Use QuantumGIS that can compete with any other popular GIS Software

For those of you still hesitate to use open source desktop GIS software “Quantum GIS or QGIS”, here are some strong reasons to use it now.

1. QGIS is free and open-source software (FOSS)

Anybody with an Internet connection can visit http://www.qgis.org/en/site/ site and retrieve a copy of the GIS software.  There is no cost to the user and this software’s source code is also freely available for the users to make any changes to the program.

QGIS can also run on many operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and UNIX. It has a small file size compared to commercial GIS's and requires less RAM and processing power; hence it can be used on older hardware or running simultaneously with other applications where CPU power may be limited.

2. View data

You can view and overlay vector and raster data in different formats and projections without importing/exporting. Supported formats include:

• QGIS uses the OGR library to read and write vector data formats, including shapefiles, MapInfo TAB file formats, GML, KML, AutoCAD DXF, PostGIS, SpatiaLite, Oracle Spatial and MSSQL Spatial databases, and many more.
• Raster formats supported by the installed GDAL (Geospatial Data Abstraction Library) library, such as GeoTIFF, ERDAS IMG, ArcInfo ASCII GRID, JPEG, PNG and many more.
• Online spatial data served as OGC Web Services, including WMS, WFS and many more.

3. Extend QGIS functionality through plugins

QGIS can be adapted to your special needs with the use of extensible plugin programs that can greatly enhance the functionalities of the software. 

4. Print Composer

With the Print Composer you can create nice maps and atlases that can be printed or saved as PDF-file, an image or an SVG-file. This is a powerful way to share geographical information produced with QGIS that can be included in reports or published. 

5. Working with GPS Data 

The GPS receiver uses the signals from the satellites to calculate its latitude, longitude and (sometimes) elevation. Most receivers also have the capability to store locations (known as waypoints), sequences of locations that make up a planned route and a tracklog or track of the receiver’s movement over time. Waypoints, routes and tracks are the three basic feature types in GPS data. QGIS displays waypoints in point layers, while routes and tracks are displayed in linestring layers. 

QGIS can also perform Live GPS tracking so If the GPS receiver is receiving signals from satellites, you will see your position in latitude, longitude and altitude together with additional attributes on the QGIS map. 

6. Create, edit, manage, analysis and export data 

• Ability to create and edit shapefiles 
• Image georeferencing
• Support for visualizing and editing OpenStreetMap data
• Improved handling of spatial database tables 
• Tools for managing vector attribute tables 
• Option to save screenshots as georeferenced images
• Offers vector analysis, spatial query, shortest path analysis,sampling, geoprocessing, geometry, database management tools and many more
• Offers many raster analysis, such as terrain analysis, zonal statistics, conversions, dam creation etc. 

7. Basemap Facility 

You can easily add a number of popular image services as base maps to publish your own GIS map. Name of the such image services are Google map, OpenStreetMap, and Bing maps.