NAME
   Image::WorldMap - Create graphical world maps of data

SYNOPSIS
     my $map = Image::WorldMap->new("earth-small.png", "maian/8");
     $map->add(4.91, 52.35, "Amsterdam.pm");
     $map->add(-2.355399, 51.3828, "Bath.pm");
     $map->add(-0.093999, 51.3627, "Croydon.pm");
     $map->draw("test.png");

DESCRIPTION
   This module helps create graphical world maps of data, such as the Perl
   Monger World Map (http://www.astray.com/Bath.pm/). This module takes in
   a number of label locations (longitude/latitude) and outputs an image.
   It can attach text to the labels, and tries to make sure that labels do
   not overlap.

   It is intended to be used to create images of information such as "where
   are all the Perl Monger groups?", "where in the world are all the CPAN
   mirrors?" and so on.

   This module comes with a low-resolution image of the world. Additional
   larger images have not been bundled with the module due to their size,
   but are available at: http://www.astray.com/WorldMap/

METHODS
 new

   The constructor. It takes two mandatory arguments, the filename of the
   image of the earth used for the background, and whether or not to
   display labels.

   The label option is actually a font size and name. You must have a local
   truetype font in your directory. The font name format is
   "font_name/size". For example. If there is a font file called cinema.ttf
   somewhere in the font path you might use "cinema/20" to load a 20 pixel
   sized font of cinema.

     # Without labels
     my $map = Image::WorldMap->new("earth-small.png");

     # With labels
     my $map = Image::WorldMap->new("earth-small.png", "maian/8");

 add

   This adds a node to the map, with an optional label. Longitude and
   latitude are given as a decimal, with (0, 0) representing a point on the
   Greenwich meridian and the equator and (-180, -180) top-left and (180,
   180) bottom-right on a projection of the Earth.

     $map->add(-2.355399, 51.3828, "Bath.pm");

 draw

   This draws the map and writes it out to a file. The file format is
   chosen from the filename, but is typically PNG.

     $map->draw("text.png");

NOTES
   This module tries hard to make sure that labels do not overlap. This is
   an NP-hard problem. It currently uses a simulated annealing method with
   Inline::C to speed it up. It could be faster still.

   The label positioning method used is random: if you run the program
   again, you will get a different set of label positions, which may or may
   not be better.

COPYRIGHT
   Copyright (C) 2001, Leon Brocard

   This module is free software; you can redistribute it or modify it under
   the same terms as Perl itself.

AUTHOR
   Leon Brocard, [email protected]