What Is GIS / Geospatial Software?
Mix (16 tools)
- License: 12 open source · 4 proprietary
- Hosting: 11 self-hosted · 2 SaaS · 3 both
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and geospatial software provide tools for capturing, storing, analyzing, and visualizing geographic data. These tools work with spatial data – points, lines, polygons, rasters, and 3D models – tied to real-world coordinates.
GIS software spans a wide range: desktop applications for cartography and analysis, web map servers that publish spatial data over the network, spatial databases that store and query geographic features, client libraries that render interactive maps in the browser, and data processing utilities that convert between the hundreds of geospatial file formats in use today.
The field is governed by OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards that ensure interoperability between tools. Key standards include WMS (Web Map Service), WFS (Web Feature Service), WMTS (Web Map Tile Service), WCS (Web Coverage Service), and GML (Geography Markup Language).
About this data & disclaimer
The information on these pages was researched by a combination of human review and large language models. This catalogue serves as a reference for the resources, applications, devices, deployment payloads, and other components that the ResorsIT platform integrates, deploys, and manages. To suggest an addition or correction, please contact us. Prepared by Rhodium Systems Inc., author of the ResorsIT platform — a unified IT operations management platform for IT teams and MSPs that integrates a curated suite of open-source, commercial, and SaaS applications into a single system with shared identity, single sign-on, access control, and a common audit trail. This information is compiled on a best-effort basis: it may be incomplete, contain errors, and become out of date as tools, vendors, licences, and features change. Use this catalogue only as a starting point for your own research, and independently verify and review any tool carefully against your own requirements before relying on it.
Comparison
SSO / OIDC Comparison
OIDC is the preferred SSO protocol; the notes below assume Authentik as the external identity provider. Only web-based tools with user interfaces are included (desktop, library, and CLI tools are excluded).
| Tool | OIDC | SAML | LDAP | Authentik Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeoServer | Ext* | No | Yes | OAuth2 extension or reverse-proxy auth |
| MapServer | No | No | No | Reverse-proxy auth only (no UI) |
| GeoNode | Yes | Yes | Yes | Native OIDC via django-allauth |
| Cesium Ion | Ent* | Ent* | No | Enterprise plans only (SaaS) |
| ArcGIS Ent. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Native SAML/OIDC federation |
| Mapbox | Ent* | Ent* | No | Enterprise plans only (SaaS) |
| Google EE | No | Via Google Workspace federation |
Ext* = requires community extension Ent* = enterprise/commercial plans only
Best SSO support: GeoNode (native OIDC, SAML, LDAP via Django ecosystem); ArcGIS Enterprise (native SAML/OIDC/LDAP/AD). GeoServer requires a community extension for OIDC but supports LDAP natively.
Feature Matrix
Desktop GIS & Databases
| Feature | QGIS | GRASS | ArcGIS D. | PostGIS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Analysis | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 3D | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| OGC | Client | No | Client | No |
| Vector | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Raster | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Editing | Yes | Yes | Yes | SQL |
| Geocoding | Plugin | No | Yes | Ext* |
| Routing | Plugin | Yes | Yes | pgR* |
Web GIS / Map Servers
| Feature | GeoServer | MapServer | GeoNode | Cesium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Analysis | WPS | No | No | No |
| 3D | No | No | No | Yes |
| OGC | Server | Server | Server | No |
| Vector | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Raster | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Editing | WFS-T | No | Upload | No |
| Geocoding | No | No | No | No |
| Routing | No | No | No | No |
Ext* = via TIGER geocoder extension pgR* = via pgRouting extension
| Feature | OpenLayers | Leaflet | MapLibre | GDAL | ArcGIS E. | Mapbox | Google EE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spatial analysis | No | No | No | Basic | Yes | No | Yes |
| 3D support | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| OGC WMS/WFS | Client | WMS | No | Read | Server | No | No |
| Vector data | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Raster data | Yes | Tiles | Tiles | Yes | Yes | Tiles | Yes |
| Editing | Yes | Plugin | No | CLI | Yes | No | No |
| Geocoding | No | Plugin | No | No | Yes | API | No |
| Routing | No | Plugin | No | No | Yes | API | No |
Deployment Comparison
Server / Desktop Tools
| Tool | Docker | ARM64 | Platforms | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QGIS | Server | Yes | Win/Mac/Lin | 4 GB+ RAM |
| GRASS GIS | Comm. | Yes | Win/Mac/Lin | 2 GB+ RAM |
| ArcGIS Desktop | No | No | Windows only | 8 GB+ RAM |
| GeoServer | Yes | Yes | Any (Java) | 2-4 GB RAM |
| MapServer | Yes | Comm. | Linux/Win | 256 MB+ |
| GeoNode | Yes | No | Linux | 4-8 GB RAM |
| PostGIS | Yes | Yes | Any (PG) | 1 GB+ RAM |
| pgRouting | Yes | Yes | Any (PG) | 1 GB+ RAM |
| GDAL/OGR | Yes | Yes | Win/Mac/Lin | Varies |
Comm. = community images
Client Libraries
| Tool | npm | CDN | Bundle Size | WebGL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenLayers | Yes | Yes | ~150 KB gz | Opt. |
| Leaflet | Yes | Yes | ~42 KB gz | No |
| MapLibre GL | Yes | Yes | ~220 KB gz | Req. |
| CesiumJS | Yes | Yes | ~500 KB gz | Req. |
Opt. = optional (WebGL renderer available) Req. = required
Commercial / SaaS
| Tool | Self-Hosted | Docker | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| ArcGIS Enterprise | Yes | No | Win/Linux |
| Mapbox | No (SaaS) | N/A | N/A |
| Google Earth Engine | No (SaaS) | N/A | N/A |
Licensing Comparison
| Tool | License | Type | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| QGIS | GPL-2.0 | Free / OSS | Free |
| GRASS GIS | GPL-2.0 | Free / OSS | Free |
| GeoServer | GPL-2.0 | Free / OSS | Free |
| MapServer | MIT | Free / OSS | Free |
| GeoNode | GPL-3.0 | Free / OSS | Free |
| CesiumJS | Apache-2.0 | Free / OSS | Free |
| PostGIS | GPL-2.0 | Free / OSS | Free |
| pgRouting | GPL-2.0 | Free / OSS | Free |
| OpenLayers | BSD-2-Clause | Free / OSS | Free |
| Leaflet | BSD-2-Clause | Free / OSS | Free |
| MapLibre GL | BSD-3-Clause | Free / OSS | Free |
| GDAL/OGR | MIT | Free / OSS | Free |
| ArcGIS Desktop | Proprietary | Commercial | ~$100+/yr |
| ArcGIS Enterprise | Proprietary | Commercial | $20K+/yr |
| Mapbox | Proprietary | SaaS | Pay-as-you-go |
| Google Earth Engine | Proprietary | SaaS | Free*/PAYG |
Free* = free for research/education/nonprofits
Most permissive: MapServer, GDAL/OGR (MIT); OpenLayers, Leaflet (BSD-2-Clause); MapLibre GL (BSD-3-Clause); CesiumJS (Apache-2.0). These have no copyleft obligations.
GPL consideration: QGIS, GRASS GIS, GeoServer, PostGIS, pgRouting use GPL-2.0. GeoNode uses GPL-3.0. GPL requires source disclosure for derivative works but does not affect applications that merely connect to or use these tools as services.
Tools
16 tools.
ArcGIS Desktop
ArcGIS Desktop (now ArcGIS Pro) is Esri’s industry-standard commercial desktop GIS for spatial analysis, cartography, 3D visualization, and imagery, with Python (ArcPy) scripting and ModelBuilder.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: docker · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential
ArcGIS Enterprise
ArcGIS Enterprise is Esri’s self-hosted server platform for publishing, sharing, and analyzing geospatial data and services.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: direct · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Directory / LDAP
Cesium
Cesium is a platform for 3D geospatial visualization. CesiumJS is the open-source JavaScript library that renders interactive 3D globes and maps in the browser using WebGL.
License: Apache-2.0 (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas, direct, package · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential
GDAL/OGR
GDAL (Geospatial Data Abstraction Library) is the Swiss Army knife of geospatial data processing. It provides a single abstract data model for reading, writing, and converting between over 200 raster and vector geospatial formats.
License: MIT (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas, docker, package · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential
GeoNode
GeoNode is an open-source web geospatial content management system built on Django, GeoServer, and PostGIS, providing spatial data upload, a metadata catalog, map composition, and OGC services.
License: GPL-3.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: direct, docker · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Directory / LDAP
GeoServer
GeoServer is the reference implementation of the OGC Web Feature Service (WFS) and Web Coverage Service (WCS) standards, and also implements WMS and WMTS.
License: GPL-2.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: direct, docker · SSO: OIDC
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Directory / LDAP
Google Earth Engine
Google Earth Engine is a cloud-based platform for planetary-scale geospatial analysis, hosting a multi-petabyte catalog of satellite imagery and datasets with server-side compute via JavaScript and Python APIs.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential
GRASS GIS
GRASS GIS (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System) is a free and open-source GIS offering over 350 modules for raster, vector, and voxel processing.
License: GPL-2.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: docker · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential
Leaflet
Leaflet is a lightweight, mobile-friendly JavaScript library for interactive maps. At ~42 KB gzipped, it is significantly smaller than OpenLayers while providing an intuitive API that covers the most common web mapping needs.
License: BSD-2-Clause (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: package · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential
Mapbox
Mapbox is a commercial mapping platform providing APIs and SDKs for maps, geocoding, routing, navigation, and spatial data processing.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential
MapLibre GL
MapLibre GL JS is an open-source fork of Mapbox GL JS v1, created after Mapbox changed its license to proprietary in late 2020. It renders vector tiles using WebGL for smooth, GPU- accelerated map rendering with client-side styling.
License: BSD-3-Clause (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: direct, package · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential
MapServer
MapServer is a high-performance, C-based map rendering engine that has been in development since 1994. It is an OSGeo project and one of the oldest open-source web mapping platforms, known for its speed and low resource footprint.
License: MIT (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: direct, docker · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential
OpenLayers
OpenLayers is a full-featured, high-performance JavaScript library for creating interactive maps in the browser.
License: BSD-2-Clause (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: package · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential
pgRouting
pgRouting is an open-source extension that adds geospatial routing and network analysis to PostGIS, providing shortest-path, TSP, and isochrone algorithms callable via SQL on spatial data.
License: GPL-2.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: docker, direct · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential
PostGIS
PostGIS is the spatial extension for PostgreSQL that adds support for geographic objects, spatial indexing, and hundreds of spatial functions.
License: GPL-2.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: docker · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential
QGIS
QGIS is the most popular open-source desktop GIS application, used by hundreds of thousands of professionals worldwide.
License: GPL-2.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas, docker, package · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential
