GIS Mobile Comparison
This page is used to describe comparisons between GeoSpatial Mobile applications to help users select suitable applications for their requirements.
Abstract
- Conference
- FOSS4G 2010
- Title
- A comparison of Mobile GIS applications
- Authors
- Miguel Montesinos (CTO at Prodevelop).
- Javier Carrasco (Geospatial Technical Leader at Prodevelop).
- Abstract
- Free and open source software for GIS has evolved a lot from last years, faster than privative alternatives and now every FOSS4G expert has several very good tools to use on desktop PCs and web.
- The mobile field is a bit different and few experts are using free and open source mobile GIS, despite of good applications exist. Last years with the appearance of Android OS phones a new wave of map applications have been developed.
- At this talk, different mobile GIS applications will be analyzed, compared and tabulated.
- The objectives are:
- To provide a detailed list of FOSS mobile GIS applications
- Find how far are free and open source software from privative alternatives
- Help to choose the best tool for every project
- The main aspects of the comparison will be: functionality, complexity, customizability, formats compatibility and performance and the applications compared will be: ArcPad, gvSIG Mobile, BeeGIS, TangoGPS, Google Maps Mobile, gvSIG Mini, Layar and others
Product List
gvSIG Mobile
gvSIG Mobile is a project aimed to develop a free and open source GIS/SDI client on mobile devices.
gvSIG Mobile is a version of gvSIG Desktop an OSGeo project under incubation, adapted for mobile devices, with support for shapefiles, GPX, KML, GML, ECW, WMS and images, capable of using GPS. Among its features there are tools for project management, display of local and remote information (via WMS standard), layers management (symbols), querying alphanumeric information of the elements, editing data using customized forms, creating GPS tracklogs/waypoints and so on.
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | gvSIG Mobile |
| Version | 0.3 / 1.0 alpha |
| Release Date | nov-2009 |
| Open-Source | Yes |
| Free (cost) | Yes |
| Website | http://www.gvsig.org/web/projects/gvsig-mobile/description-2/view?set_language=en |
| Main Organization | gvSIG Association |
| User Documentation | Yes (English, Spanish, German) |
| Languages | English, Spanish, French, German, Italian |
gvSIG Mini
gvSIG Mini is a free viewer of free access maps based on tiles (OpenStreetMap, ...), with a WMS, WMS-C client, address and POI search, routes, hybrid location and more things.
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | gvSIG Mini |
| Version | 1.0 |
| Release Date | sep-2010 |
| Open-Source | Yes |
| Free (cost) | Yes |
| Website | http://www.gvsigmini.org |
| Main Organization | Prodevelop / gvSIG Association |
| User Documentation | Yes (English) |
| Languages | English, Spanish, German, Italian |
Enebro
Enebro allows view and editing vectorial cartogarphic information, also allows visualizing images and navigation using GPS systems. It is a useful tool for field work related with field inventory, territorial inspection, field work data revision, etc.
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Enebro |
| Version | 2.0.37 |
| Release Date | aug-2008 |
| Open-Source | Yes |
| Free (cost) | Yes |
| Website | http://www.gvsig.org/web/projects/gvsig-mobile/description-2/view?set_language=en |
| Main Organization | Junta de Andalucía / Guadaltel |
| User Documentation | Yes (Spanish) |
| Languages | Spanish |
ArcPad
ArcPad is designed for GIS professionals who require GIS capabilities in the field. It gives field-based personnel the ability to capture, edit, analyze, and display geographic information easily and efficiently.
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | ArcPad |
| Version | 10 |
| Release Date | TBD |
| Open-Source | No |
| Free (cost) | No (aprox. $700.00 single-user license) |
| Website | http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcpad/index.html |
| Main Organization | ESRI |
| User Documentation | Yes (English, Spanish) TBD |
| Languages | TBD |
tangoGPS
tangoGPS is an easy to use, fast and lightweight mapping application for use with or without GPS. It runs on any Linux platform. By default tangoGPS uses map data from the Openstreetmap project. Additionally a variety of other repositories can be easily added.
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | tangoGPS |
| Version | 0.99.3+debian-2 |
| Release Date | |
| Open-Source | Yes |
| Free (cost) | Yes |
| Website | http://www.tangogps.org/ |
| Author | Marcus Bauer |
| User Documentation | Yes (English) |
| Languages | English |
FoxtrotGPS
FoxtrotGPS is an offshoot of tangoGPS application, with a focus on cooperation and fostering community innovation. It runs on any Linux platform. It aims at covering some features of TangoGPS not 100% open-source (used Web services, templates for GUI generation, ...). It's in a preliminary stage as of Sept-2010.
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | FoxtrotGPS |
| Version | 0.99.4 |
| Release Date | June 2010 |
| Open-Source | Yes |
| Free (cost) | Yes |
| Website | http://www.foxtrotgps.org/ |
| Author | Community around a mailing list at OSGeo |
| User Documentation | No (English) |
| Languages | English |
Open-Source Comparative
Here, a comparison of important open-source features is displayed for every product being analyzed.
| Name | Progr. Language | Open Source | License | Public Version Control | Public Bugtracker | Mailing List | Developer Doc. | Active Development | Contributors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gvSIG Mobile[1] | Java ME - CDC | Yes | GPL 2+ | Yes (SVN) | Yes | Yes (Very Active) | Partial | Yes | 7 |
| gvSIG Mini[1] | Java ME CLDC / Java Android | Yes | GPL 2+ | Yes (SVN) | No | Yes (Active) | Yes | Yes | 4 |
| enebro[2] | C++ | Yes | Non-standard/Under request | No | No | No | No | Unknown | Unknown |
| ArcPad[3] | C++ | No | N/A | No | No | Yes (Very Active) | Yes | Unknown | Unknown |
| TangoGPS[4] | C | Yes | GPL 2 | Yes | No | Yes (Active) | No | Yes | Marcos Bauer + helps |
| FoxtrotGPS[5] | C | Yes | GPL 2 | No | No | Yes (Very Active) | No | No | 3 |
Target Platform Comparison
| Name | Open Source | W. Mobile | Java CLDC | Android | iPhone | Linux PDA | Windows PC | Linux PC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gvSIG Mobile | Yes | Yes(WM 2003/5/6) | No | No | No | Yes OpenMoko, Maemo | Yes (W 2000/XP) | Yes |
| gvSIG Mini | Yes | Yes(JVM) | Yes | Yes (Android 1.5 - 2.2) | No | No | No | No |
| Enebro | Yes | Yes (WM 2003/5/6) | No | No | No | No | Yes (W 2000/XP) | Yes (Guadalinex v.3.0.1) |
| ArcPad | No | Yes (WM 2003/5/6) | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| TangoGPS | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| FoxtrotGPS | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Feature Comparison
TBD
| Feature | gvSIG Mobile 1.0 alpha | gvSIG Mobile 0.3 | Enebro | tangoGPS / FoxtrotGPS | ArcPad | gvSIG Mini | Layar |
| Multilayer | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ||
| Multiple coordinate systems | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | ||
| Symbology | |||||||
| — Simple | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | |
| — Scale | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | |
| — Labeling | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| — Range | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | |
| — Unique value | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| Hyperlink | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | |
| Find by attributes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | ||
| Offline support | |||||||
| — shapefiles | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | |
| — GML | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | |
| — KML | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | |
| — GPX | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | ||
| — ECW | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | |
| — MrSid | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | |
| — Jpeg2000 | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| — tiles | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | |
| Online support | |||||||
| — WMS | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | |
| — WFS | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | |
| — WFS-T | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
| — tiles | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | |
| — ArcIMS | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| GPS | |||||||
| — Satellite information | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| — External GPS support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| — GPS aided editing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| — tracklog storage | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ||
| — waypoint storage | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ||
| — Real-Time DGPS | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | |
| — Vertex point averaging | Yes | No | No | Yes | |||
| Editing | |||||||
| — Geometry editing | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | |
| — New layers creation | No | No | No | No | No | ||
| — Alphanumeric editing | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | |
| — Custom Forms | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | |
| — Attribute table editing | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| — Split and union | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| — Sketch | No | No | No | Yes | No | ||
| — Snapping | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| — Export | Yes | No | No | No | No | ||
| Extensibility through plugins | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | ||
| Custom toolbars | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| Prices | |||||||
| Ease to use | Medium | Medium | Medium | Easy | Easy | Easy | |
| Ease to install | Hard | Medium | Easy | Easy | Easy | Easy | |
| Spread (google search results number) | 35.500 | 35.500 | 12.200 | 18.200 + 6.180 | 147.000 | 3.970 | 2.200.000 |
| Documentation | Available | Available | Available | ||||
| Speed | |||||||
| Camera support | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| Rangefinder support | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| Code language | J2ME CDC PP | J2ME CDC PP | C++ | Java | VB | Android + Midp2 | |
Perfomance Comparison
Datasets used
For testing the perfomance of the applications, OSGeo available datasets for FOSS4G 2010 have been used. Shapefiles fo several sizes have been loaded on a PDA for vectorial comparison.
For raster comparison, an official ortophotograph coming from the Spanish National Mapping Agency (CNIG - Centro Nacional de Información Geográfica) of Barcelona area have been downloading in ECW. This image has also been clipped to a 5000x5000 pixel image, for testing two different image sizes.
The layers used for the speed perfomance test have been these ones:
Designed Tests
TBD
Perfomance Results
TBD
| Datasource | Geometry Type | Number of Features | Category | Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vectorial Layers | ||||
| point-layers-for-geometry.shp | Point | 265 | Small | 241 KB |
| motorway.shp | Polyline | 79 | Small | 106 KB |
| settlement.shp | Polygon | 257 | Small | 152 KB |
| ramp.shp | Polyline | 635 | Medium | 334 KB |
| industry.shp | Polygon | 5070 | Large | 1,34 MB |
| contour.shp | Polyline | 3429 | Large | 12,8 MB |
| Raster Layers | ||||
| bcn_recorte_5000.ecw | Raster (ECW) | 5000 x 5000 px | Medium | 7,5 MB |
| bcn_recorte.ecw | Raster (ECW) | 14273 x 21693 px | Large | 82,9 MB |