tool: gvSIG

gvSIG is a multilingual, open source geographic information system (GIS) that can handle both vector and raster data. It features basic editing tools for the creation and maintenance of vector or raster spatial data on a variety of file formats, including remote data sources. gvSIG is being actively developed in Java by IVER Tecnologías under the GNU General Public License (GPL) [1]. Its name is a Catalan abbreviation that stands for Generalitat Valenciana, Sistema d'Informació Geogràfica.

gvSIG supports the following data formats:

• Vector formats: shapefile, DXF, DGN, DWG
• Raster formats: ECW, MrSID, JPEG, jp2, TIFF, geoTIFF, PNG, GIF

gvSIG is able to read remote data with Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards:

• Web Map Service (WMS)
• Web Feature Service (WFS)
• Web Coverage Service (WCS)

gvSIG also offers support for remote data from ESRI’s ArcIMS. As of Feb/2008 there is also a plugin that adds support for ESRI's ArcSDE databases.

The WMS has been tested with MapServer, deegree and GeoServer; the WCS with MapServer; and the WFS with MapServer and GeoServer.

There are plugins available that enable gvSIG to read ERDAS IMG files and also connect to PostGIS and MySQL databases.

One new plugin lets you visualize and manage the free editable maps from the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project.

Sextante GIS has been ported to a plugin for gvSIG adding a host of raster and vector analysis functions in addition to gvSIG's impressive built-in vector analysis tools