Mapping Hacks Review

Thursday, 20 October, 2005

“Mapping Hacks”, part of the O’Reilly “Hacks” series, was published earlier this summer and has proved popular with a variety of readers (e.g. comment). I’ve finished reading the book recently and thought I would post a review:

This book follows in the spirit of the O’Reilly “Hacks” series which try to open up technology areas by making them more accessible to everyday PC users. Mapping Hacks contains 100 “hacks” that take freely accessible computer cartography software and data, making them do genuinely useful things. The examples draw heavily from the US and the UK, showing the general areas of expertise of the authors. However a US-centric focus on data is not surprising given extensive free access to federally produced data. There are also a variety of guest authors adding considerably to the breadth and depth of the topics covered. This is no short book as, at over 500 pages, it covers many topics in some considerable detail (and is therefore excellent value at the list price of US$29.95). It should be noted that the text is very up-to-date. This ultimately means that some web links noted in the book will change and, overall, the text will date. That said, the books’ strength lies in its’ ability to “push” the edge of “everyday” computer cartography. For this reason, it will remain “current” for quite a while. And in case there is concern over dating content, the authors’ maintain a website to support the book.

The book is organised along the line of nine “themes”:
Mapping your Life
Mapping your Neighborhood
Mapping your World
Mapping (on) the Web
Mapping with Gadgets
Mapping on Your Desktop
Names and Places
Building the Geospatial Web
Mapping with Other People


Each theme contains a dozen or so hacks, some exploring current technologies and techniques, and others developing/extending technologies. The list of subjects is extensive including GIS, GPS, wi-fi, geocaching, satellite imagery, georeferencing, census mapping, web mapping, XML, map servers, PERL, inter-planetry mapping, data clean up and visualisation. As such it is not a course text, specialised reference or practical guide. Think of it as a cross between a practical course and an encyclopedia.

Mapping Hacks covers a wide variety of reader experiences, ranging from straightforward introductory notes, through to extensive programming development exercises. At all stages the reader can closely follow the well guided text, implementing the materials as they see fit, or simply dip in and out picking up tips and tricks. Even experienced professionals will learn about many new topics. The book therefore manages to achieve something quite difficult; it is more or less able to be all things to all people. I have no hesitation in recommending this as a read for those knowledgable in the topics it touches upon, whilst it will be invaluable as a supplementary text to those take undergraduate and postgraduate in subjects such as remote sensing and GIS.