Mapping Software

[bowiac]

Does anyone have any thoughts about some decent mapping software? I'm looking for pretty standard features:
 

• Geocoding addresses to GPS, and vice versa
• Plotting addresses/GPS coordinates on a map of U.S., on a local/city level and national level.
• Ability to plot points in various colors.
• Pleasing aesthetics.
• Ability to do heat maps based on frequency
• Ability to signal magnitude (i.e., revenues) as well as geographic location.

 
I've used Excel's Powermap add-in, which is just terrible. Tableau is an option, and looks good, but I'm curious if anyone has other thoughts. Pricey software is mostly okay (within reason).
 
Any suggestions?

 

[Strike4]

I work in land conservation and ESRI's ArcGIS is the gold standard.  It is so huge that it has its own monthly magazine about what people are doing with it.  All aspects of it are the best in the business - mapmaking, data management, etc.  ArcGIS is very pricey though.  If you go to the website you can try it for free.
 
I use Google Earth Pro which covers 95% of my needs and is now free, but it's not in the same league.

 

[Toe Nash]

ArcGIS is great, kind of has a steep learning curve, but probably not too bad for simple stuff. You can get a personal license for $100 a year if it's non-commercial work (or a student license for free through a college / university), but otherwise it's expensive. You can do some amazing things though.
 
QGIS is supposed to be the best open source (free) competitor, but I haven't used it much. But it should be able to do everything you list.

 

[bowiac]

Thanks. I'll check out QGIS, since my needs are low-key. My main need is ease of use really. I need to generate maps with some frequency, but don't need to become a real power user, so something without a deep learning curve is useful. This is for commercial work, so the $100 license is inapplicable, but may go the ArcGIS route ultimately, as it looks great.

 

[singaporesoxfan]

I've used ArcGIS and QGIS. ArcGIS is clearly the gold standard but QGIS will get a lot of what you need done. Can't really say QGIS is that great on ease-of-use though. 
 
I love Tableau, but it's not mapping software. Most crucially, there's no built in functionality to geocode addresses. That said, it does generate beautiful visuals and is very easy to use, so if the final aesthetics is what's important and you are willing to put up with using Excel to convert addresses to lat/long data, you can do a lot with Tableau. I generate maps with Tableau maybe once a day, and am always very pleased with the output-to-effort ratio. Quick and dirty.
 
Another thing I should note is you have to put in some work to get Tableau to use alternate projections that aren't the Mercator projection. Probably not an issue if your maps are within the continental U.S., but it's been an issue I've had when I've had to focus on, say, Southeast Asia or sub-Saharan Africa.