List of Mapping Software

[jbgibson]

Title: PhotoPlus
Vendor: Serif
Web Site: http://www.serif.com/ for current versions
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com for fully functional older versions
Type: Raster
Focus: General
Platform: Windows
Price: approx US$ 90. Earlier versions in gradually scaled down prices, down to free!
("Starter Version" doesn't say what prior numbered version it equates to, but past practice has approx. 5 year old version for free, and progressively newer ones at incremental add-on cost. Current freeserifsoftware site doesn't show the old numbered versions; their typical marketing has been to offer you the intervening ones at a variety of prices, once you register the freebie. So definitely DO choose to receive promotional info during the registration)
Description:
PhotoPlus is a budget end cousin of Adobe Photoshop or the GIMP and a capable alternative to either. Their DrawPlus package has similar old=free, latest=still only moderate cost; as with the Photoshop/Illustrator pair you can do some things easier in one than the other. For example I do text along a curve in DrawPlus, and import the result into PhotoPlus.
Examples: not stellar ones, but they're what I've got. Please - add better ones!
10-year-ago free version (5.0 or 5.5 or 6) Haromszek Topo Venda Polar Arc
6- or 8-year old version (7 or 9) Vrcholce Lucco Hovy Nizny Tybic
5-year old version 11 (as far as I've bothered to go) Zanannia Basse-Georges
Newer ... I dunno; Ravells did you ever do a full map in PP?

Don't assume PhotoPlus can only do what I linked to; those are all my style, with the flat colors and minimized filesize -- I'll warrant the same sort of styles as many CG denizens with a more photographic, classical, or hand-drawn look are just as doable in PhotoPlus as some of the more usual raster tools. Ravells did a review thread a couple of years ago that gives some pros and cons. Anybody know if they've got better cloud filters in X4 or X5? That was a deficiency when Ravells looked at X3.

[ravells]

Hi Jb - no, I never did a full map in photoplus. I already had photoshop, and although I bought photoplus to get the Eyecandy filters (they were going incredibly cheap) I found that although it had most of the functionality of photoshop, it struggled with larger file sizes. I use it on my laptop though!

[Hai-Etlik]

Title: Inkscape
Vendor: Open Source
Web Site: http://www.inkscape.org/
Type: Vector
Focus: General
Platform: Multiplatform, uses GTK+
Price: Free
Description:
A Free/Open Source vector graphics editor comparable to Corel DRAW, Adobe Photoshop, or Xara Xtreme.
Examples: The Lands of the Inner Sea, A Planisphere of Her Majesty's Martian Colony, SEI Habitat Loss in the Cowichan River Basin, Solid Geological Map of the Capel Curig, Snowdonia area, Canada.

Title: ArcGIS Desktop
Vendor: ESRI
Web Site: http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/index.html
Type: Raster/Vector
Focus: GIS
Platform: Windows
Price: 1,500 USD for a Single Use ArcView license, it goes up from there rapidly.
Description:
One of the top commercial desktop GISes.
Examples: Vancouver Island Community Groundwater Mapping Project, SEI Habitat Loss in the Cowichan River Basin, Solid Geological Map of the Capel Curig, Snowdonia area

Title: QuantumGIS (QGIS)
Vendor: Open Source Geospatial Foundation
Web Site: http://www.qgis.org/
Type: Raster/Vector
Focus: Desktop GIS
Platform: Multiplatform, uses QT
Price: Free
Description:
A Free/Open Source desktop GIS.
Examples: A Planisphere of Her Majesty's Martian Colony, Canada

Title: GeoServer
Vendor: Open Source
Web Site: http://geoserver.org/
Type: Raster/Vector/Tile
Focus: OGC Compliant WMS/WFS/WCS server.
Platform: Java
Price: Free
Description:
A Free/Open Source geospatial information server and the official reference implementation for the OGC standards. In simple terms, it is a program that can provide the data to run a "slippy map" like Google Maps, Bing Maps, etc. It can also provide data to plug into a GIS.
Examples: Vancouver Island Community Groundwater Mapping Project

Title: OpenLayers
Vendor: Open Source
Web Site: http://openlayers.org/
Type: Raster/Vector/Tile
Focus: Web based slippy map.
Platform: Javascript
Price: Free
Description:
A Free/Open Source web slippymap with support for WMS, WFS, KML, Google, Bing, ArcGIS, and various other data sources.
Examples: Vancouver Island Community Groundwater Mapping Project, RetroMap

Title: PostGIS
Vendor: Refractions Research
Web Site: http://postgis.refractions.net/
Type: Vector, Raster in development.
Focus: GIS layer for the Postgres RDBMS.
Platform: Postgres
Price: Free
Description:
Adds robust GIS data types to Postgres, including OGC Simple Features for SQL.
Examples: Vancouver Island Community Groundwater Mapping Project,RetroMap

Title: uDig
Vendor: Refractions Research
Web Site: http://udig.refractions.net/
Type: Vector, Raster.
Focus: Desktop GIS
Platform: Java
Price: Free
Description:
A somewhat simpler desktop GIS written in Java.
Examples:

Title: GRASS
Vendor: Open Source Geospatial Foundation
Web Site: http://grass.fbk.eu/
Type: Vector, Raster.
Focus: GIS
Platform: Multiplatform, Unix Oriented
Price: Free
Description:
Probably the most advanced, powerful, and flexible Open Source GIS, though the interface is a bit arcane.
Examples:

[Bruno Cabral]

some body use coreldraw?

[Midgardsormr]

I used to use CorelDRAW, but I switched to Illustrator a while ago. Not because Illustrator is necessarily better, but because it has more market and I'm more likely to encounter Adobe on the job than Corel.

[viper.inthe.snow]

This is an amazing thread, and exactly one of the things I was hoping to find here! Thanks for all the suggestions and contributions - lots of programs to play with and learn!

[Seeria]

Pity they don't make this one anymore ImageSynth2
http://www.luxology.com/imageSynth/
Excellent for creating seamless textures from ANY image

[bloodymage]

I keep trying to get my head around CC3 plus add-ons, but someone (wish I could remember who) pointed out a simpler program, thought it was cosmographer, but that's ProFantasy again. It was a name like that, though.

I'm a bit behind the times in all this digital stuff and the VA didn't do me any favors, so simple but attractive is what I'm looking for, at least until I can get my brains back.

[Mustak]

I use the Gimp and Inkscape.

[lmbarns]

Title: Unity 3d game engine terrain toolkit
Vendor: Unity3d
Web Site: toolkit: http://unity3d.com/support/resources...errain-toolkit after you have the engine
Type: Heightmap, 3d
Focus: General/3D
Platform: Windows/Mac/Linux/Web Based
Price: $0
Description:
The Terrain Toolkit is an integrated set of tools for the Unity Editor which is designed to streamline and improve the workflow involved in creating realistic terrains for games. The toolkit enables the creation of large scale, realistic and playable game worlds within a very short time span.

Examples:
Creating heightmaps http://vimeo.com/album/150503

Here's an example I made from the game Ultima Online's map in 3d:



I can make scalable 3d maps of just about any feature/bay/mountain range based off a google image in around an hour for the base, it takes a little longer to paint on the textures, but definitely far faster than hand forming terrain...