Spatial Data Hardware + Software
Teaching + Learning
Maps + Mapping
Social Science Data Services
US Census
Data Management & Publishing Guide
GIS Lab
Rotch Library, building 7-238
Contact Us
gishelp@mit.edu
GIS software at MIT
Geographic Information System (GIS) software facilitates analysis by providing a means to ask complex questions of spatial and tabular data, store the results as new spatial data, and produce maps to convey the answers. There are a variety of GIS software packages, and they have different strengths and weaknesses.
ESRI GIS software
Google Earth Pro
GeoLytics - Mapping US Census data
Other GIS software
Other software in the MIT GIS lab
ESRI
ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute) is a leading GIS software company and has many products ranging from free data viewers to powerful desktop and internet mapping applications. The ESRI software is available to the MIT community for teaching and research through our campus site license. Extensions for ArcGIS Desktop are included in the MIT site license, except 3rd party extensions such as the Data Interoperability Extension.ArcGIS Desktop (ArcInfo) is the most commonly used GIS software at MIT. It is available in the GIS Lab in Rotch Library (7-238), in the 37-312 WinAthena cluster, and can be run on individual computers.
Running ArcGIS Desktop on individual computers
Instructions for installing ArcGIS 10 are available online
Important Items to Consider when Installing ArcGIS
- To get started searching for data for your GIS projects with the MIT geodata repository, an international collection of geodata, use MIT Geoweb (using a web browser) or the MIT Geodata Search Tool (available for download through IS&T). MIT certificates are required for download and connection to MIT's VPN is required for off-campus use.
- ArcGIS does not run on the MAC OS but it can be run on Macintosh over the network through the citrix server or it can be run inside a Windows OS installation on the MAC.
- For the latest patches and service packs for ArcGIS Desktop visit the ESRI Support Center.
About ESRI desktop mapping software: In 1982 ESRI launched its first commercial GIS software called ARC/INFO. In 1992 ESRI released a more affordable, easier to learn desktop mapping tool, called ArcView. ArcGIS, released in 2001, combines the robust tools of ArcInfo's command line with the GUI interface of ArcView and is marketed by ESRI as their scalable system for geographic data creation, management, integration, analysis, and dissemination. ...http://www.esri.com/company/about/history.html
Many scripts, samples, patches, data models, etc. are freely available online at ESRI support
Google Earth Pro
Available in the MIT GIS Lab on all 7 computers.For more information about capabilities visit: http://www.google.com/enterprise/earthmaps/pro_features.html
The MIT GIS Lab is able to offer access to Google Earth Pro through the Google Earth Education Iniative.
As projects develop, Google would appreciate contributions to one of these community pages:
http://bbs.keyhole.com
or
http://groups.google.com/group/google-geo-education/topics.
"Whether it be information in the form of a lesson plan or in a detailed testimony outlining your successes, these contributions will foster incentives for creativity and innovation which that can ultimately evolve into Google Earth enhancements geared specifically toward curriculum development. We value your participation and look forward to your contributions."
GeoLytics - Mapping US Census data
Available in the MIT GIS Lab, on lib-gis-6 'Census Workstation'
An overview comparison of census tools
GeoLytics provides demographic data with built-in mapping capabilities that create thematic maps for instant spatial display of demographic information. Geolytics software contains nation-wide tract-level data from the 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010 decennial censuses, 2006-2010 American Community Survey (ACS) data, as well as recent estimates and projections. Comparing data from different census years can be a difficult task due to changing geographic boundaries. Geolytics' Normalized Data Product line adjusts and weights the census data to account for changes in geographies making comparisons between cenus years much easier. Geolytics also provides digital access to hard to find census data dating back to 1970. A listing of Geolytics cd's available in the MIT Libraries can be found in Barton by doing an Advanced Search by Publisher = Geolytics .
Other GIS software
There are a rapidly growing number of GIS software applications being developed. Many open source solutions are being developed using Java and hence, are available for multiple platforms. Wikipedia has an interesting listing of proprietary and open source GIS software. A good place to learn about what is going on in the Open Source GIS community is the OSGEO - Open Source Geospatial Foundation.
Other Software in the MIT GIS Lab
AutoCAD Available on all 6 computers
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