20 replies to this topic

[Fritz Quadrata]

Hi all
Is Mapublisher the only game in town for importing GIS data into Illustrator? It's a little pricey for my limited needs but I don't know of any other plug-in to Illustrator that can do the same thing with fewer bells & whistles. Any suggestions for me?
-Fritzy

[mika]

You can always export your data to ai or pdf from your gis. Not a plugin really but if the prcess is designed well it can be controlled easily.

[frax]

Fritz (interesting name!)

What GIS software do you have? If you can't export to eps/pdf/ai you can maybe export your layers as CAD files... ? or possible print to a postscript printer, to create an eps file that way.

[Jimbo]

Fritz (interesting name!)

What GIS software do you have? If you can't export to eps/pdf/ai you can maybe export your layers as CAD files... ? or possible print to a postscript printer, to create an eps file that way.

You have to watch what program you export your files into CAD. Taking Manifold as an example while you can import a dwg file you can only export dxf. Now the problem comes when you try to import the file into Illustrator, it fails every time. But I have a work around for that, if you already have FME take it into there & export it out as a dxf, then Illustrator will accept that. But keep in mind FME is an expensive package for the starting cartographer.

[ELeFevre]

Hi all
Is Mapublisher the only game in town for importing GIS data into Illustrator? It's a little pricey for my limited needs but I don't know of any other plug-in to Illustrator that can do the same thing with fewer bells & whistles. Any suggestions for me?
-Fritzy

Mapublisher is the only game in town for working with GIS data in Illustrator.

[David Medeiros]

If you want to maintain the geospatial aspect of the data then yes MAPublisher is the only game (I know of) in town.

If you just need to get your theames into Illy to create publication ready maps, all you need to do is export or save from the GIS as a PDF then open in Illy. It will usually come over as one grouped layer but a little bit of effort and you can sperate it all out to sart working with it.

[MostlyHarmless]

EDIT: removed

[Fritz Quadrata]

This is all good information, many thanks to you. I only wish there was a cheaper way to keep the data attributes accessible with in Illustrator! I will try some of the methods you mentioned however.

[Dennis McClendon]

Just the other morning, I was wondering why, 20 years in, none of the drawing programs ever introduced any way to attribute the objects. Seems like there are some relatively simple techniques, including the one used by MAPublisher using the comment field in PostScript code, that would open up all sorts of new uses for programs such as Illustrator. The database functions wouldn't need to be terribly complex, if they could be easily linked with Excel or something to do the heavy computing. Both FreeHand and Illustrator introduced attributes to the charting feature, but never let it be used anywhere else.

[Clark Geomatics]

Just the other morning, I was wondering why, 20 years in, none of the drawing programs ever introduced any way to attribute the objects. Seems like there are some relatively simple techniques, including the one used by MAPublisher using the comment field in PostScript code, that would open up all sorts of new uses for programs such as Illustrator. The database functions wouldn't need to be terribly complex, if they could be easily linked with Excel or something to do the heavy computing. Both FreeHand and Illustrator introduced attributes to the charting feature, but never let it be used anywhere else.

Good question Dennis. I have a feeling the answer lies somewhere in the fact the user community hasn't been brought along to think that way and therefore never saw a need for it. The usefulness of an attributed object goes beyond what MAPublisher has integrated into Illustrator. You can start with queries, selection sets and go on from there. My impression is that cartographers represent a small, lonely voice in the wilderness compared to the huge "designer" community out there - occasionally, one can make out the cartographic community's voice through the designers' din.

[mika]

That's no entirely true :-) CorelDRAW have had 'object data' for ages. And that's basicaly what one would use for i attributing the data. Give it some vba scripting and you have a pretty powerful tool on the desk.
I have used 'object data' populated with object ids to connect to a sql server and do some graphic replacement/adjustment based on the data stored externally.
It's not the thing you advertise when selling a graphic software though...

[david17tym]

Has nobody tried Canvas with GIS by Deneba as an alternative to MapPublisher/Illustrator?
Dave

[Richard]

Has nobody tried Canvas with GIS by Deneba as an alternative to MapPublisher/Illustrator?
Dave

I use both, but not as seriously as most around here.
I prefer Canvas for my work as it handles rasters (geo) and thats a huge plus for me. I know MP has raster plugin but that adds extra to the price.
I enjoy Canvas and believe its extremely underated.
Easy to import and export GIS dat.
Its not AICS3 (why's the '3' look like subscript?) but then AI isn't Canvas either. I'd say it comes down to preferances and intended use and cost.
It does occasionally crash but I have never lost data.
I also have Manifold and the two form a big part of my work (as a surveyor) outside my survey software.
I would recommend it. Its available for a trial and they have been easy in the extended trial period in past.
regards
Richard

[Hans van der Maarel]

I use both, but not as seriously as most around here.
I prefer Canvas for my work as it handles rasters (geo) and thats a huge plus for me. I know MP has raster plugin but that adds extra to the price.

Actually, MAPublisher does not have a raster plug-in and relies on Illustrator for handling rasters (though it will let you register a georeferenced raster). Maybe you're thinking of Geographic Imager, Avenza's plug-in for Photoshop.

[Richard]

I use both, but not as seriously as most around here.
I prefer Canvas for my work as it handles rasters (geo) and thats a huge plus for me. I know MP has raster plugin but that adds extra to the price.

Actually, MAPublisher does not have a raster plug-in and relies on Illustrator for handling rasters (though it will let you register a georeferenced raster). Maybe you're thinking of Geographic Imager, Avenza's plug-in for Photoshop.

Yes thanks for correction.
Richard