st: New Stata package -spmap- available from SSC

[Maurizio Pisati <maurizio.pisati@galactica.it>]

Thanks to Kit Baum, a new Stata package called -spmap- is now available 
from the SSC Archive.
-spmap- is aimed at visualizing various kinds of spatial data, and is 
particularly suited for drawing thematic maps and displaying the results of 
spatial data analyses. For those who have Stata 9, -spmap- completely 
supersedes its predecessor -tmap-.
Among the new features of -spmap-:
1) Simple to complex maps of many kinds can be created by superimposing 
onto a base map several layers of five types of spatial objects (polygons, 
points, polylines, arrows, labels).
2) Noncontiguous area cartograms.
3) Two kinds of diagram maps.
4) Scalebar.
5) Proper management of missing data.
6) Better error trapping.
7) Improved flexibility of graph formatting.
To give a quick idea of -spmap- capabilities, the help file contains 
several examples that can be run with simple mouse clicks -- provided (a) 
all the ancillary files have been downloaded, and (b) Stata is run from the 
directory where the ancillary files are located.
The help file should contain enough detail to allow any motivated user to 
learn how to use -spmap- and to tackle the complexity of the program. 
However, I'll be glad to clarify any doubt about -spmap- that might remain 
after reading the help file -- although I must admit that I myself have 
explored only a small part of the (potential) capabilities of the program. 
As always, any bug report will be gratefully appreciated.
Many members of the Stata community have contributed -- directly or 
indirectly -- to the development of -spmap-: many thanks to all of them.
Best,
Maurizio

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