Editing Geographic information system (section)

==GIS software==
{{main|Geographic information system software}}
{{See also|List of free and open-source software packages#Maps|l1=List of open source GIS software}}
The distinction must be made between a singular ''geographic information system'', which is a single installation of software and data for a particular use, along with associated hardware, staff, and institutions (e.g., the GIS for a particular city government); and ''[[Geographic information system software|GIS software]]'', a general-purpose [[Application software|application program]] that is intended to be used in many individual geographic information systems in a variety of application domains.<ref name="bolstad" />{{rp|page=16}} Starting in the late 1970s, many software packages have been created specifically for GIS applications. [[Esri|Esri's]] [[ArcGIS]], which includes [[ArcGIS Pro]] and the legacy software [[ArcMap]], currently dominates the GIS market.{{As of?|date=September 2024}} Other examples of GIS include [[Autodesk]] and [[MapInfo Professional]] and open-source programs such as [[QGIS]], [[GRASS GIS]], [[MapGuide]], and [[Apache Hadoop|Hadoop-GIS]].<ref>{{Cite conference |author1=Ablimit Aji |author2=Hoang Vo |author3=Qiaoling Liu |author4=Fusheng Wang |author5=Joel Saltz |author6=Rubao Lee |author7=Xiaodong Zhang | title="Hadoop GIS: a high performance spatial data warehousing system over mapreduce" |journal=Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment International Conference on Very Large Data Bases |conference= The 39th International Conference on Very Large Data Bases | pages=1009–1020|year=2013 |volume=6 |issue=11 |pmid=24187650 |pmc=3814183 }}</ref> These and other desktop GIS applications include a full suite of capabilities for entering, managing, analyzing, and visualizing geographic data, and are designed to be used on their own.

Starting in the late 1990s with the emergence of the [[Internet]], as computer network technology progressed, GIS infrastructure and data began to move to [[Server (computing)|server]]s, providing another mechanism for providing GIS capabilities.<ref name="longley2015" />{{rp|page=216}} This was facilitated by standalone software installed on a server, similar to other server software such as [[HTTP server]]s and [[relational database management system]]s, enabling clients to have access to GIS data and processing tools without having to install specialized desktop software. These networks are known as [[distributed GIS]].<ref name=Zhong1>{{cite book |last1=Peng |first1=Zhong-Ren |last2=Tsou |first2=Ming-Hsiang |title=Internet GIS: Distributed Information Services for the Internet and Wireless Networks |year=2003 |location=Hoboken, NJ |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |isbn=0-471-35923-8 |oclc=50447645 |url=https://archive.org/details/internetgisdistr0000peng |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name=Moretz1>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Moretz |first1=David |title=Internet GIS |year=2008 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of GIS |editor1-last=Shekhar |editor1-first=Shashi |editor2-last=Xiong |editor2-first=Hui |location=New York |publisher=Springer |pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofgi0000unse_i4o0/page/591 591–596] |isbn=978-0-387-35973-1 |oclc=233971247 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofgi0000unse_i4o0/page/591 |url-access=registration |doi=10.1007/978-0-387-35973-1_648}}</ref> This strategy has been extended through the Internet and development of [[cloud computing|cloud-based]] GIS platforms such as ArcGIS Online and GIS-specialized [[software as a service]] (SAAS). The use of the Internet to facilitate distributed GIS is known as [[Internet GIS]].<ref name=Zhong1/><ref name=Moretz1/>

An alternative approach is the integration of some or all of these capabilities into other software or [[information technology]] architectures. One example is a [[Spatial database|spatial extension]] to [[Object-relational database]] software, which defines a geometry datatype so that spatial data can be stored in relational tables, and extensions to [[SQL]] for spatial analysis operations such as [[Vector overlay|overlay]]. Another example is the proliferation of geospatial libraries and [[application programming interface]]s (e.g., [[GDAL]], [[Leaflet (software)|Leaflet]], [[D3.js]]) that extend programming languages to enable the incorporation of GIS data and processing into custom software, including [[web mapping]] sites and [[location-based service]]s in [[smartphone]]s.