This is a comparison of notable GIS software. To be included on this list, the software must have a linked existing article.
The selection of GIS software is a non-trivial task typically undertaken at project commencement. The use of appropriate selection criteria and methodology can be critical to a project's success, with considerations including outlay costs, ease of use, data and system harmonization and maintenance, incorporation of advances in technology, and downstream system integration. [1] [2] [3]
GIS software | Free software | Open source | Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | Web | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ArcGIS | Viewer(s) | No | Yes | No [4] | No | No | Yes | Yes | Google Earth Plugin, KML, WMS |
Autodesk | Viewer(s) | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
Cadcorp | Viewer(s) | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
Deegree | Yes | Yes | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | Yes | No |
Erdas Imagine | Viewers & Plug-ins | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
FME [5] | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | FME Cloud [6] | No |
GeoBase - Telogis | Trial | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Traffic, WMS, ADAS, Routing |
GeoNetwork | Yes | Yes | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | Yes | No |
GeoServer | Yes | Yes | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | No |
GeoTools | Yes | Yes | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | No | No |
GRASS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | via pyWPS [7] | No |
gvSIG | Yes | Yes | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | No | No |
IDRISI | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
ILWIS | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
GeoMedia | Viewer(s) | No | Yes | No | No | No | CLIX | Yes | KML |
JUMP GIS | Yes | Yes | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | No | No |
Kosmo | Yes | Yes | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | No | No |
LandSerf | No | No | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | No | No |
MapDotNet | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | |
Manifold System | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
Microsoft MapPoint | Discontinued | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
Pitney Bowes MapInfo Pro | Viewer(s) | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
MapServer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | AMP | No |
Maptitude Caliper software | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
MapWindow GIS | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Oracle Spatial | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
PostGIS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
QGIS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Google Earth Plugin, KML, WMS |
RegioGraph | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
RemoteView | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
SAGA GIS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | KLM |
SAP HANA | Free Trial | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
Smallworld | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Read-only | OLE, XML, Multiuser, Utility Data Model, Data Translator export/import |
SPRING | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Solaris | No | No |
TerraLib TerraView | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
TNTmips | Viewer(s) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
TransModeler Caliper Software | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
uDIG | Yes | Yes | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | No | No |
GIS software | Free software | Open source | Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | Web | Other |
Name | Language | WMS | WFS | WFS-T | WCS | WMC | SLD | FES | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ArcGIS Server | .NET/Java | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | SOAP, REST, KML |
MapServer | C | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Deegree | Java | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |
GeoServer | Java | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
MapDotNet | C#/.NET | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | SOAP and REST feature and map services |
Manifold System | ASP C# | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | client and server |
GeoMedia WebMap | ASP C# | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | No |
Name | Language | WMS-C | Other |
---|---|---|---|
ArcGIS Server | .NET/Java | No | |
MapDotNet | C#/.NET | No | File-based and SQL Server |
Name | Language | WMS | WFS | GeoRSS | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
OpenLayers | JavaScript | Yes | Yes | Yes | support for navigation, icons, markers, and layer selection. |
Leaflet | JavaScript | Yes [8] | Yes | No | support for navigation, icons, markers, layers, GeoJSON |
MapDotNet | JavaScript/HTML5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | digitizing, wkt rendering, draggable icons and content, geospatial queries (intersection, overlapping) |
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Project management is the process of leading the work of a team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints. This information is usually described in project documentation, created at the beginning of the development process. The primary constraints are scope, time, and budget. The secondary challenge is to optimize the allocation of necessary inputs and apply them to meet pre-defined objectives.
Benchmarking is the practice of comparing business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and best practices from other companies. Dimensions typically measured are quality, time and cost.
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In the theory of decision making, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), also analytical hierarchy process, is a structured technique for organizing and analyzing complex decisions, based on mathematics and psychology. It was developed by Thomas L. Saaty in the 1970s; Saaty partnered with Ernest Forman to develop Expert Choice software in 1983, and AHP has been extensively studied and refined since then. It represents an accurate approach to quantifying the weights of decision criteria. Individual experts’ experiences are utilized to estimate the relative magnitudes of factors through pair-wise comparisons. Each of the respondents compares the relative importance of each pair of items using a specially designed questionnaire. The relative importance of the criteria can be determined with the help of the AHP by comparing the criteria and, if applicable, the sub-criteria in pairs by experts or decision-makers. On this basis, the best alternative can be found.
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A GIS software program is a computer program to support the use of a geographic information system, providing the ability to create, store, manage, query, analyze, and visualize geographic data, that is, data representing phenomena for which location is important. The GIS software industry encompasses a broad range of commercial and open-source products that provide some or all of these capabilities within various information technology architectures.
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The Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo), is a non-profit non-governmental organization whose mission is to support and promote the collaborative development of open geospatial technologies and data. The foundation was formed in February 2006 to provide financial, organizational and legal support to the broader Free and open-source geospatial community. It also serves as an independent legal entity to which community members can contribute code, funding and other resources.
The Qualification and Selection of Open Source software (QSOS) is a methodology for assessing free and libre open-source software. This methodology is released under the GFDL license.
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FME, also known as Feature Manipulation Engine, is a geospatial extract, transformation and load software platform developed and maintained by Safe Software of British Columbia, Canada. FME was first released in 1996, and evolved out of a successful bid by the founders of Safe Software, Don Murray and Dale Lutz, for a Canadian Government contract to monitor logging activities.
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