Free Mobile Geographic Information Apps Functionalities: A Systematic Review

Background and Objectives: A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a system designed to capture, store, analyze, and manage all types of geographical data. Mobile GIS has the ability to deliver functionalities, data and services without necessarily requiring a fixed location or wired connection. This paper analyzes the functionalities and potential of free mobile GIS applications available in Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Methods: A well-known Systematic Literature Review (SLR) protocol was carried out to study free mobile GIS apps functionalities. A quality assessment questionnaire was developed for this purpose to be applied to the selected mobile GIS apps. Results: A total of 42 mobile GIS apps were selected from Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The results showed that the majority of mobile GIS apps support Global Positioning System (GPS) and were designed to be mainly used in geography, topography, Geo-Positioning, and transport domains. The search also showed that the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) protocols for web services remain less integrated in the apps. Conclusion: The features of mobile GIS were discussed and a set of recommendations to improve the development of mobile GIS applications was proposed.