Ortelius Macintosh Map Making Software by Mapdiva, LLC

It is with much gratitude we offer our congratulations to Richard Brummett, Mapdiva’s very first customer, for the publication of Search and Destroy by Keith W. Nolan and published by Zenith Press. Upon the author’s untimely death, Richard Brummett (Keith’s friend and associate) saw the book through to completion. A large part of that effort included making the four maps, three charts of military vehicle silhouettes, and a page of crests and patches that illustrate the book, which were created with Ortelius cartography software for Mac OS X.

In fact, Richard purchased his license of Ortelius slightly before the official public release in order to work with the demo without the watermark. He worked with the patience of a saint as we flushed out pre-release bugs and continued the final stages of development. Richard’s input was invaluable toward the documentation of Ortelius as he asked questions about (at that time) undocumented features, offered encouragement, and inspired us to keep plowing forward. It is a perfect demonstration of how Ortelius’ development is truly a partnership with our customers.

About “Search and Destroy: The Story of an Armored Cavalry Squadron in Việt Nam: 1-1 Cav, 1967-1968” [Hardcover]

The 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, of the 1st Armored Division deployed to Việt Nam from Fort Hood, Texas in August 1967. Search and Destroy covers the 1-1 Cav’s harrowing first year and a half of combat in the war’s toughest area of operations: I Corps. The book takes readers into the savage action at infamous places like Tam Kỳ, the Quế Sơn Valley, the Pineapple Forest, Hill 34, and Cigar Island, chronicling General Westmoreland’s search-and-destroy war of attrition against the Việt Cộng and North Vietnamese Army. Exploring the gray areas of guerrilla war, military historian Keith Nolan details moments of great compassion toward the Vietnamese, but also eruptions of Mỹ Laị-like violence, the grimmer aspects of the 1-1 Cav’s successes. Search and Destroy is a rare account of an exemplary fighting force in action, a dramatic close-up look at the Việt Nam War.

About the Author

Keith W. Nolan studied the Việt Nam War for twenty-five years and has published articles on the subject in Leatherneck, the Marine Corps Gazette, Proceedings, and Vietnam magazine. He is also the author of eleven Việt Nam War combat histories, all of which have been Military Book Club selections. Keith died in February 2009 at age 44 and this will be his twelfth and final book on the Việt Nam War.

Keith leaves behind a nine-year-old daughter, Anna Britt.

Maps are tremendous genealogical tools to help build a more comprehensive understanding of what life was like for your ancestors, looking at locations, migration routes, political boundaries, and more. Custom maps let you personalize the historical geography and highlight features relevant to family reports, documents, and photographs.

Here is an example of a family history map made with Ortelius showing the northeast Italian region of Udine (c. 1910). Click here to view a PDF export of the finished map in all its glory. Read more »

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.”

Mapdiva is pleased to announce the completely revised Getting Started With Ortelius workbook (6.77MB), including hands-on tutorials and demo files, is now available. Read more »