Comparison of Open Source Desktop GIS Packages

There is a nice matrix (table) about "Matrix on OSGeo and COTS (Commercial off-the-shelf) software functionality", see this online spreadsheet. The effort of compiling the table was led by Tom McConnell, various project leads contributed to it.


I've now done a little searching myself on this and there seem to have been a few academic papers published with comparisons. Even the newest one is a year+ old now, but they do make for some interesting reading.

  • An overview on current free and open source desktop GIS developments (PDF) - Comprehensive comparison of GRASS 6.3.0, QGIS 0.9, uDig 1.1, gvSIG 1.1, SAGA 2.0.2, MapWindow 4.5, ILWIS 3.4, OpenJUMP 1.2D

  • Free and open source geographic information tools for landscape ecology (PDF) - A second paper (using the same material) with the same software and ArcGIS thrown in

  • Evaluating open source GIS for libraries (PDF) - Comparison of gvSIG 1.12, QGIS 1.0, uDig 1.1.1, OpenJUMP 1.2F, MapWindow 4.6.602, GRASS 6.4.0 (Via QGIS plugin)

  • Assessment of open source GIS software for water resources management in developing countries (PDF) - Started with just about every OS GIS ever conceived (over 30!) with a final detailed comparison of gvSIG, MapWindow, OpenJUMP and QGIS.


A bit meta, but someone's even written a paper on how to compare different GIS software; GIS software selection: a multi criteria decision making approach(PDF)


As I answered on the question you are referring, I did a comparison for several FOSS Desktop GIS in 2008, with the purpose of finding the system that fits a set of criteria. I also developed a framework for such selections, based on other frameworks. The paper is available under a creative commons license at: http://code.atlefren.net/download/dl.php?id=10