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GRASS GIS VS ArcGIS

Compare GRASS GIS VS ArcGIS and see what are their differences

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GRASS GIS logo GRASS GIS

GRASS GIS is a free Geographic Information System (GIS) software used for geospatial data management and analysis, image processing, graphics/maps production, spatial modeling, and visualization.

ArcGIS logo ArcGIS

ArcGIS software is a data analysis, cloud-based mapping platform that allows users to customize maps and see real-time data ranging from logistics support to overall mapping analysis.
  • GRASS GIS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-09-18

GRASS GIS offers powerful raster, vector, and geospatial processing engines in a single integrated software suite. It includes tools for terrain and ecosystem modeling, hydrology, visualization of raster and vector data, management and analysis of geospatial data, and the processing of satellite and aerial imagery. It comes with a temporal framework for advanced time series processing and a Python API for rapid geospatial programming. GRASS GIS has been optimized for performance and large geospatial data analysis.

  • ArcGIS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-22

GRASS GIS

Categories
  • Maps
  • Maps & Navigation
  • Mapping And GIS
  • Data Analysis
  • Image Processing And Management
  • Earth Observation
  • Hydrologic Modelling
  • Terrain Modelling
  • Network Analysis
Website grass.osgeo.org
Details $
Platforms
Windows Mac OSX Linux Docker
Edit details

ArcGIS

Categories
  • Maps
  • Mapping And GIS
  • Web Mapping
  • Developer Tools
Website esri.com
Details $-
Platforms
-
Edit details

GRASS GIS videos

+ Add

GRASS GIS Tutorials - Tutorial 2 - Understanding GRASS GIS Data Structure

More videos:

  • Tutorial - GRASS GIS Tutorial 2 - Understanding GRASS GIS Data Structure
  • Tutorial - GRASS GIS Tutorials - Tutorial 1 - Installation - REVISED

ArcGIS videos

+ Add

What is ArcGIS?

More videos:

  • Review - ArcGIS Data Reviewer: An Introduction
  • Review - ArcGIS Data Reviewer: Integrating Data Quality Control into Web Applications

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to GRASS GIS and ArcGIS)

GRASS GIS

ArcGIS

Maps
19 19%
Maps
81% 81
Mapping And GIS
20 20%
Mapping And GIS
80% 80
Maps & Navigation
100 100%
Maps & Navigation
0% 0
Web Mapping
11 11%
Web Mapping
89% 89

Questions and Answers

As answered by people managing GRASS GIS and ArcGIS.

How would you describe your primary audience?

GRASS GIS's answer

GRASS GIS primarily caters to geospatial professionals, researchers, and students in fields like geography, environmental science, urban planning, and geology. It is also used by government agencies and non-profit organizations for spatial data analysis and environmental modeling.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

GRASS GIS's answer

As an open-source tool, GRASS GIS doesn't have "customers" in the traditional sense. However, it is widely used by various government agencies, academic institutions, and environmental organizations worldwide. Notable users include space agencies, numerous universities and research institutions as well as companies involved in geospatial studies and analysis.

What's the story behind your product?

GRASS GIS's answer

GRASS GIS was initially developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a tool for land management and environmental planning. It was first released in the early 1980s and has since evolved into a robust, multi-functional GIS platform, largely due to contributions from a global community of developers. GRASS GIS is a founding member project of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo.org).

What makes your product unique?

GRASS GIS's answer

  • Open-Source and Free: GRASS GIS is completely open-source, allowing users to freely use, modify, and distribute it.
  • Advanced Geospatial Capabilities: It offers a wide range of tools for spatial modeling, geostatistics, and data management, making it suitable for advanced geospatial analysis.
  • Strong Community Support: Being open-source, it has a strong community of developers and users contributing to its continuous improvement.
  • Integration with Other Open-Source Tools: It can be integrated with other open-source GIS software like QGIS, providing a comprehensive GIS solution.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

GRASS GIS's answer

  • Cost-Effectiveness: Being free and open, it is an excellent choice for those with a strong need for quality.
  • Customizability: Users can customize and extend its functionalities to suit their specific needs.
  • Comprehensive Geospatial Functions: It offers a wide range of geospatial functions that are comparable, and sometimes superior, to those in proprietary GIS software.
  • Strong Data Handling: It can handle large datasets efficiently, which is beneficial for complex geospatial analyses.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

GRASS GIS's answer

GRASS GIS is primarily written in C, Python, and C++. It uses a range of geospatial libraries and technologies, including GDAL for data conversion, PROJ for coordinate transformations, and can interface with SQL databases.

User comments

Share your experience with using GRASS GIS and ArcGIS. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare GRASS GIS and ArcGIS

GRASS GIS Reviews

The Top 10 Alternatives to ArcGIS
Grass GIS is a spatial database and software suite used for creating and managing maps, editing data, conducting spatial analysis, and sharing information. It is an open source software that runs on all major platforms, making it a convenient option for a variety of different users. There are many plugins and extensions available for Grass GIS, allowing you to customize it...
Source: equatorstudios.com
30 Best GIS Software Applications [Rankings]
GRASS GIS is one of those suites that let you geoprocess until the night falls. It’s a loaded gun with sophisticated tools. It’s so powerful that you can unleash GRASS GIS in QGIS as a separate toolbox. But its clunky interface and stubborn map projection rules hold it back.
Source: gisgeography.com
Top 6 Free and Open-Source GIS Software
The free, open-source, and cross-platform compatible solution is the best GIS software solution that comes with the most enhanced features. GRASS was developed by the US government and is well-known by companies across the globe. The raster-based GIS software provides users advanced features such as an image processing system, vector GIS, graphics production system, spatial...
Source: linuxways.net
3 open source alternatives to ArcGIS Desktop
Let's begin with GRASS. GRASS, which stands for Geographic Resources Analysis Support System). It has a very long history, dating back to original development which began in 1982 under the US government. In the time since, GRASS has been adopted by the academic community, where its development continues today.
Source: opensource.com

ArcGIS Reviews

18 Top Google Places API Alternatives for Points of Interest Data in 2022
If you’re an ArcGIS user, you can use its geocoding service to search for a location and return complete addresses. You can also use it to search for name of a business within a specific distance from a location or find places by category name.
Source: traveltime.com
The Top 10 Alternatives to ArcGIS
GIS software is a powerful tool that enables for the presentation, collection, manipulation, management, and analysis of spatial data. It is therefore no surprise that it is used in such a variety of industries ranging from transportation and infrastructure, to environmental planning and disaster response. Currently, ArcGIS is one of the world-leading GIS software available,...
Source: equatorstudios.com
27 Differences Between ArcGIS and QGIS – The Most Epic GIS Software Battle in GIS History
Wonderful write up. It would really go a along way to introduce new users to the two softwares. My view however is that Arcgis has more capabilities, i am not saying arcmap now, i mean arcgis(Arcmap, Arc Scene, Arc Catalog, ArcPro and Arcgis Online all of which you could get for 100 dollars. (Arcgis for Personal Use). But looking at the cost means if it would have been free...
Source: gisgeography.com
3 open source alternatives to ArcGIS Desktop
If you've ever worked with geographic data on the desktop, chances are that you used Esri's ArcGIS application in at least part of your work. ArcGIS is an incredibly powerful tool, but unfortunately, it's a proprietary product that is designed for Windows. Linux and Mac users are out of luck unless they want to run ArcGIS in a virtualized environment, and even then, they're...
Source: opensource.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, GRASS GIS seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 8 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

GRASS GIS mentions (8)

  • Geospatial Nix – create, use and deploy today
    Https://grass.osgeo.org/ 
        GRASS GIS offers powerful raster, vector, and geospatial processing engines in a single integrated software suite. It includes tools for terrain and ecosystem modeling, hydrology, visualization of raster and vector data, management and analysis of geospatial data, and the processing of satellite and aerial imagery. It comes with a temporal framework for advanced time series...
    - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • What's missing from C# in Godot 4?
    We haven't looked at integrating GRASS yet, as we're more interested in data display, not deep analysis. Just another example of a C/C++ library with front end bindings for Python. Numbers are crunched in C/C++, results returned to Python. Source: 11 months ago
  • Discussion Thread
    Anyone have good advice for where to learn how to use GRASS. Source: 11 months ago
  • GIS Developer career path
    Outside of personal experience, based on second-hand insight: GRASS is an extremely powerful tool, if you're not familiar with it already, and you can use it from the CLI and from Python. If you'd like to step out of Python at some point, I hear Java is used a lot for enterprise GIS, while Julia looks like the language of the future (especially now with JuliaGeo), but that still remains to be seen. Source: over 1 year ago
  • What other tools do you use to help you do GIS?
    Sometimes some modules from GRASS like r.lake at the moment. Source: over 1 year ago
View more

ArcGIS mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of ArcGIS yet. Tracking of ArcGIS recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing GRASS GIS and ArcGIS, you can also consider the following products

QGIS - QGIS is a desktop geographic information system, or GIS.

SAGA GIS - SAGA - System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses - is a Geographic Information System (GIS)...

Mapbox - An open source mapping platform for custom designed maps. Our APIs and SDKs are the building blocks to integrate location into any mobile or web app.

Garmin BaseCamp - Garmin® BaseCamp® provides an interface for viewing Garmin map products and managing...

Google Maps - Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

gvSIG - gvSIG Mini Maps allows you to browse and navigate with GPS a full set of free on/offline maps from...

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