December 16, 2019

Get the most cutting edge and affordable GIS tools by renewing your Global Mapper license

A 3D view of a DEM of a landfill colored by elevation.
A point cloud of a landfill gridded into a terrain surface in Global Mapper.

At Blue Marble Geographics, we pride ourselves on providing cutting edge technology that is ahead of the geospatial-industry curve. We are constantly improving our tools and we release multiple new versions of our GIS software Global Mapper® every year. This means that users who don’t upgrade their Global Mapper license regularly are missing out on the latest features.

Here is what users who haven’t renewed their license since 2017 are missing:

Editing 3D geospatial data

We believe that viewing and editing 3D data should be a standard functionality in today’s GIS software. Since 2017, we have made several enhancements in this area, adding new 3D editing options and tools that don’t require the purchase of a software extension.

Here are some of the improvements introduced in versions 20 and 21 of Global Mapper:

  • Ability to replace the texture of 3D meshes
  • Create textured 3D models from terrain and draped imagery
  • Create point clouds from meshes or 3D models
A point cloud layer shaded by RBG values.
A point cloud generated from a 3D mesh of a landfill.

Visualizing 3D and 2D geospatial data

Version 21 also introduced new options that help users view data, such as a tool for creating 3D lines using the fly- and walk-mode paths in the 3D viewer. After recording these paths, users can create fly-through videos of their 3D work more easily.

A terrain layer in 3D view with a line feature hovering over the top.
Global Mapper v21 comes with a tool for creating 3D lines using the fly- and walk-mode paths in the 3D viewer.

Another new tool that aids with the visualization of data is the Animation toolbar, which allows users to display layers in a timed sequence and is designed for visualizing change over time.

Both of these features were highlighted in our recent blog entry “Top 5 new features of Global Mapper v21”.

Faster and smoother performance for 3D data

Version 21 of Global Mapper has significant speed improvements for loading and working with workspaces, Global Mapper Package (GMP) files, and vector data with attributes. Load time and smoothness for displaying large datasets or vector formats, such as shapefiles, has also improved dramatically over the past couple of years. This especially applies to files with large numbers of attributes. In some cases, a hundredfold increase in speed has been observed.

A screenshot of the path profile tool with multiple layers loaded.
Users have the options to display a legend in the Path Profile tool in version 20.1 of Global Mapper.

Efficiency and organizational improvements in Global Mapper

Both versions 20 and 21 arrived with improvements to managing and organizing data more easily. Label creation and editing, for instance, improved dramatically, allowing for labels to be moved, rotated, formatted, and deleted individually.

Here are some of the improvements that helped with efficiency and organization:

  • Improved feature label creation and management
  • Improved layer management with target layer selection now available in all vector feature creation dialog boxes
  • Improved layer template creation for form-based data collection
  • Show a line legend on the Path Profile

Global Mapper’s data format and feature support

Global Mapper is known for its support of more than 300 formats — a list that grows continually. For example, support was added for OpenFlight, HEC-RAS raster and vector formats in the release of version 20.1.

Caption:Support for S-52 symbology for S-57 charts was introduced in Global Mapper v20.1.

Part of a S-52 symbology for S-57 chart
Support for S-52 symbology for S-57 charts was introduced in Global Mapper v20.1.

Feature support has also been expanded in the past 2 years, ranging from chart symbology to touchscreen support. Here are some new features that are included in the latest version of Global Mapper:

  • Support for S-52 symbology for S-57 charts
  • Support for downloading vector features from Esri RESTful data sources
  • Support for batch converting between 3D model formats (i.e. Blender, Collada DAE, OBJ, Sketchup, etc.)

Expanded options for multi-band imagery

Many users have requested more options for working with multi-band imagery. Here are a couple we have added over the past couple of years:

Touchscreen support:

  • Full touchscreen gesture support, including 2D and 3D map navigation
  • Access right-click context menus from a touchscreen
  • Expanded support for Windows Tablet and touchscreen computers

Get the Global Mapper tech support you need

Every Global Mapper purchase comes with 12 months of Maintenance & Support. By renewing a license or moving to the latest version, users have uninterrupted access to the excellent support provided by Blue Marble Geographics’ applications specialists.

Upgrade or purchase a new Global Mapper license for the newest features and support

Users who renew their Global Mapper licenses annually get the latest and greatest technology, and maintain their access to Blue Marble’s unparalleled support.

Renew your Global Mapper license today to take advantage of all of the latest features.

Renew your license

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