Is there a good mapping program and/or a character data base?

[Jürgen Hubert]

I am not too familiar with a GIMP, but I am very graphic program proficient. I know and work with programs like Photoshop, Illustrator and Signlab all day long and even have fairly good knowledge of other programs like Authorware, Director and 3D Studio Max. So I can pick up almost any graphic program in a matter of minutes because most are fundamentally the same in most features.

Then I will plug my Cartography Workshop again - most of it is done with GIMP and Inkscape (another freely available Open Source program).