Q: How can I find what maps and projects are currently available?

A: ApplicationGIS provides access to all the projects currently registered with the uDig instance.

ApplicationGIS.getProjects() will return all the projects currently registered with the system. Given a project all the contained elements can be searched via the getElements() method. If a single type of elements is desired such as maps the getElements( Class<T> ) method can be used. For example:

ApplicationGIS.openMap(ApplicationGIS.getProjects().get(0).getElements(IMap.class).get(0));

will return open the first map in the first registered project.