A GIS software program is a computer program to support the use of a geographic information system, providing the ability to create, store, manage, query, analyze, and visualize geographic data, that is, data representing phenomena for which location is important. The GIS software industry encompasses a broad range of commercial and open-source products that provide some or all of these capabilities within various information technology architectures.
History The earliest geographic information systems, such as the Canadian Geographic Information System started in 1963, were bespoke programs developed specifically for a single installation (usually a government agency), based on custom-designed data models. During the 1950s and 1960s, academic researchers during the quantitative revolution of geography began writing computer programs to perform spatial analysis, especially at the University of Washington and the University of Michigan, but these were also custom programs that were rarely available to other potential users.
Perhaps the first general-purpose software that provided a range of GIS functionality was the Synagraphic Mapping Package (SYMAP), developed by Howard T. Fisher and others at the nascent Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis starting in 1965. While not a true full-range GIS program, it included some basic mapping and analysis functions, and was freely available to other users. Through the 1970s, the Harvard Lab continued to develop and publish other packages focused on automating specific operations, such as SYMVU (3-D surface visualization), CALFORM (choropleth maps), POLYVRT (topological vector data management), WHIRLPOOL (vector overlay), GRID and IMGRID (raster data management), and others. During the late 1970s, several of these modules were brought together into Odyssey, one of the first commercial complete GIS programs, released in 1980. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, GIS was emerging in many large government agencies that were responsible for managing land and facilities. Particularly, federal agencies of the United States government developed software that was by definition in the public domain because of the Freedom of Information Act, and was thus released to the public. Notable examples included the Map Overlay and Statistical System (MOSS) developed by the Fish & Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) starting in 1976; the PROJ library developed at the United States Geological Survey (USGS), one of the first programming libraries available; and GRASS GIS originally developed by the Army Corps of Engineers starting in 1982. These formed the foundation of the open source GIS software community. The 1980s also saw the beginnings of most commercial GIS software, including Esri ARC/INFO in 1982; Intergraph IGDS in 1985, and the Mapping Display and Analysis System (MIDAS), the first GIS product for MS-DOS personal computers, which later became MapInfo. These would proliferate in the 1990s with the advent of more powerful personal computers, Microsoft Windows, and the 1990 U.S. census, which raised awareness of the usefulness of geographic data to businesses and other new users. Several trends emerged in the late 1990s that have significantly changed the GIS software ecosystem leading to the present, by moving in directions beyond the traditional full-featured desktop GIS application. The emergence of object-oriented programming languages facilitated the release of component libraries and application programming interfaces, both commercial and open-source, which encapsulated specific GIS functions, allowing programmers to build spatial capabilities into their own programs. Second, the development of spatial extensions to object-relational database management systems (also both open-source and commercial) created new opportunities for data storage for traditional GIS, but also enabled spatial capabilities to be integrated into enterprise information systems, including business processes such as human resources. Third, as the World Wide Web emerged, web mapping quickly became one of its most popular applications; this led to the development of Server-based GIS software that could perform the same functions as a traditional GIS, but at a location remote from a client who only needed a web browser installed. All of these have combined to enable emerging trends in GIS software, such as the use of cloud computing, software as a service (SAAS), and smartphones to broaden the availability of spatial data, processing, and visualization.
Types of software The software component of a traditional geographic information system is expected to provide a wide range of functions for handling spatial data:
Data management, including the creation, editing, and storage of geographic data, as well as transformations such as changing coordinate systems and converting between raster and vector models. Spatial analysis, including a range of processing tools from basic queries to advanced algorithms such as network analysis and vector overlay Output, especially cartographic design. The modern GIS software ecosystem includes a variety of products that may include more or less of these capabilities, collect them in a single program, or distribute them over the Internet. These products can be grouped into the following broad classes:
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