Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
GIS Desktop Software
In order to manipulate your GIS assets you need a good desktop application—preferably
one that not only allows you to view and manipulate your data, but also allows you to import
and export data with relative ease.
The latter point is also important because the sole purpose of some applications is to move
data into and out of your system, and other applications are made only for viewing data.
Applications for moving data are commonly known as ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load)
packages. ETL packages are available for many database engines in general, not just for
those designed to manipulate geospatial data.
Fortunately, most software allows you to do both. Starting with these packages, here are
some of the more well-known ones:
ESRI ArcGIS
One of the big players in the market, ESRI, has been providing GIS and mapping software
now for over 20 years. The software is like many GIS packages: quite expensive, and
certainly outside the price range for most hobbyists and small and medium enterprises. ESRI
does, however, offer a free product called ArcGIS Explorer Desktop that can be used to
make basic maps and produce your own mapping data.
One thing to note about ArcGIS Explorer Desktop is that it can be used to look at imagery
from Bing's and Google's mapping services. As you can see in the following screenshot, I've
marked some features in the City Centre of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England:
Figure 5: A Modified Existing Map in ArcGIS Explorer Desktop
You can find out more about ArcGIS Desktop Explorer and other ESRI software at
www.esri.com/software/arcgis/explorer .
Pitney Bowes MapInfo
MapInfo, like the ESRI suite, is a large commercial package designed with the enterprise in
mind. I know from my own experience that it's used by a lot of utilities companies such as
 
 
 
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