Geographic Information Systems (GIS): GIS Software

The Datacasting Feed Reader is a Java-based tool for subscribing to datacasting feeds and enabling automatic download and display of scientific data.

G.Projector is a cross-platform application which can transform an equirectangular map image into one of over 100 global and regional map projections. Longitude-latitude gridlines and continental outlines may be drawn on the map, and the resulting image may be saved to disk in GIF, JPEG, PDF, PNG, PS or TIFF form.

OpenStreetMap is dedicated to creating and providing geographic data, worldwide, for free. Most maps considered "free" actually have legal or technical restrictions which make every map a silo of data and effort. OSM's open license gives users the freedom to do more with map data, and helps data providers work in mutually beneficial ways.

A portal to opens source GIS software including Quantum GIS and Grass GIS desktop software as well as OpenLayers and MapServer. Much of this software is available on the bootable image linked below.

OSGeo-Live is a self-contained bootable DVD, USB thumb drive or Virtual Machine based on Xubuntu, that allows you to try a wide variety of open source geospatial software without installing anything. It is composed entirely of free software, allowing it to be freely distributed, duplicated and passed around. The virtual machine can be used with another open source application "VritualBox" to run on a PC or Mac OS X.

GeoCommons is the public community of GeoIQ users who are building an open repository of data and maps for the world. The GeoIQ platform includes a large number of features that empower you to easily access, visualize and analyze your data. We've highlighted just a few of these features below.

Usahidi means "testimony" in Swahili, is a non-profit tech company that specializes in developing free and open source software for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping. In addition to the downloadable version there is also "Crowdmap", a hosted version. Usahidi has been used during times of crisis, such as the post-election violence in Kenya in 2008 and the earthquake in Haiti. The Usahidi platform integrates SMS, e-mail, and Twitter and the Swift River Platform provides services for utilizing real time ingestion of data streams.

Map Warper allows you to upload your own map images, scanned or downloaded from another site and overlay it onto a georeferenced map. In the process the historical map becomes "geo-rectified" and inevitably warped to some extent. Control points (ideally known landmarks) are selected and pegged to the accurate map projection. A transparency slider allows you to view both maps at once.

MapTiler is free graphical application for online map publishing. It breaks your map image into tile sections so they it be overlaid onto map services such as Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, OpenStreetMap or Google Earth.