Freeware for GIS and Remote Sensing

Lena Halounová
Department of Mapping and Cartography, Faculty of Civil Engineering

Czech Technical University in Prague
halounova fsv.cvut.cz

Keywords: GIS, Freeware

Abstract

Education in remote sensing and GIS is based on software utilization. The software needs to
be installed in computer rooms with a certain number of licenses. The commercial software
equipment is therefore financially demanding and not only for universities, but especially for
students. Internet research brings a long list of free software of various capabilities. The paper
shows a present state of GIS, image processing and remote sensing free software.

Introduction

GIS and remote sensing tasks are mutually interlinked and division of software to GIS software
and remote sensing software means that GIS software is able to work with remote sensing
data and to perform simple tasks with them. On the contrary, GIS functions are embedded
in remote sensing software. This duality is a result of close relation between these regions.
Looking for the GIS free software, three groups of them can be found

� Viewers of commercial software – ArcReader 91, ArcExplorer 4.02 of ESRI, GeoMedia®
Viewer of INTERGRAPH, FreeLook 3.13 for ENVI, etc.

� Software tools for certain tasks as GDAL 1.1.5 [11], libgeotiff, MB-System4 for bathy-
metry and backscatter imagery data derived from multibeam, interferometry, and side-
scan sonars, MITAB5 MITAB a C++ library for reading and writing MapInfo .TAB
(binary) and .MIF/MID files.

� Complete GIS software – GRASS, ILWIS, FMaps covering GIS together with remote
sensing.

1
http://www.arcdata.cz/download/ArcReader/ArcReaderWebSetup.exe

2
http://www.arcdata.cz/download/ArcExplorer/AE4JavaSetup.exe

3
http://www.envi-sw.com/

4
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/MB-System/

5
http://mitab.maptools.org/

Geinformatics FCE CTU 2007 53

http://www.arcdata.cz/download/ArcReader/ArcReaderWebSetup.exe
http://www.arcdata.cz/download/ArcExplorer/AE4JavaSetup.exe
http://www.envi-sw.com/
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/MB-System/
http://mitab.maptools.org/


Freeware for GIS and Remote Sensing

� Software for image processing – Intel, Image Analyzer 1.27

The Open Source GIS [7] brings a list of more than 150 free GIS software available for users.
The web page remotesensing.org [15] is a source of many free software for remote sensing
including the link to Remote Sensing Tutorial prepared by William J. Campbell from NASA
[10].

Viewers of commercial software

Following examples shows limits of viewers for common users.

GeoMedia extregistered Viewer [13]. Key Features of the software are data access pro-
viding read-only access to geospatial data in Microsoft Access, MapInfo and Shapefile formats.
With GeoMedia Viewer new connections to the above formats can be also created if you have
other data sets you want to access. GeoMedia Viewer let us create new geoworkspaces and
save any changes made to existing geoworkspaces. GeoMedia Viewer includes a powerful set
of navigation commands for moving around and exploring your data as Pan, Zooming, etc.
and supports multiple windows including map and data windows.

ArcExplorer [9]. As a complete data explorer, ArcExplorer – Java lets display and query
a wide variety of standard data sources. Using ArcExplorer as a stand-alone desktop appli-
cation, it is possible to consume shapefiles, a variety of images, ArcSDE layers, and more,
allows to also pan and zoom through these map layers and identify, locate, and query their
spatial and attribute information. You can buffer a selected set of features and view their
attributes. ArcExplorer also provides the ability to thematically map your data, symboliz-
ing various features based upon information found in the data’s attribute table, displaying
graduated symbology, or classbreaks rendering for instance.

Software tools for certain tasks

There are many software packages for large number of different tasks and questions for GIS
purposes [6]. Project conversion software form an important group of them.

GDAL 1.1.5 [11] is a translator library for raster geospatial data formats. As a library, it
presents a single abstract data model to the calling application for all supported formats. A
initial skeleton of GDAL has formed, and operates for a few formats [11].

Geotiff libs [16] – GeoTIFF represents an effort by over 160 different remote sensing, GIS,
cartographic, and surveying related companies and organizations to establish a TIFF6 based
interchange format for georeferenced raster imagery [16].

PROJ 4.4.3 [8] – This package offers command line tools and a library for performing respec-
tive forward and inverse transformation of cartographic data to or from cartesian data with
a wide range of selectable projection functions. O.S. GNU/Linux and other Unices Windows
[8].

6
http://www.awaresystems.be/imaging/tiff/faq.html

Geinformatics FCE CTU 2007 54

http://www.awaresystems.be/imaging/tiff/faq.html


Freeware for GIS and Remote Sensing

Virtual Terrain Project [17] – The goal of VTP is to foster the creation of tools for easily
constructing any part of the real world in interactive, 3D digital form. This goal will require
a synergetic convergence of the fields of CAD, GIS, visual simulation, surveying and remote
sensing. VTP gathers information and tracks progress in areas such as procedural scene
construction, feature extraction, and rendering algorithms. VTP writes and supports a set of
software tools, including an interactive runtime environment (VTP Enviro). The tools and
their source code are freely shared7 to help accelerate the adoption and development of the
necessary technologies [15].

Complete GIS/remote sensing software

There are four useful GIS and remote sensing free software packages – GRASS, ILWIS, OSSIM
and FMaps.

GRASS – Geographic Resources Analysis Support System commonly referred to as GRASS,
this is a Geographic Information System (GIS) used for geospatial data management and
analysis, image processing, graphics/maps production, spatial modeling, and visualization.
GRASS is currently used in academic and commercial settings around the world, as well
as by many governmental agencies and environmental consulting companies. GRASS is a
raster GIS. There are a large range of applications of GRASS: geography, landscape ecology,
epidemiology, remote sensing8, urban planning, biology, geophysics, hydrology, groundwater
Flow Modeling (GRASS and MODFLOW9), vector network analysis (in part of GRASS 610),
geostatistics11, raster 3D Volume12 (voxel) [5].

ILWIS [1] version 3.4. is a software created for Windows platform and the following list
shows the product tools:

� Integrated raster and vector design

� Import and export of widely used data formats

� On-screen and tablet digitizing

� Comprehensive set of image processing tools

� Orthophoto, image georeferencing, transformation and mosaicing

� Advanced modeling and spatial data analysis

� 3D visualization with interactive editing for optimal view findings

� Rich projection and coordinate system library

� Geo-statistical analyses, with Kriging for improved interpolation

� Production and visualization of stereo image pairs

7
http://www.vterrain.org/Site/privacy.html#License

8
http://mpa.itc.it/rs/

9
http://www.valledemexico.ambitiouslemon.com/gwmodelling.html

10
http://grass.itc.it/grass61/screenshots/network.php

11
http://grass.itc.it/statsgrass/index.php

12
http://grass.itc.it/grid3d/

Geinformatics FCE CTU 2007 55

http://www.vterrain.org/Site/privacy.html#License
http://mpa.itc.it/rs/
http://www.valledemexico.ambitiouslemon.com/gwmodelling.html
http://grass.itc.it/grass61/screenshots/network.php
http://grass.itc.it/statsgrass/index.php
http://grass.itc.it/grid3d/


Freeware for GIS and Remote Sensing

� Spatial Multiple Criteria Evaluation

52°North Initiative for Geospatial Open Source Software GmbH is an international research
and development company whose mission is to promote the conception, development and
application of free open source geo-software for research, education, training and practical
use. 52°North backs an open initiative, which is driven by leading research organizations and
individuals in the international GIS field. The work of all partners results in a collection of
Java based web services implementations [1].

FMaps [5] is an open source GIS/RS (Geographic Information System/ Remote Sensing)
application on the Linux13 and Gnome14 compatible platforms. The database engine is Post-
greSQL15. PostgreSQL is an opensource SQL server.

OSSIM (Open Source Software Image Map) [14] is a high performance software system for
remote sensing, image processing, geographical information systems and photogrammetry. It
is an open source software project maintained at http://www.ossim.org and has been under
active development since 1996. The lead developers for the project have years of experience
in commercial and government remote sensing systems and applications. OSSIM has been
funded by several US government agencies in the intelligence and defense community and
the technology is currently deployed in research and operational sites. The name OSSIM is
a contrived acronym (Open Source Software Image Map) that is pronounced “awesome” –
the acronym was established by our first government customer. Designed as a series of high
performance software libraries it is written in C++ employing the latest techniques in object
oriented software design. A number of command line utilities, GUI tools and applications,
and integrated systems have been implemented with the baseline. Many of those tools and
applications are included with the software releases.

MultiSpec is a freeware multispectral image data analysis system (latest release: 5-12-2007)
MultiSpec is being developed at Purdue University16, West Lafayette17, IN18, by David Land-
grebe19 and Larry Biehl20 from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering21, ITaP22

and LARS23. It results from an on-going multiyear research effort which is intended to define
robust and fundamentally based technology for analyzing multispectral and hyperspectral
image data, and to transfer this technology to the user community in as rapid a manner as
possible. The results of the research are implemented into MultiSpec and made available
to the user community via the download pages. MultiSpec© with its documentation© is
distributed without charge.

13
http://www.linux.org/

14
http://www.gnome.org/

15
http://www.postgresql.org/

16
http://www.purdue.edu/

17
http://www.wintek.com/wlaf/

18
http://www.state.in.us/

19
http://dynamo.ecn.purdue.edu/~landgreb/

20
http://dynamo.ecn.purdue.edu/~biehl/

21
http://www.purdue.edu/ECE

22
http://www.itap.purdue.edu/

23
http://www.lars.purdue.edu/

Geinformatics FCE CTU 2007 56

http://www.linux.org/
http://www.gnome.org/
http://www.postgresql.org/
http://www.postgresql.org/
http://www.ossim.org
http://www.purdue.edu/
http://www.wintek.com/wlaf/
http://www.state.in.us/
http://dynamo.ecn.purdue.edu/~landgreb/
http://dynamo.ecn.purdue.edu/~landgreb/
http://dynamo.ecn.purdue.edu/~biehl/
http://www.purdue.edu/ECE
http://www.itap.purdue.edu/
http://www.lars.purdue.edu/


Freeware for GIS and Remote Sensing

Radar interferometry

Interferometry is a separate part of remote sensing working with radar image pairs for de-
termination of DEM on one side, and small surface movements – subsidences, e.g., on the
other side. It is a separate software and branch as well because its processing method differs
significantly from other remote sensing image data evaluation. There is one freeware called
DORIS [11].

DORIS (Delft object-oriented radar interferometric software) The Delft Institute of Earth
Observation and Space Systems24 of Delft University of Technology25 developed processor
for interferometric SAR. It is a freeware for non-commercial usage. The software works with
European ERS and ENVISAT data, Japanese JERS, and Canadian RADARSAT.

Image processing software

Intel offers Open Source Computer Vision Library with following

Library areas [12]:

� Image functions: Creation, allocation, destruction of images. Fast pixel access macros.

� Data Structures: Static types and dynamic storage

� Contour Processing: Finding, displaying, manipulation, and simplification of image
contours

� Geometry: Line and ellipse fitting. Convex hull. Contour analysis

� Features: 1st & 2nd Image Derivatives. Lines: Canny, Hough. Corners: Finding,
tracking.

� Image Statistics: In region of interest: Count, Mean, STD, Min, Max, Norm, Moments,
Hu Moments

� Image Pyramids: Power of 2. Color/texture segmentation

� Morphology: Erode, dilate, open, close. Gradient, top-hat, black-hat

� and many others

Intel extregistered Image Processing Library (included in OpenCV WinOS download)
comprises [12]:

� Image creation and access

� Image arithmetic and logic operations

� Image filtering

� Linear image transformation

� Image morphology
24
http://www.deos.tudelft.nl/

25
http://www.tudelft.nl/live/pagina.jsp?id=b226846d-f19f-4c34-97ed-165fecc5ad8f&lang=nl

Geinformatics FCE CTU 2007 57

http://www.deos.tudelft.nl/
http://www.deos.tudelft.nl/
http://www.tudelft.nl/live/pagina.jsp?id=b226846d-f19f-4c34-97ed-165fecc5ad8f&lang=nl


Freeware for GIS and Remote Sensing

� Color space conversion

� Image histogram and thresholding

� Geometric transformation (zoom-decimate, rotate, mirror, shear, warp, perspective
transform, affine transform

The Intel software covers wide range of image processing methods applicable in remote sensing
and other branches. The largest user group can be found among digital photographs users.

Image Analyzer 1.27. [6] is a freeware for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista. Advanced
image editing, enhancement and analysis software. The program contains both most image
enhancement features found in conventional image editors plus a number of advanced features
not even available in professional photo suites as:

� Automatic brightness, contrast, gamma and saturation adjustment

� Build-in conventional and adaptive filters for noise reduction, edge extraction etc.

� Retouch tools

� Deconvolution for out-of-focus and motion blur compensation (see below)

� Easy red-eye removal

� User specified filters in spatial and frequency domain

� Resize, rotate, crop and warping of images

� Scanner, camera and printer support

� File format support: Read/write BMP, ICO, CUR, WMF, EMF, PNG, MNG, GIF,
PCX, JPEG and JPEG 2000 images

� Morphological operations

� Color model conversion: RGB, CMY, HSI, Lab, YCbCr, YIQ and PCA

� Distance, Fourier and discrete cosine transformation

� Math expression module for creating and transforming images and advanced ”pocket”
calculator with equation solver

� Plugin system for adding more specialized features. See below for available plugins

Conclusion

There are more viewers belonging to the software group. Viewers are tools for ready data
and users with low level of demands and are prepared for large society of users and created
by commercial GIS/remote sensing companies. They are in fact useless for most processing
of advanced users and students. The software packages focused on certain tasks are useful for
solution of individual problems which cannot be processed in other software on one side or
for solution of stand alone tasks. Their application for education of GIS or remote sensing as
a whole is not suitable. The university education of GIS and remote sensing can be based on
complete software like GRASS and others. The open software allows to use existing modules

Geinformatics FCE CTU 2007 58



Freeware for GIS and Remote Sensing

on one side, and are a place for development of new tools on the other side. Therefore,
whenever the education is focused on advanced experienced students, these software packages
are the best solution for education.

References

All web pages cited on 18 September 2007

1. http://52north.org/index.php?option=com projects&task=showProject&id=30

2. http://cobweb.ecn.purdue.edu/˜biehl/MultiSpec/

3. http://enterprise.lr.tudelft.nl/doris/

4. http://fmaps.sourceforge.net/

5. http://grass.itc.it/

6. http://meesoft.logicnet.dk/Analyzer/

7. http://opensourcegis.org/

8. http://proj.maptools.org/

9. http://www.esri.com/software/arcexplorer/about/overview.html

10. http://www.fas.org/irp/imint/docs/rst/Front/tofc.html

11. http://www.gdal.org/index.html

12. http://www.intel.com/technology/computing/opencv/overview.htm

13. http://www.intergraph.com/gviewer/Key Features.asp

14. http://www.ossim.org/OSSIM/OSSIMHome.html

15. http://www.remotesensing.org/Home.html

16. http://www.remotesensing.org/geotiff/geotiff.html

17. http://www.vterrain.org/

The paper was prepared in the framework of the project of the Czech Grant Agency GA ČR
205/06/1037 Application of Geoinformation Technologies for Improvement of Rainfall-Runoff
Relationships

Geinformatics FCE CTU 2007 59

http://52north.org/index.php?option=com_projects&task=showProject&id=30&Itemid=127
http://cobweb.ecn.purdue.edu/~biehl/MultiSpec/
http://enterprise.lr.tudelft.nl/doris/
http://fmaps.sourceforge.net/
http://grass.itc.it/
http://meesoft.logicnet.dk/Analyzer/
http://opensourcegis.org/
http://proj.maptools.org/
http://www.esri.com/software/arcexplorer/about/overview.html
http://www.fas.org/irp/imint/docs/rst/Front/tofc.html
http://www.gdal.org/index.html
http://www.intel.com/technology/computing/opencv/overview.htm
http://www.intergraph.com/gviewer/Key_Features.asp
http://www.ossim.org/OSSIM/OSSIMHome.html
http://www.remotesensing.org/Home.html
http://www.remotesensing.org/geotiff/geotiff.html
http://www.vterrain.org/


Geinformatics FCE CTU 2007 60