[vox-tech] Has anyone done cartography on Linux?

[Henry House]

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Has anyone here worked with maps on Linux? I periodically need to work with
simple maps and I am continually frustrated with the tools that I have
tried. Here is an example of something that I want to do:

1. Scan an aerial photo or existing map
2. Mark some key points on it, connect them with lines or curves, make
   areas, etc. These might be fields or fences.
3. Calculate lengths and areas (for example, number of acres in a field or
   number of miles long that a fence extends).

I don't have databases of geospacial data or GPS receiver data, so I don't
think a heavyweight GIS system what I want. The scales are normally small so
map projections are not a major issue. Anyway, what I want to do is so
simple that I don't think it is worth learning a complex system like GRASS
(<http://packages.debian.org/testing/science/grass>) since I can do a crude
job with pencil, ruler, and compensating polar planimiter* in not much time.
Still, there is surely a better way. I am interested in any suggestions.

* A mechanical device that, when adjusted for scale, calculates the area of
  any shape that one traces on a map or photograph.

--=20
Henry House
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