The Map Library should not be confused with the Map Library of The British Museum.

The Map Library is a project of The Map Maker Trust charity

Charitable organization

A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

, and supported by Map Maker Ltd., for the supplying of free GIS data. The project website also hosts free conversion software for raster

Raster graphics

In computer graphics, a raster graphics image, or bitmap, is a data structure representing a generally rectangular grid of pixels, or points of color, viewable via a monitor, paper, or other display medium...

 and vector

Vector graphics

Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...

 files. As of November 2008, the only data sets available were for the continents of Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 and Central America

Central America

Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

.

Statement of purpose

From the website...

The idea behind the Map Library is that the lack of good, simple maps is a serious obstacle to development in all kinds of fields, from health care to urban management, from de-mining to environmental protection. The library's purpose is two fold: to make public domain mapping data more readily available for developing countries, and to provide free, easy to use software to facilitate map making by non-experts. The Map Library delivers data and software both on the internet and by post on CD for those with poor or no internet access.

Data format and conversion

The project data is managed in part by two pieces of software, each supporting different file formats and conversions.

• Raster Converter handles ECW
  ECW (file format)
  ECW is a proprietary wavelet compression image format optimized for aerial and satellite imagery. It was developed by Earth Resource Mapping, and is now owned by ERDAS, which is owned by Intergraph...
  
   files: these can be converted to BMP, TIFF, and with external libraries, JPEG
  JPEG
  In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
  
  , and JPEG 2000
  JPEG 2000
  JPEG 2000 is an image compression standard and coding system. It was created by the Joint Photographic Experts Group committee in 2000 with the intention of superseding their original discrete cosine transform-based JPEG standard with a newly designed, wavelet-based method...
  
  .
• Vector Converter handles MLB ("map-library") files: these files can be converted to data files for ArcView
  ArcView
  ArcView 3.x was a geographic information system software product produced by ESRI.-History:ArcView started as a graphical program for spatial data and maps made using ESRI's other software products. Over time more and more functionality was added to ArcView and it became a real GIS program capable...
  
  , AutoCAD
  AutoCAD
  AutoCAD is a software application for computer-aided design and drafting in both 2D and 3D. It is developed and sold by Autodesk, Inc. First released in December 1982, AutoCAD was one of the first CAD programs to run on personal computers, notably the IBM PC...
  
  , and several other formats.

Data sources

The project uses data from NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

 mapping projects, Famine Early Warning Systems Network

Famine Early Warning Systems Network

Famine Early Warning Systems Network is a lead organization in the field of prediction and response to famines and other forms of food security...

, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States with the primary mission of collecting, analyzing and distributing geospatial intelligence in support of national security. NGA was formerly known as the National Imagery and Mapping Agency ...

.

External links

• The Map Library
• Map Maker Ltd.