Talk:Geographic information system software

Other GIS projects

NEW: on the OSGEO website there is talk about some other projects (MapBender, Mapbuilder, MapGuide Open Source, ...) witch are not described on the wiki-page([1]) Don't now if they are the most known GIS-software dough. Please look into it for cleaning up the page. OSSIM also deserves a mention 130.226.142.243 (talk) 16:07, 23 November 2013 (UTC)ulr

Advertisement?

Is it just me, or does this page seem to be becomming an advertisement aggrigation? I mean, phrases like "leading provider", "Leading developers", "world's leading suppliers", and "vary affordable" seem like companies are dumping marketing departments on the page trying to gain sales... Perhaps some copyedit is in order? -FrYGuY 10:40, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

Okay, I'm going to clean it up by removing all software with an external link, alphabetizing the remainder, and doing copyedit to make it sound less like an advertisement, starting sometime around Jan 7th most likely. If anybody objects to this plan of action, let me know before then... -FrYGuY 09:29, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

Didn't have time yesterday or today, so those who may have reason to complain have one more day to voice their objections... -FrYGuY 10:11, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

Article cleanup

I just did further clean-up of the article (beyond Perfecto's edits), making the list of "open source" GIS just that, and not a list of "free" GIS software. Though, I made an exception for LandSerf, which turned up significant Google hits.

The list of "Notable commercial or proprietary GIS software" includes ones mentioned in the GISjobs survey of GIS professionals. This list includes some others that, as a GIS professional, I would consider notable.

The third list "Other GIS software", (not sure I like it) includes others that turned up relatively significant Google hits. There were some other GIS companies listed as well, but I removed them, as this is a list of GIS software and not companies. Finally, I added a commented-out notice in each section:

<!-- ATTENTION! DO NOT ADD SOFTWARE OR LINKS HERE WITHOUT DISCUSSION ON THE TALK PAGE. OTHERWISE THEY WILL BE REMOVED. -->

This strategy is effectively used on the Google Maps article, where editors routinely do a "Regular clean-out of undiscussed links. Please come to Talk page if you want a link to not be cleaned out regularly". I hope this helps cut down on spam and advertising.

If anyone disagrees with something specific that I deleted, please say so on the talk page here so we can discuss and reach consensus. Thanks. -Aude (talk | contribs) 04:54, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

Yes. I disagree with your deletion of OpenInfo's OpenGCL product. This product has all the functionality, and more, of ArcIMS, and is a direct competitor. The Canadian Government has contributed significant investments into this product as well, and it is being heavily promoted and used by Ontario municipalities. It is set to become the standard for Canadian GIS engines.

Traditionally, Canadian companies have had a much harder time competing than US companies. This is because of attitudes from people such as yourselves, who feel that if it is not American, or European, that it is not worth listing. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 165.154.136.7 (talk • contribs) .

Please, no personal attacks! I don't care if a product is American, Canadian, European, or what. There are plenty of 'notable' Canadian GIS products, such as Safe Software, or PCI Geomatics software products, etc., that don't have articles on Wikipedia. OpenInfo isn't even listed on Yahoo!, or on Directionsmag company directory, for example. Please see What Wikipedia is not, and Vanity guidelines for more details on Wikipedia policies. Thanks. -Aude (talk | contribs) 15:56, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

That sounds like a personal attack and a rant to me, KMF. OpenInfo is in fact listed in the DirectionsMag listing. Perhaps you should check more thoroughly. 165.154.136.7 22:50, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

It wasn't listed, but I see that you've added it to the directory. That's definitely a good marketing strategy, as that's one place that people interested in GIS go to look for products, services, and company information. It's just that Wikipedia isn't a place for advertising, and Wikipedia isn't (yet) such a good source for GIS information anyway.

Might I suggest instead that you create an account (that's if you're not User:OpenInfo) and contribute to making GIS and database topic articles better? In that way, people will get to know you through your contributions to those articles, and see your user page, where it's perfectly okay to talk about yourself, OpenInfo, and provide links to the company there. You definitely seem very knowledgable on these topics, so I hope you instead choose to make more contributions rather than just use Wikipedia to promote OpenInfo. Thanks. -Aude (talk | contribs) 00:47, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

Discuss links here

Editors regularly clean out undiscussed links from this article. Please discuss here if you want a link not to be cleaned out regularly. (You can help!)

Well, though I think it is rather silly to have my spatialite link deleted because I didn't discuss it, it nevertheless should be on this page, so please Mr., um, GIS-page-police-guy, could I link to spatialite? It is free and awesome. If you don't know why, I am not sure I can explain.... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.104.240.144 (talk) 04:44, 18 June 2010 (UTC)

I propose to add a link on this free non-commercial GIS software : AutoDEM [2] which is a efficient software to work on digitized topographic maps, DEM and contours lines. The aim of the software is to propose a set of tool to allow a conversion from one of these layers to another. Many tools are proposed and many formats are supported. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.233.83.175 (talk • contribs)

We can't possibly list every GIS software on Wikipedia, so we have software notability guidelines to follow. Can you demonstrate that AutoDEM meets these guidelines? Also, is the software open source, or just free (but not open source)? -Aude (talk | contribs) 14:48, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Links discussion notice

Guys, your Draconic comments on the main page are not in accordance with Wikipedia's "being bold" philosophy. I'll be watching this article. Kind regards,

Samsara (talk • contribs) 21:30, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Please do watch the article and help patrol for spam. This article used to be a long list of (spam) and external links. I would greatly appreciate any help with spam patrol. And, I have readded the notices to each section, so that people see it no matter which "edit" link they click. However, I have toned town these notices and added mention of Wikipedia:Notability (software) guidelines. These commented notices are the same approach used to maintain Google Maps and other articles, which are also spam magnets. -Aude (talk | contribs) 14:42, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Thank you, those notices are much more suitable. pschemp | talk 18:45, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

critique of Wikipedia GIS pages

Please see http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2006/07/04/gis-and-wikipedia/ for a well-written complaint of some of the problems with this page. I honestly don’t care if anyone fixes the GIS articles on Wikipedia as they are of no value anyway. GIS.com is more trustworthy than Wikipedia and that is saying something. And spamming Wikipedia with links to your own website or product is slimy to be the least. Either your product/website is strong enough to stand on its own and will get added into Wikipedia on its own merit, or you need to work harder at making your product/website better.

I disagree with the 'trustworthiness' of GIS.com, since it is a site sponsored by one of the largest GIS software companies, who by the way, also has their proprietary software listed on the Wikipedia page.Axpand 10:11, 5 June 2007 (UTC)mlvw

Suggest to add "PC-Axis" software to the list

I think that PC-Axis software family (PC-Axis, PX-Map, PX-Edit) should be added to the list of GIS software, maybe in the "Other software" section. PC-Axis is a family of statistical programs created by several scandinavian Statistical Offices (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark) and used by many others (Greenland, Spain, Euskadi, ...). Those offices supply their statistical maps in '.px' and 'Shapefile' format used by this software. It is copywrighted by thoose statistical offices that created it (so its not open source), but its free, and maps created are very good in my opinion. See http://www.ssb.no/en/software/pxmap/ and http://www.pc-axis.scb.se/ for more information.

Suggest adding Terralink International software to the list

Terralink International is a leading GIS software/data provider in New Zealand and Australasia.

For more information see http://www.terralink.co.nz

Suggest to add Groundwater Modeling System (GMS)

This uses mostly 3D spatial elements (Shapefiles, TINs) to show stratigraphy, boreholes, aquifers. The program is used to used to construct groundwater models -- so it is highly specialized. There is also very advanced 2D and 3D geostatistics module for defining strata, contamination plumes, etc. The program has been around since 1996, however, it has a limited number of users ... probably only a thousand or so worldwide (>$5000 per license). +mwtoews 22:23, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Suggest adding Summit Evolution

DAT/EM Systems International, the manufacturer of Summit Evolution, is an authorized business partner/developer with ESRI, Bentley, Autodesk, and PCI Geomatics. DAT/EM is not listed on Yahoo or Directions mag's directory; however, its software is used by companies that are listed (such as CH2M Hill, Intermap, and Sanborn).

Also see:

GISVision Review

DAT/EM Pairs with Microsoft

DATEM 00:56, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Bizeasset - Asset Management Software

Bizeasset supplies software currently to councils and shires in Australia and New Zealand. Built on a GIS platform, the software combines both mapping and accounting functionality to provide asset registers, valuations and long term funding requirements. Bizeasset 03:48, 8 February 2007 (UTC)chris@bizeasset.com.au

Categorization

What do people think about organizing the listed software into categories and adding a brief discussion about how the category fits into a GIS? For example:

• Desktop - view and analyse data.
• Automated cartography (overlaps with desktop...)
• CAD - great for data entry and 3D
• Spatial Databases
• Geographic Web servers
• Web clients
• Programming Librairies
• Other

Rschulz 05:54, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Other SW suggestion

• http://maps.ilog.com, programming libraries in Java
• http://mapsfordefense.ilog.com, programming libraries in Java
• http://mapviewer.ilog.com, free map viewer with 3D views

Another Web GIS Framework, Geodjango : (exists since 2008 and actively maintained)

• http://geodjango.org — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lahondes (talk • contribs) 14:35, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

Suggest adding axpand as proprietary GIS Cartography Software

axpand is a unique GIS cartography software solution that rests on a trademarked circular process. What makes this software unique is the fact that it eliminates the need for graphic design tools and external print preparation tools. Some of the other GIS systems have cartography functionality, but the functionality in axpand is unique since cartographers helped develop it. Good stuff.Axpand 10:18, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Suggest adding MAPublisher by Avenza Systems Inc. as a proprietary GIS Cartography Software

Avenza Systems has created a pair of GIS tools that are plug-ins to the popular Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop drawing platforms. Their software has been reviewed by a number of magazines and newspapers. A quick search for their products online yields a whole slew of articles and products reviews. Official site: http://www.avenza.com/ 207.35.164.99 19:37, 23 July 2007 (UTC) Krishna

Google Earth?

Is there any specific reason Google Earth is not on this list?

75.177.178.154 21:19, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Yes. It is not a GIS. We do not list CAD software for the same reason. ^rossnixon 02:00, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

GIS: "a system for capturing, storing, analyzing and managing data and associated attributes which are spatially referenced to the earth." Google Earth can do those things. Not with as much precision and ease as some other tools, but there are things which can be "captured" or "analyzed" even if they're not what you might want to manipulate. It certainly is spatially oriented. (SEWilco 19:58, 14 September 2007 (UTC))

Support adding GE and probably plenty other web-based, light-weight GISs as well. This article being a list should reflect the plentifulness of things fitting its title. There is a world of web based GISs that together most probably have by far the widest user base of all GISs. Yet hardly a mention of such software can be found on this page. (Juhoeemeli (talk) 10:54, 25 November 2010 (UTC))

Now that Google Earth Builder is out, I think that seals the deal. It's GIS software specifically targeting ESRI and trying to act as a replacement Purple Squirrel (talk) 12:38, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

And What happen with NASA World Wind and ArcGIS Explorer SDK

They are GIS software and they are more used than the others software listed in the page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.167.15.161 (talk) 22:17, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

You need to add GeoDA to the software list

The "Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science", namely Luc Anselin, has created a free piece of software called "GeoDA" that is a great tool for spatial statistics. Their website is https://www.geoda.uiuc.edu/

FYI, I don't work there, just thought it should be included in the software section. Thanks!132.175.9.2 21:24, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Is there any way to keep street maps off-line without paying for them?

After wasting a couple of hours fooling with free resources, I've become convinced that the only way you're allowed to look at a free street map is if you have some kind of internet connection going at the instant you need it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but OpenStreetMaps.org's database is a joke, and all the other OpenGIS software here is bits and pieces to let you draw a map or use some sample file. I downloaded QuantumGIS and got a program that has a 50-50 chance of crashing every time I try to import one of its low-grade map files. I wanted to see what kind of street map I could download and keep on the laptop free, after paying $$$ for DeLorme only to have my laptop crash and then find out that I'm supposed to re-buy the program to be allowed to run it on the new Vista laptops. Yeah, right. I have a better idea - save your time, use PAPER maps now and for ever! All you can do with a computer is waste the day trying to make some crap work instead of actually going on the trip! And if you say I'm wrong then for God's sake put something in the article to change my mind. 70.15.114.89 —Preceding signed but undated comment was added at 19:22, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Are Roadmap or GpsDrive in the proper article? I don't think they should be here. (SEWilco 01:29, 23 September 2007 (UTC))

Suggest adding freeware PanMap

PanMap is an 'easy-to-use' freeware to draw maps with vector and point information developed at the Alfred Wegener Institute. Gographical resources are provided in PanMaps proprietary layer format, individual data can be imported in ascii. Software is running on Windows and MacOS 9, manual in German and English. Hannes Grobe 02:10, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

Suggest adding AvisMap

AvisMap GIS Technologies designs, develops, licenses, markets, and supports Geographic Information System (GIS) focused software products and software development tools for the creation of custom GIS applications and solutions.

AvisMap Viewer: View your map and GIS data for free!

AvisMap GIS Deskpro:Simple yet powerful GIS data processing.

AvisMap GIS Engine:Royalty Free GIS SDK

AvisMap SDM:Spatial Database Engine —Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.50.134.252 (talk) 03:59, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Suggest addition: Purdue University's Multispec

Multispec [3] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.115.155.56 (talk) 14:20, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

Netcad - regarding note

I would like to add Netcad to the Other GIS Software section. Because it is the first Turkish GIS software with comprehensive modules. If there is any objection pls inform.

--Musa Semerci (talk) 11:18, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

GIS Softwares

WEhich is the best GIS softwares for various applications? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.166.40.231 (talk) 11:34, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

I would like to add Canvas GIS+ to the list of GIS software. Canvas combines GIS, CAD, and image manipulation capabilities in a way that makes certain types of mapping very simple and effective. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Swellsgis (talk • contribs) 15:03, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Suggest adding Atlas OPS as commerial GIS Software

Atlas OPS is a tool for event, civil contingency and emergency planning. OPS combines GIS and CAD data to allow event planners and emergency responders to develop plans to deal with incidents beforehand, such as planning deployment of resources, defining emergency routes, and attaching incident management plans to geographic points. During an event or incident resources can be deployed and tracked in real time.

Atlas OPS supports (amongst others) OS Mapmaster files, ESRI shapefiles, and ECW files. CAD drawings can be imported as maps allowing users to zoom in from various scales of map right into the blueprints of a building.

"~~~~"

Suggest Adding Aligned Assets as Commercial GIS Software

Classed as an orphan so trying to add links. Aligned Assets are one of the biggest gazetteer software suppliers in the UK, but please see the page to deem if appropriate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Yabasto (talk • contribs) 07:07, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Question about use of "FOSS4G" as terminology

I have seen significant usage of the acronym FOSS4G (Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial) in discussion about open source GIS. While I know that all open source is not necessarily free, this subset/terminology has a particular following, including an annual conference of the same name http://conference.osgeo.org/foss4g/2008. I wanted to ask the community what the thoughts behind this usage were- when I searched wikipedia for "FOSS4G" it came up null. Thank you - Skuld_T (talk) 22:20, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

It is a name used for annual conference run by the OSGeo, and nothing more. I think you are referring to open source software managed by the OSGeo, which is a collection of software with different licences and histories. +mt 21:57, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

Cleanup - undo by User Astronout

I tried to clean up the discussion page - with the result that Astronout did an undo and told me I should use "established archiving methods". So now my questiona:

• What are these?
• How work these?
• Did you look on what you "undid"? Pls. do so before you "undo" and pls. look if I may have done a "thoughtful" cleanup of this page.

This discussion page itself really needs a new start - so please help or don't do an "undo". I will check back for an answer in a couple of weeks. Note: I am not going to create a login just for these purposes (i.e. to write on your talk board). cheers, stefan

Changed a link

Sorry I don't even know how to use Wikipedia but there was a link for Bentley Systems that linked to the Bentley car manufacturer's wiki page. I changed it to http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/Bentley_Systems —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.57.8.11 (talk) 04:27, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

MapPoint

How is it that MapPoint was omitted from lists? The wikipedia article classifies it as GIS in the info-box. Dogru144 (talk) 17:18, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

Suggest adding Geisom

Geisom is a system used to easily access complex geographical information. It is shareware and there are two editions: Geisom Professional (editor) and Geisom Viewer (only viewer). Web site: http://www.geisom.com. 195.39.15.162 (talk) 08:36, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Simple Suggestion to Clean up Software list

It would seem appropriate or logical to alphabetize the software list or arrange them by market-share if available. The willy-nilly or "I'll move my favorite to the top of the list" is disorderly and makes one wonder about bias. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tgrissom (talk • contribs) 16:54, 14 September 2009 (UTC)

Manifold

The Manifold System is not open source and does not have major market share. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.69.217.45 (talk) 19:54, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

New Open Source GIS Project

FYI - My colleagues and I are creating an open source program for geospatial network analysis, called GISpatialNet. It has a GUI, CLI, and automated analysis via command line options. You can find it at http://spatialnet.sf.net Maybe it could be listed here? Thank you! Skamansam (talk) 16:44, 16 December 2009 (UTC)Samuel C. Tyler

Request to add Geomajas

Suggest adding Geomajas under Frameworks and Libraries (for web applications)

Geomajas – open source technology framework to build GIS web applications (Rich Internet Applications). Geomajas supports the access, display and edit of multiple geographic data sources through common web browsers. Frank Maes 25 January 2010

Looks like a great addition to me! Ryan 09 Feb 2010 —Preceding undated comment added 13:53, 9 February 2010 (UTC).

Surprised TatukGIS isn't on the list

It's been around for a while and is still an active, viable GIS product: http://gcmd.nasa.gov/records/TatukGIS.html http://www.tatukgis.com/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.53.41.118 (talk) 19:21, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

Request to add GeoCat Bridge to the list

Maybe in a (new) section with Extensions to existing products. Extensions provide useful new functionality to GIS software. GeoCat Bridge bridges between popular Desktop GIS and GIS Server software.

• GeoCat Bridge allows to edit, validate and directly publish metadata from ArcGIS Desktop to GeoNetwork (and generic CSW catalogs) and publishes data as map services on GeoServer. Several data formats and metadata profiles are supported.

ps. Sorry for previously adding it straight in. I've removed that again. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ticheler (talk • contribs) 14:24, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

Suggestion to add SuperMap to the list.

SuperMap is one of the worlds leading GIS software provider especially in Asia. It is one of the most popular GIS brands in China and top 5 GIS brands in Japan. SuperMap GIS is a complete integration of a series of GIS platform software, including Desktop GIS, Service GIS, Component GIS and Mobile GIS, which delivers GIS capabilities to all types of computers, including Desktop PCs, Servers and Mobile devices. It fulfills the needs for managing, visualizing and analyzing spatial data.--Selarlin (talk) 11:25, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

JOSM as open source GIS software

JOSM (Java OpenStreetMap Editor)

• JOSM on wikipedia.org is described as Type = GIS software.
• It is also in Category:Free GIS software (Category:Free GIS software).
• But it is not present here in this List of geographic information systems software.

Should it be included here ?

Additional details:

Search on google returns: About 1,710,000 results.

OpenStreetMap reports about 20,000 users for about 500 000 000 edits per year.

Althio (talk) 13:12, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Redundant spatial DBMS sections

There are two sections listing spatial or spatialy enabled DBMS -- should be combined. Jim.Callahan,Orlando (talk) 14:16, 8 May 2015 (UTC)

Rejection to add new Saas

I've been meaning to complete Saas providers. At least InstaGIS and Mapbox are missing there, among others.

Each time I try to do so, the changes get undone because press articles are not considered valid references, and providers themselves do not have a wikipedia article. I wonder, when whas it that wikipedia became purely a catalog of other wikipedia articles, instead of an extensive catalog of stuff that exist on its own?

Amenadiel (talk) 10:46, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

See WP:NOTCATALOG. The comment at the top of the article says to only add links to Wikipedia articles. That is the only reason why it is unsutable. If you think the product is notable, then create an article for it, and it is welcome to appear here. Thanks, added Mapbox which was missing. +mt 19:22, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

Not skilled enough to craft a whole article. I barely manage to add links and references. Thanks anyway.

Amenadiel (talk) 20:50, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

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Expansion

Given that there is no general page on GIS software as a topic (and I'm not a huge fan of list-only pages with no context), I have expanded this page from a list into a general article, adding a more complete introduction, a history, and a typology of the software. I realize this is a major change; perhaps I should have discussed it in Talk first, but this talk page does not seem very active at the moment, so I didn't know how long it would take to come to a decision.

It could probably use some more expansion, perhaps explaining the various functions and architectures in more detail. Also, I wonder if Comparison of geographic information systems software should be incorporated into this page; perhaps by merging the list and the comparison into a single sortable table. Bplewe (talk) 02:13, 30 December 2021 (UTC)