diva-gis.org would like to announce the release of DIVA-GIS ver. 5.2. DIVA-GIS is a free computer (ms windows) program for mapping and analysis of spatial data. Its pricipal goal is to support biodiverisity research. It can be downloaded from http://www.diva-gis.org

Version 5 includes numerous improvements. For example, there is expanded support for species distribution modeling, the use of stacks (multiple grids), and the use of very large files. The manual has also been updated.

While we work on the next major release, we will continue to refine the manual and try to fix any bugs in this version. As always, we welcome bug reports and suggestions for additional functionality.

Other news: A beta-version of AVID-GIS, a command line program that allows for easy scripting has been released and is also available from the same website. Its functions are a subset of those available in DIVA-GIS.