View source for Open Source GIS Software

An Overview of Free & Open Source Desktop GIS (FOS-GIS) 

== Desktop GIS ==
[[File:Projectsmap_v1_150dpi_grey.jpg|300px|thumb|right|A selection of FOS GIS Software Projects 2011]] Below you can find links to two tables that should give an overview of free Desktop GIS and projects. Desktop GIS means thereby that we did not include map web server tools or basic GIS libraries. Please be aware that this listing is probably not comprehensive and that the comparison was done '''End of 2007'''. However, I some of the articles below are newer.

[[File:Accept.png]] '''OS Desktop GIS - general overview table''' 	
* [[File:Page_world.png‎]] [http://www.geo.uzh.ch/~sstein/foss4gcompare/Desktopgis_overview.htm html] 	
* [[File:Page_word.png‎]] [http://www.geo.uzh.ch/~sstein/foss4gcompare/Desktopgis_overview.doc word-doc] 	


[[File:Add.png]] '''OS Desktop GIS - functionality table'''
* [[File:Page_world.png‎]] [http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Albk_XRkhVkzdGxyYk8tNEZvLUp1UTUzTFN5bjlLX2c&hl=en Google Docs spreadsheet] - 2010 version (note, things are ordered a bit different)
* [[File:Page_word.png‎]] [http://www.geo.uzh.ch/~sstein/foss4gcompare/osgis_functionality.htm hmtl] - 2007 version
* [[File:Page_world.png‎]] [http://www.geo.uzh.ch/~sstein/foss4gcompare/osgis_functionality.doc word-doc] - 2007 version 	


[[File:Delete.png]] '''GIS software that does not qualify for the tables above 	'''
* [[Non FOSS4G Software]]
	
The tables can be altered on request. Please write to sstein[-at-]geo.uzh.ch - and preferably add the tables with your changes (use for instance word doc + track changes mode)

== My Articles on free GIS ==
We also wrote one article that provides some more information on the desktop GIS projects and additionally contains an introduction on open source licenses and FOSGIS organizations (the first link). A second article presents a better "user-oriented" introduction, but focuses also more on the general GI(S) tools for landscape ecology - and not only desktop GIS. The third article concentrates on several free GIS tools, not just Desktop GIS.
	
* '''An Overview on Current Free and Open Source Desktop GIS Developments.''' (revised version from Sept. 2008 - [http://sourceforge.net/projects/jump-pilot/files/w_other_freegis_documents/articles/sstein_foss_desktop_gis_overview_ijgis2009_v2.pdf/download pdf]; final 2009 version [http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13658810802634956 DOI: 10.1080/13658810802634956])
	
* '''Free and Open Source Geographic Information Tools for Landscape Ecology.''' (revised version from July 2009 - [http://sourceforge.net/projects/jump-pilot/files/w_other_freegis_documents/articles/sstein_freegitools_ecoinf2009.pdf/download pdf]; final version [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2009.07.004 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2009.07.004])

* '''Free and open source GIS software for building a spatial data infrastructure.''' (revised version from May 2010 - [http://sourceforge.net/projects/jump-pilot/files/w_other_freegis_documents/articles/sstein_hunter_fosgis4sdi_v10_final.pdf/download pdf]; in press; [http://www.ogrs2009.org/ OGRS 2009] proceedings published by Springer). I have also given a talk on this - see the video on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j7PLVJlvfE&annotation_id=annotation_186410&feature=iv youtube] & [http://sourceforge.net/projects/jump-pilot/files/w_other_freegis_documents/presentations/sstein_free_open_source_gis_software_for_spatial_data_infrastructures_sdi_cossfest2010.pdf/download slides].

== Notes ==

* [http://www.dpi.inpe.br/spring/english/index.html Spring GIS] will be "open-sourced" in the near future.

* I also got some [[comments on FOSGIS]] from Gianni with a vendor perspective on the article and the tables

* Since people asked me a couple of times what free GIS is my favourit I decided to published my [[subjective answer on selecting a free GIS]].

* The [http://www.gisvm.com/ GISVM project] offers a Linux distribution (Ubuntu) that contains several of the FOSS Desktop GIS above (e.g. QGIS, gvSIG, OpenJUMP, UDig,..), on one CD for download.

* There is also the [http://live.osgeo.org/ LiveDVD] project of the OSGeo foundation if you want to have a first look on the mentioned software.

== Other FOS-GIS related comparisons ==
* The GeoTux team did a [http://geotux.tuxfamily.org/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=comparaci%F3n-de-clientes-ligeros-web-para-sig-v.2.html&Itemid=59&lang=en webmap client comparison] (i.e. MapFish, MapBuilderm etc.). It should be updated every 6 months.
* Atle Frenvik Sveen wrote a n interesting thesis on how to evaluate and select a FOS (desktop) GIS for companies/projects called: "[http://www.geo.uzh.ch/~sstein/pubothers/sveen_fos_gis_evaluation_2008.pdf Use of Free and Open Source GIS in Commercial Firms]" (it's from Dec. 2008)
* I came across this [http://www.toddbuchanan.net/thesis_ver.pdf thesis by Todd R. Buchanan] (2005) that compares the desktop GIS GRASS 6.0 and ArcGIS 9.0
* The [http://www.bostongis.com/PrinterFriendly.aspx?content_name=sqlserver2008_postgis_mysql_compare Boston GIS Blog] compared the following database systems SQL Server 2008 Spatial, PostgreSQL/PostGIS 1.3-1.4 and MySQL 5-6 (in May 2008)  	
	
== Websites with listings of free GIS software (projects) ==
* http://www.freegis.org 	
* http://www.opensourcegis.org 	
* http://www.osgeo.org
* If you ever wanted to know what the [http://www.openstreetmap.org OpenStreetMap] project is, then I recommend to watch [http://www.fosslc.org/drupal/node/422 this video] by [http://www.weait.com/ Richard Weait].



<small>
'''Acknowledgments:'''<br>
I have to thank numerous people of the different projects for contributing information: GRASS & QGIS: Markus Neteler, Otto Dassau, Marco Hugentobler and Stefan Holl; KOSMO: Manuel Navarro; MapWindow: Daniel Ames, uDig: Jody Garnet and Jesse Eichar, SAGA: Olaf Conrad; ILWIS: Martin Schouwenburg; OpenJUMP: Michael Michaud, DeeJUMP: Andreas Schmitz; PirolJUMP: Arnd Kielhorn; SkyJUMP: Larry Becker; gvSIG: Mario Carrera; and OrbisGIS: Erwan Bocher.  I would like to thank Ralf Tauscher, Jan-Oliver Wagner and others for comments and suggestions on foregoing presentation slides and first manuscript versions. The icons used on this page are from [http://www.famfamfam.com/ FAMFAMFAM]. Finally many thanks to Gary Sherman for hosting the previous page.</small>