6 replies to this topic

[joema]

Several years ago I previously made some maps using Accuglobe and ESRI shapefile data. It worked pretty well but the both 2004 and 2007 versions of the program were somewhat buggy.

What's the current best low-cost mapping program for the Windows platform which can use ESRI shapefile data? I just need the basics: layers, polygon and arrow drawing, annotation, etc.

This is for a non-profit entity so we can't afford an expensive program like ArcView.

Would appreciate any advice, recommendations or experience.

[Donald Milne]

Several years ago I previously made some maps using Accuglobe and ESRI shapefile data. It worked pretty well but the both 2004 and 2007 versions of the program were somewhat buggy.

What's the current best low-cost mapping program for the Windows platform which can use ESRI shapefile data? I just need the basics: layers, polygon and arrow drawing, annotation, etc.

This is for a non-profit entity so we can't afford an expensive program like ArcView.

Would appreciate any advice, recommendations or experience.

I've used Manifold (http://www.manifold.net/) and it performs well with shapefiles. I've created good looking maps from the layers, edited polygons, and annotated satisfactorily. When I bought it a couple of years ago, Manifold cost 1/5 of ArcView. If you don't need all of ArcView's features, Manifold appears to be very useful.

- Don Milne

[Hans van der Maarel]

Indiemapper.com is an online mapping solution, which can work with shapefiles.

[Darren Cope]

My vote is for Quantum GIS. It's a very good open source (read: free!) GIS program that does all you want and much more.

http://www.qgis.org/

Cheers,

Darren

[Nick H]

My vote is for Quantum GIS. It's a very good open source (read: free!) GIS program that does all you want and much more.

Darren

I agree entirely with this, QGIS is very good and getting even better all the time, but I think it might be overkill for what joema needs. Perhaps something like OpenJump might be simpler? This can style shapefiles and it exports reasonable SVGs that can be finished-off in Inkscape.

Just a thought.

Regards, N.

[dsl]

You might also consider MapWindow, which works exclusively with shapefiles. GvSIG is another opensource one that seemed to have pretty good layouts, similar to the old ArcView 3.2.

Cheers,
David

[Maptitude]

Several years ago I previously made some maps using Accuglobe and ESRI shapefile data. It worked pretty well but the both 2004 and 2007 versions of the program were somewhat buggy.

What's the current best low-cost mapping program for the Windows platform which can use ESRI shapefile data? I just need the basics: layers, polygon and arrow drawing, annotation, etc.

This is for a non-profit entity so we can't afford an expensive program like ArcView.

Would appreciate any advice, recommendations or experience.

The Maptitude Mapping Software has functionality comparable to ArcView and supports Shapefiles natively. The Maptitude Mapping Software costs US$495.

Disclaimer: I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.