An updated version of User-friendly Desktop Internet GIS (uDig), an open source spatial data viewer/editor, is available.

User-friendly Desktop Internet GIS (uDig) is an open source spatial data viewer/editor, with special emphasis on the OpenGIS standards for internet GIS, the Web Map Server and Web Feature Server standards. uDig provides a common Java platform for building spatial applications with open source components.

In June 2005, Refractions Research has released version 1.0 of uDig , an open source desktop GIS development platform,
that includes support for local data, databases, and internet data. The development of uDig started
in spring of 2004, with support from the Canadian GeoInnovations program, and has continued throughout 2005.

Unlike many open source GIS projects, which are built for very specific purposes, uDig has been designed from the start as a general purpose development platform. The 1.0 release of uDig includes all the important framework elements of the uDig project:

  • Industry standard extension framework using Eclipse technology from IBM;
  • Completely scalable and customizable rendering pipeline to handle even the largest data sets;
  • Complete integration with standard internet data sources such as OGC Web Map Service and Web Feature Service;
  • An extendable catalogue mechanism, including internet search functions;
  • Coordinate reference system support for all data sources, and on- the-fly coordinate system integration;
  • Support for ESRI Shape files, PostGIS databases, and OGC web services; and
  • Extensive standards support (OGC Filter, OGC Spatial Reference Systems, OGC Styled Layers and more).

The 1.0 release is a foundation release, and will be subject to continuous improvement. Development in the 1.0 series will add thematic styling, improved feature and attribute editing, DB2 Spatial support, ArcSDE support, Oracle Spatial support and improved raster format support.

Visit the uDig development site for source code, documentation and downloads: http://udig.refractions.net