Geomorphic Change Detection Software

Old GCD Versions

Old Versions

GCD has been through multiple iterations with the current version being GCD 7. However, all of the old versions can be downloaded below and still work (many with various version specific ESRI ArcGIS dependencies). We are no longer supporting any of these pre GCD 7 releases.

GCD 6

With GCD 6, we switched to ArcGIS Add-Ins, so we could be a little less version dependent and facilitate users installing without administrative privileges. We also took major strides towards minimizing our dependencies on ESRI’s Arc Objects libraries and ESRI geoprocessing to improve stability.

GCD 6 exists in a few different flavors. The GCD 6 ArcGIS Add-In is a C# project coded in Visual Studio that makes calls to an underlying GCDCore library written in C++, as well as a RasterMan Library also written in C++. There is a command-line version of GCD that makes calls to the same C++ libraries. Given how finicky the Add-In source code is, we have not made that open source and instead just freeware. However, the underlying libraries that all the computations and GCD functionality are based on are open source. GCD 6 was primarily programmed by North Arrow Research, with some support from the Wheaton ET-AL Lab and ESSA Technologies.

Last Stable Release of GCD 6: GCD 6.1.14
GCD 6 Help

RasterMan Library


The RasterMan Library is used in GCD 6 and other tools and is an open source library of common raster geoprocessing calls written in C++ and available in Win32, Win64, Ubuntu12.04 and OSX 10.10 builds. A GitHub repository of the source code can be found here.

GCD 6 Command Line Version

The Windows 32 bit version of GCD 6 Console GCDConsole_6_1_6_x86.zip allows users to type GCD at command line for a list of commands and syntax. Note that the GCD command line ships with GCD 6 Add-In.

GCD 6 Command Line


GCD 5


The GCD 5 was a complete redesign of the GUI, and it was refactored into VB.net by ESSA Technologies. GCD 5 is an ArcGIS Plug-In and is therefore, unfortunately, version specific to ArcGIS (GCD 5.0.35 and earlier works with 10.0.x and GCD 5.2.07 works with 10.1.x).

Last Stable Release of GCD 5: GCD 5.2.07
GCD 5 Help


GCD 4


The GCD 4.0 beta was the first non-MatLAB release of the Geomorphic Change Detection software. GCD 4 was developed by Chris Garrard of the RSGIS Lab at Utah State University and Joe Wheaton. Plugins to ArcGIS 9.3 and ArcGIS 10.x as well as a Windows Standalone flavor were all produce. Funding for the software development was provided by the now defunct Intermountain Center for River Restoration and Rehabilitation (ICRRR) that has been superseded by Utah State University’s Restoration Consortium.

GCD 4 - Downloads
GCD 4 - Help Pages


DoD 3 (Matlab) / GCD 3

For those of you Matlab hold-outs out there, Joe originally coded the GCD up in Matlab. You can still access the source code here:

DoD 3 - Matlab Source Code on GitHub
DoD 3 - Program, Tutorials & Documentation