iMap 2 sports Aqua, AppleScript support, more

The Laboratory of Plant Systematics (K.U. Leuven) announced today the release of iMap 2. It’s a software application developed for mapping large amounts of latitude and longitude data.

iMap supports different map image formats including BMP, TIFF, JPEG, PICT, GIF and PNG, and comes with ready-to-use maps. It also supports the use of maps downloaded from the Internet, exported from GIS software, or scanned from optical scanner. You can plot different symbols or characters using the fonts installed on your system, and you can also create a movie from a sequence of maps — to plot vegetation history, for example.

Changes in iMap 2 include:

Redesigned interface with native support for Aqua, sheets and smooth window resizing.

Support for AppleScript: script iMap 2 to automate distribution mapping.

Support for larger map files: open bigger map files thanks to Mac OS X dynamic memory allocation.

Support for multiple map files: open and plot on more than one map at the same time.

Enhanced zoom option: choose one of the 40 zoom levels to view and calibrate maps.

Plot data files at once: plot as many data files as you want with one click.

Save a map to PDF: save any map to a PDF file, for cross-platform viewing.

Plot a location: plot a location without entering its coordinates into a data file.

Write to log file: output the text displayed in the status bar to a log file.

iMap supports Mac OS 8.6 or higher, and has been designed and optimized for Mac OS X, according to the developers. It is distributed as US$15 shareware.

In related news, the Laboratory of Plant Systematics is working on the forthcoming release of MacTaxon, which they’re billing as a “free, cross-platform Biodiversity Information Management System.” In addition to biodiversity management, the software will provide scientists with tools to track pollen morphological, wood anatomical and seed morphological data. More info is available from the Web site.