What's New in Global Mapper v24.1

Significant New Features

  • REM Creation now available in Global Mapper. Relative Elevation Models are used to highlight terrain variation in a given area of interest, such as near a river. They help to visualize aspects of the terrain that may otherwise be hard to identify in imagery or a DTM.
  • New Inset Map elements can be inserted into a Map Layout representing a current 2D View, 3D View, or Path Profile to further refine your final map.
  • Apply a variety of newly added resampling methods to raster data including directional gradients, edge detection, and more.

Significant New Features in Global Mapper Pro

  • Updates to Segmentation based lidar classification to include the automatic detection of power poles.
  • New Pixels to Points Wizard allows users to choose from a variety of predefined project types to refine processing settings, depending on desired output.
  • Updates to Mobile Data Management include a new viewer to visually inspect and compare data that has been gathered in Global Mapper Mobile. Users can now merge field data with already loaded data for more efficient data management.
  • A new point cloud comparison tool allows for the evaluation of distance between point clouds. This provides a statistical report and visual representation of the offset between two clouds.
  • New Convolution Filter tool creates a new raster that calculates each pixel based on a weighted average of the surrounding pixels. This includes filters like edge detection and sharpening and also supports custom filters.
  • Expanding Global Mapper’s powerful point cloud tools, summary statistics can now be calculated directly from a 3D point cloud.

Lidar Changes

  • Updated Compare Point Clouds to allowing saving the distance to the closest point in the other cloud in the Generic field so that it can easily be visualized. - GM-14360 Pro
  • Added option to Calculate Lidar Statistics in Selected Area features to the Digitizer tool (under Analysis / Measurement). The EDIT_VECTOR script command has a new CALC_LIDAR_STATS parameter for the same behavior. This will add attributes to selected area and closed line features about the Lidar point cloud points inside the selected feature(s). - GM-3478 Pro
  • Segmentation based non-ground lidar classification now supports power pole classification - GM-12872 Pro
  • Added LAS/LAZ point record data format item in Metadata for layer. - GM-14548 
  • Reduced lag when editing large point clouds due to statistics calculation. - GM-14555 
  • Enable cropping to selected areas when spatially thinning Lidar data. - GM-14439 
  • Updated Lidar classification list caption on Configuration dialog to make it more clear. - GM-14398 
  • Fixed issues with spatially thinning Lidar when the area being thinned is much wider than tall (or vice-versa). - GM-14277 
  • Fixed Help link on Compare Point Clouds dialog. - GM-14253 Pro
  • Fixed very small offsets when spatially thinning some higher resolution point clouds. - GM-14666 Pro
  • Fixed filtering of Lidar points by the Scan Direction. - GM-14343 
  • Fixed issue with per-vertex elevations for holes in area features not loading from workspace and GMP files. - GM-14842 

Pixels to Points Changes

  • Added basic support for Kappa/Yaw/Phi Camera Orientation in Pixels to Points. - GM-12084 
  • Show "Save workspace" options at attempt to exit P2P tool or overwrite current P2P workspace - GM-13996 
  • Added a control to enable/disable pixel snapping for GCP in P2P preview window. By default the snapping is enabled.  - GM-13400 
  • Made minor improvements to the generation of meshes from Pixels to Points in some cases. - GM-14528 Pro
  • The progress dialog will be closed at the end of successful Pixels to Points run. The Result dialog is forced to be on top of the P2P dialog. - GM-14189 
  • Camera setting now automatically updates to pinhole only for calibrated image sets.  - GM-14172 
  • Fixed issue running Pixels to Points on images with very long path names to the files. - GM-14472 

3D Viewer Changes

  • Fixed rendering of background color from symbols drawn reflected on 3D display. - GM-13542 

Path Profile / Line of Sight Function Changes

  • Ensure the min/max Z range shown on a Path Profile includes the Z values for 3D point features being drawn in the profile when the 'Draw 3D Features in Path Corridor' option is checked. - GM-14729 
  • Changed 'Requires Pro Module' to 'Requires Global Mapper Pro' in Path Profile Settings. - GM-13059 
  • Fixed error when cancelling the extraction of features from perpendicular path profiles. - GM-14635 
  • Fixed distance scale on path profile when zooming in. - GM-14348 

Analysis Function Changes

  • Added the ability to apply a convolution filter or box resampler to a loaded layer to create a new layer with the filtered data. The option is under the Analysis menu. - GM-3717 Pro
  • Added numerous new resampling methods for image and terrain layers, including Sharpen and Smooth methods, as well as edge/line detection for images with Sobel, Gradient, and Laplacian resampling. - GM-14639 
  • Point cloud comparison tool allows for the evaluation of distance between point clouds. - GM-14352 Pro
  • Add new resampling method Box Mode for keeping the most common value in a box around a pixel. - GM-12344 
  • EVI is now a built in option in the Raster Calculator - GM-10038 
  • Added new open source shaders Inferno, Magma, Plasma - GM-14706 
  • Added ability to generate Relative Elevation Model (REM) layers from existing terrain layers. - GM-14340 
  • Ensure path profile displaying crossing lines/areas/points updates the style of those features when they are edited. - GM-14816 
  • Added support for layer grouping in spatial operations scripting.  - GM-14508 
  • Added actual raster calculator variable names to the band labels in the Band Setup dialog. - GM-14430 
  • Now greys out "copy script" button after its pressed. Button is re-enabled after any settings change - GM-14284 
  • Publication quality graphics and reports can be exported from Variography and Kriging - GM-14222 Pro
  • Added option to the creation of equal-value areas for elevation and slope to specify that the range should start at a multiple of the Maximum Match Distance rather than centering on that multiple. - GM-13792 
  • Implementing Buffer grouping for spatial transforms in Spatial Operations.  - GM-13771 
  • Added option to save Pile Volume calculation results as feature attributes. - GM-13314 Pro
  • Changed the default Daylight Shader color from blue to white. - GM-13013 
  • Updated cut-and-fill volume calculation for multiple features to allow using the separate per-vertex elevations for each selected feature. - GM-10241 
  • Automatically suggest best fit theoretical model in Variography and Kriging - GM-14210 Pro
  • Fixed lockup when creating 10 or more generated grid layers with the default naming (i.e. Generated Grid 1, Generated Grid 2, ...). - GM-14507 
  • Made the Raster Reclassification dialog resizable. - GM-14939 
  • Made 'Find Duplicate Features' work properly for features in layers with different projections. - GM-14657 
  • Updated Raster Calculator to support "ELSE" when working with non-integer data. - GM-14578 
  • Ensure 'save workspace' prompt shows when creating a multi-band layer in an unnamed workspace. - GM-14467 
  • Improved error message when trying a Create Density Grid operation and no point or Lidar data is loaded. - GM-14385 
  • Retain angle unit setting in variogram map. - GM-14346 
  • Fixed filtering of Lidar points by the Scan Direction. - GM-14343 
  • Support Map Catalogs in Raster Reclassification - GM-14337 
  • Fixed rare issue in contour generation that would cause some contour lines to be disconnected. - GM-14314 
  • Updated the histogram display color for the RGB bands to match the color of the associated band (red for R, green for G, and blue for B). - GM-14274 
  • Fixed error in initial 24.0 release when doing a custom histogram stretch. - GM-14271 
  • Ensure rectify of loaded image with linear transformation based on a GCP file shows the GCP file coordinates in the image rectification dialog. - GM-14250 
  • Save rectification method used in GCP (control point) file saved from Image Rectification dialog when the method is set to Automatic. - GM-14246 
  • In Spatial Operations, reimplemented Spatial Union, and made changes that fix problems with multi-polygon grouping in Union results  - GM-14131 
  • Support Redo, CTRL+Y, in Terrain Painting tool. - GM-14130 
  • Fixed issue with view shed spheres when changing projections. - GM-13533 
  • Updated rule enforcement when creating and importing gmr files.  - GM-13491 
  • Added raster calculator can now be configured to return a specific NO DATA value. Function in scripting also updated: CUBERT( expression ) : Cube root. - GM-13387 
  • Added information to the raster calculator dialog that specifies data ranges for the various input and output data types used. - GM-13377 
  • We now only list as many bands as are actually available in the raster calculator's "Set up Bands for Export" dialog. - GM-10533 
  • Improved support for multi-language fonts in plot rendering. - GM-14390 
  • Fixed issue generating tiled contour areas in the original v24.0.0 release. - GM-14362 
  • Fixed issue on unloading data with LiDAR and Kriged estimate layers selected. - GM-13965 
  • Fixed issue when using Ctrl-Z to undo a terrain paint operation. - GM-13879 

Digitizer Tool Changes

  • Added support to shorten one or both ends of a line feature. - GM-12204 
  • Fix issue with resampling a line feature to a single distance dropping the endpoint when 'Keep All Vertices' is selected. - GM-14860 
  • Fixed reporting of information on the Distance/Bearing/COGO dialog when the current display projection is Geographic (Lat/Lon). - GM-14567 
  • Allow area/line vertices to snap to point feature locations when we are allowing snapping to all features on the Configuration dialog. - GM-14386 
  • Improved resampling behavior at a fixed spacing when using great circle or rhumb line distances on a 2-vertex line when 'Keep Original Vertices' is checked. - GM-14282 
  • Updated distance/bearing/COGO input to show coordinates in both the local COGO coordinate system and the current projection. - GM-14251 
  • Allow simplification of line features with per-vertex Measure or Look-At (flythrough) data. This information will be dropped if the user indicates that they should be simplified. - GM-14157 
  • Disable variable width and side-of-line options when creating buffer areas from point features as those options don't apply to points. - GM-13983 
  • Improved projection, datum, and units display on the Select Location dialog. - GM-13365 
  • Fixed issue with activating the Digitizer Tool resetting a projection previously set by the user when the workspace is empty. - GM-14248 
  • Fixed behavior of 'Join Selected Vertices' operation in initial v24.0.0 release. - GM-14309 

Attributes / Query Changes

  • Added option to save Pile Volume calculation results as feature attributes. - GM-13314 Pro
  • Renamed the Control Center's right-click menu item 'Edit Attributes' to 'Layer Attributes'. - GM-13039 
  • Dramatically sped up the display of the Attribute Editor for Lidar layers. - GM-12149 
  • Fixed issue with split of layers that contain both raster/terrain and vector data by attribute duplicating rather than moving the vector data. - GM-14550 
  • Fixed shutdown crash right-clicking on a column header in the Attribute Editor for a layer when no features in the layer have non-default attributes. - GM-14462 
  • Fixed Find Address operations on strings containing degree symbols. - GM-14306 
  • Attribute editor feature copying now has better handling when a label layer is present - GM-14148 
  • Fixed lockup unloading all data after using the Search by Name dialog. - GM-14144 
  • Greatly sped up deleting points from the Attribute Table view of a point cloud layer. - GM-11820 
  • Hidden attribute columns now stay hidden when adding a new attribute - GM-8064 

Scripting Changes

  • Contour generation recording for python how handles contour intervals units - GM-14659 
  • Updated EXPORT_WEB command introduced a new key word: ”GEN_PBF_FILES”.  - GM-14665 
  • Added support for layer grouping in spatial operations scripting.  - GM-14508 
  • Added keyboard shortcut for running script in the script editor (CTRL + Enter) - GM-14489 
  • Missing advanced web export parameters have been added to gms and script builder - GM-14342 
  • Added new parameter for EXPORT_WEB: WEB_ADD_PAN_CONTROL , WEB_ADD_STREET_VIEW, and WEB_ADD_ZOOM_CTRL.  - GM-14341 
  • Added SPLIT_INTO_TRIANGLES parameter for EDIT_VECTOR script command to allow splitting area features into triangle areas. - GM-14310 
  • IMPORT_DIR_TREE is now used instead of each import having its own command in the script builder - GM-14214 Pro
  • Script builder now records online source imports. - GM-14213 Pro
  • Added EXPORT_CLOUD support to the script builder - GM-14191 
  • Improved Script builder GMS warning messages - GM-14141 
  • Added EXPORT_WEB support to the script builder - GM-14120 
  • EXPORT_WEB scripting command supports MapBox Vector Tileset format, and displays of zero level tiles for MBVT overlays.  - GM-12868 
  • Added support for specifying the sorting behavior when loading point cloud data with a script with a new SORT_LIDAR parameter for the IMPORT commands. - GM-12264 Pro
  • Added new APPLY_CONVOLUTION script command for creating new layers with a convolution filter applied. - GM-14755 Pro
  • Fixed results reporting from LIDAR_COMPARE script command (the filenames were switched in the results log string). - GM-14677 Pro
  • EXPORT_ATTRS now works as expected for csv exports - GM-14517 
  • Python module enables "inspect" mode. quit(), exit(), sys.exit() functions will not request the app termination but will raise SystemExit exception instead. - GM-14316 
  • Fixed cropping point features to polygons when exporting GMP files. - GM-14293 
  • The "copy script" script button enable/disabled state now works as expected.  - GM-14242 
  • The script builder is now recording QUALITY correctly for EXPORT_GEOPACKAGE with jpg selected.  - GM-14238 
  • Removed script error when using EXPORT_GEOPACKAGE to export a vector GeoPackage file and not including the unnecessary MAX_ZOOM_LEVEL or NUM_ZOOM_LEVELS parameters. - GM-14237 
  • Added KML_SEPARATE_RASTER_LAYERS parameter to GMS - GM-13897 
  • When doing a web format export the script builder will no longer log a raster export in some workflows - GM-14119 
  • Fixed error case caused from manipulating tabs in the script editor.  - GM-14292 
  • Fixed error case caused from manipulating multiple tabs in the script editor - GM-14269 

Online Source Changes

  • Updated MetroMap (Australia) built-in premium online source for new server settings. - GM-14488 
  • Reworded 'Draw Online Layer Missing Tile Boundaries' to 'Draw Boundaries of Missing Online Layer Tiles' in the Control Center's right-click menu for an online layer. - GM-14114 
  • Fixed problem with extra authentication prompt with some WMS sources that have an incorrect legend URL specified. - GM-14169 
  • Added support for ESRI RESTful services that use projections based on the ESRI projection code 104145 (lat/lon NAD83 NSRS2011). - GM-14368 
  • Updated SRTM Worldwide 3-arc-second source to fill in the ocean with 0 rather than no-data values. - GM-14356 
  • Fixed problems adding WMS sources from servers that require the REQUEST parameter to not be the first parameter. - GM-14195 
  • Fixed lockup or crash exporting from online terrain sources that have no data values. - GM-14351 

Projection / Datum Changes

  • Added Fathoms (fm) as an available elevation unit. - GM-14503 
  • Added button to the Projection selection dialog to allow initializing the projection from that of a loaded layer. - GM-13942 
  • Fixed creation of COGO arc segments with the distance/bearing/COGO tool when using Grid North bearings. - GM-14636 
  • Fixed reporting of information on the Distance/Bearing/COGO dialog when the current display projection is Geographic (Lat/Lon). - GM-14567 
  • Added recognition of name "Militar-Geographische Institut" for MGI (Austria) datums in projection definitions. - GM-14478 
  • Made RCS (Lidar) export obey elevation display / export units specified on Configuration dialog rather than always exporting meters. - GM-14445 
  • Fixed the calculation of rhumb line distances along lines of equal latitude. - GM-14287 
  • Improved resampling behavior at a fixed spacing when using great circle or rhumb line distances on a 2-vertex line when 'Keep Original Vertices' is checked. - GM-14282 
  • Corrected EPSG definitions of 29871-29873 (RSO Borneo / Timbalai 1948). - GM-14243 
  • Improved projection, datum, and units display on the Select Location dialog. - GM-13365 
  • Fixed the Times projection when using a non-zero Central Meridian. - GM-12939 

Format Specific Changes

  • Added support for view rotation in world files. - GM-6150 
  • Add new resampling method Box Mode for keeping the most common value in a box around a pixel. - GM-12344 
  • Added support for specifying the PDF version to export when using the EXPORT_PDF script command. The embedding of unknown fonts can also be controlled with the PDF_EMBED_FONTS parameter. Finally, PDF file information, including version, is now listed in the Metadata for a loaded PDF layer. - GM-14527 
  • Made Generic Text Import dialog remember the option to 'Use custom coordinate position' between invocations. - GM-14475 
  • Added support for displaying SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) data from NITF image files. - GM-14347 
  • Added PDF import option to disable smoothing (anti-aliasing) of vector data when loading as raster. - GM-14268 
  • Fixed issue with trailing underscore being added to PROJCS name when exporting to GeoTIFF in some projections. - GM-14247 
  • Updated GeoTIFF elevation export to automatically default to 32-bit float samples if any of the loaded terrain data might have more than whole meter or foot precision. - GM-14192 
  • Added support for loading point features from GLTF / GLB format files. - GM-14136 
  • Enhanced ArcGIS GDB load options dialog to show all feature classes and select metadata defined in database. - GM-13744 
  • Fixed issues loading some Hypack Matrix files. - GM-3276 
  • Automatically ignore the 'alpha' channel of 32-bit BMP files that use a compression method (BI_RGB) that does not officially support an alpha channel. - GM-14694 
  • Increased number of grid lines output to PDF files when the option to always display all grid lines regardless of zoom level is NOT checked. - GM-14294 
  • Fixed export to 3D model formats when using non-ASCII characters in the filename or path. - GM-14762 
  • Fixed issues like 3D model formats with non-ASCII characters in the filename. - GM-14714 
  • Fixed issue with line/area Shapefiles that have per-vertex Z values preferring a recognized elevation attribute (like 'ELEVATION') over the per-vertex Z values. - GM-14710 
  • Corrected file type given in loading package file progress reporter. - GM-14699 
  • Fixed issue where template layers were being saved to workspace files correctly. - GM-14686 
  • Fixed issue with split of layers that contain both raster/terrain and vector data by attribute duplicating rather than moving the vector data. - GM-14550 
  • Fixed problems embedding fonts in PDF files. - GM-14540 
  • Fixed issue with the missing attributes on import of a GeoPackage. - GM-14497 
  • Allowed empty table names for GPKG datasets - GM-14496 
  • Fixed applying of color from loaded imagery to Lidar when batch converting. - GM-14484 
  • Added 12da support for UTF-16 files. - GM-14468 
  • Made the option to cancel export to BigTiff during GeoTIFF export work. - GM-14450 
  • Made RCS (Lidar) export obey elevation display / export units specified on Configuration dialog rather than always exporting meters. - GM-14445 
  • Enable load of Shapefile polygon features that have invalid geometries (less than 3 unique points). They will draw like line features unless the vertices are edited. - GM-14444 
  • Fixed export of reprojected contour and watershed layers to LandXML files. - GM-14378 
  • Updated save of Mercator projection to GeoTIFF to set the ProjFalseEasting and ProjFalseNorthing keys in addition to the ProjCenterEasting and ProjCenterNorthing keys, so all software can find the values. - GM-14330 
  • Fixed issue with extra delimiter at start of CSV lines when exporting area or line features with no attributes or label. - GM-14301 
  • Properly placed labels of features in exported DXF/DWG files - GM-14006 
  • Fixed dimension issue in NetCDF3 GRD data - GM-13969 
  • Fixed missing transparency in GeoTIFF multi-band exports where entire rows of the output don't intersect any of the input layers. - GM-13938 
  • Added KML_SEPARATE_RASTER_LAYERS parameter to GMS - GM-13897 
  • Improved load of Mapbox vector tiles - GM-13340 
  • “Override Feature Altitude Mode” checkbox has been added to the KML/KMZ Export options dialog - GM-11408 
  • Fixed handling of projections with negative scale parameters when loading from GeoTIFF files. - GM-14399 
  • Fixed export to multi-band JPEG2000 files with 16 bits per sample. - GM-14280 
  • Fixed .gmmp issue when exporting multiple layers.  - GM-14302 

Rendering/Style Changes

  • Custom symbols' labels and images can now be edited. - GM-14546 
  • Fixed resize of the 'Set View Rotation' dialog so that the units box doesn't get drawn on top of. - GM-14795 

Map Layout Changes

  • Updated the new Inset Map Element.  - GM-14927 
  • Edited list of available border styles for Map layout editor elements.  - GM-14723 
  • Added snapping of elements with mouse drag to Map Layout Editor. - GM-14372 
  • Added table of contents to PDF from Map Layout Editor. - GM-9092 
  • Added inset map element to map layout editor for 2D, 3D, and Path Profile views.  - GM-8481 
  • Corrected display of North Arrow when bearing display is set to True North or Magnetic North. - GM-14631 
  • Corrected behavior of group size with rotated elements inside groups. - GM-14442 
  • Corrected Map Layout Editor PDF generation for grouped features and handling of islands. - GM-14118 

User Interface

  • The "copy script" script button enable/disabled state now works as expected.  - GM-14242 

Misc. Changes

  • Renamed 'Current Workspace' to either be 'Unsaved Workspace', if unsaved, or the name of the GMW file, if saved. - GM-13065 
  • Improved Resampling selection on layer options dialog to split out the resampling type and box size (if applicable). - GM-14533 
  • Renamed option to 'Create Point Features at Elevation Grid Cell Centers' to 'Create Point Cloud from Elevation Layer' to better reflect what the function does. - GM-14037 
  • Fixed point cloud segment deselect by Shift click. - GM-13740 
  • Added Kriging interpolation method when creating a grid from csv/ascii/ lidar.  - GM-1966 
  • Fixed error when unloading grid layer created when cropping to an area feature with holes. - GM-13828 
  • Stopped supporting 32 bit. - GM-14564 
  • Improved Batch Convert dialog to support Korean characters.  - GM-13922 
  • The license manager no longer says "Expires " in the Information column for perpetual dongle licenses. - GM-14777 
  • Fixed crash when working with a Shapefile with a large DBF file on a network drive that gets disconnected. - GM-14457 
  • Fixed tiling to selected areas during batch convert when the areas are in a different projection than the conversion projection. - GM-14451 
  • Fixed pixelation when rectifying images with overview (pyramid) layers. - GM-14406 
  • Allow pasting Lidar points from multiple layers to a single new layer (or an existing non-file-based layer). - GM-14394 
  • If no commands have been added or remove since the last export there will no longer be a save prompt when closing GM - GM-14283 
  • Fixed issue where Overlap operation would select objects that matched the Equals criteria. - GM-13666 
  • Fixed incorrect mapping of keyboard shortcuts in Spanish. - GM-14482