JUMP GIS
Encyclopedia
JUMP is a Java
based vector GIS
and programming framework. Current development continues under the OpenJUMP name.
Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management, Vivid Solutions Inc. created a software program to do automated matching ("conflation") of roads and rivers from different digital maps into an integrated single geospatial data set. The software team wisely made the program flexible enough to be used not just for roads and rivers, but almost any kind of spatial data: provincial boundaries, power-station locations, satellite images, and so on. The program was named JUMP (JAVA Unified Mapping Platform), and it has become a popular, free Geographic Information System (GIS).
After the initial creation and deployment of JUMP, regular development of the program by Vivid Solutions stopped. However, the company continued offering support to the user community that had grown around JUMP, and provided information to developers that had begun to improve JUMP in small ways, or who had customized it to fit their needs. Martin Davis and Jon Aquino, two former employees of Vivid Solutions that worked on the original JUMP, played a key role in the growth of this community centered around JUMP.
It soon became evident that both the users and developers would benefit from a "unified" JUMP platform. This central or core platform would eliminate the compatibility issues that plagued the JUMP user community, and would give developers a platform on which to focus and coordinate their efforts. A number of the lead members from each team working with JUMP formed the JPP Development Committee, whose purpose was to guide and oversee this new unified platform. A name was chosen for this open source GIS program to be based on JUMP, "OpenJUMP".
" is an XML
(text-based) format for GIS data. It is a way to describe spatial information in a human readable form, and is an accepted "open standard" for GIS data.
OpenJUMP can currently read and write GML data, and the team hopes to develop a number of utilities that will improve OpenJUMP's ability to work with GML.
The ability to work with an open format like GML is important to some implementers because it gives alternatives to proprietary formats like Autodesk DWG files
or ESRI Shapefiles.
OpenJUMP nevertheless also reads and writes ESRI Shapefiles and supports ESRI ASCII grid format with an OpenJump plugin from the SIGLE team. While OpenJUMP is considered primarily a vector based GIS, it also supports rasters, as TIF files or the above ESRI ASCII grid.
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
based vector GIS
Geographic Information System
A geographic information system, geographical information science, or geospatial information studies is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographically referenced data...
and programming framework. Current development continues under the OpenJUMP name.
Features
- platform independent (WindowsMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, LinuxLinuxLinux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, UnixUnixUnix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
, MacintoshMacintoshThe Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
) - reads and writes ESRI ShapefileShapefileThe Esri Shapefile or simply a shapefile is a popular geospatial vector data format for geographic information systems software. It is developed and regulated by Esri as a open specification for data interoperability among Esri and other software products.Shapefiles spatially describe geometries:...
, GMLGMLGML may refer to:* Middle Low German , a language used around the North Sea and the Baltic Sea from 1100 to 1600* Gostomel Airport , an international cargo airport, near Kiev, Ukraine* Gradient Multi-Layer nano-film...
files, DXF and PostGISPostGISPostGIS is an open source software program that adds support for geographic objects to the PostgreSQL object-relational database. PostGIS follows the Simple Features for SQL specification from the Open Geospatial Consortium .-Features:... - reads raster files like TIFF, JPEGJPEGIn computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
, PNG and ECW - save view to georeferenced rasters like JPEGJPEGIn computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
and PNG - full geometry and attribute editing
- OpenGIS SFSSimple FeaturesSimple feature access , is both an OpenGIS and ISO Standard that specifies a common storage model of geographical data using well-known text . The geometries are also associated with spatial reference systems...
compliant - Geometry algorithms based on Java Topology Suite
- a lot of third party plugins exists (e.g. connecting to Postgis, Oracle database or ArcSDEArcSDEArcSDE is a server-software sub-system that aims to enable the usage of Relational Database Management Systems for spatial data...
, print, reproject vectos, etc.) - supports standards like WMSWeb Map ServiceA Web Map Service is a standard protocol for serving georeferenced map images over the Internet that are generated by a map server using data from a GIS database...
, WFSWeb Feature ServiceThe Open Geospatial Consortium Web Feature Service Interface Standard provides an interface allowing requests for geographical features across the web using platform-independent calls...
and SLDSLD- Computers and technology :* Second-level domain, an Internet domain directly beneath the top-level domain* Simple learning design 2.0, a specification used to express learning activities* Semiconductor laser diode, a laser diode based on a semiconductor... - easy extensible GIS programming environment for own GIS-applications
- supports multiple languages (EN, FR, DE, ES, FI, IT, JP, PT, CZ)
- no charge for download or use
- Open source licence: GPL
History
In 2002, as a project for the British ColumbiaBritish Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management, Vivid Solutions Inc. created a software program to do automated matching ("conflation") of roads and rivers from different digital maps into an integrated single geospatial data set. The software team wisely made the program flexible enough to be used not just for roads and rivers, but almost any kind of spatial data: provincial boundaries, power-station locations, satellite images, and so on. The program was named JUMP (JAVA Unified Mapping Platform), and it has become a popular, free Geographic Information System (GIS).
After the initial creation and deployment of JUMP, regular development of the program by Vivid Solutions stopped. However, the company continued offering support to the user community that had grown around JUMP, and provided information to developers that had begun to improve JUMP in small ways, or who had customized it to fit their needs. Martin Davis and Jon Aquino, two former employees of Vivid Solutions that worked on the original JUMP, played a key role in the growth of this community centered around JUMP.
It soon became evident that both the users and developers would benefit from a "unified" JUMP platform. This central or core platform would eliminate the compatibility issues that plagued the JUMP user community, and would give developers a platform on which to focus and coordinate their efforts. A number of the lead members from each team working with JUMP formed the JPP Development Committee, whose purpose was to guide and oversee this new unified platform. A name was chosen for this open source GIS program to be based on JUMP, "OpenJUMP".
File formats
One important feature of Jump and OpenJUMP is the ability to work with GIS data in GML format. GML or "Geography Markup LanguageGeography Markup Language
The Geography Markup Language is the XML grammar defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium to express geographical features. GML serves as a modeling language for geographic systems as well as an open interchange format for geographic transactions on the Internet...
" is an XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
(text-based) format for GIS data. It is a way to describe spatial information in a human readable form, and is an accepted "open standard" for GIS data.
OpenJUMP can currently read and write GML data, and the team hopes to develop a number of utilities that will improve OpenJUMP's ability to work with GML.
The ability to work with an open format like GML is important to some implementers because it gives alternatives to proprietary formats like Autodesk DWG files
.dwg
DWG is a binary file format used for storing two and three dimensional design data and metadata. It is the native format for several CAD packages including AutoCAD, IntelliCAD and Caddie. In addition, DWG is supported non-natively by many other CAD applications...
or ESRI Shapefiles.
OpenJUMP nevertheless also reads and writes ESRI Shapefiles and supports ESRI ASCII grid format with an OpenJump plugin from the SIGLE team. While OpenJUMP is considered primarily a vector based GIS, it also supports rasters, as TIF files or the above ESRI ASCII grid.
External links
- Vivid Solutions - The company that created the original version of JUMP
- OpenJUMP - Wiki and community website
- JUMP Pilot Project - English info website of the support project JUMP-Pilot
- KosmoKosmoKosmo is a desktop geographic information system with advanced functions. It is the first of a series of developments that are being made available to the community....
: a JUMP based project from a Spain-based company