Ortelius Macintosh Map Making Software by Mapdiva, LLC

About This Particular Macintosh awards Ortelius map illustration software a rating of “Excellent” in their recent review. About This Particular Macintosh (ATPM) is a monthly Internet magazine created to celebrate the personal computing experience on the Apple Macintosh. The ATPM review included testing a wide assortment of Ortelius features, particularly the versatility of pre-packaged map templates. Ortelius receives the highest rating based on the overall usage, purpose, and documentation of the vector-based cartography software for Mac OS X.

Their conclusion? “Mapdiva has a winner on its hand. For now, Ortelius has found a niche market to fill. There are some Mac map-making programs out there, but none in the price range or that possess the features found in Ortelius. With the specific map tools found in Ortelius, it is easy to make maps, whether from templates or imported bitmaps, or even if you have to start with a blank page. You can take mapping even further by importing shapefiles, many of which are freely available on the Web. If you have a mapping need, Ortelius makes an excellent choice.” In his evaluation of Ortelius, reviewer Linus Ly continues, ”there is much potential in using Ortelius as an educational tool.”

Softpedia awards Ortelius map illustration software 4-stars, with its highest ratings for user interface and features. Softpedia reviewers thoroughly test software products following a series of characteristics and parameters, starting from the installation of the product and to the help system, with ratings based on aspects such as how well organized and intuitive is the products user interface and how useful and well implemented is the product’s feature set.

Softpedia’ Mac Editor, Alexandru Tanase, notes, “There are a lot of fine things about Ortelius. Fi[r]st of all, Ortelius comes with a lot of templates that can be used at any time. Also, Ortelius is very easy to use, has a simple interface, and most of the tools you need are available in the main screen. The graphics are good, the maps look great, and really challenge you to use the program and give it your best in order to create a work of art.”

Their conclusion? “If you like drawing maps, or you do this at the office on a regular basis, be sure to use or just give Ortelius a try. You may find that even the most difficult maps can be created in a record time with no headaches. So, if you are a young cartographer, I truly recommend this program. Give it a try and you won’t be disappointed.”

10.04.09 A VerySpatial Podcast – Episode 220 interview with Mapdiva co-founder, Jill Saligoe-Simmel. In the interview Jill talks about the creation of Mapdiva, and the development of Ortelius, their newly-released map illustration program for the Mac platform.

09.29.09 Mapdiva co-founder Jill Saligoe-Simmel will join mapmakers, map users, map librarians, and map enthusiasts in Sacramento, California this October to talk about the thing we all love – maps! Jill will demonstrate Ortelius map illustration software at Practical Cartography Day on October 7th. The North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS), founded in 1980, is an organization comprised of specialists from private, academic, and government organizations whose common interest lies in facilitating communication in the map information community. More information on the conference can be found on the NACIS website.

09.29.09 On October 6th, Mapdiva co-founder Jill Saligoe-Simmel will present at the WebMapSocial monthly meeting in Mountain View, California. Mapdiva is excited to be joining the WebMapSocial friends for a talk about the role of Ortelius in the map production workflow and a look toward the future. The WebMapSocial Silicon Valley Meetup Group is about sharing, teaching, learning, and networking around current and future web-related geospatial and social networking applications and technology.

08.25.09 In the wake of Ortelius’ recent release to the world, the software earns listing as an Apple Featured 3rd Party Download and Staff Pick. Ortelius is a vector-based drawing and cartographic design program made especially for map design and presentation. Through its drag-and-drop interface, Ortelius offers a creative solution for floor plans, landscape plans, scaled drawings, and a wide variety of high quality custom maps, as well as serves to address a lack of mapmaking software for the Mac OS X platform. Visit http://www.mapdiva.com/learn/ for a video introduction to Ortelius.

08.24.09 Spatial Sustain Magazine/Vector1 Media editor, Matt Ball, posts an article that traces our journey to Ortelius.

A new cartographic design tool called Ortelius was launched last week by Mapdiva. This tool addresses a lack of mapmaking software for the Mac OS X environment, and aims to make map design easier to learn and implement. read more…