Examples of mapping tools

Maps communicate information that is related to space and location in a remarkably efficient way, reducing volumes of information to a single, clear visual presentation. A weather map lets you know in an instant whether it will be cloudy or sunny, how warm or cold it will be, and whether it will rain or snow. Traffic maps let you know in seconds what route you should take to avoid an accident or steer clear of construction. In politics, history, advertising, and recreation, maps are a part of our everyday lives because they tell us so much of what we want to know.

To share your own information through the powerful medium of maps, there are several factors that should be considered. These include which custom map tools you require and whether you need high-quality map data. There are many mapping applications and Geographic Information Systems (GIS Software) on the market that you can choose between, ranging from:

• being free to costing tens of thousands of dollars
• having basic or canned interfaces to customizable open systems
• being easy to use to requiring expert level experience
• having no data to providing extensive and integrated commercial grade maps

The more expensive applications typically have professional, but often esoteric, cartographic map production tools. The free applications typically come with zero or limited data, low-quality data, or limited functionality.

Maptitude map tools

The mapping software market is highly competitive but only Maptitude provides:

• ease-of-use
• commercial-grade data
• the ability to customize every element in a map
• affordable pricing

Maptitude (Maptitude mapping software) has flexible tools for map creation, customization, and map edits, and also supports more sophisticated tools such as enforced topology and adjacent area map coloring.

Maptitude provides the tools, maps, and demographic data that you need, with commands and special functions that let you tie in the data you use every day in your work. The MapWizard^® automatic mapping tools create brilliant and informative maps with a single mouse click. Even more importantly, Maptitude provides ways for you to use the maps you create to analyze and understand how geography affects you and your organization or business.

Maptitude provides easy-to-use, professional mapping tools along with detailed USA data and at an affordable price. International versions of Maptitude mapping software are also available and come with demographic databases and geographic boundaries and features for each country.

Maptitude is designed to store, retrieve, manage, display, and analyze all types of geographic and spatial data.

Maptitude lets you produce maps and other graphic displays of geographic information for analysis and presentation. With these capabilities, Maptitude is a valuable tool to visualize spatial data. Maptitude is one of the most popular GIS software packages and has extensive functionality. The Maptitude capabilities include map and layer controls, visualization tools, geocoding, GIS mapping tools and geographic analytics (territory building tools, buffers, Thiessen Polygons, geographic overlay, hot spots, weighted center, shortest paths, drive-time bands, drive-time territories, measuring tools, desire lines, two-dimensional and 3D surface analysis, data classification, GPS support, internet mapping, and facility location), imagery/raster tools, map editing, drawing, digitizing, and relational database capabilities.

Top 27 mapping tools

Mapping tools can be considered separately from mapping software or map applications. These are the actual functions that a geographic information system (GIS) provides. These tools allow the user to work with maps and geospatial data. In the table below we list the 25 most common mapping tools.

Tool	Description
Add Data	Adds data to a map, including vector data, raster data, and tabular data.
Buffer	Creates a polygon at a set distance surrounding a feature.
Census and Demographic Data	Provides access to census and demographic data for a variety of geographic areas.
Clip	Extracts a portion of a feature based on a specified boundary.
Data Visualization	Provides a variety of tools for visualizing data, such as charts, graphs, and heat maps.
Dissolve	Merges overlapping features into a single feature.
Extract by Attributes	Selects features based on their attribute values.
Fleet Optimization	Optimizes the routing of multiple vehicles to multiple destinations.
Intersect	Finds the features that overlap a specified area.
Join	Combines two or more feature layers based on a common attribute field.
Label	Places text on a map to identify features.
Map Customization	Provides a variety of options for customizing maps, such as adding legends, titles, and north arrows.
Map Scripting	Automates GIS tasks using a scripting language.
Map Sharing	Publishes maps to the web or exports them to a variety of formats.
Merge	Combines two or more features into a single feature.
Overlay	Displays two or more feature layers on top of each other.
Polygon to Raster	Converts a polygon feature layer to a raster image.
Project	Converts data from one coordinate system to another.
Radius	Searches for features within a specified distance of a point.
Raster to Polygon	Converts a raster image to a polygon feature layer.
Reclassify	Changes the values of raster cells based on a specified classification scheme.
Redistricting/Territory Optimization	Creates boundaries, often commercial or political, that are optimized for certain criteria.
Report Generation	Generates reports that summarize and analyze data.
Route Planning	Creates routes between points, taking into account factors such as distance, travel time, and traffic conditions.
Site Selection	Identifies potential sites based on specified criteria.
Thematic Mapping	Creates thematic maps to visualize the distribution of data.
Zonal Statistics	Calculates statistics for raster cells within a specified zone.

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