Maptitude

Maptitude is more than GIS and Mapping software, it is a Spatial Analysis software that I use weekly in my real estate consulting practice. It comes with substantial GIS data and is ready to use out of the box and does not required a degree to use it. It is designed for USERS, but also has power and flexibility for those advance users when needed. I have used it for over 15 years and each new version is easier and better. Caliper includes comprehensive GIS data for many countries, but it also has power to import for data that is not included. My work takes me to remote islands around the Pacific, and within a Maptitude Add-in, I can load Open Street Map data for these small countries. In the USA many counties provide additional GIS Shapefiles such as parcel maps that I can easily import. Also, it has power to export to KML files which I regularly create for my clients so they can open up property and market information within Google Maps. Most clients think I have full time GIS staff using expensive GIS software - most are surprised when I tell them about Maptitude. I have also created complex retail gravity models using Maptitude.

Worst part...that it doesn't read my mind on type of map and analysis that I need. Really, it is strong, robust, and well featured spatial analysis software.

I have tried other GIS software including ESRI ArcGIS to some of the freeware versions. Although ESRI is much more powerful, it is quite difficult for most users. I have worked with several clients where we used Maptitude for most staff, and then just did conversions that were uploaded into ArcGis. The freeware versions I tried had steep learning curves and limited features. I always came back to Maptitude for my day to day work.