Mapnik is an opensource c++/python toolkit for developing gis (geographic information systems) applications. at the core is a c++ shared library providing algorithms/patterns for spatial data access and visualization.

essentially a collection of geographic objects (map, layer, datasource, feature, geometry), the library doesn't rely on "windowing systems" and is intended to work in multi-threaded environments

high-level python bindings (boost.python) facilitate rapid application development, targeting zope3, django, etc.

this package is a transitional package, and can be safely removed if nobody depends on it.