NEW ZEALANDGIS History
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John McCombs

PersonJohn McCombs Becoming a GIS profession

John McCombs of Christchurch’s Integrated Mapping maintained NZ-GIS and a MapInfo FAQ. Bill Thoen’s later account identifies McCombs as his partner in establishing MapInfo-L in 1994 and as the person distributing its early monthly logs. NIWA’s 2022 DAS database presentation also names Integrated Mapping and McCombs in the early-to-mid-2000s development of DASmap using MapServer and Python MapScript.

Sources · 2
  1. Bill Thoen, MapInfo-L forum archive recollection on the origins of MapInfo-L
  2. NIWA DAS database upgrade presentation, Integrated Mapping / John McCombs development note

Bill Thoen later recorded establishing the international MapInfo-L mailing list with Christchurch MapInfo reseller John McCombs in 1994, and near-contemporary sources independently identify McCombs's MapInfo FAQ and New Zealand GIS mailing-list support. MapInfo expanded access to desktop mapping and analysis. A practitioner facing a projection, conversion or software problem could seek help between conferences and across national boundaries.

Sources · 1
  1. Chapter 29 · User groups become infrastructure
Sources and further reading · 3
  1. Bill Thoen, MapInfo-L forum archive recollection on the origins of MapInfo-L
  2. NIWA DAS database upgrade presentation, Integrated Mapping / John McCombs development note
  3. Chapter 29 · User groups become infrastructure

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