Talk:List of GIS software

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PLEASE ADD NEW COMMENTS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE AND SIGN THEM USING "~~~~". THANK YOU.


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.

Hi, please excuse if I added this note to the wrong place but it looks to me as if I'm supposed to. I would like to have added my GIS solution for people doing sports. It can read and write GPX files and enables the user to visually plan routes for workout exercises. I currently list it this way: TrailRunner - route-planning for all kinds of sports with iPod directions export. The home-page link is http://www.trailrunnerx.com TrailRunner is a MacOS X 10.4 only freeware and I am a single person developer maintaining it. I was also member of all the GIS related speeches at Wikimania in Frankfurt. The speeches where the reason I have implemented the GPX standard. So thank's to everyone being part of that effort. - [[2]] berbie.

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)

Contents

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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!)

I propose to add a link on this free non-commercial GIS software : AutoDEM [3] 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] Bizeasset - Asset Management Software

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

[edit] 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)

[edit] Other SW suggestion

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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

[edit] 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))

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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))

[edit] 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)


[edit] Suggest addition: Purdue University's Multispec

Multispec [4] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.115.155.56 (talk) 14:20, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)