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You don ' t has to pay a king's ransom to map the world.
This is because your can do it all with free GIS software.
The best part is:
These free GIS software give your firepower to get the job do as if you ' re working withcommercial GIS Softwa Re.
We ' ve mapped out the GIS software landscape, but these (out of) reign supreme for freemappingsoftware.
1 qgis–formerly Quantum GISHighlights: Community all-in-one cartography Plugins gisgeography favorite
After running the most epic GIS software battle in GIS History of ArcGIS vs QGIS, we illustrated and differences why Q GIS is undoubtedly the #1 free GIS software.
QGIS is jam-packed with hidden gems at your fingertips. Automate map production, process geospatial data, and generate drool-worthy cartographic figures.
There ' s no other free mapping software on the This list the lets you map like a rock star than QGIS.
QGIS Plugins Boost This mapping software to a state of epicness. If the tool doesn ' t exist, search for plugin developed by the QGIS community.
Volunteer effort is key to its success. The QGIS Stack Exchangesupport is impressively great.
You're insane download the free GIS software QGIS. Here's your beginner ' s Guide to QGIS to get your feet wet.
2 GVSIGHighlights: 3D tools compatibility CAD tools Data Management
In 2004, the GvSIG project emerged as a free, open source GIS software option in Spain.
We illustrate in this GvSIG guide and review Why do we like it much:
GvSIG really outperforms QGIS for 3D. It really is the most 3D visualization available in open source GIS.
The navtable is agile in that it allows your to see records one-by-one vertically.
The CAD tools is impressive on GvSIG. Thanks to the Opencad Tools, you can trace geometries, edit vertices, snap and split lines and polygons.
GvSIG Mobile brings GIS to your mobile phone. This extension are perfect for field work because of its interface and GPS tools.
3 Whitebox GATHighlights: LiDAR Tools Hydrology gisgeography favorite
Yes, Whitebox GAT (geospatial analysis Toolbox) was #3 on the list of open source, free GIS software.
Unbelievably, Whitebox GAT have only been around since the because it feels so fine-tuned when you see it in action.
There ' s a hydrology theme around Whitebox GAT. It actually replaced Terrain analysis System (TAS) –a tool for hydro-geomorphic applications.
Whitebox GAT is really a full-blown open-access GIS and remote sensing software package.
Where It shines is lidar!
With no barriers, Whitebox GAT is the Swiss-army knife of LiDAR data.
The LiDAR Toolbox is a life-saver. LAS to Shapefiles are an insanely useful tool. You could need a Java update to go with full throttle though.
The cartographic mapping software tools is primitive compared to QGIS.
But overall Whitebox GAT are solid with over 410 tools to clip, convert, analyze, manage, buffer and extract geospatial inf Ormation.
I find it amazing this free GIS software almost goes unheard of the GIS industry.
Get more useful knowledge from the Whitebox GAT Open Source Blog.
4 SAGA GISHighlights: geoscientific Tools Ease of Use gisgeography favorite
SAGA GIS (System for automated geoscientific analyses) are one of the classics in the world's free GIS software.
It started out primarily for terrain analysis such as hillshading, watershed extraction and visibility analysis.
Now, SAGA GIS are a powerhouse because it delivers a fast growing set of geoscientific methods to the Geoscientific Communi Ty.
Enable multiple windows to lay out all your analysis (map, histograms, scatter plots, attributes, etc). It provides both a user-friendly GUI and API.
It's not particularly useful in cartography but it's a lifesaver in terrain analysis.
Closing gaps in raster data sets are easy. The Morphometry tools are unique including the SAGA topographic wetness index and topographic position classification. If you have a DEM, and don ' t know-what-does with it–you need-to-look at SAGA GIS.
Overall, it ' s quick, reliable and accurate. Consider SAGA GIS a prime choice for environmental modeling and other applications.
Read More:saga GIS (System for automated geoscientific analyses) Review and guide
5 GRASS GISHighlights: Community analysis Tools
GRASS GIS (geographic Resources analysis Support System) is developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers as a tool for LAN D Management and environmental planning.
It has evolved to a free GIS software option for different areas of study.
Academia, environment consultants and government agencies (NASA, NOAA, USDA and USGS) use GRASS GIS because of its intuiti ve GUI and its reliability.
It has over rock-solid vector and raster manipulation tools.
Not awfully useful in cartographic design, GRASS GIS excels primarily as a free GIS software option for analysis, Image PR ocessing, digital terrain manipulation and statistics.
6 MapwindowHighlights: Hydrology Plugins Programmer Tools
Mapwindow GISWith Mapwindow, your can do GIS without the dependency of commercial GIS software.
Once commercial GIS software in ... since 2004 it ' s become open source GIS through a contract with the US EPA called ' Ba Sins '. The source code is released to the public.
Mapwindow does about 90% of the What GIS users need –map Viewer, identify features, processing tools and print layou T.
It has some higher level tools such as Taudem for automatic watershed delineation.
Sometimes, it ' s unstable, unsmooth ...
When you start separating the winners from the losers, Mapwindow surprisingly have some serious punch.
It's being re-architected with a model builder tool, tiling, table editing and a Ribbon style menu for version 5.
7 ILWISHighlights: Open Source Ease of Use
Free GIS software users rejoice.
Once Commercial GIS software, now turned into open source GIS.
ILWIS (Integrated Land and Water information Management) are a oldie but a goodie.
The Extinction-proof ILWIS is free GIS software for planners, biologists, water managers and geospatial users.
ILWIS is good at the basics–digitizing, editing, displaying geographic data.
It ' s also used for remote sensing with tools for image classification, enhancements and spectral band manipulation.
8 GeoDaHighlights: Open Source geostatistics
GeoDa SoftwareGeoDa is a free GIS software program primarily used to introduce new users into spatial data analysis.
It ' s main functionality is Geostatistics.
Perform autocorrelation, descriptive and regression statistics with GeoDa. See GeoDa's complete list of features for everything.
It's an exciting analytical tool which includes labs users from Harvard, MIT and Cornell universities.
This free GIS sifted serves as a gentle introduction to spatial analysis for Non-gis users.
It ' s used in a range of areas such as economic development health and real estate.
9 UDigHighlights: Open Source Ease of Use Basic Mapping
UDIG is an acronym to help get a better understanding what's this free GIS software are all about.
When you start the digging into UDig, it's a nice open source GIS software option for basic mapping.
UDig ' s Mapnik lets you import basemaps with the same tune as ArcGIS
Easy-to-use, the catalog, symbology and MAC OS functionality are some of the strong points.
But the limited tools and the bugs bog it down.
Ten OpenJUMPHighlights: Open Source conflation
Formerly jump GIS, OpenJUMP GIS (JAVA Unified Mapping Platform) started as a first class conflation project.
It succeeded. But eventually grew into something much bigger.
A large community effort grew openjump into a more complete free GIS softwarepackage.
IT handles large data sets well. Rendering is above-grade with a whole slew of mapping options like pie charts, plotting and choropleth maps.
OpenJUMP GIS Plugins enhance its capabilities. There is plugins for editing, raster, printing, web-processing, spatial analysis, GPS and databases.
Conflate data and do a whole lot more.
Diva GISHighlights: Open Source Biology Data
Biologists using GIS unite!
Diva GIS is another free GIS software the package for mapping and analyzing data.
This one specializes in mapping biological richness and diversity distribution including DNA data.
It ' s possible to extract climate data for all locations on the land.
From here, there is statistical analysis and modeling techniques to work with.
Diva GIS also delivers useful, every day free GIS data for your mapping needs.
It ' s worth a long look for biologists around the world.
FalconviewHighlights: Open Source fly-throughs
The initial purpose of Falconview is-a free and open source GIS software.
The most of Falconview ' s users is from the US Department of Defense and other national geospatial Intelligence agencies. This is the because it can used for combat flight planning.
In SkyView mode, you can Fly-through even using MXD files.
Georgia Tech built this open software for displaying various types of maps and geographically referenced overlays.
It supports various types of display like elevation, satellite, LiDAR, KMZ and MrSID.
OrbisgisHighlights: Open Source
Orbisgis is a work-in-progress.
Its goal are to are a cross-platform open source GIS software package designed by and for the.
It provides some GIS techniques to manage and share spatial data. Orbisgis is able to process vector and raster data models.
It can execute processes like noise maps or hydrology process without any add-ons. Orbis GIS Plug-ins is available but is very limited for the time-being.
The developers is still working on the documentation. You could want to look elsewhere until this project gets the sturdy up in its feet.
Free GIS software Options:map the world in Open Source
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