7 replies to this topic

[mike]

Avenza Introduces Geospatial PDF and GeoPDF Import in MAPublisher 8.5 for Adobe Illustrator
- Easily import geospatial PDF and GeoPDF documents and automatically assign layers -

Toronto, ON, June 2, 2011- Avenza Systems Inc., producers of the PDF Maps app for iOS and geospatial plugins for Adobe Creative Suite, including Geographic Imager for Adobe Photoshop, is pleased to announce the release of MAPublisher 8.5 for Adobe Illustrator that has the ability to import geospatial PDF documents. This is the first time spatially-aware PDF documents can be opened in the Adobe Illustrator environment and have all of its contents be assigned to MAPublisher layers.

"We've done a lot of research, development and testing of spatial PDF technology to see what is capable and compatible with MAPublisher. We're able to provide geospatial PDF and GeoPDF® import to Adobe Illustrator for our users and I believe they will be pleased that it will introduce a new range of uses and applications,” said Ted Florence, President of Avenza. “Not only will our users be able to take existing spatial PDF documents and work with them, but they will also be able to customize their own PDF maps and share them with their own customers and clients,” he added.

The import process opens a geospatial PDF or GeoPDF document at which time the user can assign content to MAPublisher layers and MAP Views while maintaining georeferencing and attributes. This process can be simplified by using the auto-assign option which scans the contents of the PDF document and assigns it to the appropriate MAPublisher layer. Alternatively, content can be manually assigned to MAPublisher layers.

Geospatial PDF import also works with geospatial PDF and GeoPDF files generated by third-party vendors including Esri ArcGIS, FME and TerraGo.

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.

MAPublisher 8.5 for Illustrator is available free of charge to all MAPublisher customers with an active maintenance subscription and as an upgrade for non-maintenance users at US$599. New licenses are US$1399. Academic, floating and volume pricing is also available. Prices include one year of full maintenance. Visit www.avenza.com/mapublisher for more details.

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 as well as the PDF Maps app for viewing geospatial PDF files on iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices. Visit www.avenza.com for more details.

For further information contact:

Tel: 416-487-5116 ● Email: info@avenza.com ● Web: www.avenza.com

[Ted Florence]

I like to add to Mike's announcement of our latest news regarding geospatial PDF and GeoPDF import to Illustrator by putting this into a little more perspective for our cartographers and GIS-ers out there.

Aside from providing the implied ability to open a spatially-rich PDF file for further cartographic editing and enhancement using MAPublisher and Illustrator, this new MAPublisher capability also means that one can take a PDF file of this nature and actually turn it into a real GIS file, like shape, mid/mif or something else.

So imagine finding a suitable spatial PDF file online somewhere and being able to extract the features, attributes and referencing to make it into your own GIS data file.

We think that this is a very promising development on how GIS information is disseminated and transferred.

Ted

[François Goulet]

We think that this is a very promising development on how GIS information is disseminated and transferred.

I think that's the argument I could use to *finally* convince my bosses to update our old MAPublisher 5 for Freehand 9 license for a Illustrator one!

Thanks!!!!

[pfyfield]

Ted, is it possible to also export a GeoPDF? We are being told that GeoPDFs will be used in our planning process (someday), but the only tool we have right now to produce them is ArcMap. If I'm reading this annoucement correctly, you can now take a GeoPDF and edit it using Illustrator/MAPublisher. But can you create one in Illustrator? I know you can export geospatial PDFs; I'm asking if you can export a GeoPDF that is compatible with the TerraGo tools.

[Ted Florence]

Honestly, Paul, we really have no intention of exporting Terrago GeoPDF files.
We feel that the more widely supported geospatial PDF is the way to go and thus supporting 2 almost identical formats does not make good sense. For us this is kind of like a beta VHS situation where ultimately there will be only one spatially-enabled PDF format.
Furthermore, the Terrago format requires proprietary writers which is how Terrago makes their money whereas the geospatial PDF format is out-of-the-box supported by many softwares including MAPublisher, Geographic Imager, ESRI, FME and more and thus anyone who wants to make one doesn't really need a special expensive authoring package specifically for that format.
Additionally, what makes more sense to us and is something we will likely investigate and ultimately support, is the creation of a geospatial PDF file that can work with the Terrago tools.
In any case, our Illustrator and Photoshop importers and our iOS app support both spatial PDF formats because we feel that on the usability side of our products the user ought not have to worry about or distinguish between the two files types and usually there is no clear indication when one receives a file which kind of spatially-enabled PDF it is.
Regards
Ted

[pfyfield]

Thanks for the information, Ted. I pretty much assumed you would be staying away from TerraGo GeoPDFs. Unfortunately the decision to go with that format for the BLM's eplanning program was made way above my level (although the implementation of that program keeps getting delayed).

I'm just trying to figure out a way we can create GeoPDFs using our Illustrator/MAPublisher workflow. Not a fan of producing maps in ArcMap. Hopefully MAPublisher will at some point be able to create geospatial PDFs that can use the TerraGo tools and that will be good enough.

[Ted Florence]

So is the BLM buying everyone the Terrago authoring package?
Do they even know that there is an alternative?
My feeling is that even if we decided to author Terrago PDFs in Illustrator then one would have to pay extra for that capability vs the free included capability of the non-Terrago ones. Again, Terrago makes their money on the authoring tools.
Regards
Ted

Thanks for the information, Ted. I pretty much assumed you would be staying away from TerraGo GeoPDFs. Unfortunately the decision to go with that format for the BLM's eplanning program was made way above my level (although the implementation of that program keeps getting delayed).

I'm just trying to figure out a way we can create GeoPDFs using our Illustrator/MAPublisher workflow. Not a fan of producing maps in ArcMap. Hopefully MAPublisher will at some point be able to create geospatial PDFs that can use the TerraGo tools and that will be good enough.

[Ted Florence]

For anyone interested in seeing the new geospatial PDF import in action, there is a new video on YouTube here:
Have a look.
Ted

So is the BLM buying everyone the Terrago authoring package?
Do they even know that there is an alternative?
My feeling is that even if we decided to author Terrago PDFs in Illustrator then one would have to pay extra for that capability vs the free included capability of the non-Terrago ones. Again, Terrago makes their money on the authoring tools.
Regards
Ted

Thanks for the information, Ted. I pretty much assumed you would be staying away from TerraGo GeoPDFs. Unfortunately the decision to go with that format for the BLM's eplanning program was made way above my level (although the implementation of that program keeps getting delayed).

I'm just trying to figure out a way we can create GeoPDFs using our Illustrator/MAPublisher workflow. Not a fan of producing maps in ArcMap. Hopefully MAPublisher will at some point be able to create geospatial PDFs that can use the TerraGo tools and that will be good enough.