The software behind the plans
Walk into a Chinese planning institute and you will find a layered toolchain: domestic GIS platforms (SuperMap, MapGIS) carrying government data compliance, ArcGIS holding legacy projects, and a fast-growing open-source stack (QGIS, PostGIS, GeoServer) in research and consulting work. This page lists the six tools most worth knowing, with an emphasis on what each is actually used for in territorial spatial planning practice — not just what the vendor says.
The open-source GIS workhorse. Free, scriptable with Python, excellent cartography, and full CGCS2000 support. For international researchers working with Chinese data, it is usually the fastest path from download to map.
China's leading domestic GIS vendor — desktop, server, and cloud components in one family. Common inside the "one map" implementation-monitoring systems that provincial and municipal planning bureaus operate.
Another long-established domestic platform (Wuhan Zondy), strong in geology and natural-resources registries. Frequently the system of record for land-use and mining-rights databases.
Still the global reference for analysis workflows, and deeply embedded in legacy planning projects. Many published methodology templates (double evaluation, suitability analysis) assume its toolchain.
Spatial extension for PostgreSQL — the standard answer when a planning project outgrows file-based data. Pair with QGIS for editing and GeoServer for publishing a fully open geospatial stack.
A quiet favorite for terrain and DEM work: reprojection, contour generation, and format conversion across virtually every GIS format. Affordable and light to deploy on field laptops.
Tool comparisons and step-by-step GIS tutorials for planning tasks are shared by practitioners in the Guoturen document library, and the Q&A community answers the sharp edges — datum shifts, CGCS2000 handling, and format quirks.