8 Free Geographic Information System (GIS) Readers
The construction industry has been using Geographic information Systems for many years and in many countries is mandatory on Government projects.
GIS are basically data about a project’s location, combined with and including features such as buildings, roads, railways, population density, height and flooding data.
Geographic Information can also be linked with other data sets, for example user profiles in a particular location – ages, crime levels, movements, etc., to create a big holistic view of a project or area.
For a great introduction on the topic of GIS check out the Wikipedia entry on the subject.
A Geographic Information System is required to read and analyse map data and here is a list of free GIS viewers which you can experiment with to display geographic information and carry outa few basic GIS functions.
Esri ArcExplorer and ArcReader
ESRI products offer a light version of their ArcView application, which allows basic mapping and spatial querying. ArcReader is their free mapping reader to view, explore, and print maps.
Christine GIS
The GIS system from Christine is a free GIS with multiple features that allows viewing, spatial querying vector and raster data, editing data, connecting to databases and creating your own applications using their scripting language.
Geomatica Freeviewer
Geomatica Freeview is a free reader to access GIS data, including satellite imagery.
Geospatial Explorer
Cyze & Associates’ free data reader was designed specifically for geologists, engineers and environmental scientists.
Natural Resources Database
Designed for developing and distributing environmental data as maps, graphs and reports.
Tatuk GIS Viewer
A comprehensive GIS reader with multiple viewing and analytic tools.
TNT Atlas
A free GIS reader with many import options and analysis tools.
