We are excited to have squeezed in another UMapper release before the end of the year. Here is the list of new features and improvements:

Time Control for Markers
This feature is the first of a two part release which will allow users to control a point’s time stamp and appearance on a time-line. Now you can associate a marker with a specific time. To see the feature in action, add a marker and select Marker Date/Time option (little clock icon), then specify the time in the dialog box.

Keyboard Shortcuts
In order to streamline the map authoring process we’ve added the following keyboard shortcuts:

• Save: Ctrl+S or Shift+S
• Export ActionScript: Ctrl+E or Shift+E
• Select Tool: V
• Preview/Pointer: A
• Zoom: Z (With zoom tool selected, use Shift to zoom out on mouse click)
• Space: Hand
• Marker: M
• Line: L
• Polygon: P
• Circle: C
• Rectangle: R

KML Import
The KML import engine got significantly smarter and more tolerable of malformed KML files. We can now import fancy maps like this one.

That’s it, let us know if you see anything funky. Happy new year!

It has been a week since we started Twittering and we love it! If you’d like to get more UMapper insider info as well as some other random stuff we post, you should definitely follow us on Twitter.

The holiday season is in the full swing but you guys can’t stop creating new maps! It is getting harder to choose the map of the week as the number of new maps is steadily growing.

This week’s feature is shareyour2012.co.uk’s London Olympics 2012, an interactive map of all London 2012 Olympic Games venues. We already featured London 2012 Olympic Village Map back in October, this time around the featured map has a lot more data and is completed with some very nice pictures.

Last month we told you about a number of different ways UMapper maps are used in the real world. This time around we’d like to focus specifically on the News websites that use maps to make their stories more interactive and engaging. Our top five are:

Palm Beach Post allows its readers to explore holiday light displays in the Palm Beach area. This map was featured in our Map of the Week segment.

Gazette Online’s interactive map shows the locations and low ratings of Johnson County nursing homes.

Calgary Sun’s special report displays a map of over 30 homicides that took place in Calgary in 2008.

The Mallorca (Digital Newspaper for Mallorca, Spain) tells a story of how a Scandinavian drinking binge ends up in Mallorca.

The Sacramento Bee uses a map to show the route of the Grant High parade.

With Christmas just around the corner the South Florida Holiday Lights map brings the holiday spirit to UMapper. The map shows locations of holiday light displays in the Palm Beach area. This map was created by PalmBeachPost and is featured in the Entertainment Events section of the Palm Beach Post website.