– New MAPublisher release to provide geospatial PDF export from Adobe® Illustrator® –

Toronto, ON, July 13, 2009 – Avenza Systems Inc., producers of MAPublisher cartographic software for Adobe Illustrator and Geographic Imager® spatial tools for Adobe Photoshop® is pleased to announce that the upcoming release of MAPublisher, version 8.2, will provide MAPublisher and Adobe Illustrator users with geospatial PDF export capability.

Geospatial PDF export functionality is to be included as a standard feature with the new MAPublisher 8.2 release, the upcoming version of this powerful mapmaking software used to produce high quality maps from GIS data, and will offer complete support for the Adobe geospatial PDF specification which was released with Acrobat 9 along with an advanced attribute feature set.

“MAPublisher users, map-makers and GIS professionals in general have demanded an “intelligent” spatial PDF solution for a long time and we are very pleased to offer support for the Adobe geospatial PDF specification,” said Ted Florence, President of Avenza, “Users of MAPublisher and Adobe Illustrator will now be able to import GIS data, create publication quality maps and output a PDF file of the same publication quality that retains all the geospatial and attribute data in a searchable and queriable manner.” he added.

The MAPublisher Geospatial PDF exporter offers the ability to generate Adobe Acrobat PDF files that contain all the cosmetic features of the completed Adobe Illustrator map document as well as all the GIS data attributes and co-ordinate information of the original GIS data files such that within Adobe Acrobat the following functionality can be performed without the aid of any special tools, plugins or special extensions to Adobe Acrobat.

• View map locations in various coordinate systems including decimal degrees, DMS, Military Grid and more.
• Find a location in a map and mark it with a comment
• Measure distances on a map using real-world units (miles, kilometers, feet, etc.)
• Reveal the attributes of map features by clicking on the feature within the map document.
• Search by map attribute values to reveal all map features that satisfy the query.

MAPublisher 8.2 for Illustrator, including export to geospatial PDF will be available in the third quarter of 2009 and will be provided free-of-charge to all MAPublisher Maintenance Program subscribers. Users without a valid maintenance subscription may purchase MAPublisher 8.2 as an upgrade. Academic, floating license and volume pricing is available. Prices include 1 year of maintenance. Full details are available at www.avenza.com.

More about MAPublisher for Illustrator

MAPublisher for Illustrator is powerful map production software for creating cartographic-quality maps from GIS data. Developed as a suite of plug-ins for Adobe Illustrator, MAPublisher leverages the superior graphics capabilities of this graphics design software for working with GIS data and producing high-quality maps with efficiency. For more information about MAPublisher, visit www.avenza.com/mapublisher.

More about Adobe Geospatial PDF

“Geospatial PDF” is the terminology used by Adobe Systems Inc. to identify PDF files that have embedded georeference information and is an Adobe specification that georeferences the appropriate components of a map or other spatial document layout. Map documents are now being published by USGS, NGA, and others in this extended PDF format.

More about Avenza Systems Inc.

Avenza Systems Inc. is an award-winning, privately held corporation that provides cartographers and GIS professionals with powerful software tools for making better maps. In addition to software offerings for Mac and Windows users, Avenza offers value-added data sets, product training and consulting services. Visit www.avenza.com for more details.

For further information:
Avenza Systems ● 416-487-5116 ● info@avenza.com ● www.avenza.com

– New MAPublisher® add-on offers rule-based collision-free label placement in Adobe® Illustrator® –

Toronto, ON, June 15, 2009 – Avenza Systems Inc., producers of MAPublisher cartographic software for Adobe Illustrator and Geographic Imager® spatial tools for Adobe Photoshop® is pleased to announce the release of MAPublisher LabelPro™, a rule-based collision-free label placement system for MAPublisher.

MAPublisher LabelPro functionality is included with the new MAPublisher 8.1 release, the latest version of this powerful mapmaking software used to produce high quality maps from GIS data. MAPublisher LabelPro is available immediately as an add-on to MAPublisher 8.1. Users and evaluators of MAPublisher 8.1 may experience MAPublisher LabelPro functionality in evaluation mode.

“Collision-free text placement has long been wished for by MAPublisher users and we are very delighted and proud to introduce MAPublisher LabelPro as an enhanced labeling solution,” said Ted Florence, President of Avenza, “We know that MAPublisher LabelPro will save users countless hours of tedious manual text placement and refinement and is the perfect add-on tool for all MAPublisher users.” he added.

The MAPublisher LabelPro labeling engine offers advanced labeling capabilities beyond those available in the standard version of MAPublisher 8.1 including:

• Sophisticated algorithms that provide the ability to solve many of the most commonly occurring map labeling problems such as
  • complex conflict resolution across multiple layers
  • the ability to specify existing vector map features as obstacles
  • the ability to create complex labeling conventions via user-defined rules
• Use map data attributes for labeling with a much greater level of sophistication using an intuitive configurable interface
• Prioritization of data layers for labeling operations
• The ability to recognize existing type as obstacles for multiple labeling sessions
• Placement rules and properties, once set, can be saved to a file and imported into other files or shared over a network
• Label Lines using symbols (ex. highway shields)
• Comprehensive list of rules and placement options (see website for details)
• Various other functions and features for advanced label placement

MAPublisher LabelPro for Adobe Illustrator is available as an add-on option for MAPublisher 8.1 for US$999. MAPublisher users with active MAPublisher maintenance may purchase MAPublisher LabelPro for US$799. New MAPublisher 8.1 licenses including MAPublisher LabelPro licenses are US$1999. Academic, floating license and volume pricing is available. Prices include 1 year of maintenance. Full details are available at www.avenza.com.

More about MAPublisher 8.1 for Illustrator

MAPublisher 8.1 for Illustrator is powerful map production software for creating cartographic-quality maps from GIS data. Developed as a suite of plug-ins for Adobe Illustrator, MAPublisher leverages the superior graphics capabilities of this graphics design software for working with GIS data and producing high-quality maps with efficiency. Full details are available at www.avenza.com.

More about Avenza Systems Inc.

Avenza Systems Inc. is an award-winning, privately held corporation that provides cartographers and GIS professionals with powerful software tools for making better maps. In addition to software offerings for Mac and Windows users, Avenza offers value-added data sets, product training and consulting services.   Visit www.avenza.com for more details.

For further information:
Avenza Systems ● 416-487-5116 ● info@avenza.com ● www.avenza.com

– New MAPublisher® add-on offers rule-based collision-free label placement in Adobe® Illustrator® –

Toronto, ON, June 15, 2009 – Avenza Systems Inc., producers of MAPublisher cartographic software for Adobe Illustrator and Geographic Imager® spatial tools for Adobe Photoshop® is pleased to announce the release of MAPublisher 8.1 for Adobe Illustrator. MAPublisher 8.1 is the latest version of this powerful mapmaking software used to produce high quality maps from GIS data for both print and electronic distribution.

MAPublisher 8.1 for Adobe Illustrator is a full product upgrade that is free of charge to all current MAPublisher Maintenance Program subscribers and replaces the current shipping version of MAPublisher, version 8.0, for all new customers using Adobe Illustrator CS3 and/or CS4.

“MAPublisher 8.1 surpasses all earlier releases in functionality and power and represents another great leap forward for MAPublisher,” said Ted Florence, President of Avenza, “With support for the new MAPublisher LabelPro labeling add-on and new and improved Flash export capability this is an update that users will definitely want to have.” he added.

MAPublisher 8.1 includes all the significant functionality introduced in earlier releases of MAPublisher as well as the following new features and enhancements.

New Features of MAPublisher 8.1 for Adobe Illustrator

• Support for the new MAPublisher LabelPro collision-free rule-based labeling system (additional license required)
• Improved MAP Web Author Tool for automatic creation of interactive Flash maps
• New MAPublisher Preferences options for customization of various features and functions
• Split Layer function to move data to new layers based on attributes and expressions
• Enhanced Expression Builder allows import of expressions from Selection Filters
• Enhanced Plot Centroids function now has the option to copy attributes from the source area
• New Export Attribute function for exporting the attributes table to a delimited text file
• Enhanced Register Image function can now create a new MAP View from any referenced image
• New Specify Anchors functionality allows world values to be entered in any co-ordinate system
• Improved MAP View and MAP Stylesheets panels with new functionality
• Various other user interface improvements and performance enhancements to improve usability

More about MAPublisher 8.1 for Illustrator

MAPublisher 8.1 for Illustrator is powerful map production software for creating cartographic-quality maps from GIS data. Developed as a suite of plug-ins for Adobe Illustrator, MAPublisher leverages the superior graphics capabilities of this graphics design software for working with GIS data and producing high-quality maps with efficiency.

MAPublisher 8.1 for Illustrator is available free of charge to all MAPublisher for Illustrator customers with a valid maintenance subscription and as an upgrade for non-maintenance members at US$549. New licenses are US$1249. Academic, floating and volume pricing is available. Prices include 1 year of maintenance. Full details are available at www.avenza.com.

More about Avenza Systems Inc.

Avenza Systems Inc. is an award-winning, privately held corporation that provides cartographers and GIS professionals with powerful software tools for making better maps. In addition to software offerings for Mac and Windows users, Avenza offers value-added data sets, product training and consulting services.   Visit www.avenza.com for more details.

For further information:
Avenza Systems ● 416-487-5116 ● info@avenza.com ● www.avenza.com

– Powerful geospatial plug-in suite now supports Adobe Photoshop CS4 –

Toronto, ON, March 2, 2009 – Avenza Systems Inc., producers of MAPublisher cartographic software for Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia FreeHand, Geographic Imager spatial imaging tools for Adobe Photoshop as well as MAPdataUSA, MAPdataCanada and MAPdataWorld royalty-free GIS data sets, announces the release of Geographic Imager 2.1 for Adobe Photoshop CS3 and CS4. Geographic Imager 2.1 is the latest version of this powerful software that adds geospatial functionality to Adobe Photoshop.

“Following the success of the initial Geographic Imager releases we are delighted to follow-up with this update supporting Adobe Photoshop CS4, said Doug Smith, Avenza’s Director of Sales. “With this release we now offer spatial imaging support for Adobe’s most current Photoshop release and further enhance overall spatial image processing within Adobe Photoshop,” he added.

Geographic Imager enhances the already commanding Adobe Photoshop imaging environment by adding all the tools and technology necessary to support the import, edit, manipulation and export of geospatial images such as aerial and satellite imagery. In addition to allowing the use of Photoshop and its powerful native imaging functions such as cropping, transparencies, individual pixel editing and brightness/contrast control, Geographic Imager adds the ability to import and recognize GeoTIFFs and other referenced raster formats, automatically mosaic and tile images spatially, reproject and transform images, geo-reference images based on ground control points and re-export images with all spatial information intact.

Features of the Geographic Imager 2.1 Update:

• Adds support for Adobe Photoshop CS4
• Quick georeference allowing referencing using fewer than 3 tie-points and/or using a second referenced image
• Reference points can now be exported as a csv or log file
• Reference points can now be entered using DMS and decimal degrees

Features and Benefits of Geographic Imager

• Allows the use of Adobe Photoshop native functionality without destroying the spatial properties of the image
• Import and export GeoTIFFs and other spatial raster formats along with all georeferencing
• Georeference non-referenced imagery with Ground Control Point (GCP) transformation
• Reprojection of spatial imagery
• Automatic mosaicking and tiling of spatial imagery
• Automated scripting allows for use of Geographic Imager tasks in conjunction with Photoshop’s automation tools
• Mac, Windows and floating licenses available

More about Geographic Imager

Geographic Imager is powerful software for working with spatial imagery in Adobe Photoshop that leverages the superior image editing capabilities of this raster-based image-editing software.

Geographic Imager 2.1 for Photoshop is now available free of charge to all Geographic Imager customers with a valid maintenance subscription and as an upgrade for non-maintenance members at US$319. New licenses are US$699 for a single-user fixed commercial license. Prices include 1 year of maintenance. Educational and floating licenses as well as discounted MAPublisher/Geographic Imager bundles are also available. Full details are available at www.avenza.com.

More about Avenza Systems Inc.

Avenza Systems Inc. is an award-winning, privately held corporation that provides cartographers and GIS professionals with powerful software tools for making better maps. In addition to software offerings for Mac and Windows users, Avenza offers value-added data sets, product training and consulting services. Visit www.avenza.com for more details.

For further information:
Avenza Systems ● 416-487-5116 ● info@avenza.com ● www.avenza.com