At Mapping Specialists, we use a variety of software - word processing, page layout, graphics, GIS and homegrown - to get the job done. There is commercial software such as Adobe Creative Suite and ArcGIS® from ESRI. And there is Open Source software. This includes GRASS GIS, MapServer and a variety of smaller support tools.
ArcGIS is an integrated collection of GIS products from ESRI, including desktop analysis and display and server-based data sharing, analysis and viewing.
GRASS is a powerful and mature GIS package originally developed by the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories in the early 1980s. It is now maintained by an army of developers around the world and is available free under the GNU Public License. It's current home is L'Istituto Trentino di Cultura in Italy.
See their web page for more information, and to download the software in source and executable form. GRASS currently runs on Windows and a variety of Linux and UNIX based platforms (including our favorite here, Mac OS X).
MapServer is a quality web-mapping application that supports many web standards for displaying and communicating GIS data on the internet. It was originally developed at the University of Minnesota, and, though it still lives there, is maintained by many developers around the world. It is available free with a non-restrictive license.
See their web for more information. MapServer currently runs on Windows and a variety of Linux and UNIX based platforms. You can download source code and executables for many platforms from their web site. For the Mac OS X users out there, our own resident geek William Kyngesburye has created an installer package for Mapserver. You can find them on his web page devoted to packaging UNIX software for Mac OS X. You will also find instructions for building your own GRASS GIS software for Mac OS X.
ESRI, the ESRI globe logo, ArcGIS, ArcPad, and MapObjects are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of ESRI in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions.
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