Software? Why should a planetary geomorphologist care about software?

As geology, geography, and environmental sciences incorporate more complex and sizable datasets and models, the divisions between GIS, remote sensing, and environmental monitoring are blurring. Physical modeling, data management, and visualization are increasingly necessary to understand complex systems, and problems like climate change and resource management are just getting more complex. At the same time, conventional software such as ESRI ArcGIS, RSI ENVI, and even Google Earth are not keeping up with the needs of the geospatial community. Is is fairly well recognized within the geoinformatics field that no one software suite will perform all the necessary duties. Thus, there is a focus on interoperability, the use of the right tool for the right job, while still allowing others scientists with other tools to integrate the data, results, and models into their own systems.

The following software packages are the open-source tools that I use in my research and teaching. With some of these, I am personally involved in the development, while others, I rely on

    MarsWiki (under development)@colgate.edu: Open-source textbook in planetary science
   
    JMARS (Java Mission-planning and Analysis for Remote Sensing) Planetary GIS and science analysis.

    DaVinci: A matrix manipulation, modeling, and data processing tool

    GEON IDV: High-end earth science 3 and 4-D visulaization

    NASA WorldWind: Earth and planets virtual globe

    GRASS: Open-source GIS

    OSSIM: Open-source Remote Sensing

I have friends that run a mapping non-profit called NiJeL.