Free Geography Tools

The open source GIS MapWindow (Windows only) has just put out its latest Stable Release (SR), version 4.5. This is the first SR in about 8 months. New features include:

• “Bookmark View” capability
• Ability to change map background color
• New string functions in DBF table editor – trim, substring, toupper, tolower
• Better Intellisense-like editor for scripts
• Improved keyboard shortcuts
• A new measuring tool for distances/areas (though it’s a bit flaky; it requires a PRJ file to work, and even then sometimes balks)
• A label-moving tool
• Google Geocoder: Geocode a single address or list of addresses, and converts them to shapefile format (requires free Google API key; limit of 5000 addresses per day)

• Live connection to a GPS, with position reporting and track/NMEA logging
• A full metadata editor and viewer that creates FGDC-compliant metadata XML files using a wizard:

All this, of course, in addition to its many other GIS functions.

Related posts:

1. MapWindow GIS Version 4.4 Is Out
2. Intro To MapWindow IV – Advanced Vector Tools
3. Recap Of Intro To MapWindow GIS Series
4. The Big List Of Free Metadata Software I
5. Introduction To MapWindow GIS I – Shapefile Viewing
6. The Big List Of Free Metadata Software II
7. MapWindow GIS Updated To Version 4.7; Next-Gen Version 6 Beta Available
8. Intro To MapWindow GIS III – Shapefile Editing
9. US Address Geocoding For Google Earth
10. A Free And Easy Shapefile Coordinate Converter
11. Assigning Attributes From A Polygon Shapefile To Another Shapefile
12. A Simple Online KML Polygon Creator – With Holes!
13. Another Free Excel Geocoder
14. Another Way To Convert Google Earth KML Files To Shapefiles
15. Converting Text/Spreadsheet Files To Point Shapefile Format