Added by Antonio Santiago, last edited by Johann Sorel on Mar 14, 2008  (view change)

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Introduction

Puzzle is a Java Geographic Information Systems (GIS) development platform build on top of NetBeans6. The main goal of Puzzle GIS is to create a free, production ready and competitive tool as a valid alternative to commercial software.

Why should I choose Puzzle ?

You are right, many GIS applications already exits. So why using this new one ?
We started the project to fullfil an objective : 100% Java. This reason is idealistic we now it, but puzzle is heading this way. With this aim we choosen NetBeans platform, which is made by Sun, and also the second most used Java IDE. This platform is in Swing and applications based on it can be installed using Java Web Start. Perhaps you have already noticed, Puzzle doesn't need to be installed, if a JVM is installed, Linux, Windows or Mac, it will work!

to resume :

  1. 100% Java (at least we try to)
  2. Java Web Start supported
  3. One version for all OS
  4. no OS limitation (just need a JVM 1.5 or more)
  5. no install needed

Can I use Puzzle commercially ?

Yes , puzzle use a special GPL license, it's a GPL + ClassPath Exception.
To resume, Puzzle is free and will remain free but you can build commercial modules for it. This license is the same as OpenJDK or NetBeans RCP.
See License for more details.

When will it be ready ?

Actually you can open a few differents data formats, edit basic styles, edit features attributes and some functions to edit geometries. But two parts have to be implemented before a first release : Project saving and Print support.
I hope to see this version released in summer this year.