A GIS software program is a computer program to support the use of a

geographic information system A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and Geographic information system software, software that store, manage, Spatial analysis, analyze, edit, output, and Cartographic design, visualize Geographic data ...

, 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 Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

architectures."GIS Software - A description in 1000 words"
S. Steiniger and R. Weibel

History

The earliest geographic information systems, such as the Canadian Geographic Information System started in 1963, were bespoke programs developed specifically for a single installation (usually a government agency), based on custom-designed data models. During the 1950s and 1960s, academic researchers during the

quantitative revolution In geography, the quantitative revolution (QR) was a paradigm shift that sought to develop a more rigorous and systematic methodology for the discipline. It came as a response to the inadequacy of regional geography to explain general spatial d ...

of geography began writing computer programs to perform

spatial analysis Spatial analysis is any of the formal Scientific technique, techniques which study entities using their topological, geometric, or geographic properties, primarily used in Urban design, Urban Design. Spatial analysis includes a variety of techni ...

, especially at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

and the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, but these were also custom programs that were rarely available to other potential users. SYMAP - LAB-LOG 1980

Perhaps the first general-purpose software that provided a range of GIS functionality was the Synagraphic Mapping Package (SYMAP), developed by Howard T. Fisher and others at the nascent

Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis The Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis (1965 to 1991) pioneered early cartography, cartographic and architectural computer applications that led to integrated GIS, geographic information systems (GIS). Some of the Labor ...

starting in 1965. While not a true full-range GIS program, it included some basic mapping and analysis functions, and was freely available to other users. Through the 1970s, the Harvard Lab continued to develop and publish other packages focused on automating specific operations, such as SYMVU (3-D surface visualization), CALFORM ( choropleth maps), POLYVRT ( topological vector data management), WHIRLPOOL (

vector overlay Vector overlay is an operation (or class of operations) in a geographic information system (GIS) for integrating two or more vector spatial data sets. Terms such as ''polygon overlay'', ''map overlay'', and ''topological overlay'' are often used ...

), GRID and IMGRID (

raster file:Rgb-raster-image.svg, upright=1, The Smiley, smiley face in the top left corner is a raster image. When enlarged, individual pixels appear as squares. Enlarging further, each pixel can be analyzed, with their colors constructed through comb ...

data management), and others. During the late 1970s, several of these modules were brought together into Odyssey, one of the first commercial complete GIS programs, released in 1980. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, GIS was emerging in many large government agencies that were responsible for managing land and facilities. Particularly, federal agencies of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

government developed software that was by definition in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

because of the

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act (United States) of 1966 * F ...

, and was thus released to the public. Notable examples included the Map Overlay and Statistical System (MOSS) developed by the Fish & Wildlife Service and

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

(BLM) starting in 1976; the

PROJ In algebraic geometry, Proj is a construction analogous to the spectrum-of-a-ring construction of affine schemes, which produces objects with the typical properties of projective spaces and projective varieties. The construction, while not funct ...

library developed at the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

(USGS), one of the first programming libraries available; and

GRASS GIS ''Geographic Resources Analysis Support System'' (commonly termed ''GRASS GIS'') is a geographic information system (GIS) software suite used for geospatial data management and analysis, image processing, producing graphics and maps, spatial and ...

originally developed by the Army Corps of Engineers starting in 1982. These formed the foundation of the open source GIS software community. The 1980s also saw the beginnings of most commercial GIS software, including

Esri Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., doing business as Esri (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational geographic information system (GIS) software company headquartered in Redlands, California. It is best known for ...

ARC/INFO in 1982;

Intergraph Intergraph Corporation was an American software development and services company, which now forms part of Hexagon AB. It provides enterprise engineering and geospatially powered software to businesses, governments, and organizations around the w ...

IGDS in 1985, and the Mapping Display and Analysis System (MIDAS), the first GIS product for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

personal computers, which later became MapInfo. These would proliferate in the 1990s with the advent of more powerful personal computers,

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

, and the 1990 U.S. Census, which raised awareness of the usefulness of geographic data to businesses and other new users. Several trends emerged in the late 1990s that have significantly changed the GIS software ecosystem leading to the present, by moving in directions beyond the traditional full-featured desktop GIS application. The emergence of

object-oriented programming Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of '' objects''. Objects can contain data (called fields, attributes or properties) and have actions they can perform (called procedures or methods and impl ...

languages facilitated the release of component libraries and

application programming interface An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software Interface (computing), interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that des ...

s, both commercial and open-source, which encapsulated specific GIS functions, allowing programmers to build spatial capabilities into their own programs. Second, the development of spatial extensions to object-relational database management systems (also both open-source and commercial) created new opportunities for data storage for traditional GIS, but also enabled spatial capabilities to be integrated into enterprise

information systems An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems comprise four components: task, people, structu ...

, including business processes such as

human resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ' ...

. Third, as the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is an information system that enables Content (media), content sharing over the Internet through user-friendly ways meant to appeal to users beyond Information technology, IT specialists and hobbyis ...

emerged,

web mapping Web mapping or an online mapping is the process of using, creating, and distributing maps on the World Wide Web (the Web), usually through the use of Web GIS, Web geographic information systems (Web GIS). A web map or an online map is both served ...

quickly became one of its most popular applications; this led to the development of Server-based GIS software that could perform the same functions as a traditional GIS, but at a location remote from a client who only needed a web browser installed. All of these have combined to enable emerging trends in GIS software, such as the use of

cloud computing Cloud computing is "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to International Organization for ...

software as a service Software as a service (SaaS ) is a cloud computing service model where the provider offers use of application software to a client and manages all needed physical and software resources. SaaS is usually accessed via a web application. Unlike o ...

(SAAS), and

smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...

s to broaden the availability of spatial data, processing, and visualization.

Types of software

The software component of a traditional geographic information system is expected to provide a wide range of functions for handling spatial data: * ''Data management'', including the creation, editing, and storage of geographic data, as well as transformations such as changing

coordinate systems In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine and standardize the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The coordinates are no ...

and converting between raster and vector models. * ''Spatial analysis'', including a range of processing tools from basic queries to advanced algorithms such as

network analysis Network analysis can refer to: * Network theory, the analysis of relations through mathematical graphs ** Social network analysis, network theory applied to social relations * Network analysis (electrical circuits) See also *Network planning and d ...

and

* ''Output'', especially

cartographic design Cartographic design or map design is the process of crafting the appearance of a map, applying the principles of design and knowledge of how maps are used to create a map that has both Applied aesthetics, aesthetic appeal and practical function. ...

. The modern GIS

software ecosystem ''Software Ecosystem'' is a book written by David G. Messerschmitt and Clemens Szyperski that explains the essence and effects of a "software ecosystem", defined as a set of businesses functioning as a unit and interacting with a shared market for ...

includes a variety of products that may include more or less of these capabilities, collect them in a single program, or distribute them over the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

. These products can be grouped into the following broad classes: ;Desktop GIS application :The traditional form of GIS software, first developed for mainframes and minicomputers, then

Unix Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

workstation A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or computational science, scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating syste ...

s, and now

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

s. A desktop GIS program provides a full suite of capabilities, although some programs are modularized with extensions that can be purchased separately. ;Server GIS application :A program which runs on a remote

server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides requested information for other programs or devices, called clients. Role * Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending custome ...

(usually in concert with an

HTTP server A web server is computer software and underlying hardware that accepts requests via HTTP (the network protocol created to distribute web content) or its secure variant HTTPS. A user agent, commonly a web browser or web crawler, initiates ...

), handling many or all of the above functions, taking in requests and delivering results via the

. Thus, the client typically accesses server capabilities using a normal web browser. Early server software was focused specifically on

, only including the output phase, but current server GIS provides the full suite of functions. This server software is at the core of modern

cloud-based Cloud computing is "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to International Organization for ...

platforms such a
ArcGIS Online
;Geospatial library :A

software component A software component is a modular unit of software that encapsulates specific functionality. The desired characteristics of a component are reusability and maintainability. Value Components allow software development to assemble software ...

that provides a focused set of documented functions, which software developers can incorporate into their own programs. In modern

languages such as C#,

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language and core technology of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. Ninety-nine percent of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior. Web browsers have ...

and

Python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (prog ...

, these are typically encapsulated as classes with a documented

(API). ;

Spatial database A spatial database is a general-purpose database (usually a relational database) that has been enhanced to include spatial data that represents objects defined in a geometric space, along with tools for querying and analyzing such data. Most ...

:An extension to an existing database software program (most commonly, an object-relational database management system) that creates a geometry datatype, enabling spatial data to be stored in a column in a table, but also provides new functions to query languages such as

SQL Structured Query Language (SQL) (pronounced ''S-Q-L''; or alternatively as "sequel") is a domain-specific language used to manage data, especially in a relational database management system (RDBMS). It is particularly useful in handling s ...

that include many of the management and analysis functions of GIS. This enables database managers and programmers to perform GIS functions without traditional GIS software. The current software industry consists of many competing products of each of these types, in both

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

and

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

forms. Many of these are listed below; for a direct comparison of the characteristics of some of them, see Comparison of geographic information systems software.

Open source software

The development of open source GIS software has—in terms of software history—a long tradition with the appearance of a first system in 1978. Numerous systems are available which cover all sectors of geospatial data handling.

Desktop GIS

The following open-source desktop GIS projects are reviewed in Steiniger and Bocher (2008/9): *

– Geospatial data management, vector and raster manipulation - developed by the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wor ...

gvSIG gvSIG, geographic information system (GIS), is a desktop application designed for capturing, storing, handling, analyzing and deploying any kind of referenced geographic information in order to solve complex management and planning problems. gv ...

– Mapping and geoprocessing with a 3D rendering plugin * ILWIS (Integrated Land and Water Information System) – Integrates image, vector and thematic data. *

JUMP GIS Java Unified Mapping Program (JUMP) is a Java based vector and raster GIS and programming framework. Current development continues under the OpenJUMP name. Features As featured on the project's website: * Platform independent (Windows, Linux, ...

/ OpenJUMP ((Open) Java Unified Mapping Platform) – The desktop GISs OpenJUMP, SkyJUMP, deeJUMP and Kosmo all emerged from JUMP. * MapWindow GIS – Free desktop application with plugins and a programmer library *

QGIS QGIS is a geographic information system (GIS) software that is free and open-source. QGIS supports Windows, macOS, and Linux. It supports viewing, editing, printing, and analysis of geospatial data in a range of data formats. Its name comes from ...

(previously known as Quantum GIS) – Powerful cartographic and geospatial data processing tools with extensive plug-in support *

SAGA GIS System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses (SAGA GIS) is a geographic information system (GIS) computer program, used to edit spatial data. It is free and open-source software, developed originally by a small team at the Department of Physical Ge ...

(System for Automated Geoscientific Analysis) – Tools for environmental modeling, terrain analysis, and 3D mapping * uDig – API and source code (Java) available. Besides these, there are other open source GIS tools: * Generic Mapping Tools – A collection of command-line tools for manipulating geographic and Cartesian data sets and producing PostScript illustrations. * FalconView – A mapping system created by the Georgia Tech Research Institute for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

. A free, open source version is available. * Kalypso – Uses Java and GML3. Focuses mainly on numerical simulations in water management. * TerraView – Handles vector and raster data stored in a relational or geo-relational database, i.e. a frontend for

TerraLib TerraLib is an open-source geographic information system (GIS) software library. It extends object-relational database management systems (DBMS) to handle spatiotemporal data types. Using TerraLib, the TerraView open-source GIS was developed, ...

. * Whitebox GAT – Cross-platform, free and open-source GIS software.

Other geospatial tools

Apart from desktop GIS, many other types of GIS software exist.

Web map servers

GeoServer In computing, GeoServer is an open-source server written in Java that allows users to share, process and edit geospatial data. Designed for interoperability, it publishes data from any major spatial data source using open standards. GeoServer h ...

– Written in Java and relies on GeoTools. Allows users to share and edit geospatial data. *

MapGuide Open Source MapGuide Open Source is a web-based map-making platform that enables users to quickly develop and deploy web mapping applications and geospatial web services. The application was introduced as open-source by Autodesk in November 2005, and the co ...

– Runs on Linux or Windows, supports Apache and IIS web servers, and has APIs (PHP, .NET, Java, and JavaScript) for application development. *

Mapnik Mapnik is an open-source mapping toolkit for desktop and server based map rendering, written in C++. Artem Pavlenko, the original developer of Mapnik, set out with the explicit goal of creating beautiful maps by employing the sub-pixel anti-al ...

– C++/Python library for rendering - used by

OpenStreetMap OpenStreetMap (abbreviated OSM) is a free, Open Database License, open geographic database, map database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveying, surveys, trace from Ae ...

. *

MapServer MapServer is an open-source development environment for building spatially enabled internet applications, built in the C language, and is widely known as one of the fastest Web mapping engines available. It can run as a CGI program or via MapSc ...

– Written in C. Developed by the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

Spatial database management systems

PostGIS PostGIS ( ) is an open source software program that adds support for geographic objects to the PostgreSQL object-relational database. PostGIS follows the Simple Features for SQL specification from the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). PostGIS is ...

– Spatial extensions for the open source

PostgreSQL PostgreSQL ( ) also known as Postgres, is a free and open-source software, free and open-source relational database management system (RDBMS) emphasizing extensibility and SQL compliance. PostgreSQL features transaction processing, transactions ...

database, allowing geospatial queries. *

ArangoDB ArangoDB is a graph database system developed by ArangoDB Inc. ArangoDB is a multi-model database system since it supports three data models (graphs, JSON documents, key/value) with one database core and a unified query language AQL (ArangoDB Qu ...

– Builtin features available for Spatial data management, allowing geospatial queries. *

SpatiaLite SpatiaLite is a spatial extension to SQLite, providing vector geodatabase functionality. It is similar to PostGIS, Oracle Spatial, and SQL Server with spatial extensions, although SQLite/SpatiaLite aren't based on client-server architecture: th ...

– Spatial extensions for the open source

SQLite SQLite ( "S-Q-L-ite", "sequel-ite") is a free and open-source relational database engine written in the C programming language. It is not a standalone app; rather, it is a library that software developers embed in their apps. As such, it ...

database, allowing geospatial queries. *

– Provides advanced functions for GIS analysis. * OrientDB – Builtin features available for Spatial data management, allowing geospatial queries.

Software development frameworks and libraries (for web applications)

* GeoBase (Telogis GIS software) –

Geospatial Geographic data and information is defined in the ISO/TC 211 series of standards as data and information having an implicit or explicit association with a location relative to Earth (a geographic location or geographic position). It is also call ...

mapping software available as a

software development kit A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools in one installable package. They facilitate the creation of applications by having a compiler, debugger and sometimes a software framework. They are normally specific t ...

. * OpenLayers – Open source

AJAX Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

library for accessing geographic data layers of all kinds, originally developed and sponsored by

MetaCarta MetaCarta is a software company that developed one of the first search engines to use a map to find unstructured data, unstructured documents. The product uses natural language processing to georeference text for customers in Defense industry, de ...

. * Leafletjs – Open source JavaScript Library for Mobile-Friendly Interactive Maps

Software development frameworks and libraries (non-web)

* GeoTools – Open source GIS toolkit written in

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, using

Open Geospatial Consortium The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is an international voluntary consensus standards organization that develops and maintains international standards for geospatial content and location-based services, sensor web, Internet of Things, Geographi ...

specifications. *

GDAL The Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) is a computer software library for reading and writing raster and vector geospatial data formats (e.g. shapefile), and is released under the permissive X/MIT style free software license by the ...

/ OGR *

Orfeo toolbox In computer science, Orfeo Toolbox (OTB) is a software library for processing images from Earth observation satellites. OTB was initiated by the French space agency (CNES) in 2006. The software is released under a free licence; a number of contr ...

Cataloging application for spatially referenced resources

GeoNetwork opensource The GeoNetwork opensource (GNOS) project is a free and open source (FOSS) cataloging application for spatially referenced resources. It is a catalog of location-oriented information. Outline It is a standardized and decentralized spatial informat ...

– A catalog application to manage spatially referenced resources * pycsw – pycsw is an OGC CSW server implementation written in Python

Other tools

Commercial or proprietary GIS software

Desktop GIS

Note: Almost all of the companies below offer Desktop GIS and WebMap Server products. Some such as Manifold Systems and Esri offer Spatial

DBMS In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and ana ...

products as well.

Companies with high market share

Autodesk Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that provides software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquarte ...

– Products that interface with its

AutoCAD AutoCAD is a 2D and 3D computer-aided design (CAD) software application developed by Autodesk. It was first released in December 1982 for the CP/M and IBM PC platforms as a desktop app running on microcomputers with internal graphics control ...

software package include Map 3D, Topobase, and MapGuide. *

Bentley Systems Bentley Systems, Incorporated is an American-based software development company that develops, manufactures, licenses, sells and supports computer software and services for the design, construction, and operation of infrastructure. The company' ...

– Products that interface with its

MicroStation MicroStation is a CAD software platform for two- and three-dimensional design and drafting, developed and sold by Bentley Systems and used in the architectural and engineering industries. It generates 2D/3D vector graphics objects and elements ...

software package include Bentley Map and Bentley Map View. * ENVI – Utilized for image analysis, exploitation, and hyperspectral analysis. * ERDAS IMAGINE – Products include Leica Photogrammetry Suite, ERDAS ER Mapper, ERDAS ECW/JP2 SDK (

ECW (file format) ECW (Enhanced Compression Wavelet) is a proprietary wavelet compression image format used for aerial photography and satellite imagery. It was developed by Earth Resource Mapping, which is now owned by Intergraph, part of Hexagon AB. It is a lo ...

) and ERDAS APOLLO. *

– Products include

ArcMap ArcMap is the former main component of Esri's ArcGIS suite of geospatial processing programs. Used primarily to view, edit, create, and analyze geospatial data. ArcMap allows the user to explore data within a data set, symbolize features accordi ...

ArcGIS ArcGIS is a family of client, server and online geographic information system (GIS) software developed and maintained by Esri. ArcGIS was first released in 1982 as ARC/INFO, a command line-based GIS. ARC/INFO was later merged into ArcGIS De ...

ArcSDE ArcSDE (Arc Spatial Database Engine) is a server-software sub-system (produced and marketed by Esri) that aims to enable the usage of relational database management systems for spatial data. The spatial data may then be used as part of a geodat ...

, ArcIMS, ArcWeb services and

ArcGIS Server ArcGIS Server is the core server geographic information system (GIS) software made by Esri. ArcGIS Server is used for creating and managing GIS Web services, applications, and data. ArcGIS Server is typically deployed on-premises within the organ ...

. *

– Products include G/Technology, GeoMedia, GeoMedia Professional, GeoMedia WebMap, and add-on products for industry sectors, as well as

photogrammetry Photogrammetry is the science and technology of obtaining reliable information about physical objects and the environment through the process of recording, measuring and interpreting photographic images and patterns of electromagnetic radiant ima ...

. * MapInfo – Desktop GIS

MapInfo Professional MapInfo Pro is a desktop geographic information system (GIS) software developed by Precisely, used for mapping and location analysis. It was formerly developed by Pitney Bowes Software and the MapInfo Corporation. History Version 4 of the p ...

. * Smallworld

Companies with minor but notable market share

Cadcorp Cadcorp Limited is a British owned and run company established in 1991. Cadcorp has its headquarters in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, U.K. Cadcorp has a network of distributors and value added resellers (VARs) around the world. Cadcorp is an ISO 9 ...

– Products include Cadcorp SIS, GeognoSIS, mSIS and developer kits. *

Caliper Calipers or callipers are an instrument used to measure the linear dimensions of an object or hole; namely, the length, width, thickness, diameter or depth of an object or hole. The word "caliper" comes from a corrupt form of caliber. Many ty ...

– Products include Maptitude, TransModeler and TransCAD. *

Conform Conformity or conformism is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms, politics or being like-minded. Norms are implicit, specific rules, guidance shared by a group of individuals, that guide their interactions with oth ...

by GameSim – Software for fusing and visualizing elevation, imagery, vectors, and LiDAR. The fused environment can be exported into 3D formats for gaming, simulation, and urban planning. * Dragon/ips – Remote sensing software with GIS capabilities. * Geosoft – GIS and data processing software used in

natural resource Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...

exploration Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

. * GeoTime – software for 3D visual analysis and reporting of location data over time; an ArcGIS extension is also available. * Global Mapper – GIS software package currently developed by Blue Marble Geographics; originally based on USGS dlgv32 source code. *

Golden Software Golden Software LLC is a privately held, American company based in Golden, Colorado. It develops and markets a small catalog of GIS and scientific software. Founded in 1983, Golden Software was the first to market three-dimensional surface ...

– GIS and scientific software. Products include ''Surfer'' for gridding and contouring, ''MapViewer'' for thematic mapping and spatial analysis, ''Strater'' for well or borehole logging and cross sections, ''Voxler'' for true 3D well and component mapping, ''Didger'' for digitizing and coordinate conversion, and ''Grapher'' for 2D and 3D graphing. * Kongsberg Gallium Ltd. – Products include InterMAPhics and InterView. * MapDotNet – Framework written in C#/.NET for building WPF, Silverlight, and HTML5 applications. *

Manifold System Manifold System is a geographic information system (GIS) software package developed by Manifold Software Limited that runs on Microsoft Windows. Manifold System handles both vector and raster data, includes spatial SQL, a built-in Internet Map Se ...

– GIS software package. * RegioGraph by GfK GeoMarketing – GIS software for business planning and analyses; company also provides compatible maps and market data. *

RemoteView RemoteView is the family name of a group of software programs designed by Textron Systems Geospatial Solutions to aid in analyzing satellite or aerial images of the Earth's surface for the purpose of collecting and disseminating geospatial intell ...

* SuperMap Inc. – a GIS software provider that offers Desktop, Component, Web, and Mobile GIS. *

TerrSet TerrSet (formerly IDRISI) is an integrated geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing software developed by Clark Labs at Clark University for the analysis and display of digital geospatial information. TerrSet is a PC raster-based s ...

(formerly IDRISI) – GIS and Image Processing product developed by Clark Labs at

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research uni ...

. *

TNTmips TNTmips is a geospatial analysis system providing a fully featured GIS, RDBMS, and automated image processing system with CAD, TIN, surface modeling, map layout and innovative data publishing tools. TNTmips has a single integrated system with an i ...

by MicroImages – a system integrating desktop GIS, advanced image processing, 2D-3D-stereo visualization, desktop cartography, geospatial database management, and webmap publishing.

GIS as a service

Many suppliers are now starting to offer

based services as well as or instead of downloadable software and/or data. These can be free, funded by advertising or paid for on subscription; they split into three areas: *

SaaS Software as a service (SaaS ) is a cloud computing service model where the provider offers use of application software to a client and manages all needed physical and software resources. SaaS is usually accessed via a web application. Unlike oth ...

– Software as a Service: Software available as a service on the Internet **

Online – Esri's cloud based version of ArcGIS ** CartoDB – Online mapping platform that offers an open source, cloud based SaaS model ** Google Earth#Google_Earth_Engine; Provides algorithms and a large catalog of public data for global scale spatial computation. **

Mapbox Mapbox is an American provider of custom online maps for websites and applications such as Foursquare, Lonely Planet, the ''Financial Times'', The Weather Channel, Instacart, and Strava. Since 2010, it has rapidly expanded the niche of custom ...

– Provider of custom online maps for websites ** MapTiler – Provider of customizable maps for applications and websites. *

PaaS Platform as a service (PaaS) or application platform as a service (aPaaS) or platform-based service is a cloud computing service model where users provision, instantiate, run and manage a modular bundle of a computing platform and applications, w ...

– Platform as a Service:

geocoding Address geocoding, or simply geocoding, is the process of taking a text-based description of a location, such as an address or the name of a place, and returning geographic coordinates, frequently latitude/longitude pair, to identify a locati ...

or analysis/processing services **

Online ** FME Cloud **

Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panorama, interactive panoramic views of streets (Google Street View, Street View ...

API version 3 ** Here Maps

API version **

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

Bing Bing most often refers to: * Bing Crosby (1903–1977), American singer * Microsoft Bing, a web search engine Bing may also refer to: Food and drink * Bing (bread), a Chinese flatbread * Bing (soft drink), a UK brand * Bing cherry, a varie ...

Geocode Dataflow API **

US Census The United States census (plural censuses or census) is a census that is legally mandated by the Constitution of the United States. It takes place every ten years. The first census after the American Revolution was taken in 1790 under Secretar ...

Geocoder * DaaS – Data as a Service: data or content services **

Online **

Apple Maps Apple Maps is a web mapping service developed by Apple Inc. As the default map system of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS, it provides directions and estimated times of arrival for driving, walking, cycling, and public trans ...

** Here Maps **

** Microsoft

Bing Maps Bing Maps (previously Live Search Maps, Windows Live Maps, Windows Live Local, and MSN Virtual Earth) is a web mapping service provided as a part of Microsoft's Bing suite of search engines and powered by the Bing Maps Platform framework which al ...

Spatial DBMS

* Boeing's Spatial Query Server – Spatially enables Sybase ASE. * IBM Db2 – Allows spatial querying and storing of most spatial data types. *

Informix Informix is a product family within IBM's Information Management division that is centered on several relational database management system (RDBMS) and multi-model database offerings. The Informix products were originally developed by Inform ...

– Allows spatial querying and storing of most spatial data types. *

MySQL MySQL () is an Open-source software, open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). Its name is a combination of "My", the name of co-founder Michael Widenius's daughter My, and "SQL", the acronym for Structured Query Language. A rel ...

– Allows spatial querying and storing of most spatial data types. *

Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft SQL Server is a proprietary relational database management system developed by Microsoft using Structured Query Language (SQL, often pronounced "sequel"). As a database server, it is a software product with the primary function of ...

(2008 and later) – GIS products such as MapInfo and Cadcorp SIS can read and edit this data while Esri and others are expected to be able to read and edit this data at some point in the future. *

Oracle Spatial Oracle Spatial and Graph, formerly Oracle Spatial, is a free option component of the Oracle Database. The spatial features in Oracle Spatial and Graph aid users in managing geographic and location-data in a native type within an Oracle database, p ...

– Product allows users to perform geographic operations and store spatial data types in an Oracle environment. Most commercial GIS packages can read and edit spatial data stored in this way. *

SAP HANA SAP HANA (HochleistungsANalyseAnwendung or High-performance ANalytic Application) is an in-memory, column-oriented, relational database management system developed and marketed by SAP SE. Its primary function as the software running a datab ...

– Allows users to store common spatial data types, load spatial data files with well-known text (WKT) and well-known binary (WKB) formats and perform spatial processing using

. Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) certification allows third party GIS software providers to store and process spatial data. GIS products such as ArcGIS from Esri work with HANA. *

Teradata Teradata Corporation is an American software company that provides cloud database and Analytics, analytics-related software, products, and services. The company was formed in 1979 in Brentwood, California, as a collaboration between researchers a ...

– Teradata geospatial allows storage and spatial analysis on location-based data which is stored using native geospatial data-types within the Teradata database. *

VMDS VMDS abbreviates the relational database technology called Version Managed Data Store provided by GE Energy as part of its Smallworld technology platform and was designed from the outset to store and analyse the highly complex spatial and topol ...

– Version managed data store from Smallworld.

Geospatial Internet of Things

* SensorUp – SensorUp provides the Cloud hosting and SDKs, based on the

SensorThings API SensorThings API is an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard providing an open and unified framework to interconnect Internet of Things, IoT sensing devices, data, and applications over the Web. It is an open standard addressing the Interope ...

standard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gis Software Lists of software