What free programs should every GIS user have installed?

Question

Note: This question is specifically about installed, desktop software. There is another question specifically about free cloud-based software and services.

What free programs should every GIS user have installed?

I'm not necessarily referring to ESRI extensions or open-source products, but others that increase your productivity and ability to handle GIS tasks.

For example:

• Notepad++ for writing code snippets or editing XMLs. Paint.NET or GIMP for quick graphic editing.
• I use Google Tasks daily and I think it's worth mentioning. It's not GIS-specific, but it's a great tool, especially if used independently and on multiple projects where purchasing time-management software isn't reasonable.
• While it's not focused on GIS development, Rainmeter has proven to be very useful in terms of increasing productivity and monitoring system resources. I have created a GIS "sidebar" on my desktop that holds all of my development tools, as well as links to the online resources I used the most. It's nice to be able to use one location, rather than many (e.g. taskbar, bookmarks in browser, search engine).

Answer 1

This question has been converted to Community Wiki and wiki locked because it is an example of a question that seeks a list of answers and appears to be popular enough to protect it from closure. It should be treated as a special case and should not be viewed as the type of question that is encouraged on this, or any Stack Exchange site, but if you wish to contribute more content to it then feel free to do so by editing this answer.

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• Google Earth, for viewing and creating KMZ/KML files
• Trimble Sketchup, for creating 3D models
• PointVue LE, Fusion/LDV, LAStools, for viewing LAS (LiDAR) files in 3D
• PyScripter, for Python scripting
• ArcGIS Diagrammer 10.0, for designing geodatabases and modifying schemas (ESRI XML workspace documents) (for 10.1 and for 10.2) (discontinued at 10.3)
• Visual Studio Express (C# or VB.NET), for .NET development
• SharpDevelop, alternative IDE to Visual Studio for .NET development -- also handy for converting between VB.NET and C#
• TortoiseSVN, TortoiseCVS, TortoiseGit, or TortoiseHg for version control on Windows
• Oracle SQL Developer, for poking around the back end of ArcSDE, running queries, etc.
• PrimoPDF, for printing/appending to PDFs
• LightShot, for quickly taking and uploading screenshots, or GreenShot which is similar but quite a bit more powerful/customizable (thanks @Mike Toews for mentioning it in one of the comments).
• VLC media player, for desktop video recording and video playback
• Open Broadcaster Software, for 2D and 3D video recording and screencasting (requires Windows Vista or newer)
• MSI Afterburner, for 3D video recording
• VirtualDub, for basic non-linear video editing
• XnView, GIMP, Paint.NET, and InkScape for various graphics tasks (each has their own strong suits)
• FileZilla, for FTP sites
• 7-Zip, for ZIP/RAR files
• UnxUtils - For a lightweight (native Win32) port of common GNU utilities like "tail" and "grep". Tail is great for displaying log files in realtime, while grep is a powerful (regular expressions-based) text search tool.
• Copy Path - A shell extension for Windows XP, Vista, 7, etc. that adds a "Copy Path" context menu item to files and folders in Windows Explorer. Makes short work of finding the full path (and also normalizes to UNC paths if it is on a mapped network drive). Great timesaver!

Answer 2

QGIS. Although I do most of my analysis using ESRI based tools, QGIS is extremely fast for quickly examining a shapefile, and zooming/panning/reading the attributes.

I don't mean this in a derogatory way, as QGIS is also a wonderful open-source desktop GIS; but for quick file opening/closing it's wonderful and the quickest I've found.

Answer 3

Fiddler is excellent.

Update

Suppose I'm looking at a Web App, like Esri's Redistricting Online ...

... and I become curious about the mapservices it uses. I can fire up Fiddler and see what Urls it is accessing.

I can right click and copy the url and paste into a web browser, since we're dealing with REST ...

http://redistricting.esri.com/arcgis/rest/services/Redistricting2010/Texas_2010/MapServer/1/query

I notice that as I add census blocks to a district, it simply does a query; it does not make a call to a geometryservice to union the blocks into a district as I would have expected. From this I can infer that Esri is holding back on us: somewhere in the client there must be code that unions geometries - but there is no such capability documented in the web SDK api.

Since there's no message on the root page of their redistricting mapservice saying I shouldn't use it, I guess I'm free to use it in my own app ... or at least until they implement the idea I've suggested.

Answer 4

Benjamin already mentioned SAGA GIS, but just the name so I would like to add more info about this excellent SW:

SAGA (System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses)

SAGA is also free and opensource like QGIS, but it is focused on raster data analysis and processing.

The standard modules are:

• File access: interfaces to various table, vector, image and grid file formats, including shapefiles, Esri grids (ASCII and binary), and numerous grid file formats that are supported by the GDAL library, in addition to the native SGRD format of SAGA GIS.

• Filter for grids: Gaussian, Laplacian, multi-directional Lee filter.

• Gridding: interpolation from vector data using triangulation, nearest neighbour, inverse distance. (my favourite is Multilevel B-Spline interpolation)

• Geostatistics: residual analysis, ordinary and universal kriging, single and multiple regression analysis, variance analysis.

• Grid calculator: combine grids through user defined functions.

• Grid discretisation: skeletonisation, segmentation.

• Grid tools: merging, resampling, gap filling.

• Image classification: cluster analysis, box classification, maximum likelihood, pattern recognition, region growing.

• Projections: various coordinate transformations for vector and grid data (using Proj4 and GeoTrans libraries), georeferencing of grids.

• Simulation of dynamic processes: TOPMODEL, nitrogen distributions, erosion, landscape development.

• Terrain analysis: geomorphometrical calculations such as slope, aspect, curvatures, curvature classification, analytical hillshading, sink eliminition, flow path analysis, catchment delineation, solar radiation, channel lines, relative altitudes.

• Vector tools: polygon intersection, contour lines from grid.

According to the users it can partially replace commercial tools like Spatial analyst in ArcGIS and some people say, that the hydrological tools are even better than ArcHydroTools.

In my opinion it is good choice for people who are not familiar with GRASS and who need user friendly and free solution which can share data with other GIS tools.

I use it together with QGIS and it works really nice - SAGA for raster data, QGIS for vectors and final map finishing and for quick mapping.

Answer 5

GIMP and INKSCAPE

I use these two for cartographic purposes.

Gimp has good raster support (until they get huge/GB in size, then you run it on a linux OS!) and Inkscape handles vectors really well.

Answer 6

ColorBrewer is a great freebie for anyone who is publishing maps. Even though it's not an installed program, it's a powerful tool for picking effective color schemes, and downloads are available for various GIS software (see links below). There is even a new JavaScript version for those who can't or don't want to use Flash.

ColorBrewer allows you to pick effective, attractive color schemes based on number of classes, data types (e.g. sequential or qualitative), and many optional parameters. It also allows you to preview the color scheme with common features such as roads and city names, and export the scheme for (relatively) easy use in your software or code.

ColorBrewer's ramps can be installed to QGIS and ArcMap through symbol packages and add-ins.

Answer 7

JTS Topology Suite, particularly JTS TestBuider (for Windows users, make a Shortcut to C:\Program Files\JTS\jts-1.11\bin\testbuilder.bat).

With JTS TestBuilder, you can copy/paste WKT or WKB into the geometry inputs, and debug a geometry (especially if it is invalid and you want to know why) or explore spatial functions and spatial predicate operators, etc. Most of the functions developed in JTS trickle down to GEOS, Shapely, JSTS, NetTopologySuite, etc., so it is a good graphical tool to work with.

Answer 8

Firebug for Firefox

Inspect HTML and modify style and layout in real-time . Use the most advanced JavaScript debugger available for any browser. Accurately analyze network usage and performance. Extend Firebug and add features to make Firebug even more powerful.

http://getfirebug.com/

Like it as you can edit webpages online and see the changes instantly without re-uploading files.

This with Fiddler (mentioned already in this community wiki) are very useful and time-saving tools.

Answer 9

For statistical analysis, there is R. An integration of R with ArcGIS provides the Geospatial Modelling Environment. Using the right libraries you can easily handle shapefiles and raster data in R
RStudio is a powerful IDE with debugging and improved data handling for R.

Answer 10

Color Oracle - a colorblindness simulator for Window, Mac and Linux. I use this for checking the "look" of my composed maps.

Answer 11

• Eclipse and PyDev for Python coding - the latest version (finally) allows you to run a script without it being in the project, and has some other great features as well (break on exception etc.). That and the almost unlimited other number of extensions that you can install in Eclipse.
• Git for version control. Free, easy, and you don't need to install any software on the server.
• TrueCrypt for storing sensitive data by creating an encripted volume with a whole bunch of security options.

Answer 12

The Gdal command line tools are quite useful.

ogrinfo myshapefile.shp

gdalinfo myrasterfile.tif

ogr2ogr to convert files.

Sometimes I also use the xpath tool (provided with the gnome libxml2 library) to inspect xml/xsd/kml files:

cat my-insanely-complex-xml-file.xml | xpath "//Placename/text()"

You get the idea.

Answer 13

I wonder why MAPNIK has not been mentioned yet. It is also pluged in to QGIS. Very nice tool for easily making astonishing looking maps.

Answer 14

• Irfanview - for making simple image edits, such as cropping screenshots. Much more useful than MS Paint, and batch image processing!
• Free JavaScript Editor - for editing JS, but also CSS, HTML, etc. Contains some great error checking functions, including a direct link to JSLint
• Firebug - priceless when debugging a web application in FireFox
• PythonWin - arguably easier debugging than Idle as it allows the use of breakpoints and "step over", "step into" handling

Answer 15

Notepad++ as well as the extra settings from TWIAV.nl especially the code highlighting. Came in very handy after changing server structures as all our .wor files were broken. One short find and replace later and everything works!

Answer 16

FugroViewer - Fantastic program for viewing LIDAR data saved in LAS files. It has 2D, 3D and profile view. You can symbolize dots with all attributes stored in LAS files along with RGB colors.

Answer 17

Self-link, but TileMill is very useful for exploring geodata, making pretty maps, doing analysis, etc. It's mainly for the presentation and exploration steps, while the heavy-lifting of analysis can be done in QGIS or similar.

Answer 18

Whitebox Geospatial Analysis Tools (http://www.uoguelph.ca/~hydrogeo/Whitebox/) is an open-source GIS and remote sensing package that has extensive analytical capabilities. It runs on MS Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux. It has a user-friendly and intuitive user interface, extensive embedded help, and the ability to make cartographically pleasing maps.

Answer 19

You can use : ArcGIS Explorer

With ArcGIS Explorer, you can

• Access ready-to-use ArcGIS Online basemaps and layers.
• Fuse your local data with map services to create custom maps.
• Add photos, reports, videos, and other information to your maps. Perform spatial analysis (e.g., visibility, modeling, proximity search).

Link

Answer 20

Nobody mentioned about proj.4

Proj.4 is an open source cartographic projection library and tool that works hidden in the most of desktop gis, spatial databases and gis service software (web stuff). You can use it also very effective at the command line and beside of geotrans (which has military roots) it is IMO the open source tool to transform cooordinates between geodetic/geographic notations and has the possibility to use abstract datum description (like +datum=UTM +zone=32) or numbers like EPSG (+init=epsg:32632) as well as complex coordinate system descriptions like the Swiss Oblique Mercator Projection:

+proj=somerc +lat_0=46d57’8.660"N +lon_0=7d26’22.500"E
+ellps=bessel +x_0=600000 +y_0=200000
+k_0=1. no_defs

.

Answer 21

I'll add TileMill to the list. It's an easy way to put map on the web. Mapbox have a free plan that can do for most small users.

I must have missed it, but PostgreSQL/PostGIS is a must too!

Answer 22

soapUI is a really good tool for testing SOAP and REST web services. It's designed more for building extensive test suites, but it's also a fairly quick way to run simple one-off calls to your web services.

Answer 23

GPSBabel to convert waypoints, tracks, and routes between popular GPS receivers and mapping programs.

Answer 24

My only contributions to the list (you've got most of the bases covered!) are:

• ColorCop for determining and matching web colors.
• KML Color Converter
• MicroDEM

Answer 25

I don't think anyone here has mentioned CartoDB which is a cloud based GIS tool for visualizing and analyzing geospatial data. Your data is automatically imported into a postGIS database allowing for complex SQL queries. It also has a robust set of tools to style your data (including Carto CSS), and you may choose base maps from other services such as MapBox.

I saw a few people mention TileMill but don't believe I saw anyone mention MapBox, the company that created TileMill and is doing some really awesome work with OpenStreetMap data and cloud based GIS. Both MapBox and CartoDB have free account options.

Speaking of OpenStreetMap, I don't think anyone mentioned that as a very good free/open-data source. The data is under an opendb license. Here are a few places to grab shapefile data from OSM:

• Metro Extracts
• BBBike
• OSM coastlines, land and ocean polygons

Answer 26

Hard to add much to this comprehensive list, but for web map development you might look at FlashDevelop for Flash/Flex/AIR (Windows only) and Aptana Studio 3 for Javscript etc...

Answer 27

If you want to work with SONAR data SonarWave Lite is a free solution. It was referenced on this thread on GIS SE.

Answer 28

TatukGISViewer is great for quick viewing of raster and vector files. I work with both ESRI and MapInfo which forces me to do tons of converting .tabs to .shps or the other way around. Tatuk is great because it handles both formats, just drag-and-drop and they all show up nicely. It also truly shows the geographic location of the data if two datasets have different coordinate systems (I don´t like ESRIs automatic compensationing).

Answer 29

Tthe FREE Double CAD XT is an AutoCAD LT-like program with more features then AutoCAD LT, simpler interface. Excellent for those GIS folks that have to interact with a lot of CAD data. Double CAD XT also claims excellent support for Sketchup - might be a good tool for those looking to integrate GIS, CAD & SketchUp data.

AutoCAD LT ($1200) and Double Cad XT ($0) Comparison chart

Answer 30

Here it is another solution: Geobide SDK a set of components for the development of gis professional applications. Free versions of the tools are available.

Geomap, System for viewing, editing and analysis; [Geoconverter][3], geodetic reference systems and geographic formats converter: Converts formats, ipdate fields... (available in English); [Geobuilder][4], solution for the design and execution of diagrams of geoprocessing. (available in English); [Geobridge][5], plug-in for access to CAD/GIS data from Autocad, Microstation, ArcGIS...