Comparison of geographic information systems software
This is a comparison of notable GIS software.
License, Source, & Operating system support
| GIS software | Free | OpenSource | Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | Web |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACCUGLOBE home | Viewer(s) | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Autodesk | Viewer(s) | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| CARIS | Viewer(s) | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Chameleon | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | AMP |
| Leica ERDAS IMAGINE | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| ESRI | Viewer(s) | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| GeoNetwork | Yes | Yes | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | Yes |
| GeoServer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Java |
| GeoTools | Yes | Yes | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | No |
| GGP GIS home | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| GRASS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | via pyWPS |
| gvSIG | Yes | Yes | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | No |
| ClarkLabs IDRISI | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| ILOG JViews Maps [1] | Viewer(s) | No | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java & DHTML/Ajax |
| ITC ILWIS | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Intergraph [2] | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | CLIX | Yes |
| (Vivid)OpenJUMP GIS | Yes | Yes | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | No |
| Kosmo Saig KOSMO | Yes | Yes | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | No |
| LandSerf | Yes | No | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | No |
| Manifold System | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Pitney Bowes MapInfo | Viewer(s) | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| UMN MapServer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | AMP |
| Caliper Maptitude | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| MapWindow GIS | Yes | Yes | Yes (ActiveX) | No | No | No | No | No |
| ThinkGeo Map Suite | Trial | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| My World GIS home | Trial | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| Oracle Spatial | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Orbit GIS home | Serve & Explore | No | Java | Java | Java | Java | Java | Flash & AJAX & Javascript |
| Panorama | No | No | "GIS Map 2005" | No | "GIS Panorama" | No | No | No |
| PostGIS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Quantum GIS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Smallworld | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
| SPRING | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Solaris | No |
| STAR-APIC home | FME Trial | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| TatukGIS home | Viewer(s) | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? |
| Caliper TransCAD | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| TerraLib TerraView | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| MicroImages TNTmips | Viewer(s) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Caliper TransModeler | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| uDIG | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| AvisMap GIS Engine home | Viewer(s) | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | DHTML |
| GIS software | Free | OpenSource | Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | Web |
Working Comparison of GIS Software
This table focuses on comparing the usefulness of free GIS software since most of them are still under development and may contain numerous bugs and glitches. The scoring system focus on comparing the packages on a scale of 1 to 5. _ = Did not evaluate 1 = Poor 2 = Not so good 3 = Acceptable 4 = Good 5 = Excellent
| GIS software | Operating System | Version | Easy to 'figure out' | Modern Interface | Shape file editing | Attribute table modifying | Printing | Help and Documentation | Glitches and problems |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| uDIG | Windows XP | 1.1-RC14 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 5 | _ | |
| Quantum GIS | Windows XP | 0.10.0-Io | |||||||
| MapWindow GIS | |||||||||
| GRASS |
Pure Server
Map Servers
| Name | Language | WMS | WFS | WFS-T | WCS | WMC | SLD | FES | Other |
| MapServer | C | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| GeoServer | Java | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |
| Basic-wms2.py | Python | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Intended as demonstration only |
Map Caches
| Name | Language | WMS-C | Other |
| TileCache | Python | Yes |
Mixed
| Name | Language | WMS | WFS | WFS-T | WCS | WMC | Other |
| Mapbender | PHP | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | A Geo-CMS that provides interfaces for displaying, navigating, querying, and editing WMS, WFS, WFS-T, and WMC data sources. |
| Mapbuilder | PHP or Java | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Set of javascript widgets that provide interfaces for displaying, navigating, querying, and editing WMS, WFS, WFS-T, and WMC data sources. Uses OpenLayers as the rendering engine. Provides server-side script for saving the map as a WMC document. |
Catalog Servers
| Name | As a server | As a client | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Z39.50 | CSW 2.0 | OAI-MPH | OpenSearch | OpenSearch GEO | RSS | GeoRSS | WebDav | Z39.50 | CSW 2.0 | OAI-MPH | OpenSearch | OpenSearch GEO | RSS | GeoRSS | WebDav | |
| GeoNetwork | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Pure Client
Libraries
| Name | Language | WMS | WFS | GeoRSS | Other |
| WMS-Map | Javascript | Yes | No | No | allow the creation of dynamic maps including simple zoom functionality and clickable googlemap-like overlays. |
| OpenLayers | Javascript | Yes | Yes | Yes | support for navigation, icons, markers, and layer selection. |
| QuickWMS | Javascript | Yes | No | Yes | |
| CivicMaps Tile Engine | Javascript | Yes | No | No | drag and zoom. Intended for integration with Drupal. |
Apps
| Name | Language | WMS | WFS | GeoRSS | Other |
| Mscross | Javascript | Yes | Yes | No | an AJAX Web GIS client |
| WorldKit | Flash | No | No | Yes |