Making Maps with Java
We're always down for some intense map geekery here at Monkey Bites, and here's a map tool that should prove useful for anyone running an election/politics/social studies site or blog.
The free Java applet MAPresso generates choropleth maps, informational maps that represent statistical variations with shaded colors. You've seen them used to display voting statistics, distribution of wealth and population densities.
Map data (in the PSC format) and statistics data are fed into the applet, and it generates a map with a color scheme of your choosing. The resulting maps can be exported as EPS files, which can be rendered in Photoshop, Illustrator or any application capable of rendering EPS data.
The MAPresso application runs on any machine that has Java installed. The downloads page has links for the application as well as map data for the U.S. and Zurich, Switzerland (where MAPresso was developed). Also, if you're new to cloropleth maps, check out ColorBrewer for the most pleasant, easy-to-read color schemes.
