| MapText, Inc. was founded in 1997 by Herbert
Freeman to develop software for the automated labeling of the points, lines, and
areas depicted on maps and charts. Dr. Freeman has been active in the area of computer cartography
since the early 1960's. In 1979 he initiated a research project at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute (RPI) to solve the map text placement problem, a
problem that had been largely given up as unsolvable. That work, as well as
subsequent activities while on the faculty at Rutgers University, helped lay the
foundation for forming MapText.
Today as maps are being prepared with the aid of
computers, all the features to be included in the map are entered into a
geographical database, together with attributes that define the symbolization,
that is, the size, width, color, etc., with which each feature is to appear on
the map, as well as the text with which the feature is to be labeled. Computer
software, commonly referred to as GIS (Geographic Information System) software,
is then used to generate the actual map for a particular region and to a
specified scale.
The most challenging part of this process - little appreciated
by the lay public - is the difficulty of placing the text for each feature so
that the label of one feature will not overlap that of another, that there be
no ambiguity as to the feature to which a particular label refers, that the
labeling follow accepted conventions for labeling map features, and finally,
that the placement be such as to yield easy perception and understanding of
the spatial relationships the map is intended to communicate.
The creation of MapText was largely in response to a call
from the US Census Bureau which saw an urgent need for automated feature labeling
for the conduct of the Census 2000. Shortly after being founded, MapText was
awarded a contract to develop such software. The software, customized to the
needs of the Census Bureau, was delivered in time for the Census 2000 and was
used to label more than 20 million maps for it. Subsequently MapText embarked
on developing a commercial version, usable with most of the common commercial
GIS systems.
MapText's software, Label-EZ™, is compatible
with ESRI's ArcGIS®, ArcInfo® and ArcView®, Intergraph's
GeoMedia® and GeoMedia® Pro, Bentley's MicroStation®, and MapInfo Corp.'s
MapInfo® GIS systems. An interface to Caris Corp.'s CARTA®
software is currently under development.
MapText currently has a broad customer
base worldwide, with installations as far away as Australia
and New Zealand. Customers tend to be national government
mapmakers (civil and military), commercial mapmakers, state,
county and municipal governments, aeronautical chart producers,
departments of transportation, businesses with large mapmaking
requirements (for product distribution, delivery routing,
market assessment), and utilities (electrical, gas, water,
telecommunications).
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