Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) released the source code this week for its PC-based mapping application, FalconView. Until now, the software's primarily user has been the U.S. Department of Defense, but is now accessible to local and state governments, emergency responders, educational institutions, and anyone who wants to check out what kinds of mapping tools governmental agencies like the Air Force have used (the Air Force uses FalconView in conjunction with its Portable Flight Planning Software.)
FalconView has advantages over most of the free mapping software products because FalconView can be used without an active Internet connection, says FalconView development team member Joel Odom. Someone can take a file they're viewing in another program and look at it in FalconView to get a top-down two-dimensional view that they can thoroughly analyze even if they're in a boat in the middle of the ocean without a satellite uplink and downlink.
