Global mapper
Encyclopedia
Global Mapper is a geographic information system
Geographic Information System
A geographic information system, geographical information science, or geospatial information studies is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographically referenced data...

 (GIS) software package developed by globalmapper.com that runs on Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

. The GIS software competes with ESRI
ESRI
Esri is a software development and services company providing Geographic Information System software and geodatabase management applications. The headquarters of Esri is in Redlands, California....

, Manifold System
Manifold System
Manifold System is a geographic information system software package developed by manifold.net that runs only on Microsoft Windows. Manifold System handles both vector and raster data, includes spatial SQL, a built-in Internet Map Server , and other general GIS features...

, and MapInfo
MapInfo
MapInfo Corporation, initially incorporated as Navigational Technologies Incorporated, was a leading Location Intelligence and GIS company, headquartered in North Greenbush, New York. It was acquired on April 19, 2007 by Pitney Bowes, and on January 28, 2009, the name of division of Pitney Bowes it...

 GIS products. Global Mapper handles both vector, raster, and elevation data, and provides viewing, conversion, and other general GIS features. Global Mapper has an active user community with a mailing list and online forums.

History

In 1995 the USGS was in need of a Windows viewer for their data products, so they developed the dlgv32 application for viewing their DLG (Digital Line Graph) vector data products. Between 1995 and 1998 the dlgv32 application was expanded to include support for viewing other USGS data products, including DRG (topographic maps) and DEM (digital elevation model) and SDTS-DLG and SDTS-DEM data products. The development process is described in detail in the USGS paper titled 'A Programming Exercise' (ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/cr/mo/rolla/viewers/docs/viewers_asprs_mar00.pdf).

In 1998 the USGS released the source code for dlgv32 v3.7 to the public domain. In 2001, the source code for dlgv32 was further developed by a private individual into the commercial product dlgv32 Pro v4.0 and offered for sale via the internet. Later that same year the product was renamed to Global Mapper and become a commercial product of the company Global Mapper Software LLC. The USGS still distributes a version of the software under the name dlgv32 Pro (Global Mapper) (see http://mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/drc/dlgv32pro/).

Global Mapper releases

Since the initial commercialization of the Global Mapper product in 2001, there have been yearly major product releases and numerous intermediate point releases adding additional functionality to the software, the most recent being the v12.00 released on September 2010.

User community

Later versions have benefited greatly from community involvement via online discussion and beta testing. Global Mapper has both an active Yahoo User's Group at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/global_mapper/ and a popular support forum at http://www.globalmapperforum.com.

External links

  • http://www.globalmapper.com - the Global Mapper website.
  • http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/global_mapper/ - Global Mapper Yahoo User's Group
  • http://www.globalmapperforum.com - Global Mapper Forum
  • http://www.globalmapper.com.pl - Global Mapper Polish site
  • http://mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/drc/dlgv32pro/ - USGS dlgv32 Pro website.
  • http://www.journalofmaps.com/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/remote_sensing/gm90.html - Global Mapper Review at Spaced-OoooO-Out
  • http://guidechart.com/global-mapper/ - Global Mapper Review at GuideChart
  • ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/cr/mo/rolla/viewers/docs/viewers_asprs_mar00.pdf - US Geological Survey Paper on Early History of dlgv32 (later Global Mapper)
  • http://gpsinformation.org/BaseCamp/GlobalMapper.html - Review - Garmin Custom Maps with Global Mapper
  • Global Mapper Software
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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