Next: Preface to version 2.0 Up: Prefaces Previous: Preface to version 3.0

# Preface to version 2.1 (Oct-1992)

Since GMT was announced in EOS in October 1991 we have seen more than 1000 ftp requests for the software, and received about 200 registration forms. The large number of new users resulted in many discoveries of bugs and ``features'' in the programs. Many of these bugs were fixed and the tar distribution was updated accordingly, resulting in versions 2.0.1 and 2.0.2. After the last release (2.0.2), enough modifications have taken place to warrant the update of the documentation and manual pages. In addition to [hopefully] killing most of the bugs, many programs have been equipped with new features. The most significant changes from 2.0 to 2.1 are:

- More map projections. We have added the Albers conic equal area, Cassini cylindrical, Orthographic, Azimuthal equidistant, Hammer equal area, Interrupted sinusoidal, and Winkler projections, bringing the number of map projections to 15.

- 3-D plotting. Most plotting programs will now accept viewpoint and vertical scale information, making it possible to plot perspective-view versions of most plots.

- Coastline data have been reformatted and are now stored using netCDF. This improves the portability of GMT and reduces the size of the distribution archive.

Specific minor enhancements to individual programs can be found in the manual pages. The documentation has been augmented to include a detailed section on the syntax of each of the map projections, including examples. An appendix (C) explaining how to convert GMT PostScript output to a Macintosh Encapsulated PostScript File (EPSF) also has been added.

Finally, we would like to thank those of you who have contributed ideas, bug reports, and advice since the first release. GMT 2.1 is a much better product than 2.0, but there are still several shortcomings that we hope to address in future releases. We are working on including a high-resolution coastline data base, more map projections, and time-series capabilities (recognizing misc. time formats at the data input/output stage, providing time axis annotation, etc.), just to name a few. As usual, information about these improvements will be announced to registered users by electronic mail.

Next: Preface to version 2.0 Up: Prefaces Previous: Preface to version 3.0