![]() Several trends emerged in the late 1990s that have significantly changed the GIS software ecosystem leading to the present, by moving in directions beyond the traditional full-featured desktop GIS application. ![]() Census, which raised awareness of the usefulness of geographic data to businesses and other new users. These would proliferate in the 1990s with the advent of more powerful personal computers, Microsoft Windows, and the 1990 U.S. The 1980s also saw the beginnings of most commercial GIS software, including Esri ARC/INFO in 1982 Intergraph IGDS in 1985, and the Mapping Display and Analysis System (MIDAS), the first GIS product for MS-DOS personal computers, which later became MapInfo. These formed the foundation of the open source GIS software community. Notable examples included the Map Overlay and Statistical System (MOSS) developed by the Fish & Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) starting in 1976 the PROJ library developed at the United States Geological Survey (USGS), one of the first programming libraries available and GRASS GIS originally developed by the Army Corps of Engineers starting in 1982. ![]() Particularly, federal agencies of the United States government developed software that was by definition in the public domain because of the Freedom of Information Act, and was thus released to the public. During the late 1970s, several of these modules were brought together into Odyssey, one of the first commercial complete GIS programs, released in 1980.ĭuring the late 1970s and early 1980s, GIS was emerging in many large government agencies that were responsible for managing land and facilities. Through the 1970s, the Harvard Lab continued to develop and publish other packages focused on automating specific operations, such as SYMVU (3-D surface visualization), CALFORM ( choropleth maps), POLYVRT ( topological vector data management), WHIRLPOOL ( vector overlay), GRID and IMGRID ( raster data management), and others. While not a true full-range GIS program, it included some basic mapping and analysis functions, and was freely available to other users. Fisher and others at the nascent Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis starting in 1965. Perhaps the first general-purpose software that provided a range of GIS functionality was the Synagraphic Mapping Package (SYMAP), developed by Howard T. The thematic map types that could be generated by SYMAP. During the 1950s and 1960s, academic researchers during the quantitative revolution of geography began writing computer programs to perform spatial analysis, especially at the University of Washington and the University of Michigan, but these were also custom programs that were rarely available to other potential users. The earliest geographic information systems, such as the Canadian Geographic Information System started in 1963, were bespoke programs developed specifically for a single installation (usually a government agency), based on custom-designed data models.
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