distribution maps

[Una Smith]

In addition to the packages mentioned by Stuart Poss (several of which
I've used and found good), various SAS packages can be used for complex
mapping tasks.  But if you have a simple base map and you only want to
drop a set of points on top of it, you might consider writing a little
script (in PERL, C, REXX, whatever) to generate a little PostScript
description of each map.  I did this for a project where I produced over
1000 20x20 meter quadrat maps of a 50 hectare forest plot, with each
tree stem in each quadrat shown at proportional size, in location, and
labeled with its tag number.

The little bit of code I wrote was just a couple of pages long, very
simple, took two days start to finish, and required no special purpose
software.  I had a PostScript printer, an enormous data set, and an
ancient copy of REXX.  I did have to consult a book documenting the
PostScript language.

        Una Smith               Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
                                Yale University
        una.smith at yale.edu      New Haven, CT  06520-8106