Manifold Releases "GPL" International Time Zones Map
01 January 2000 - Carson City: Manifold Net today provided a map of International Time Zones for free usage under the Free Software Foundation General Public License (GPL). The GPL is used for distributing both GNU and Linux. This is the first GIS map of international time zones ever provided without usage restrictions.
"We were amazed there was no freely usable map available to the GIS
community that shows International Time Zones," commented Dimitri Rotow,
a marketing spokesman for Manifold. "Until today, the only maps of
time zones were either commercial maps with limited usage rights or were dumb
bitmaps unusable for GIS work. We supported this effort because we felt
international time zones are something that should not be privatized but which
should be available to all GIS users as a fundamental base map. The other
innovative aspect of this announcement is that we believe it is the first time a
major map will enter wide distribution using the Free Software Foundation's
General Public License. This assures free usage of the map by all without
the risk of exploitative privatization."
This new map was created by manifold.net volunteers working on behalf of the Free World map foundation. It is currently published in Manifold
mfd/mdb, ESRI .shp and MapInfo .mid/.mif. Users can feel free to convert it to any format and use it under the GPL as they wish.
As is the case with GNU and Linux, any usage including any derived works must be accompanied by an obvious notice to the recipient that they too are free to reuse it as well under the
GPL.
The primary sources for the new time zones map were US Central Intelligence Agency maps,
the Digital Chart of the World in both DCW and VMAP0 versions, NTAD Canadian and Mexican provincial boundaries, and Russian Federation topographic
maps for the Russian Far East. Numerous time zone boundaries were digitized by
hand using these sources as a guide.
Illustrations showing steps in the creation of this map are available in the Great Lakes case study and the Making Time Zones case study on the Manifold web site at: http://www.manifold.net/cases/great_lakes/great_lakes.html and at http://www.manifold.net/cases/making_tz/making_tz.html
The Manifold international time zones map provides
varying accuracy levels and is not intended as an authoritative map in all
circumstances. The intention is to provide a foundation for a free world map of international time zones that can be improved
by the GIS community in an evolving way. Manifold.net expects that the GPL
will become more popular as a copyrighting mechanism within the GIS community
and will enable GIS people to work together for mutual benefit the way just as
it has enabled GNU and Linux people to work together for mutual benefit.
The time zones map is reachable from the News page of the Manifold website at http://www.manifold.net, or from the
Manifold free maps and data page.
The full text of the GPL is at the GNU site at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
About the Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation was created to advance
the concept of free software via the GPL "copyleft" concept. It
has achieved spectacular success in this objective by founding the GNU
("Gnu is Not UNIX") system clone of UNIX, which in turn provided a
platform for the creation of Linux, one of the most popular "freeware"
programs of all time. Visit the Free Software Foundation at the GNU page
at http://www.gnu.org
About Manifold System
Manifold is one of the most sophisticated software packages ever developed. It is unique in providing spatial, networking, geometric, database, and statistical GIS capabilities for only $145. Despite the low price, it usually outperforms in capacity, speed, and sophistication packages that sell for thousands of dollars. Manifold can do so because it was created using the software tools of the late '90s and it leverages the new generation of desktop systems. Because Manifold is unusually easy to use for a high-end GIS, many consumers as well as organizations have taken advantage of the low price to use Manifold in simple applications as well as in complex ones.
Technical Journalists: Get the Full Story on Manifold
There's a lot more to Manifold System besides support for Free World initiatives like the Manifold international time zones map. If you cover computer software and hardware and want all the gory technical details on Manifold System, please contact us for the Manifold Release 4.50 Press Release or check out the Release 4.50 Highlights page . Visit the web site at www.manifold.net for extensive details.
Manifold Net is a privately held company that creates cool data visualization and manipulation software.
Contact: Dimitri Rotow, 800-556-5919 / dar@manifold.net
See Case Studies / Examples of this product at the Case Studies page
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