Satellite image of Congo, generated from raster graphics data supplied by The Map Library.

The Map Library is a project of The Map Maker Trust charity, and supported by Map Maker Ltd., for the supplying of free GIS data to sources that need them. The project website also hosts free conversion software for raster and vector files. At of July 2006, the only data sets available were for the continent of Africa. Suppose the smiley face in the top left corner is an RGB bitmap image. ... Allegorical personification of Charity as a mother with three infants by Anthony van Dyck Charity, meaning selfless giving, is one conventional English translation of the Greek term agapē. // Etymology In the 1400, charity meant the state of love or simple affection which one was in or out of regarding one... A geographic information system (GIS) is a system for managing data that has a spatial specialized form of an information system. ... Suppose the smiley face in the top left corner is an RGB bitmap image. ... Look up vector in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia. ...

Statement of purpose

From the website...

The idea behind the Map Library is that the lack of good, simple maps is a serious obstacle to development in all kinds of fields, from health care to urban management, from de-mining to environmental protection. The library's purpose is two fold: to make public domain mapping data more readily available for developing countries, and to provide free, easy to use software to facilitate map making by non-experts. The Map Library delivers data and software both on the internet and by post on CD for those with poor or no internet access.

Data format and conversion

The project data is managed in part by two pieces of free software, each supporting different file formats and conversions.

• Raster Converter handles ECW files: these can be converted to BMP, TIFF, and with external libraries, JPEG, and JPEG 2000.
• Vector Converter handles MLB ("map-library") files: these files can be converted to data files for ArcView, AutoCAD, and several other formats.

ECW logo from 1994-2001. ... BMP is an abbreviation for: Basic Multilingual Plane, the 16-bit base of the Unicode character set. ... This article is about TIFF, the computer image format. ... In computing, JPEG (pronounced JAY-peg) is a commonly used standard method of lossy compression for photographic images. ... JPEG 2000 is a wavelet-based image compression standard. ... ArcView GIS showing data for the Chesapeake Bay. ... AutoCAD 2006 drawing. ...

Data sources

The project uses data from NASA mapping projects, Famine Early Warning Systems Network, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. NASA logo Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET ) is a lead organization in the prediction and response to famines and other forms of food security issues in sub-Saharan Africa. ... NGA seal The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is a United States government agency responsible for the tasking (collection), exploitation (analysis), and dissemination (distribution) of Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT). ...

External links

• The Map Library
• Map Maker Ltd.