[Taxacom] SimpleMappr launch

[Shorthouse, David]

Folks,

The Nearctic Spider Database died last Wednesday
(http://ispiders.blogspot.com/2010/03/nearctic-spider-database-dead.html)
and one of the casualties was a largely neglected, simple mapping
application that permitted copy/paste of collection coordinates. The
output was a b&w line map with contoured dots, mostly suitable for
outgoing manuscripts. Sadly deficient was the ability to have many
layers, each with different pushpin style or to crop, zoom, pan or
change the projection. Unbeknown to me, folks were actually using this
thing and there was a bit of an outcry when my machine died. I
actually made a much better application for the AMNH to help produce
outputs for their PBI grant holders. So, with Norm Platnick's
permission, I re-purposed some of the code.

Here be SimpleMappr, http://www.simplemappr.net.

There are bound to be bugs or hiccups because it's never been fully
tested under load, but I throw it out here for feedback and feature
requests. Please let me know what you were doing when and if you
witness odd behaviour; this is a very dynamic environment. Yes, there
are similar sorts of applications out there in the wilds but none to
my knowledge permit this sort of facile "copy/paste/tweak/export" as
fast as this one can.

Cheers,

David P. Shorthouse

P.S. I've learned my lesson re: occasionally testing incremental back-ups