# QGIS Reviews **Vendor:** QGIS **Category:** [GIS Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/gis) **Average Rating:** 4.5/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 152 ## About QGIS QGIS is a free and open-source Geographic Information System (GIS) that enables users to visualize, edit, analyze, and publish geospatial information across various platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux. Designed to be accessible to both beginners and professionals, QGIS offers a comprehensive suite of tools for creating, managing, and sharing spatial data. Key Features and Functionality: - Map Creation and Design: QGIS provides an extensive set of cartographic design options, allowing users to craft detailed and aesthetically pleasing maps suitable for desktop, mobile, cloud, and print media. - Layer Editing: Users can create and edit points, lines, polygons, and meshes with precision, utilizing advanced construction tools that support curves, CAD-like functionalities, and a wide range of geometry transformations. - Data Processing and Analysis: The software includes a comprehensive array of analysis tools, enabling users to uncover insights from their data. It supports automated analysis workflows through visual combinations of tools, facilitating reproducible processes. - Data Sharing and Interoperability: QGIS supports various data sources and formats, ensuring seamless data integration. It adheres to industry standards, allowing users to explore, utilize, and create web services, and extends its capabilities to cloud and mobile platforms for broader accessibility. Primary Value and User Solutions: QGIS empowers users by providing robust spatial visualization and decision-making tools without the constraints of proprietary software. Its open-source nature ensures continuous development and community-driven enhancements, making it a cost-effective solution for organizations and individuals requiring advanced GIS capabilities. By supporting a wide range of data formats and offering extensive customization through plugins, QGIS addresses the diverse needs of its users, facilitating efficient data management, analysis, and dissemination. ## QGIS Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users value the **excellent customization options** in QGIS, enabling tailored experiences for both beginners and experts. (3 reviews) - Users value the **user-friendly and customizable interface** of QGIS, making it accessible for all skill levels. (2 reviews) - Users appreciate the **excellent service** provided by QGIS, highlighting its powerful community support and extensive resources. (2 reviews) - Users love QGIS for its **powerful geospatial capabilities** , flexible integration, and user-friendly customization options. (2 reviews) - Users love the **free and open-source access** of QGIS, enabling everyone to utilize powerful GIS tools without cost. (2 reviews) - Users appreciate the **powerful and flexible GIS tools** in QGIS, making advanced functionalities accessible for all. (2 reviews) - Users appreciate the **extensive tool variety** in QGIS, enabling powerful customization and collaboration through numerous plugins. (2 reviews) - User-Friendly (2 reviews) - Users value the **collaborative communication** in QGIS, enhancing teamwork through its versatile plugins and features. (1 reviews) - Users value the **active community and support** of QGIS, enhancing their learning and problem-solving experiences. (1 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users often experience **stability issues** with QGIS, especially when handling large datasets or intensive processes. (3 reviews) - Users find **feature limitations** in QGIS, noting issues with stability, learning curve, and missing advanced tools. (2 reviews) - Users face a **steep learning curve** with QGIS, especially when trying to master its advanced features. (2 reviews) - Users experience **slow loading** issues with QGIS when working with large datasets, affecting overall performance and stability. (2 reviews) - Users report **accuracy issues** in QGIS, noticing inconsistencies and limitations that impact their GIS projects. (1 reviews) - Learning Difficulty (1 reviews) - Manual Input (1 reviews) - Users enjoy QGIS but occasionally face **mapping issues** that require resetting geometry, impacting their workflow. (1 reviews) - Not User-Friendly (1 reviews) - No Tutorials (1 reviews) ## QGIS Reviews ### 1. Awesome open-source mapping software! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 29, 2017 **What do you like best about QGIS?** Unlike more expensive competitors, q (standing for Quantum) GIS is an excellent open-source mapping software! New plugins are being added all the time, making this software incredibly robust and pliable to the ever changing demands of spatial analysts. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** The user interface at first feels a little sparse. It takes a while to get the hand of things and figure out where things are, especially if you have previous training in other mapping software. Some tasks are so simply to execute, but take quite a while to complete when you're getting to know the software. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** In my opinion, open-source software is the future of data viz and analysis. Software like qGIS and R (an open source statistical analysis software) are heavy hitters in advancing the open science movement. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** qGIS has helped us visualize and analyze our geo-coded data to identify trends in resilience post-disaster. The benefit for us is quite obvious, being that we can understand and predict how communities will respond to future disturbances,. ### 2. QGIS Review **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Environmental Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 06, 2018 **What do you like best about QGIS?** Love the open source, I think it's easier to use than ArcGIS **What do you dislike about QGIS?** There are certain functionalities in ArcGIS that are not available in QGIS or are much more complicated in QGIS **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** Dealing with land cover change in various areas in the world, mapping deforestation and degradation ### 3. QGIS is a great free GIS software **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Utilities | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 26, 2017 **What do you like best about QGIS?** QGIS is great because it's free where other GIS solutions cost thousands. In many ways it is not as refined, but again, it's free! The multitude of useful available plugins are a huge help. It's very easy to quickly load in data and a basemap to get quick overview of any type of GIS data. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** I dislike that some tools don't work as well as in programs such as ArcGIS Desktop. There is not always imperial unit options too, **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Check out the plugins! **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** QGIS is a low-cost solution to some GIS problems that might cost thousands to solve with ArcGIS. ### 4. Great substitute for Arc **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Transportation/Trucking/Railroad | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 23, 2018 **What do you like best about QGIS?** Very easy to create and export simple maps and perform spatial analyses **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Interface is harder to learn than Arc and lacks the robust analysis features **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** Creating maps to visualize important spatial data for diverse audiences ### 5. ArcGIS user switched to QGIS **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 21, 2017 **What do you like best about QGIS?** It's free, compared to ridiculously expensive ArcGIS. Also, the source to all tools are available. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Documentation on tools can improve a lot. Also, the UI could be more organized toward grouping tools. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Try not to think in terms of what/how ArcGIS used to do when you start learning or working with QGIS. Start with a fresh mindset and you will find similarities with ArcGIS just helpful along the way. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** Mapping, accessing spatial layers in SQL databases and over network. Free and open source. Also, many research tools/script made available in QGIS quickly. ### 6. Almost as good as the paid version **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Massimo N. | Teaching Assistant, Environmental Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 23, 2016 **What do you like best about QGIS?** The ability to complete mapping work that is at a level comparable to ARCGIS is great. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** I dislike that there is issues with compatibility between files created in ARCGIS and QGIS. Some of the functions are also not intuitive as well. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am creating maps, as well as extrapolating information in order to analyze it for environmental monitoring. I have realized that that there are other features that are beneficial other than just making maps, such as being able to delineate watersheds. ### 7. excellent open-source GIS software **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Dan J. | GIS Officer, Non-Profit Organization Management, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 06, 2016 **What do you like best about QGIS?** QGIS can do just about any spatial analysis or processing that you may need. If something isn't build into the core functionality there's probably a plugin for it. The large community of developers and users means that there are a multitude of tutorials and forum posts that can help you troubleshoot when you run into problems. On multiple occasions I've had it vastly outperform proprietary GIS software when running computational intensive analyses. With every subsequent release of QGIS, I find that I'm using other proprietary GIS software less and less. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** The print composer is probably the functionality that I need most often but is also (in my opinion) one of the weakest features. Exporting to a vector format (i.e. for use in Inkscape or Adobe Illustrator) for additional polishing and cleanup can be buggy and difficult to get working correctly. However, I've not been particularly impressed with any print composer built directly into a GIS. Sometimes to get certain features to work correctly you need the right combination of settings selected. It's not always very intuitive and require some frustrated web-searching to find a description of the errors you're encountering and the solution. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Switching to QGIS can be difficult for people who have been trained on and only ever used a single proprietary GIS software. But the effort you put in to switching will be well worth it. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** We sometimes conduct GIS trainings and when we are able to introduce the users to QGIS instead of a proprietary GIS software we really appreciate the zero leave behind cost. Just because a project has budget for software licenses, doesn't mean that money will be available for future renewals or scaling. When we have volunteers or interns, we can quickly bring them into our workflows without encountering licensing issues or costs. ### 8. QGIS **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Research | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 31, 2016 **What do you like best about QGIS?** -Software is free -There is a large community within online forums that answer many questions - very easy to download **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Software is prone to crashing - many plugins that you can download as an add-on simply do not function - When you download a plugin it is not always easy to locate, it does not automatically fall under the plugins menu **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** - spatial analysis of regions in Canada, focus on immigration patterns from foreign countries into Canada - Benefits are that spreadsheet data is very easily manipulated - ### 9. Best open source, free GIS software in the market, easy to learn for GIS professionals **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Soham S. | Senior Programmer Analyst, Insurance, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 19, 2016 **What do you like best about QGIS?** Free/open source, lot of GIS analysis tools, easy to learn for GIS professionals who are already familiar with ArcGIS, useful add-ins such as downloading shapefiles from ArcGIS rest services, can be easily customized with add-ins. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Not as user friendly and feature rich as ESRI products, interface to create a map is less refined than ESRI, would only use daily if did not have access to ESRI software. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Best open-source GIS software out there, but not as good as ESRI. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** Use QGIS to download features, using the ogr2shp addin, from rest service endpoints that publish GIS information to the web ### 10. Enjoying QGIS more than commercial products **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Anette Rosengård P. | GIS-coordinator, Public Policy, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 29, 2016 **What do you like best about QGIS?** QGIS is a highly professional GIS software offering an intelligent solution for all kinds of needs. What I appreciate the most are 1) easy access to databases 2) high performance raster tools 3) excellent print composer - almost any result can be achieved 4) the support community - just google and there's an answer 5) one annual stable release 6) various plugins with great user-defined features 7) the use of transparency 8) released thematic maps and labeling 9) and the low cost of course **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Nothing in particular, but missing more user-friendly network analysis tools. I love the support community and you are able to find answers or get help for almost anything, but wanting to get in touch with the core development team isn't obvious to the "normal" user. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Go for it, you'll not regret it. Having used ArcGIS before the shift will be easy, but having used MapInfo before you'll find users sometimes frustrated since the user interface is very different - it's a matter of adaption or readiness for adaption. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** Visualizing and analyzing data in the public administration of a community: producing really nice and illustrating maps, doing great analysis within environmental public administration, analyzing and visualizing health care data, refugee data, climate chance sea rise analysis, demographic distribution etc. ### 11. Great Open Source GIS Software **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kristin E. | Teaching Assistant, Higher Education, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 02, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** I feel the best part of QGIS is the open source nature of this software. Not only is there no cost to the user to download and run this program, but the online community and support for this software is great. I am always able to easily find how to complete tasks and troubleshoot if I run into difficulties. I also really like the ability to add R (an open source statistical software) into QGIS. This is a benefit that QGIS has over ArcGIS. By adding the R plug in, QGIS is a lot more flexible in the spatial statistical that can be preformed. It makes doing spatial analyses much easier as the spatial information is already incorporated into the data and does not have to be set up separately (via a spatial data frame). **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Sometimes QGIS can be unintuitive and it is not automatically obvious how to perform certain spatial analyses. However, this is not too much of an issue as the online community is very well developed and questions/ problems can be easily solved with a quick google search. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** It can be a steep learning curve to learn QGIS, but there are many resources such as tutorial available to aid in learning this software. Keep with it- it will be well worth it in the end. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** Inherently everything is spatial and the sheer ability to look at data in a spatial context is very valuable. By using a geographic information system such as QGIS it allows the user to for spatial patterns, for example, looking at patterns of customer usable of a product spatially. It also allow for more in-depth analyses that look at relationships between spatial patterns, for example, determining an optimal location for a new facility. Additionally the creation of maps is a very intuitive way to communicate information, whether it be to company executives, business patterns, or stakeholders. ### 12. A wonderful open source software for the GI industry **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Christopher W. | Cartographic Design Consultant, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 29, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** The best thing about QGIS is that it is so easy to use. It can read most geographic and many non-geographic data formats that you wish to throw at it; it has a wonderfully intuitive user interface; it renders everything quickly and in good quality; and for our customers it is very easy to guide them through how to use it with our data. It is great for cartography. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** One of the product's strengths is also arguably its biggest annoyance, that is the number of releases. They just come out to fast and too often for businesses to keep up with, thankfully the key release idea has eased this issue slightly but it is still a significant problem for us, our partners and our customers. For processing tasks I still find licenced competitors to be significantly better. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** There are many other GIS and general GI tools out there and some do things better than others. At work I use a mixture of several such softwares for an optimised workflow. However for entry level or pure cartographic work, QGIS has all you need. Suggest you definitely look at the others but QGIS is a very good product which I would highly recommend. In the UK there are various QGIS user group events and a Google+ page which may be helpful. I and many others from the industry share our knowledge at the events. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** Sharing data and add-ons such as stylesheets to a market that can only afford outdated software was very frustrating. QGIS has allowed us to work far more productively with a previously alienated group of customers. ### 13. Easy to create Shape Files for GeoSpatial Analysis **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Dan D. | Business Intelligence Reporting Analyst, Real Estate, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 28, 2016 **What do you like best about QGIS?** Lightweight and easy to install. Doesn't take up a huge amount of system resources. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Takes some getting use to the menus, options and settings. Interface isn't the most intuitive for a beginner. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** Create shape files based on mapped boundaries, either explicitly available, or implicitly derived. ### 14. QGIS is comparable to ArcGIS without the cost. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Bronson B. | Transit Planner, Government Administration, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 26, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** QGIS is a great alternative to similar license-based programs on the market today. It's integration with MSSQL, PostGIS, as well as ArcGIS platforms have made it an invaluable tool for me. It doesn't hurt that I'm able to take my work home with me and use it on my macbook, either. It had become one of my go-to GIS programs, from generating simplistic mapping data, to analyzing spatial patterns in transportation studies. I have the found the learning curve for QGIS is relatively small when compared to similar programs such as ArcGIS. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** The breadth of functionality has yet to reach that of similar (although licensed) programs. As easy as the program is to use, its "help" features lack some finesse and could use a cleaner interface. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** QGIS is a great place to go if you are a novice in GIS, or are looking to add something new to your work. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** As a research analyst focusing on transportation, the main problems I face include poor data accuracy and filling in the unknowns. QGIS has helped greatly with not only being able aid in the creation of deliverable-level reports, but it has taken steps in avoiding a complete "black-box" approach and has helped me understand better the internal processes of tasks I complete every day. ### 15. A Great, Full Featured GIS Application **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Darren C. | Infrastructure Mapping Technician, Government Administration, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 22, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** QGIS is a hugely feature-rich, incredible powerful piece of GIS software. It's also very easy to use, with an extremely well thought out interface that keeps things simple for new users or those with lesser needs, while still allowing for lots of customization and power for advanced users. There are very few things you can't do in QGIS, including raster and vector geoprocessing, amazing cartography, and in-depth analysis. The huge amount of plugins solve almost any problem imaginable, and if you can't find what you need, the open nature of the project means you can create it yourself, either via a plugin, or by directly contributing code to the core project. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Some of the 'core' geoprocessing tools tend to be of lower performance than expected. However, the Processing Toolbox contains other modules (SAGA, GRASS, etc.) that are more than capable. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** If you're using Windows, I recommend you install via the OSGEO4W installer--this will make sure you have the proper environment set up, and also install a bunch of other useful open source GIS software and tools. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** QGIS can act as a full GIS for almost any organization. From its seamless integration with PostGIS, MSSQL Server Spatial, and GeoServer integration, you can build an entire stack of open-source GIS Software, with QGIS wonderfully filling the desktop role. The benefit of this is obvious--no more software purchase, licensing, or maintenance fees, and a full-featured stack! ### 16. Great Open-Source product **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 07, 2016 **What do you like best about QGIS?** The most important thing for QGIS is that it is a free open source product. QGIS is great for use with non profits or local jurisdictions who may not have the budgets of larger ones. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** It does not have as many features that can be found with products like Arc. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Make sure you utilize online support and add-ons to make the most of this product. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I used QGIS mainly for my Masters Program and creating an enterprise Database for a local non-profit. ### 17. Amazing open source software, with plenty of capabilities. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kostas N. | Cloud Systems Developer, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 27, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** The best thing about QGis is the fact that it is an Open Source GI software, that can tackle down most spatial challenges with ease and high speed. QGis offers a very wide set of tools that someone would need for spatial data management and analysis, as well as very good visualisation techniques. Most of these functions run faster than any other GI software (excluding the ones that have no/low UI, e.g. PostGIS). The visualization teqchniques are very handy and professional, and hardly exist in other GI software (such as drop shadows). The thing that I like a lot is the spatial data management. It makes everything very easy to handle. Another benefit are the plugins, which extends the software capabilities to infinite. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** What I don't like is the exporting to CAD. It has no way of adding CAD elements, such as ELEVATION. Also, the capabilities of svg exporting is limited. Also, there is no network analysis in the package. There is a way by running it through Grass (which is integrated) but the options are limited. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** The business problems I am solving are around spatial data management (creation, editing), geoprocessing data management (buffers, intersections etc.), analysis and final visualizations. ### 18. Great for Small Nonprofit **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Shelley H. | Coordinator, Non-Profit Organization Management, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 22, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** Fairly user-friendly software for businesses to visualize their data. For my colleagues with no previous experience in GIS it can be a bit of a learning curve, but still easy to use and there are a lot of tutorials online. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Can be a little bit cumbersome, especially with the final output of the map/editing the final touches. However, I think that is the trade-off for having a powerful software that is free and open-source. Don't get frustrated if something isn't very intuitive! **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Go for it! I see no drawbacks, especially if you're only going to be using GIS for occasional needs. We aren't processing too much information with it, so this review maybe isn't the best if you're looking for a real workhorse. But from what I have seen there's nothing to indicate that it couldn't handle it. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use it to both create infographics for our funders and sponsors, as well as internally to visualize which communities are responding to our programming and where we have gaps in our programming. ### 19. Using QGIS in archaeological landscape investigations **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Christopher A. | Project Archaeologist, Environmental Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 22, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** QGIS is simple to download and open source which is of great benefit to small businesses. It is a highly useful tool in my archaeological career, GIS allows me to produce site maps and plans, analysis historic mapping resources as well as georeference aerial photographs and the production of shapefiles. The ability to analysis landscapes in 3D is of further benefit, particularly when using Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) data, or when creating a viewshed. This tool allows me to analysis a multitude of data sources which can contribute to site specific investigations whether it is a field survey, excavation or in aid of a management plan. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** I feel that manuals in regards to how to use the programme for different tasks could be improved. I have spent a lot of time trawling online videos in order to understand how to create a view shed and proccess Lidar data. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** If you are employed in the heritage and environmental sectors and require GIS software that is easy to use, open source software for the analysis of landscape wide resources such as OS mapping, historic mapping LiDAR then you can't go wrong with QGIS. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** QGIS allows me, on a tight deadline to analyse and produce mapping data to a professional standard. This is particularly important when employed to produce a desk based assessment or management plan. The results can be passed onto the client quickly and used to guide the decision making process. ### 20. Using QGIS in Local Government **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ross M. | Corporate GIS Data Coordinator, Government Relations, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 22, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** QGIS is a robust, reliable and full featured desktop GIS freely available under the GNU GPL. It offers us a fully customisable and flexible interface that is easy to learn and use. As it can read and write to multiple different formats it is useful in sharing data between different applications. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Trying to keep up-to-date with all the new developments and features. Intermittent lack of plugin documentation. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Take into account the learning and training costs of switching users. Consider deploying using System Centre or similar or even deploying in a virtual environment. Get involved with the user community and think about ways of giving back to the product through sponsoring feature development or helping through the online community. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use QGIS to create, maintain and update a lot of our core business data which is stored in a central spatial data warehouse. This in turn is shared with the whole business. QGIS helps us streamline the data management workflow. It has helped improve the accuracy and quality of our data as well as confidence in using the information to help inform business decision making processes. ### 21. Excellent Alternative to ESRI ArcGIS **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jeffry E. | Product Manager, Aviation & Aerospace, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 28, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** Its free, built largely on top of gdal and osgeo libraries that are exactly what the commercial ArcMap software builds on. Has a few automation tools that users may find a little more intuitive and flexible than model builder, but with more limited functionality. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** The user interface of Qgis is not nearly as clean and refined as the paid alternatives. Online mapping is also becoming a bigger player in the GIS world and Qgis has slim offerings in this area. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** If you can program with python at at least a basic level, much of what can be done in QGIS can be done with gdal and osgeo for python. QGIS is a great free alternative to professional software offerings by ESRI, so I recommend it for students or casual users without any money to spend. However, it is not sufficiently developed to completely replace ArcMap at even a small enterprise level without some significant struggling. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** Simple heads up geospatial analysis. ### 22. A fantastic piece of software that always provides a GIS solution **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nathan S. | GI Lead Adviser, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 22, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** 1) The GUI, ease of use and the high quality look of the maps that are created. 2) The volume of tools available, from the simple to the highly advanced, in a manner that are easy to use and provide quick solutions to GIS problems. 3) The community and the support provided. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Honestly, there is nothing major that I dislike about QGIS **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** There is a incredible variety of plugins and toolboxes available that will allow the user to fulfill their tasks - start looking into them. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** We work with a variety of clients producing maps and infographics based on databases of information. Allowing a straightforward connection to PostGIS allows us to provide a more advanced geospatial analysis in the fields of social and environmental mapping. ### 23. Free, open source platform **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Katrina E. | Integration Engineer, Information Technology and Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 27, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** QGIS is the most powerful free and open source geospatial platform out there. You have the ability to analyze and dissect geospatial patterns similar to ArcGIS. The best part is that if you need to be able to create your own custom plugin, you can do that. The search features for tools are pretty stellar. You can view what tool you need by keyword under the help menu. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** I am super impressed with QGIS. However, every once in a while you might it thinking for a longer period than you would live. But that is the difficulty with geospatial data-- sometimes it is just too much. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Read the docs and dive in. There are a number of online resources for looking up plugins and the proper ways to handle certain tools. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** QGIS can solve a range of problems from data cleaning and manipulation to buffering points. There are so many advantages to using QGIS. Dive in! ### 24. QGIS for Government **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mohammed Habib R. | Asset Data Officer, Government Administration, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 28, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** The flexibility and the tools available to better present data. Package being free major benefit for me as my department wouldn't have funded a software license Mass following so help is always present on forums **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Not having a comprehensive training manual saying that there are hints and tips that do appear to help. Other than that the package does what I require it to do. Since I am a novice at using the system I tend to use forums for the issues that I am having so a built in FAQ? **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Great tool for mapping your service users, your buildings and key landmarks. With additional layers you can add multiple data sources and join them together to get a fuller picture on things. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** Showing attendance figures across the borough from different superoutput areas to children's centres. Benefits were we are now able to better understand where our service users are coming from. Whether or not they are using their local centre, which is the most popular centre, most popular area they are attending from, are schools influencing their decision to attend and if they come from a deprived area. ### 25. Simple to use, with GREAT support from the community of users! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Civil Engineering | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 26, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** First off, I'll start by saying I am not by any means a GIS expert, I specialize in engineering not GIS. I do have to work with vector and raster data on occasion and QGIS has been able to fill the void as a complete replacement to ArcGIS (for me anyway). I was able to self teach myself as required through the large user groups available with this product. For free, it can't be beat! **What do you dislike about QGIS?** There isn't too much that dislike about the program, again through I'm not too experienced in ArcGIS or any GIS applications. As a heavy user of HEC-RAS and similar hydraulic/hydrologic programs it would be nice to have the same integration as ArcGIS has with those software packages. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I usually use the product for viewing and editing vector and raster data. Post processing of floodplain maps created with HEC-RAS, preparing digital elevation models for use in RASMapper. Significant cost savings are achieved since we do not require additional ArcGIS licenses for my occasional use, and I am not bothering our GIS Technician with tasks that I can now do independently in QGIS. ### 26. Amazing desktop GIS product with extendable technology **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Matt F. | Senior Customer Success Manager, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 23, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** Complete replacement for ArcMap. You can duplicate all of your workflows and do this while using both products - since QGIS is free. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** User interface is a bit clunky at times and there is definitely room to be improved on the PDF and Illustrator export side. But considering you can do everything from simple vector maps to raster analysis this is really a complete product. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Great free product so check it out. You can transition at your own pace which is fantastic. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I think the ability to analyze data in QGIS is great and it has all the functionality of ArcMap and can really be a true replacement. The PDF export could be improved for print design and the UI can be tricky at times. There is great community support for the product too which makes solving issues much easier. You can easily connect to CartoDB too and really do a lot of analysis and bring that into your visualizations. ### 27. QGIS review **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Environmental Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 22, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** Qgis is similar to the ArcGis software, however, qgis is totally free. The fact that it is free is overall the best part to it. There is a slight learning curve to using the software, but the maps you can make with qgis are absolutely amazing and it is surprising that they are created from free software. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** The learning curve for the software can be steep at times. This is usually when you want to go deeper into more complicated mapping components. I wish there was more online help or courses do things when you are stuck. Other than that, this product was great. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Make sure to take the time to learn how to use it and be patient. Google can help a bit, but having another person who knows how to use it can also help. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am usually making maps based on watersheds that I am researching or examining. Using Qgis helps me make custom maps based on things I am looking at. The benefits I have realized is that this free software can make amazing maps that can easily be published or used in books. Did i also mention it is free? The fact that Qgis is free also allows me and the other people i work with to save money on other forms of equipment. ### 28. QGIS - As Advertised **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Environmental Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 22, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** The Q has a number of features I like and find it robust enough to do pretty much everything I need it to. The add ins and extensions are most useful, in addition to it's capability. The interface is simple to use and tools are easy to locate and the dock is easily customizable. The Q also makes it easy using different data formats. Big fan of the print composer as well. The GIS toolbox and utilities is also extremely useful for geoprocessing and building workflows. Lastly, can't beat the price. There is a ton of support available on forums and having this open software has really changed the game. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** I find thbe Q's ability to categorize data a tad daunting. I would also like to see increased information / support for the plugins. Though there are many of them, some of the "how-to" is missing. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** There is no bashing Arc. Arc gets the job done too. But I find the Q quick and easy and obviously affordable. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** Can't say I'm solving problems per se, but the benefits of the Q have really made geoprocessing more efficient for me and for business., and at cost. After a little time to learn it, as you would with Arc too, I have a robust and open source program that can handle what I need it to. It helps breach the gap between some lesser known CAD programs and other software as well. ### 29. QGIS Opensource Solution **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 22, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** Its free! I've been able to use it at home without the huge costs of competitor licences. We've been able to give staff in the authority a GIS package with no additional costs. In comparison to MapInfo for me I love the styling options and the ability to mass produce maps using the atlas in the composer window. I also find it fantastic due to its ability to open a high number of file formats and the ease in being able to export it to another format to be used on other systems. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** I have no immediate dislikes although one problem we have encountered is the way tasks can slightly change across version updates. None technical users seem to struggle with this. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** We're currently looking to reduce licence costs for our GIS products across the authority and the role out of QGIS is proving to be a huge saving to us. Its providing key spatial functions for staff but without the huge costs. ### 30. Great Experience with Easy to use Software **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Adam W. | Data Manager, Oil & Energy, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 22, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** The fact that it is free and I find it easier to use than the market leading software. The lack of having to get a licence makes it so much more convenient to use when on the move. Travelling between locations it is always an issue to get online and logged into a licence server, **What do you dislike about QGIS?** That the product isn't widely advertised, I speak to a lot of people who have never heard of it before. Some tutorial data and exercises would be great as well **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Just dive right in there and get stuck in with using the software, it's free and easy to use. You will be pleasantly surprised. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I generally carry out training with graduate members of staff, QGIS allows me to teach them all about GIS and spatial data without the hassle of licencing. The benefits that I have realized are that it is a simple, easy to use product that could come in handy and help more people become more involved with the data types. ### 31. Due to the costs of other products, I have used and taught QGIS extensively while working abroad. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Levi B. | PRA, Hospital & Health Care, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 21, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** I like the simplicity of basic geoprocessing in QGIS and how similar the platform is to ArcGIS. The former makes hands-on teaching very easy in developing countries where language barriers already exist. The latter makes teaching easy in America where the primary program is ArcGIS, therefore students are able to use their prior knowledge and readily apply it to QGIS. Plus, I think QGIS is even easier to navigate and use! I also really like the online community and free available resources online when trying to solve a complicated problem. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** While many professionals would export there data into illustrator or photoshop to create the final product, many students here and abroad use the programs to create maps. With that being said, I think one of the weaknesses of QGIS is the ability to create a decent looking map inside of the program. When I use this product I don't have this problem. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Jump in and don't look back **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I'm mainly doing research involving public health and the built environment. I have huge datasets that require a lot of processing time and have realized if I break them into smaller pieces, I am happier with my results from QGIS when compared to other programs. ### 32. Very handy tool for Product Development **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 03, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** The way that you can just drag and drop files into QGIS and it will just open them for you, especially GML files. I work with GML files a lot and find QGIS simple to use unlike another in ArcGIS. Also the fact that you can easily connect to databases is a major plus for me. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** The intuitive nature isn't really there, it took a while for me to work out how to add data and do all of the things that i want to do. this area could be improved a fair bit. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Give it a go, you will probably find it does everything you need and maybe even more. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I develop lots of different products in my role, QGIS allows me to test these products mid production. the native GML reading has been a big bonus in keeping the development swift. ### 33. Great alternative to commercial products **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 22, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** QGIS is Open Source and therefore there are no limitations to make geographic information available to all user in the organisation, even to user that only need ad-hoc maps a few times a year; large number of plug-ins developed by the community; reads virtually every spatial and tabular format in the market; extendable with python; 64bit architecture; great improvement in the analysis tools available in the last few years **What do you dislike about QGIS?** plug-ins are some time unstable and not thoroughly tested even after passing beta stage; use of WMS is a bit flaky; searching for tools via help is not always easy **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** think about cost vs benefits and you'll probably realize that commercial packages are not cost effective; consultancy and support contracts can help overcome the risk of adopting a non-supported open source solution and still allow massive savings **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** finding addresses within areas; validating locations; exploring new data sources ### 34. Fantastic GIS package - Free software as good as its paid rivals **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Oliver H. | Consultant, Civil Engineering, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 22, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** User interface is intruitive and familiar. Wide selection of useful add-ons from the developer community. Thriving online developer community willing to share knowledge. Integration with databases such as pgAdmin/postGIS is easy and powerful. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Whilst this QGIS is a powerful tool for spatial analysis, I have found the functionality to export professional looking maps with sleek borders/legends more complicated than in paid rival software. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Well worth downloading to explore functionality. I would highly recommend joining the online community of users. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have been using the pgRouting add-on in QGIS to assess drivetime catchments to key infrastructure. I was able to turn to the online development community to help me develop SQL code to automate this process for multiple sites, allowing me to work out the population within set drivetimes. ### 35. I've used QGIS to complete research in a spatial statistics course. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Research | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 28, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** QGIS is open-source, adaptable, and flexible. I feel that it adapts well to related software (such statistical software or other mapping formats) and as such, QGIS seems like it's always on the cutting edge in this field. It also feels much more flexible than ArcMap and can help answer more specific research questions. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Simple commands and tasks like scrolling are not always intuitive. For example, when you're in the map composer, you have to click on an icon before you can zoom in and out of a map; then you have click on a different icon if you no longer want the scroll to act as the zoom. It'd be smoother zooming and scrolling were integrated (Getting to know QGIS keyboard shortcuts might also solve my problem). Another small thing--it'd be nice to have a "no outline" button when you're symbolizing multiple variables. It can be annoying to alternate between the "Single Symbol" symbology pane and the multiple symbol pane just to get rid of the polygon outlines. I also think it'd be useful to have a dialogue box after you complete a function or use a tool. Sometimes I found that when using certain statistical tools, I wouldn't know when a function was complete. Some kind of indication could be useful **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** As I stated, I've used QGIS in a research, not business, capacity. As far as what kind of research questions QGIS has helped me solve, I've used QGIS for spatial analysis of social variables in metropolitan areas. ### 36. Open-source community enhances an easy-to-use, powerful free tool: QGIS **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Hospital & Health Care | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 21, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** QGIS is a free alternative to expensive GIS software that is often out of reach of the hobby cartographer, computer enthusiast or researcher. The community support / forums are extremely active with helpful QGIS enthusiasts who are glad to help a QGIS newbie troubleshoot a problem and the free scripts / software add-ins turn QGIS into an extremely powerful tool for the novice and expert map-maker alike. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** The learning curve of QGIS is, like most GIS software, rather steep. Sometimes a feature that is available by default in expensive GIS software is only available in QGIS by implementing a variety of add-in tools or by writing some Python code to perform operations. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** I'd recommend procuring a 'crash course' book or video course series on QGIS. Stackoverflow.com and other forums are excellent venues for QGIS troubleshooting issues that a QGIS newbie will often encounter. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** In my work I've used QGIS to map financial services in the developing world. I've used QGIS in my personal life to aid in construction of septic fields and to better understand the water table at a construction site. ### 37. QGIS Review **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mojgan E. | Information Management \​ GIS Specialist, Environmental Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 29, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** It's amazing that I can connect to my SQL server databases easily using this free and wonderful software. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** I cannot access the data features inside the ArcGIS Geodatabase by using QGIS. It works well just with shape files. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I'm creating a database in SQL and by using this software I can convert my tables into shape files easily. ### 38. A casual review of QGIS from an ArcGIS user's perspective. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Government Administration | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 21, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** I enjoy the fact that it works natively in Linux, allowing me to do some spatial analysis work and data previewing without having to VM into windows or remote desktop into an external server. Having an open source GIS client also allows for anyone to contribute features, provided that they are competent at programming. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Creating a printable map isn't the easiest. As well, getting GDB integration to work on Linux is a royal pain to get working. There should be an easier way to add this feature. As well, the documentation for the Python libraries is very lacking in comparison to the ArcGIS python documentation. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** Currently I do not use QGIS on the job. However, not having to pay for a license to use GIS software is immensely useful. ### 39. QGIS and Mapping Plant Collections **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Chris B. | Plant Records Scientist, Horticultural Science Team, Leisure, Travel & Tourism, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 27, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** It's opensource and not over-complicated **What do you dislike about QGIS?** To be honest, not much! It can be annoying learning the layout in software updates, but it's quite easy to pick up after a bit of practise! **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** A great product, although like most GIS things it's always helpful to do a course first, sometimes the tutorials online or on you tube can get a tad confusing. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** Mapping plant collections, helping to produce data on the actual areas of our site. Digitising old paper maps. ### 40. In many cases, QGIS allow me to process data quickly and efficiently. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 22, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** You really can import and work with different types of data. Also, you can make the data available for others software. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** The map production needs a little bit of improvements. But, isn't a big thing. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Very easy to use, compatible with others types of data. Geoprocessing tools response very well. The GIS analysis can be performed with most expectations. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use the software a lot, one of the main issues that we have solved is the data migration. ### 41. QGIS - the open source solution for interpreting, visualizing and manipulating geographical data **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 22, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** The best thing about QGIS is that it is free. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** When exporting to PDF i would prefer it if the data was still able to manipulated in its layers. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** QGIS is so easy to use and the online support that comes with it is fantastic. I use it at home and at work and would recommend it to anyone in the market for GIS. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use QGIS to help our customers use and visualize our data. We have used it to provide QML files which allows them to easily drag and drop our data into a GIS and easily apply a style to that data. This saves our customers time and money ### 42. Productive **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Bisma B. | Data Analyst, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 21, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** Easy to navigate, ability for people to update and add new functions. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Some functions lag and the program can shut down automatically. I would also find it helpful to have an online guide for functions **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I was working on an academic project to find potential regions for carpool lots in a particular city. I realized there are many functions to help assist in any type of project. ### 43. Easy to understand and convert various sources of data **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Alexis S. | Account Manager, Furniture, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 26, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** Easy and effective data conversion and visualization is easy to manipulate. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** I wish the program uploaded data a wee bit faster without having to shut off the visualization preview. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** Try other forums first to realize the full potential of the conversion capabilities that QGIS allows you. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have found several business leads to pursue based off of demographic and spatial data ### 44. Very intuitive and essential tool **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Research | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 27, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** The most useful aspect of QGIS for my needs is the ability to overlay numerous layers and assess densities of various species groups in an intuitive and straightforward way **What do you dislike about QGIS?** The newer versions/ updates do not support some plugins such as OpenLayers, this can be a great barrier when updating projects **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** An intuitive and very useful basic mapping tool **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I was using QGIS in order to map various species transects and hydrologies of wildlife reserves ### 45. The best free GIS program out there **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Andrew M. | Graduate Research Assistant, Higher Education, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 27, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** QGIS is a quick and easy program for beginners and advanced GIS users alike. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** The advanced features can make it tricky to learn since the dialogues provide you with so many options. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** Basic mapping needs ### 46. Makes GIS accessible to all **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Environmental Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 27, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** It's free and relatively easy to learn how to use. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Inability to import ESRI layer packages requires continued reliance on ESRI software to extract shapefiles for use within QGIS. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** We have been able to deploy QGIS to non-GIS specialists so that they can quickly interpret large geospatial datasets on their own desktops. This has greatly aided their interpretation of the data, without the need for expensive GIS software or GIS specialists. ### 47. Good experience with QGIS **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Printing | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 21, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** The best part of QGIS is that it can be linked with SQL server database. It has reduced by work load to great extent. And also the response is decent. It does not take much time to load data on the maps with small details also. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** It is slower sometimes when working with ample data. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I'm working with mapping historic old data and find changing trend over the years. ### 48. Good mapping software to know how to use! **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Government Administration | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 26, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** It's fairly easy to use and the layout is very clean. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** Sometimes the software crashes and you lose your work - would be nice to have an autosave function (or to fix the glitch that causes the crashes..) **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** Using QGIS to map various global health issues, particularly related to water and sanitation. QGIS is great, although often the data I'm looking for doesn't exist yet. ### 49. Good for beginner **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Research | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 26, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** i was very new to QGIS but I picked it up very quickly. directions and help were easily accessible . I also googled information if needed. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** im not super familiar with the program , but I think with more time the confusion of just learning it would have disappeared. overall good product. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I don't have any. I was using QGIS for school not business. ### 50. research **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Architecture & Planning | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 21, 2015 **What do you like best about QGIS?** the program allows for accurate data collection and mapping. **What do you dislike about QGIS?** the process of importing and exporting to and from excel is a bit complicated. **Recommendations to others considering QGIS:** definitely a highly recommended software. great for data collection and drawing community conclusions. **What problems is QGIS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have been able to collect data from various sources and draw important conclusions regarding infrastructure and community needs. ## QGIS Discussions - [Is Qgis as good as ArcGIS?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-qgis-as-good-as-arcgis) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [Can QGIS solve the problem of TAB file and Shape file](https://www.g2.com/discussions/can-qgis-solve-the-problem-of-tab-file-and-shape-file) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [What is the most stable version of Qgis?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-the-most-stable-version-of-qgis) - 1 comment - [View QGIS pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/qgis/reviews?page=3&review_source=mktg§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-05-13+23%3A24%3A28+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=5e5f26c8-e5a0-4c95-b61b-a7a620cc53f0&secure%5Btoken%5D=2f2b90ab0de2d37d33e51c41af1daadb38e30bfc981bf3743646877fdefd0bb0&format=llm_user) ## QGIS Integrations - [Leaflet](https://www.g2.com/products/leaflet/reviews) - [LibreOffice](https://www.g2.com/products/libreoffice/reviews) - [Mergin Maps](https://www.g2.com/products/mergin-maps/reviews) - [PostGIS](https://www.g2.com/products/postgis/reviews) - [PostgreSQL](https://www.g2.com/products/postgresql/reviews) - [Python](https://www.g2.com/products/python/reviews) ## QGIS Features **Data Management** - Data Capture - Data Storage - Data Manipulation - Data Visualization **Map Creation** - Geocoding - Buffer Zone Query - Overlaying - Publishing **Analysis** - Spatial Analysis - Reporting - Real-Time Streaming ## Top QGIS Alternatives - [AutoCAD](https://www.g2.com/products/autocad/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (1,832 reviews) - [Esri ArcGIS](https://www.g2.com/products/esri-arcgis/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (515 reviews) - [Google Earth Pro](https://www.g2.com/products/google-earth-pro/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (370 reviews)