Introducing the MapWindow GIS Project

Daniel P. Ames, Christopher Michaelis, Ted Dunsford

Introduction
MapWindow is an open source geographic information system (GIS) and an application
programming interface (API) distributed under the Mozilla Public License (MPL), built
upon the Microsoft Dot Net Framework 2.0. The project is maintained by an active group
of international developers who regularly release updates and bug fixes through the
MapWindow.org web site.
In 2005, the United States Environmental Protection Agency adopted MapWindow as the
core GIS platform for its BASINS watershed analysis and modeling software which is
used by environmental professionals at all levels of U.S. government and internationally.
This was followed by adoption at the United Nations University and many other
governmental, non-profit, and commercial entities throughout the world. Indeed, from
November 2006 through July 2007 the software was downloaded over 60,000 times and
has over 7,000 members on the opt-in mailing list. There are also currently 630
subscribers to source code commit notification mailing lists, and 43 regular source code
committers.
The MapWindow components and end user application support manipulation, analysis
and viewing of geospatial data in many standard GIS data formats. Hence, MapWindow
is a mapping tool, a GIS modeling system, and a GIS API, in a redistributable open
source form that is appealing for its simplicity of use and for running on Microsoft
Windows. This paper presents the project history, current status, key elements and future
plans.

Project Background
In 1998, researchers at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, USA were using
MapObjects LT 1.0 from Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) as a GIS
component in several research projects. However, restrictive redistribution licenses and
the inability to edit vector or attribute data files or display and interact with raster data
became significant barriers to use of this component.
Indeed, dynamic and interactive functions that require low level access to spatial data
were not well-supported in freely distributable Windows-based GIS programming
components at that time. An alternative approach for these projects was to move to a
proprietary desktop GIS system (e.g. ArcView 3.1), writing the needed tools as
extensions. However, many applications in environmental science and engineering are
more suited to a standalone environment due to the need to distribute the tool to
individuals who do not own a desktop GIS or are not GIS experts.

The core MapWinGIS component was developed to meet this need for an alternative to
existing proprietary GIS components. MapWinGIS is an ActiveX control that gives full
ability to display, query, manipulate, and use spatial data. Because of the engineeringoriented nature of the projects that necessitated its development, MapWinGIS was
particularly optimized for rapid display of data and is intended to be a fully functional
model interface, not simply a map viewer. Development focuses included high-speed
image and raster display, limiting the amount of re-drawing, and including APIs for lowlevel access to spatial data.
The MapWindow GIS desktop application wraps all of the MapWinGIS ActiveX
functionality, providing end users with a common legend, toolbar and a consistent
interface that can be extended by adding plug-ins or a customized configuration file. In
short, MapWinGIS ActiveX was built to add GIS functionality to custom end user
applications and MapWindow GIS desktop was built to help users deploy GIS-enabled
applications assembled from pre-built plug-ins and datasets.

Project Description
MapWindow GIS Application
The MapWindow application is a lightweight spatial data viewer with an intentionally
slim default interface intended to simplify its use and improve adaptability to specific
uses. The main GUI and functionality can be extended through plug-ins and scripts which
add capabilities as needed. Also the default application itself can be customized to change
the look, feel and even its title-bar name at runtime.
By default, the MapWindow layout includes a map, a legend, and a preview-map. Builtin toolbar buttons allow one to manage project files (collections of data layers), to print,
and to navigate the map. Figure 1 shows the MapWindow interface with the Shapefile
Editor plug-in enabled and with the title bar customized for a specific project. Both open
source and commercial plug-ins have been developed by users worldwide for a variety of
applications; many of these are available for download from the MapWindow.org web
site.

Figure 1: Basic MapWindow interface with Shapefile Editor enabled.

In addition to building plug-ins, one can customize the look and feel of the MapWindow
application by changing the included default.mwcfg XML configuration file. Changes
to this file can affect title bar, splash screen, about box, plug-in loading and window
layout settings, among others.
An XML project file allows users to save a list of loaded data layers and session settings.
The Newton Reservoir Information System project in Figure 1 is an example project
included in the MapWindow installation package. All of the data loaded into
MapWindow and all settings (e.g. symbology, loaded plug-ins, and project projection),
are saved to the project file.

MapWindow Plug-ins
MapWindow has an extensible architecture that allows developers to write plug-ins to
add functionality using Dot Net compatible languages such as VB.Net or C#. This is
done by implementing a specific plug-in interface in a custom DLL file which is placed
in the application directory and automatically detected at runtime. Plug-ins can also be

written and compiled directly in the MapWindow plug-in editoreliminating the need
for an external development environment.
The MapWindow plug-in interface provides extensive capabilities allowing the developer
to use as little or as much as needed to accomplish a particular goal. Default plug-ins
packaged with MapWindow include tools for editing shapefiles and attributes, identifying
features and performing common geoprocessing tasks.
Plug-in developers retain all copyright and licensing rights for their work and hence can
redistribute their products as proprietary, open source, or otherwise as needed.

MapWindow ActiveX Control

The core MapWindow component is an ActiveX control, "MapWinGIS.ocx" that can be
used in Visual Basic or any language that supports ActiveX (e.g. C#, Microsoft Access,
Microsoft Excel). MapWinGIS has been optimized for fast image and raster display,
limiting the amount of redrawing, and including APIs for low-level access to spatial data.
A simple Visual Basic program using the control and just a few lines of code is shown in
Figure 2.

Figure 2: A Simple Mapping Application

Ongoing Development and Future Plans

Development plans for MapWindow include a component structure upgrade in version

5.0. This version focuses on incorporating the Geospatial Data Access Library (GDAL)
and OGR Simple Feature Library for additional data format support, and Net Topology
Suite (NTS) for topological support. Version 5.0 also targets OGC compliance and
improved modularization. An ASP.Net-based web component for performing online
mapping and geoprocessing has also been introduced.
Version 5.0 also introduces an interface layer around every component. By doing this,
any given component (e.g., MapWindow.Data) may be replaced with a third-party
component if needed. Indeed any code that implements the specified interfaces will be
compatible with other MapWindow 5.0 components.
Finally, MapWindow 5.0 components are designed and written entirely in Microsoft Dot
Net code (Managed C++, C#, and VB.Net) except for linked-in components (GDAL and
OGR) which are maintained in their native form. This eliminates many long-standing
problems with COM registration on the Windows platform. An overview diagram of the
planned MapWindow 5.0 components and linkages is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: MapWindow 5 Component Diagram

Conclusion
The MapWindow GIS project is a dynamic and active effort to build and distribute open
source GIS tools that integrate tightly with the Microsoft Windows operating system.
Supported by a large number of commercial and non-commercial funding sources,
volunteer developers, and student research activities, this project is expected to grow in
the foreseeable future and continue to be a model of a successful open source for
geoinformatics software development and use.