Mac and a special free download version of the viewer software.
National Geographic, the maker of the TOPO! Map display series, has made their products almost exclusively for Wintel systems, but have released a version of their map reader software for the Mac, together with a drag and drop file conversion utility to make the map files Mac-readable.
Alas, only the TOPO! Regional Series products are available for use with Mac at this time. The Regional products are in an entirely different format than National Geographic Maps’ new State Series products, and the latter are not compatible with the Mac.
“Depending on the number of requests we receive for TOPO! State products for Mac, we may or may not produce this product line,” Jodi Hill, customer service representative, National Geographic Maps, said.
To get more info about the new release, go to the TOPO! Web site. TOPO! Mac is the viewing software you’ll use to access the USGS quad maps from any of the regional TOPO! CD-ROMs currently on sale.
“I bet if we put our voices together we could have the rest of all Maps for Mac users as well,” Timothy R. Barksdale, president of Birdman Productions, told MacCentral. “It is obvious they don’t have a clue about the enormous market presence Apple has in the education arena –which should be a prime client base for software like this.”
National Geographic Maps’ contact info is online.