The foundation of The JUMP-Project is a suite of free, open-source applications that provide an extensible API and graphic user interface (GUI) for viewing and manipulating spatial data-sets.
http://www.jump-project.org/

"Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose." - Walt Whitman, Song Of The Open Road

There Is No Map for the Journey Towards Happiness
"I have a map that leads you to the world's great treasure," someone once said.
The neighbor saw the map and killed the owner. He then took the map, read it carefully, and set out to find the treasure. Not long after, he reached the place marked on the map and there, just as had been promised, he found a pile of diamonds and gold. The person sat upon the glittering treasure and died years later, full of sorrow and regret.
"I have a map that leads you to the world's great treasure," someone once said to her neighbor.
"How much do you want for it?" the neighbor asked, eager for the wealth that was promised.
"It is yours without charge," she said. "All I ask is that you take me along with you."
The neighbor grabbed the map from the woman's hand and ran as fast as she could. Having fled far enough so she knew she wouldn't be caught, she carefully looked at the map and followed step-by-step until she came upon the diamonds and the gold, just as had been promised. She rested now and sat on top of the glittering jewels. She sat there for many days and many months and many years, always full of regrets, until one day she died.
"I have a map that leads you to the world's great treasure," someone said to his neighbor.
"What do I have to do to see this map?" the neighbor asked.
"Take me along with you," the owner said.
So the neighbor did. The two looked at the map carefully, discussing which direction to take and what to bring with them. Then they set out along the road together. When they came to a fork, they studied the map, but they didn't always agree which way to go. They raised their voices and they argued about which turns to take. Finally, they settled on one of the paths and continued on their way. They argued and discussed what to do every time they had to decide which way to go.
They picked nuts and found clean water. They made new shoes and repaired the tears in their clothes. They built shelters and sang. They sometimes argued about the best way to reach the treasure.
The map grew yellow from age and worn from many folds. And when the two died, they did so with no regrets.

"Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom." - Albert Einstein
"The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind." - Albert Einstein
"Only those who risk going too far can possibly know how far one can go." - T.S. Eliot
"To dream anything that you want to dream, that is the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do, that is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself, to test your limits, that is the courage to succeed." - Bernard Edmonds
"The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor." - Aristotle
"The basis of creativity has always been a new connection. To make connections would take hours using words. Your subconscious has to use pictures." -William J. J. Gordon
"It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it." -Jacob Bronowski
"Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every conceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing." -Thomas Huxley
(many more at http://www.livejournal.com/users/rehuxley/ )