| Tool | Platform | Price | Ownership | Difficulty | Exporting | Embedding | Printing | Temporal-Spatial Information | Visual Customizability | Interactive Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ArcGIS (website) | software (Windows); Web-based (ArcGIS Online) | $1,500 (Basic), $7,000 (Standard) | corporate (Esri) | 4 (Advanced) | static image files (.jpg, .png); video files; active maps can only be shared using ArcGIS Online | map data must be ported to an ArcGIS Online map in order to facilitate external embedding | map must be prepared for printing using Layout View and then exported as a print-ready image file | timestamp and timespan data enabled; temporal information is best represented through time-lapse animation function; no timeline functionality native to tool | maps are full-color, choropleth-enabled, and highly adaptable; point representations can be customized by shape, color, and size | Singular, anonymized authorship. Maps can be animated to demonstrate temporal data; pop-up info boxes and hyperlinks can be integrated. |
| Google Fusion Tables (website) | Web-based | free | corporate (Google) | 1 (Beginner) | active maps can be shared via link using the "Publish" function; .kml map data can be downloaded | active maps can be embedded in an iframe, the HTML code for which is provided by the "Publish" function | not supported | timestamp data enabled; time-based line graphs are available; visible data can be filtered by time span | medium-low customizability; user must choose between standard Google Maps base maps, and point values can only be represented by a few display options; no visual customization available in Heat Maps; modest visual customizability available for coverage maps | Singular, anonymized authorship is the default, but plural authoring could be facilitated. Customizable tooltip pop-up windows display supplementary information, which may include images. |
| Historypin (website) | Web-based | free | nonprofit/NGO | 1 (Beginner) | not supported, but it is possible to link to individual pins or user profiles | embedding is only supported for Map View of individual user profiles | not supported | temporal information is required for all materials; map information can be filtered by date; some native timeline functionality | very low; only Google Maps proprietary base maps are available | Tool was designed to facilitate plural authorship. Map data consists of georeferenced multimedia files (images, video, sound) with written annotations available in tooltip pop-up boxes. |
Hypercities | source code, Web-based | free, open-source | academic | 5 (Expert) | ||||||