[Freegis-list] map composing software?

[Joe Desbonnet]

I am constructing my own street map of a town in Ireland (as our national
Ordinance Survey charge ridiculous fees for use of their data).

I am doing the surveying myself using a GPS unit (now that SA is off I am
getting excellent quality data). I've already written a Java map viewer (see
http://www.wombat.ie/java/galwayexplorer/ )

Currently I construct the map data by manually entering co-ordinates into a
text file. I find this very, very tedious and has been the main obstacle to
completing this project.

I'm looking for software whereby I can compose the map graphically by
importing all my raw GPS points and maybe some aerial photos and then
drawing over this layer with line segments, polygons etc.

Can anyone suggest something that might suit my needs? Ideally this software
should run on Linux/unix, but I would consider using Windows if necessary.

Regards,

Joe Desbonnet
joe at galway.net