System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses (SAGA GIS) is a

geographic information system A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and Geographic information system software, software that store, manage, Spatial analysis, analyze, edit, output, and Cartographic design, visualize Geographic data ...

(GIS)

computer program A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to Execution (computing), execute. It is one component of software, which also includes software documentation, documentation and other intangibl ...

, used to edit spatial data. It is free and

open-source software Open-source software (OSS) is Software, computer software that is released under a Open-source license, license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and Software distribution, distribute the software an ...

, developed originally by a small team at the Department of Physical Geography,

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

, Germany, and is now being maintained and extended by an international developer community. SAGA GIS is intended to give scientists an effective but easily learnable platform for implementing geoscientific methods. This is achieved by the

application programming interface An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software Interface (computing), interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that des ...

(API). SAGA has a fast-growing set of geoscientific methods, bundled in exchangeable module libraries. The standard modules are: * ''File access'': interfaces to various table, vector, image and grid file formats, including shapefiles, Esri grids (ASCII and binary), and many grid file formats supported by the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library ( GDAL), along with the native SGRD format of SAGA GIS. * ''Filter for grids'': Gaussian, Laplacian, multi-directional Lee filter. * ''Gridding'':

interpolation In the mathematics, mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points. In engineering and science, one ...

from vector data using triangulation, nearest neighbour, inverse distance. * ''Geostatistics'': residual analysis, ordinary and universal kriging, single and multiple regression analysis, variance analysis. * ''Grid calculator'': combine grids through user defined functions. * ''Grid discretisation'': skeletonisation, segmentation. * ''Grid tools'': merging, resampling, gap filling. * ''Image classification'': cluster analysis, box classification, maximum likelihood, pattern recognition, region growing. * '' Projections'': various coordinate transformations for vector and grid data (using Proj4 and GeoTrans libraries), georeferencing of grids. * ''Simulation of dynamic processes'': TOPMODEL, nitrogen distributions, erosion, landscape development. * ''Terrain analysis'': geomorphometric calculations such as slope, aspect, curvatures, curvature classification, analytical hillshading, sink elimination, flow path analysis, catchment delineation, solar radiation, channel lines, relative altitudes. * ''Vector tools'': polygon intersection, contour lines from grid. SAGA GIS is an effective tool with user friendly

graphical user interface A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows user (computing), users to human–computer interaction, interact with electronic devices through Graphics, graphical icon (computing), icons and visual indicators such ...

(GUI) that requires only about 10 MB disk space. No installation is needed, since SAGA GIS can be run directly from a USB thumb drive if desired. SAGA GIS is available for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

, and

FreeBSD FreeBSD is a free-software Unix-like operating system descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). The first version was released in 1993 developed from 386BSD, one of the first fully functional and free Unix clones on affordable ...

. SAGA GIS can be used together with other GIS software like Kosmo and

QGIS QGIS is a geographic information system (GIS) software that is free and open-source. QGIS supports Windows, macOS, and Linux. It supports viewing, editing, printing, and analysis of geospatial data in a range of data formats. Its name comes from ...

in order to obtain enhanced detail in vector datasets as well as higher-resolution map-production capabilities. SAGA GIS modules can be executed from within the statistical data analysis software R, in order to integrate

statistical Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

and GIS analyses.

References

* Böhner, J., McCloy, K.R., Strobl, J. ds.(2006): SAGA - Analysis and Modelling Applications. Göttinger Geographische Abhandlungen, Vol.115, 130pp. * Böhner, J., Blaschke, T., Montanarella, L. ds.(2008): SAGA - Seconds Out. Hamburger Beiträge zur Physischen Geographie und Landschaftsökologie, Vol.19, 113pp.

External links

*{{Official website, www.saga-gis.org/en
SAGA GIS Sourceforge projectSAGA GIS FreeBSD installation
Free GIS software Free software programmed in C++ Software that uses wxWidgets