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Global Mapper Pro

Updated

Global Mapper offers three different subscription tiers: Essentials, Advanced, and Professional. Subscription tiers are cumulative; Advanced includes all Essentials capabilities, and Professional includes all Advanced capabilities.

  1. Global Mapper Essentials is designed for viewing common GIS data formats, coordinate conversions, and file format conversions, and includes a few other tools for basic vector drawing.

  2. Global Mapper Advanced includes comprehensive file format support, additional vector manipulation, many terrain analysis tools, volume calculation, image rectification, map design functions, GPS/GNSS connectivity support, and scripting tools for both Python scripting and the proprietary Global Mapper Scripting language.

  3. Global Mapper Professional unlocks the full capabilities of the software, including functions for advanced terrain analysis, point cloud processing, Pixels to Points photogrammetric processing (for creating point clouds, orthos, and 3D models from overlapping images), terrain and raster image painting, automated image analysis, mesh editing, and more.

The major highlights of the Advanced and Professional tiers are listed below. Additional functions may also be included; consult the feature pages for more detailed breakdown of functions. Throughout the Knowledge Base, look for the *requires Advanced or *requires Professional tags to see which functions require a tier higher than Essentials.

Global Mapper Advanced

File Format Support

  • Export Elevation Grid formats
  • Export 3D PDF
  • Export GeoPackage
  • Database, web format, and cloud format support
  • Elevation QC for checking elevation grids against 3D control points
  • Create a kriged estimate grid using the Variography and Kriging analysis tool
  • A Create Volumetric 3D Mesh Buffer Features tool to generate 3D mesh buffer features from existing points, lines, and polygons

Data creating and editing

  • Additional Digitizer functions including Advanced Feature Creation, Move/Reshape Features, Advanced Selection tools, and Crop/Combine/Split functions
  • Attribute management
  • Spatial Operations

Tools

  • GPS connectivity and Mobile Data Management
  • Coordinate Converter
  • Graph and Chart Manager
  • Map Layout Editor
  • Geocoding

Terrain Analysis

  • Generate Contours
  • Create Viewshed
  • Line of Sight
  • Elevation Grid QC
  • Find Least Cost Path
  • Create Watershed
  • Simulate Water Level Rise
  • Find Ridge Lines
  • Create Relative Elevation Grid
  • Generate Curvature Grid
  • Create Roughness Grid
  • Create Elevation Grid
  • Calculate Volume between Two Surfaces
  • Attribute management

Image / Raster Processing

  • Georeferencing / rectification
  • Image blending, feathering, and cropping
  • Apply convolution filter
  • Create multiband image
  • Pan-sharpening

Scripting Support

  • Script Editor dialog with syntax coloring for building, editing, and running scripts
  • Script Builder for easily generating commands based on interaction with the program user interface
  • Favorite Scripts manager
  • Python programming language integration

Global Mapper Professional

Advanced Lidar / Point Cloud Advanced

  • Lidar / Point Cloud QC for comparing point clouds to 3D control points for horizontal and vertical offset statistics reporting and fit options
  • Explore vertical offset between swaths with the Create Swath Separation Image tool that aligns with the USGS Base Lidar Specification
  • Lidar Strip Alignment for 3D adjustment of points
  • Voronoi Density method for measuring localized point cloud density
  • Expanded options in Lidar/Terrain Display Controls provide access to real-time, interactive filtering and visualization controls for point cloud data.
  • Classifications can be manually applied with ease using the Manual Classification toolset
  • Path/Profile Viewer allowing users to view Lidar points directly in the path profile display window. Users can also directly edit Lidar points and manipulate Lidar classifications from the path profile view.
  • Change Detection between point clouds using the Compare Point Clouds tool
  • Auto-alignment of point clouds using the Fit Point Clouds tool
  • Custom feature extraction from point cloud data through the Path Profile view
  • Additional Create Elevation Grid methods and dramatically faster gridding of point cloud data
  • Automatic classification tools for unclassified point clouds, including ground, building, trees, powerlines and pole objects
  • Feature extraction tools from classified point clouds. This includes buildings, trees, powerlines and poles.
  • Additional Lidar format support including E57, Leica PTS and BPF
  • The ability to display Lidar points by height above ground to visualize vegetation and building heights
  • Support for reporting Lidar statistics via script to a text file to facility QA processes
  • Colorize Lidar points from loaded imagery in memory, no export required
  • Color loaded elevation data (including Lidar) with the shader using the elevation range on-screen rather the full data range. This makes it easy to see terrain differences even in flat areas while zoomed in
  • Read/write and additional display support for the NIR data in LAS 1.4
  • Additional Export Options for the Lidar LAS
  • Support for multi-band colored Lidar points
  • Options supporting multiple methods to Create 3D Model from Selected Lidar

Photogrammetry for Point Clouds, 3D models, and Orthorectified Imagery

The Pixels to Points® tool uses photogrammetry methods to create 3D point clouds, orthorectified images, or photo-textured 3D models from overlapping images from overlapping imagery typically collected from a drone / UAV / UAS. Multispectral imagery is also supported.

Image Analysis

  • Automatic Land Cover Classification for classifying satellite or aerial imagery into land use categories using deep learning models, including specialized models for desert and chaparral areas.
  • Automatic Object Detection for identifying buildings and vehicles from high resolution imagery using deep learning models.
  • Create Deep Learning Models or fine-tune the included models for Land Cover Classification or Object Detection models to your own data
  • Image / Raster Paint for easy editing of imagery (lighten, darken, heal, etc.) or reassigning pixel values for palette images

Terrain Analysis and Manipulation

Raster Analysis

  • A Vectorize Raster tool to extract vector area features from pixels of equal value or similar color
  • Raster Calculator
  • Raster Reclassification

 

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