Dear listers, We are happy to announce the release of marmap0.6, a free and open-source R package for importing, plotting and analyzing bathymetric and topographic data. http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0073051 http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/marmap/index.html One of the primary goal of the package is to allow the production of publication-ready sampling maps for ecologists, through easing automatic retrieval of xyz data from the NOAA. Functions to query data (bathymetry, sampling information…) are available interactively by clicking on marmap maps. Bathymetric and topographic data can also be used to calculate projected surface areas within specified depth/altitude intervals, and constrain the calculation of realistic shortest path distances. Such information can be used in molecular ecology, for example, to evaluate genetic isolation by distance in a spatially-explicit framework. We are still working on adding functions to marmap, for example to automatically space pie charts on maps, plot EEZ, 12 nm limits, or ICES regions, and we welcome ideas on how to improve marmap (bugs, new functions, etc)! Best regards, Eric Pante and Benoit Simon-Bouhet