If all you want to do is plot distribution points you can, as Oliver mentions, use basic software like Google Earth.  If more complex plotting or further analysis is required, however, you would have to use a GIS.  The premium GIS most widely used is ESRI's ArcGIS, but this requires licensing and can be very expensive.  There are a number of free GIS software packages available for download, the two most popular ones being GRASS and QGIS. Both these packages are more than capable of basic plotting and spatial analysis, and come with good supporting documentation.

http://grass.osgeo.org/

http://www.qgis.com/

Generric Mapping Tool (GMT) is the most used software to plot GPS location and vectors.

this is useful

Dr S.K. Singh,

You have not mentioned that which software you used. Anyway, I also support GMT. It is quite handy and user friendly.

One option is GPS TrackMaker® Program (Free version)

this link has the download and manual

http://www.trackmaker.com/ 

Dear forum thanks for your suggestions. I have installed the qgis 2.4 64bit I am using windows 8. When tried on system I could not understand how and from where map can be obtained and the gps data can be portrayed. I have also tried on utube to find out a vedio for demo but could not got the satisfactory ones though many are there. As suggested here I have also tried to install other software but could not install successfully except q gis. 

As far as present work is concerned;  I want to do very simple work of plotting species record on map using gps data.  I have recorded almost 3000 entries  belonging to about 300 species  of an Indian state divided in 8 district.The gps data are recorded in degree, minute and second format.  Link of any useful  vedio showing some examples will be helpful of any detailed procedure which can be easily understood by non tech background like me 

1.Download diva gis from following link

http://www.diva-gis.org/

2. Add details of the species occurences as follows in MS Excel

          ____A____________|__B____|___C____|

_1_|    Name of the species| Latitude| Longitude|

_2_|   Species 1.________| 25.8465| 80.4635__|

3. Run Diva Gis and select add points to shape file or add layer, select the MS excel file and save the shape file.

Thank you and regards

Dear Dr. Singh, if you already have installed qgis, it should not be too difficult to produce a map. It is possible to import data from Excel spreadsheets into qgis, but they must be saved in CSV format. So, first you have to choose CSV format, when you save data form Excel. It's preferable to have coordinates in decimal degree. I am not sure, if degree/minutes/seconds also will work. (Possibly, but I have not tried.) Then, in qgis you choose from the menu bar "Manage layers" and there the option "Create a layer from a delimited text file". You have to select the CSV file and indicate, which columns in your file contain x and y coordinates. I hope this will work.

Dear Dr Singh,

You will have to convert your geographic coordinates to decimal degree format, as pointed out by Franz Starlinger above - the GIS does not recognise DMS formatted data in input files.  In the CSV file, arrange your data in columns, with longitude headed by "X" and latitude headed by "Y" - this will allow the GIS to automatically select those columns from the input file.

You might also have to activate the "Add Delimited Text Layer" plugin for QGIS before you can import data from a CSV file - see the link below to a YouTube tutorial video for importing data.

If you need a base map over which to overlay your data, you can visit the Natural Earth website, which offers free vector data of all kinds.  The bottom link will allow you to download a zipped file that contains shapefiles of various administrative areas of India (via the DIVA-GIS website).  After unzipping the file, you will be able to import the shapefiles to your GIS and use them in conjunction with your data to create distributions maps of your plant species.

All the best,

Adriaan Grobler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnZGJbNxu5c

http://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads/

http://biogeo.ucdavis.edu/data/diva/adm/IND_adm.zip

Dear forum members

Thank you very much for your valuable suggestions and comments. I got success in working with qgis 2.4 and found very useful. While working with it i have face some small problems viz,  1. how to put border in projected map.  2. how to plot different species showing different symbols. ( when i have plotted all becomes a like and changed through the properties the all get changed) 3.  A good resolution raster file is required can anyone provide a link for that. 

with regards

S.K.Singh

Dr Singh,

Some suggestions to your questions:

Regards

Adriaan Grobler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnqbC1hkfnk

http://www.pancroma.com/data.html

In my opinion, it is preferable to have separate shape files for each species. So, handling of data is much easier, e.g. combining different species in one map or using several symbols within one species, e.g. in oder to differentiate according to age of record or native versus naturalized status etc. There are two possiblities: (1) You can separate the data already in Excel and create separate CSV files for each species before import into QGis. (2) When already all the data have been imported within one CSV table, you may in QGis go to the attribute table, there select a certain species (handling of the attribute table is not too different from Excel tables), and then you can use the option "Save selection as" from the "Manage layers" menu. So, you may save the selected species as separate shape file (shp). After this you still have to import these shape files. Of course, you will have a long list of layers (shape files), but it is easy to add or remove layers from your QGis project.

if you have ArcGIS you can convert your GPS data to excel file and then directly from GIS you can plot it by using add XY data. and then convert it to shape file and then define the projection;

Dear dr.

you can use GMT software. it produce high resolution ps file.

I also second the proposal by Saeed Abbasi of using GMT software. The Global Mapping Tool is very versatile and very easy to use. You can download it from the following link:

http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu/projects/gmt/wiki/Download

Interactive Documentation (Manpages, CookBook, API, Examples) are provided as well as diverse Forum where you could post any GMT related doubt to the community.

I have been using for years and found it extremely useful and easy to use.

Thank You Madam  for suggestions.