RustGIS

A fast, free and open-source GIS in pure Rust for mapping, analyzing and sharing geospatial data.
Native on Windows, macOS and Linux, and in your web browser. Your data stays on your machine unless you send it to an AI model you choose, and every action is a command you can script.

Why RustGIS

• Fast and small. One native program, drawn on the GPU, with no runtime to install and no server to run.
• Runs everywhere. The same app on Windows, macOS and Linux, and compiled to WebAssembly at web.rustgis.app with nothing to install.
• Local and private. Your files are read and written on your machine, and nothing is uploaded on its own. The network is used only when you ask for it: web basemaps, plugins, the GeoLibre tools and the AI model you pick, which receives your questions and the data it reads to answer them.
• Everything is a command. Every button in the ribbon is a command with an id. Script it from rustgis-cli, chain it in notebooks and models, or ask the AI Assistant to run it for you.
• Familiar. A ribbon laid out in the order of the work (Home, Data, Style, Edit, Analyze, View, Publish), Layers and Browser panes, an attribute table, and undo for every change.
• Extensible. Over 1,000 GeoLibre and Whitebox tools for terrain, hydrology, LiDAR and remote sensing, and sandboxed WebAssembly plugins that add commands, tools and ribbon tabs.

A tour

Symbology and tables. Selecting a layer opens its contextual tabs: symbology, effects, labeling and data. Selection is synced between the map and the attribute table.	AI Assistant. Ask about your data or tell the map what to do. The assistant runs RustGIS commands for you, and each change can be undone.
Analysis. A tool gallery, the Tools pane and a run history, guided workflows, ModelBuilder, and 1,000+ GeoLibre and Whitebox tools.	Rasters. GeoTIFF and COG of any pixel type, reprojected on the fly, with stretch, RGB, classified and shaded-relief symbology.
Globe and projections. A 3D globe, Equal Earth, Robinson, polar and regional presets, or any EPSG code.	Web basemaps. XYZ, TMS and WMS tiles, Mapbox Vector Tiles and MapLibre styles, on the flat map and the globe.
Layouts. Map frames, legends, scale bars, grids, map series and PDF export, plus reports and presentations.	Plugins. Browse and install sandboxed plugins from plugins.rustgis.app, each showing the permissions it asks for.
Dark mode and the View tab: effects, scene settings, panes and linked views.	Projects. Start blank, from the World Atlas sample, or open a .rgis project.

Every screenshot is RustGIS itself, rendered offscreen by cargo run -p rustgis-ui-egui --example ui_shot.

Features

The user guide covers each area in detail, Comparison sets RustGIS beside GeoLibre, QGIS and ArcGIS, and ROADMAP.md lists what's next.

Get RustGIS

• Web app: open web.rustgis.app. The same ribbon and tools, with the browser's file picker for data and projects, and downloads for Save and Export.
• Desktop: download the app for Windows, macOS or Linux from downloads.rustgis.app or the latest release (see Installation for the files and first-run notes).
• Package managers: winget install OpenGeos.RustGIS, brew install --cask opengeos/rustgis/rustgis, yay -S rustgis-bin (AUR), or sudo dnf copr enable giswqs/rustgis && sudo dnf install rustgis (Fedora).
• From source: cargo run --release -p rustgis (Rust 1.90 or later).

Quick start

cargo run --release -p rustgis                       # the desktop app with the World Atlas sample
cargo run --release -p rustgis -- data.geojson       # open data (or a .rgis project)

Command line: every ribbon action is a command with an id.

rustgis-cli commands                                 # all command ids and parameters
rustgis-cli render countries.geojson map.png --basemap ocean
rustgis-cli run --sample \
  --cmd 'gp.run={"tool":"countPoints","params":{"polygons":"Countries","points":"Cities"}}' \
  --cmd 'layer.symbology={"layer":"Countries_Summarize","type":"graduated","field":"point_count"}' \
  --cmd 'share.exportMap={"path":"out.png","dpi":192}' --save atlas.rgis
rustgis-cli ask --sample "Which 5 countries have the largest GDP?"
claude mcp add rustgis -- rustgis-cli mcp --sample   # RustGIS as an MCP server for AI agents

See Command Line for more.

Python: the same engine and commands in-process (pip install rustgis), and the app itself in a Jupyter notebook.

import rustgis
s = rustgis.Session(sample=True)
s.run("gp.run", tool="buffer", params={"input": "Cities", "distance": 100})
s.to_png("map.png")
gdf = s.layer("Cities_Buffer").to_geopandas()

See Python and the getting-started notebook (open in Colab).

Architecture

Layered crates, each depending only on the ones below it:

cargo xtask ci runs formatting, clippy, the tests and the layering check. Contributor and agent notes: AGENTS.md.

Sponsor

RustGIS is free and open source, and stays that way. If it is useful to you or your team, sponsorship is the most direct way to keep development, hosting and cross-platform distribution going.

• GitHub Sponsors: monthly or one-time, billed through your GitHub account.
• Buy Me a Coffee: a quick one-off contribution, no account required.

See the Become a Sponsor page for what sponsorship supports and for other, free ways to help.

License and credits

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0. Sample data from Natural Earth (public domain).