What is GIS ?
GIS softwares are categorized into commercial or proprietary, open source software and other GIS softwares. GIS stands for Geographical Information System. Following section lists GIS solution providers and GIS software companies.
• It is business information management system which helps to capture, analyze and represent
spatial information on a map.
• GIS software runs on computers ranging from powerful server to software on the mobile phone.
• GIS tools help to visualize geographic data as maps, graphs or charts. Hence
patterns and trends can easily be identified unlike spreadsheets.
• There are three common representations of spatial data used in GIS viz. vector, raster and
triangulated. Each of these are used for particular kinds of information and their analysis.
GIS is used for following applications.
• land use planning
• landscape assessment and planning
• transportation and infrastructure planning
• market analysis
• facilities management
• real estate analysis
• used by police to discover patterns in crimes
• used by retailers to find appropriate place for their proposed stores
• used by utility companies for power outages
• used by conservation orgnizations for prediction of global warming effects
GIS software companies | GIS Solution providers
Following tables 1 to 3 mentions list of software companies with their different types of GIS products or solutions.
Commercial or proprietary GIS software
Following table-1 mentions list of GIS solution providers who have developed commercial or proprietary GIS softwares.
| Company | commercial GIS Software description |
|---|---|
| ESRI | GIS software products include ArcMap, ArcView 3.x, ArcGIS, ArcSDE, ArcIMS, ArcWeb etc. |
| Autodesk | Mapguide product which interfaces with AutoCAD software package. |
| Cadcorp | The company is developer of GIS software and OpenGIS standard. |
| Intergraph | GIS software products include GeoMedia, GeoMedia Professional, GeoMedia WebMap. |
| Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging | ERDAS Imagine is a proprietary GIS software. It is also used for remote sensing, photogrammetry. |
| SuperGeo | Products are superGIS desktop and extensions, SuperPad Suite, SuperWebGIS and extensions, SuperGIS Engine and extensions, SuperGIS network server and GIS services. |
| Clark Labs | IDRISI - A proprietary GIS product |
| Microsoft | The company has developed MapPoint a proprietary GIS product. |
| MapInfo | Products include MapInfo Professional and MapXtreme. Integrates GIS software, data and services |
| Caliper | Products include Maptitude, TransCAD, TransModeler. Develops GIS and only GIS for transportation. |
| STAR-APIC | European GIS developer, offers GIS products, Spatial data servers, GIS based business solutions etc. |
| CARIS | GIS systems for hydrography and cadastral systems. |
| GMS | 3D environment for building geologic and groundwater models. |
| Oracle | The company offers "Oracle Spatial" which allows users to perform basic geographic operations and store common spatial data types in a native oracle environment. |
| Safe Software | SPatial ETL products which include FME, spatialDirect, ArcGIS etc. |
| TatukGIS | Products include GIS development toolkit, internet Map server, GIS editor, Free GIS viewer, Aerial Imagery Corrector. |
| Axes Systems | Axpand - A proprietary GIS cartography product. It consists of modules for data import/export, automatic generalization, visualization, on screen editing, pre-print configuration etc. |
Open source GIS software
Following table-2 mentions list of GIS software companies who have developed open source GIS softwares.
| Company/Product | open source GIS Software description |
|---|---|
| US Army corps of engineers | developed GRASS |
| University of Minnesota | Developed "Mapserver" which is web based mapping server |
| GeoTools | It is open source GIS toolkit developed using Java which uses open geospatial consortium specifications. |
| gvSIG | It is also open source GIS developed in Java. |
| ILWIS | This product integrates image, vector and thematic data. |
| MapWindow GIS | It is free, open source GIS desktop application and programming component. |
| MetaCarta | Developed "OpenLayers" which is an open source AJAX library for accessing geographical data layers of all kinds. |
| Quantum GIS (QGIS) | It is user friendly open source GIS which runs on Linux, Unix, Mac OSX and windows. |
| TerraView | This GIS desktop handles vector and raster data stored in a relational and geo-relational database. |
Other GIS software companies
Following table-3 mentions list of other GIS softwares.
| Company/Tool | GIS Softwares |
|---|---|
| DDTI | Developed "AccuGlobe" which is a fully functional GIS and geoanalysis software platform for windows. It is available free of charge but it is not open source. |
| A-prime Software | Developed Crossview which is wizard based ArcGIS Plug-in. |
| Telogis | Developed "GeoBase" which is geospatial platform. real-time processing for reverse-geocoding, geofencing etc. can be done. |
| INPE | Developed GIS software called SPRING |
| SavGIS | Free and complete GIS software available in french, english, spanish. |
| OpenStreetMap | Online map viewer with map editing capability. |
Conclusion : The table mentions few examples of GIS software companies. The GIS industry is continually evolving and there are many other regional and specialized players in the market as well. It's recommended to analyze and evaluate the specific needs before selecting a GIS solution provider.
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