25 replies to this topic

[Patrick Sewell]

I'm graduating soon from my Masters in City Planning program, and unfortunately the market for City Planners looks pretty bad. So, as I consider my options, I'm hoping to pick up some freelance cartographic work. I can use open source GIS software, and I can pick up educational versions of Adobe Creative Suite for around 300 to get started. It would be nice to have MAPublisher, but it's prohibitively expensive for someone like me. Are there any alternatives?

In the past, I have primarily used MAPublisher for georeferencing my AI files and grouping imported layers by attributes. On occasion I have exported shapes back to GIS. I've never used it for producing indexes or labelling, as I've been able to do that in GIS. It seems like someone could come up with an open source way to georeference AI files.

Any ideas?

[Ted Florence]

Academic licenses of MAPublisher are available as well at significantly reduced pricing from regular commercial prices so while you still have a student credential you may want to look into that.
Best of luck
Ted

I'm graduating soon from my Masters in City Planning program, and unfortunately the market for City Planners looks pretty bad. So, as I consider my options, I'm hoping to pick up some freelance cartographic work. I can use open source GIS software, and I can pick up educational versions of Adobe Creative Suite for around 300 to get started. It would be nice to have MAPublisher, but it's prohibitively expensive for someone like me. Are there any alternatives?

In the past, I have primarily used MAPublisher for georeferencing my AI files and grouping imported layers by attributes. On occasion I have exported shapes back to GIS. I've never used it for producing indexes or labelling, as I've been able to do that in GIS. It seems like someone could come up with an open source way to georeference AI files.

Any ideas?

[David Medeiros]

Hi Patrick,

I don't know of any other programs like MAPub that sit on top of Illustrator and integrate GIS functions into the software. But you can do just fine without it. For smaller or simpler freelance jobs a GIS to Illustrator workflow through AI, EPS or PDF export works very well. There are always minor issues to workaround but you can get the line-work into Illy in layers and do the styling you need form there without a geo referenced workspace.

That said, MAPublisher is a joy to use (especially after using the above method for a while). It really helps bridge the gap between pure GIS and cartography. The initial expense is a bit much but since it sounds like you already know how to use it you could wait until you get a contract job that's big enough to pay for it and get it then.

Good luck.

[Patrick Sewell]

Academic licenses of MAPublisher are available as well at significantly reduced pricing from regular commercial prices so while you still have a student credential you may want to look into that.

Ted, do you know where I could find information on academic pricing? Avenza's website is unspecific.

Thanks to you both for the advice.

[Ted Florence]

I will have the sales department email you directly.
regards

Academic licenses of MAPublisher are available as well at significantly reduced pricing from regular commercial prices so while you still have a student credential you may want to look into that.

Ted, do you know where I could find information on academic pricing? Avenza's website is unspecific.

Thanks to you both for the advice.

[dsl]

I didn't think you could use academic licenses for commercial products? Just curious...

Cheers,
David

[Ted Florence]

You can't. And shouldn't.

I didn't think you could use academic licenses for commercial products? Just curious...

Cheers,
David

[Jimbo]

You can't. And shouldn't.

I didn't think you could use academic licenses for commercial products? Just curious...

Cheers,
David

Patrick Sewell Said:
"I'm hoping to pick up some freelance cartographic work. I can use open source GIS software, and I can pick up educational versions of Adobe Creative Suite for around 300 to get started."

Patrick is looking to do freelance work, & assuming your the head of Avenza your essentially giving him permission to use an education license commercially. At least that's what I'm reading.

[Hans van der Maarel]

Patrick is looking to do freelance work, & assuming your the head of Avenza your essentially giving him permission to use an education license commercially. At least that's what I'm reading.

Better read again. Aside from that, the EULA would cover this anyway.

[Patrick Sewell]

Better read again. Aside from that, the EULA would cover this anyway.

This conversation seemed to turn harsh quickly. I do not intend to misuse any software, but I must say that Adobe's website says nothing about using "Student and Teacher" editions, which I qualify for, for commercial uses. And Avenza's site says nothing anywhere about using academic versions for noncommercial use.

Ted, thank you for the information about academic pricing, but I am still unclear whether I ought to buy it or not. I do want to use it for a commercial use, but I am a student.

Does anyone have any idea whether it's okay to use Adobe educational products for commercial use?

[Patrick Sewell]

I did some digging. A post on the Adobe forums (http://forums.adobe.com/thread/314304) explains,
"From what I can best determine, it is only in North America (US and Canada) that the "educational edition" of Adobe software has no restriction on subsequent commercial use as long as the purchaser whas qualified for the educational version when it was purchased."

Curious. But I'm in North America, so I should be okay. Are things different with Avenza?

And also, has no one heard of any alternative to MAPublisher? If I'm unemployed long enough I may just make one myself...

[Ted Florence]

To be clear, I was merely pointing out that as a student, and assuming he has ID to prove it, Patrick can indeed purchase an academic license.
Ted

[Adam Wilbert]

Adobe is the only company that I know of that specifically allows student/teacher edition software to be used commercially. :
From Adobe's own FAQ:

Can I use my Adobe Student and Teacher Edition software for commercial use?
Yes. You may purchase a Student and Teacher Edition for personal as well as commercial use.

Adobe's student / teacher edition license is also eligible for the upgrade pricing path when the new version comes out and you're long out of school. So it's possible to stay 100% legit, current, and never have had to pay full price for the suite.

The Avenza license is probably going to be more restrictive.

[Patrick Sewell]

The Avenza license is probably going to be more restrictive.

Oh, I see. Well, it is good to know all this before I make any purchases. Thank you again for your help with this. I assure everyone I plan to stay legal with my software use!

Patrick

[Claude]

Good luck with your quest Patrick. This is something of a recurring theme and it would be peachy keen if there were options out there for people that want more than the default Arcmap export functionality and less than Mapub's deluxe GIS-within-Illustrator style of functionality. Someone should build a basic georeferencing kind of Illy tool that offers only the ability to import new map layers into an Illustrator document and adapt to existing georeferencing entry level customers such as yourself. Then those of us on the corporate budgets could keep buying the expensive tools and those just entering the market would have a legal option.

In the meantime, the ESRI mapping center is a great place to look for tips! Some it might still be applicable even if you exporting files from a different software suite.