Global Mapper is a

geographic information system A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing Geographic data and information, geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with Geographic information system software, sof ...

(GIS) software package currently developed by

Blue Marble Geographics Blue Marble Geographics is a developer and provider of geographic information system software products focused on data translation. They provide software products and services for working with GIS data in different formats. Blue Marble is a mem ...

that runs on

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. The GIS software competes with

ESRI Esri (; Environmental Systems Research Institute) is an American multinational geographic information system (GIS) software company. It is best known for its ArcGIS products. With a 43% market share, Esri is the world's leading supplier of GIS ...

GeoMedia Hexagon Geospatial's (a division of Intergraph Corporation) GeoMedia Professional is a geographic information system (GIS) management solution for map generation and the analysis of geographic information with smart tools that capture and edit ...

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 Ser ...

, and MapInfo GIS products. Global Mapper handles both vector, raster, and elevation data, and provides viewing, conversion, and other general GIS features. Global Mapper has an active user community with a mailing list and online forums.

History

In 1995 the

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

was in need of a Windows viewer for their data products, so they developed the dlgv32 application for viewing their DLG (Digital Line Graph) vector data products. Between 1995 and 1998 the dlgv32 application was expanded to include support for viewing other

data products, including DRG (topographic maps) and DEM (digital elevation model) and SDTS-DLG and SDTS-DEM data products. The development process is described in detail in the

paper titled 'A Programming Exercise'. In 1998 the

released the source code for dlgv32 v3.7 to the public domain. In 2001, the source code for dlgv32 was further developed by a private individual into the commercial product dlgv32 Pro v4.0 and offered for sale via the internet. Later that same year the product was renamed to '
Global Mapper
'' and become a commercial product of the company Global Mapper Software LLC. The

was distributing a version of the software under the name dlgv32 Pro (Global Mapper). On November 2, 2011

, at the annual user conference, announced they had purchased Global Mapper LLC.

Global Mapper Releases

Since the initial commercialization of the Global Mapper product in 2001, there have been yearly major product releases and numerous intermediate point releases adding additional functionality to the software. A mobile version of Global Mapper, Global Mapper Mobile, was released in 2016.

References

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External links

Global Mapper website
GIS companies GIS software