Such software is essential for creating, editing and analyzing spatial and attribute data, therefore these packages contain a myriad of GIS functions inherent to them. Extensions or add-ons are software that extends the capabilities of the GIS software package. For example, Xtools is an ArcView extension that adds more editing capabilities to ArcView 3.x. Component GIS software is the opposite of application software. Component GIS seeks to build software applications that meet a specific purpose and thus are limited in their spatial analysis capabilities.
Utilities are stand-alone programs that perform a specific function.
For example, a file format utility that converts from on type of GIS file to another. There is also web-GIS software that helps serve data through Internet browsers. A geodatabase is a database that is in some way referenced to locations on the earth. Coupled with this data is usually data known as attribute data. Attribute data generally defined as additional information, which can then be tied to spatial data.