Geographic information system software

[1][2][3] The GIS software industry encompasses a broad range of commercial and open-source products that provide some or all of these capabilities within various information technology architectures.

Perhaps the first general-purpose software that provided a range of GIS functionality was the Synagraphic Mapping Package (SYMAP), developed by Howard T. Fisher and others at the nascent Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis starting in 1965.

While not a true full-range GIS program, it included some basic mapping and analysis functions, and was freely available to other users.

[6] Through the 1970s, the Harvard Lab continued to develop and publish other packages focused on automating specific operations, such as SYMVU (3-D surface visualization), CALFORM (choropleth maps), POLYVRT (topological vector data management), WHIRLPOOL (vector overlay), GRID and IMGRID (raster data management), and others.

[10] These would proliferate in the 1990s with the advent of more powerful personal computers, Microsoft Windows, and the 1990 U.S. Census, which raised awareness of the usefulness of geographic data to businesses and other new users.