ouRGeo
The open-source spatial IDE — Enterprise GIS meets R, on your desktop.
Visual geoprocessing, exact curved geometry, surveyor-grade distance-and-bearing entry, an in-app AI agent, and reproducible R code from every single click — free, offline, and AGPL-3 open-source.
![[Screenshot needed] The full ouRGeo desktop application — dark UI with the code editor and R console on the left, an interactive map on the right, toolbar across the top.](images/ourgeo/hero-app.png)
What is ouRGeo?
ouRGeo is a free, open-source desktop GIS built for analysts, researchers, and anyone who works with geographic data. Under the hood it's powered by R's mature spatial stack (sf, geos, terra, tmap, ggplot2) wrapped in a modern dark-mode interface that bridges the gap between a point and click gui and a conventional code editor.
You never have to choose between point-and-click convenience and reproducible scripts. Every operation in the GUI writes its own R code to the live console — so you can drag, click, and see exactly what was run. Edit it, save it, share it, automate it. Nothing is hidden, and nothing is locked behind a subscription.
What makes it groundbreaking
Why ouRGeo
QGIS and ArcGIS Pro combine visual GIS with scripting, while R / RStudio gives you a workspace for code and analysis. ouRGeo brings map editing, data processing, and chart building directly into an R workspace, with GUI-driven analyses producing R code you can inspect, record, and re-run.
| Capability | ArcGIS Pro | QGIS | R / RStudio | ouRGeo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price / license | Paid licensing | Free & GPL-2+ open-source | Free & open-source | Free & AGPL-3 open-source |
| Visual GIS tools | Yes | Yes | Via packages / add-ons | Yes |
| GUI data analysis & visualization | Data Engineering, tool dialogs & chart controls | Processing dialogs & plot tools | Primarily code; GUI workflows via add-ons | Point-and-click data processing & Chart Builder; generates R |
| Data analysis capabilities | Data cleaning, transformations & summary statistics | Table calculations, summaries & processing algorithms | Filter, join, summarize & pivot; statistical tests & modeling through R | Filter, join, summarize & pivot; statistical tests & modeling through R |
| Data visualization capabilities | Maps, histograms, scatterplots & other built-in charts | Maps, diagrams & processing plots; more via plugins | GUI-built ggplot2 charts, interactive maps & editable R plots | GUI-built ggplot2 charts, interactive maps & editable R plots |
| Code from visual geoprocessing | Python from tool history | Python / CLI from tool history | You write it | R echoed to console & recordable |
| R integration | R-ArcGIS Bridge | Processing R Provider plugin | Native | R powers the workspace |
| Exact curved geometry | Yes | Native curves; some operations linearize | Via packages such as sfarc | Yes (sfarc) |
| AI assistant | Esri assistant; availability varies | Via plugins (local + cloud options) | Via IDE integrations / add-ons | Built-in; local + cloud |
| Offline work with local data | Yes, with offline licensing | Yes | Yes | Yes — zero telemetry |
Comparison notes & sources
ouRGeo's table tools and aggregate and reshape tools support GUI data processing, while the Chart Builder creates ggplot2 charts through a form. Further statistical tests and modeling use R code and packages in the same workspace. ArcGIS Pro provides Data Engineering and built-in charts. QGIS includes analysis algorithms and processing plot tools. R / RStudio supports data wrangling with packages such as dplyr, statistical tests and modeling, and code-driven visualization.
QGIS is free and open-source under GPL-2+. Its processing history exposes Python and command-line calls for processing algorithms, rather than recording every interface action. R and AI support are available through plugins such as Processing R Provider and Promptly. Plugin compatibility varies by QGIS version.
QGIS can create and store native curves with compatible data providers; some geometry operations and conversions turn curves into straight segments. Exact curve support depends on the format and operation; ouRGeo uses sfarc for its supported curve calculations.
ArcGIS Pro also exposes Python from geoprocessing history, integrates R through the R-ArcGIS Bridge, and offers an AI assistant with release-dependent availability. Offline licensing is supported. Offline work assumes installed tools and local data; web services, downloads, and cloud AI need a connection.
Use visual tools to build an analysis, then keep working with the R they generate. Save and version the code, adapt it in the editor, and re-run it with your data and dependencies in place — all in an open-source workspace that runs on your machine.
Get ouRGeo
The current source release is ouRGeo 1.16.2. Read the release notes for the 1.16 series. Packaged downloads are currently 1.15.6 for Windows (.exe) and Linux — a universal .AppImage and a Debian/Ubuntu .deb. A macOS build is on the way.
Join the community
ouRGeo is built in the open. The community forum is where users ask questions, share workflows and maps, report bugs, and argue about what the roadmap should look like next. Reading is open to everyone — posting takes a free account.