GIS software - Services for Research
GIS software
Below is a list of most widely GIS tools. Most of the them are open source, exceptions are marked accordingly. The first link for each software is the link to the software's main home page. Software installed to Puhti or included in CSC software consortium are provided with an extra link to our software specific page, with additional information about the software.
Desktop GIS-software is used for analyzing and visualizing spatial data on a local PC or laptop. They have a GUI (graphical user interface) for easy working. If looking for software with Finnish user interface, ArcGIS Pro, QGIS and MapInfo are the main options.
- ArcGIS, the most used commercial general use GIS software. CSC organizes ArcGIS software consortium for Finnish universities.
- QGIS , general use GIS software. QGIS in Puhti.
- CloudCompare, for editing and processing 3D point clouds. CloudCompare in Puhti.
- GRASS , general use GIS software, a lot of tools, but a little bit difficult to get started. GRASS in Puhti.
- OrfeoToolBox, for processing high resolution optical, multi-spectral and radar images. OrfeoToolBox in Puhti.
- SAGA GIS for terrain analysis. SagaGIS in Puhti.
- SNAP for remote sensing applications. SNAP in Puhti
- Zonation for large-scale conservation planning. Zonation in Puhti.
Web Server-software is used for providing spatial data according to OGC standard web service standards: WMS, WMTS WFS, WCS. They can do also spatial analysis, if supporting the WPS standard.
- GeoServer , has a web interface for administration. Instructions for cPouta.
Web Client-software, for making web maps usually some JavaScript library is used. The web client is usually backed by a web server.
- OpenLayers. More features.
- Leaflet. Lighter and faster.
- Google Maps API. Commercial.
Database-software, for storing bigger amounts of data, mostly used with vector data.
- PostGIS, a spatial data add-on for PostgreSQL database. Instructions for cPouta.
- SpatiaLite, extension of SQLite.
Libraries, for specific or lower level tasks.
- GDAL, Swiss army knife for spatial data manipulation. GDAL in Puhti.
- PDAL library for translating and manipulating point cloud data. PDAL in Puhti.
- GPSBabel, converting GPS data.
- FORCE All-in-one command line tool for mass-processing of medium-resolution satellite images. FORCE in Puhti.
- LasTools, for LiDAR processing. LasTools in Puhti.
- OpenDroneMap, for processing aerial drone imagery. OpenDroneMap in Puhti.
- PCL, 2D/3D image and point cloud processing. PCL in Puhti.
- WhiteboxTools, wide selection of spatial analysis tools. WhiteboxTools in Puhti.
Scripting, for automating analysis. Both R and Python have their own GIS-specific packages. Additionally they have packages for accessing some other GIS-software functionality, for details see the table below.
- RCRAN spatial view, is originally specialized on general statistical analysis of data, but it has also a lot of packages for spatial analysis and statistics. R in Puhti.
- Python, a general use programming language, which is widely used also for Python for spatial data analysis. Python in Puhti.
- Shell, several software packages provide also command line interface (CLI), that can be used for automating processes with shell scripts. Additionally both R and Python support running CLI commands from the script.
| Software | R | Python | CLI |
|---|---|---|---|
| ArcGIS | R – ArcGIS Community | ArcPy, ArcGIS API for Python | - |
| CloudCompare | cloudcompare | CloudComPy | Yes |
| FORCE | - | - | Yes |
| GDAL | sf, raster, sp, rgdal, gdalUtils | fiona, shapely, geopandas, rasterio, GDAL | GDAL CLI |
| GPSBabel | readGPS | gpsbabel | Yes |
| GRASS | rgrass7 | GRASS GIS Python libraries | GRASS CLI |
| LasTools | (something in uavRst) | - | Yes |
| OpenDroneMap | - | - | Yes |
| OrfeoToolBox | (link2GI) | OTB Python API | OTB CLI |
| PCL | - | pclpy, python-pcl, but both without proper maintenance | Yes |
| PDAL | - | PDAL with Python | Yes |
| PostGIS | (sf) | (GeoAlchemy2) | psql |
| QGIS | RQGIS3 | PyQGIS | - |
| SagaGIS | Rsagacmd, RSAGA | SAGA GIS API for Python | SagaGIS CLI |
| SNAP | - | snappy | GPT |
| Zonation | - | - | Yes |
| WhiteboxTools | whiteboxR | WhiteboxTools with Python | Yes |
Even longer GIS-software lists are available in awesome-gis GIS software list and Awesome-Geospatial GIS software list listings.
GIS-software for parallel computing
If the intention is to analyze big amounts of data, the best option for speeding things up is to use parallel computing, and then it is well worth choosing your tools right. Only some GIS software packages support parallel computing out-of-the box (meaning that the software can use several cores for computations). From the available software in Puhti, the following ones have some kind of support for parallel computing: R in Puhti, Python in Puhti, FORCE in Puhti, LasTools in Puhti, OpenDroneMap in Puhti, OrfeoToolBox in Puhti, SagaGIS in Puhti, SNAP in Puhtiand WhiteboxTools in Puhti, the details are given on each software's own page.
Most server kind of software support parallel computing, including GeoServer and PostGIS. These can be set up to cPouta.
Also ArcGIS Pro with multiple cpus has several functions that can run in parallel.
See also geocomputing page for additional information about analyzing big spatial datasets.