This work presents two examples of palaeobiogeographic reconstruction, one Triassic and one Cenozoic, using the Interactive Data Language® (IDL) programming environment. IDL is devoted to geoscientists, but few palaeontologists actually use it, although it offers many useful tools through its large array of pre-packaged routines. IDL’s flexibility can be used to generate clear and straightforward visualizations of simulation results and interpolation methods for personal Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

IDL was used in the first example to simulate the biodiversity evolution of planktonic species (and especially ammonoids) in the Early Triassic palaeogeographic context, based on a general 2D biogeographic model with a constrained spreading of random phylogenies. Principal results of this global scale simulation are that the formation of a marine latitudinal gradient of species richness mainly depends on the shape and magnitude of the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) gradient, and the geographic location of the group’s ancestor. Thus, the recovery pattern of the Early Triassic ammonoids species richness can be simulated and explained by a general increasing trend in steepness of the SST gradient.

The second example describes the use of IDL to model biodiversity indices and ecomorphological parameters for large European Neogene continental mammals on palaeogeographic maps. A custom-designed GIS was created facilitating the monitoring of the parameters involved in spatial interpolation of the data. Comparisons with the present-day distribution of large European mammals are also drawn and allow us to recognize that a broad North/South aridity gradient already existed by the Late Miocene with more open environments in Southern Europe.

These two examples illustrate some of the multiple IDL’s facilities when manipulating multidimensional datasets. With a minimum knowledge of computer programming, this meta-language offers an array of easily usable tools for a large proportion of palaeontologists.