{
  "id": "1996-february-pick-a-mapping-program",
  "slug": "1996-february-pick-a-mapping-program",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1996-february-pick-a-mapping-program.html",
  "year": 1996,
  "month": "February",
  "monthNum": 2,
  "headline": "Pick a mapping program",
  "kicker": "",
  "author_name": "",
  "author_title": "",
  "affiliation": "",
  "summary": "A comparison of four geographic information system (GIS) software products including ArcView, Atlas GIS, MapInfo, and Maptitude, with pricing, features, and contact information for journalism and research applications.",
  "keywords": [
    "software",
    "mapping",
    "GIS"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Technology"
  ],
  "technologies": [
    "ArcView",
    "Atlas GIS",
    "MapInfo",
    "Maptitude",
    "CD-ROM"
  ],
  "full_text": "ArcView ($995)\nUnix workstation, Windows and Macintosh versions. Environmental Systems Research Institute; (800) 447-9778\nIncludes Avenue, a tool for building front-end interfaces. Also comes with U.S. state and county boundary files, ZIP-5 boundary and point files and point files for state capitals and cities with more than 10,000 people.\n\nAtlas GIS (Call for price)\nWindows and DOS versions. Strategic Mapping Inc.; (800) 472-6277\n\nMapInfo ($1,295)\nWindows and Macintosh versions. MapInfo Inc.; (518) 285-6000\nLatest Windows version, MapInfo Professional, includes U.S. state and county boundaries, ZIP code boundaries and points; 200,000 landmarks, 9,000 cities and state capitals.\n\nMaptitude ($395)\nWindows version only. Caliper Corp. (617) 527-4700\nIncludes CD-ROM of U.S. streets, useful for street address matching. A second CD includes U.S. state, county and census tract boundaries, as well as ZIP code boundaries and points. Census demographics are included for each geographic boundary type.",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "extracted_at": "2026-07-05",
    "verified": true
  },
  "similar": [
    {
      "slug": "1998-september-handouts-of-the-month-software-hardline",
      "score": 0.343
    },
    {
      "slug": "2000-september-for-more-information",
      "score": 0.337
    },
    {
      "slug": "1996-february-mapping-out-the-web",
      "score": 0.328
    },
    {
      "slug": "2000-september-census-and-gis",
      "score": 0.311
    },
    {
      "slug": "1998-september-discovering-intersections",
      "score": 0.282
    }
  ],
  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1996-february-pick-a-mapping-program.html",
  "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1996-february-pick-a-mapping-program.json"
}