For more than 15 years, mapmakers the world over have relied on Geocart to prepare their base maps. Geocart supplies powerful yet easy-to-use tools revolving around the task of map projection. Cartographers, mapping companies, geography students, enthusiasts, graphic artists, technical illustrators and publishers will find unlimited creative options in this innovative mapping program.
We have entered final testing of Geocart 3. It will ship as soon as the manual and other collateral materials are finished. We thank you for your interest in Geocart and your patience.
We are pleased to announce Version 3 of Geocart. We made our formal announcement at the 2007 meeting of NACIS in St. Louis, USA, on October 10th.
Geocart is the premier map projections program for Apple Macintosh computers. With Geocart you can create maps and display, print, or export them for use with a wide range of other applications. Geocart gives you powerful yet easy-to-use tools for creating and manipulating maps and almost unlimited creative options.
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 (*The Living Earth image can be used for non commercial purposes only. Separate
permission must be purchased to use this image for commercial purposes.)
Projections - The program offers over 150 map projections grouped in six menus, each of which can be customized in almost limitless variety of ways. View a complete listing of all the projections included in the Geocart application. A variation of projections is the ability to create maps with interrupts
Databases - Geocart ships with a number of accurate, high quality databases which allow maximum flexibility when creating the map you need. Additional databases can be purchased or created from your information using the included database tools.
Vector databases define geographic features as a series of line segments. The program
comes with databases defining coastlines, lakes, major and minor rivers, political
boundaries, U.S. states and counties, provinces for many countries and cities. (A higher
resolution coastlines database is available for sale separately.) You can also create
vector databases from your own data or convert your Adobe Illustrator files into
Geocart databases with the included ArtToData utility program.
Image databases are raster images or "picture maps" that can be projected by Geocart.
The package standardly includes these image databases at several resolutions: The
Living Earth image (an enhanced satellite photomosaic of the earth); a grayscale relief
map of the earth and a more detailed grayscale 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 databases from scanned maps.
Text databases Geocart projects labels from databases. 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.
Distance Calculation - 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.
Exporting - 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 databases 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 databases 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. Preview the Geocart User Manual in PDF format 4 MB.
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 program and support files come on a CD-ROM, and, when installed, occupy 6MB of disk space. An additional 21MB of image databases can be installed optionally.
Associated mapping software - Geocart mapping software produces highly detailed vector maps that can be used in a multitude of applications. The variety and richness of the maps you can produce can be substantially increased by using MapRender3D software to generate detailed relief maps which can then be placed as a background layer behind the Geocart Vector map. MapRender is supplied standard with a world wide DEM elevation database at a resolution of 1,000 meters, as an optional extra, continental USA 100 meter database, and as low as 30 meter local DEM elevations can be obtained free of charge from the US Geological Survey web sites. The combination of Geocart and MapRender3D enables highly detailed and attractive maps to be produced with ease.
Map-Making using Geocart - Geocart mapping software is used extensively by the map-making community and graphic design professionals. Check here for links to map-making web sites that discuss Geocart techniques and tutorials.
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