[OSGeo-Discuss] RE: Comparison between Proprietary and OS
Andre Grobler
spec at mweb.co.za
Sat Apr 26 04:38:49 PDT 2008
I'm very new at OS, have worked 10 years on AV3.x and a little Idrisi, but
only from a vegetation point of view, so we're talking basic end-user
digitizer mapper (and georef images), bit of topographical modeling and
extracting underlying information. I wanted to do OS when starting my own
company, but time constraints had me take a loan to get Windows Office and
ArcView, just because I knew what I would get, and be able to get up and
running on it within a week. I now realize most of the things I need to do
in day to day, I could do in OS Q-GIS albeit with a little less sleekness.
But I could not risk letting work slide (or causing clients, who use ESRI,
hassles) to get up and running in Q-GIS, GRASS and possibly OSSIM.
So the hurdles for me to OS were "acceptance" specifically for the following
reasons:
Free and easy access and training of ESRI at varsity. Autocad did the same
and look where that got them.
Linux, just mentioning command lines has me a little nervous. (I know this
is changing, but the field calculator is enough programming for me, thanks)
I'm not suggesting anybody is obliged to fix these things, I mean there's no
such thing as a free lunch. I'm just saying what OS inherently is, is
probably going to keep it out of the mainstream (non-programming) end-users
easy reach.
So in short I am doing what somebody already suggested, get ESRI for day to
day soft landing and learn OS GRASS and OSSIM meanwhile for real work;-)
Hopefully in a while I'll wonder what the fuss was about... and possibly
contribute, if only to the dummies FAQ section.
André Grobler
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: Can I do the same GIS tasks with OS (as with ESRI)?
(RAVI KUMAR)
2. Re: Can I do the same GIS tasks with OS (as with ESRI)?
(Cameron Shorter)
3. Re: Can I do the same GIS tasks with OS (as with ESRI)?
(Wolf Bergenheim)
4. Re: Can I do the same GIS tasks with OS (as with ESRI)?
(RAVI KUMAR)
5. Re: Can I do the same GIS tasks with OS (as with ESRI)?
(Malte Halbey-Martin)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 22:31:47 -0700 (PDT)
From: RAVI KUMAR <ravivundavalli at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Can I do the same GIS tasks with OS (as
with ESRI)?
To: OSGeo Discussions <discuss at lists.osgeo.org>
Message-ID: <594372.75488.qm at web65601.mail.ac4.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Hi,
this is the kind of question I face when in my lectures evangelising OS GIS.
ArcGIS has many tools, though some prefer to call it a deluge of tools,
which almost distance the user from understanding the concept of GIS.
Auto Complete Polygon:
In Qgis which is a very userfriendly OS GIS you have 'Cut polygon', do try
and find the difference.
Polygonising from lines:
Open JUMP has one of the most userfriendly approaches.
Create lines and polygonise in OpenJUMP and the software automatically
creates a folder for Dangles (un-wanted line pieces)
The query is more for Vector GIS, I suppose.
GRASS GIS:
It has so many features for Image analysis and Raster GIS, the commercial
GIS need a barge pole to even touch it. The vector Part of GRASS is robust
too.
Ravi Kumar
Markus Neteler <neteler at osgeo.org> wrote: On Thu, Apr 24, 2008 at 11:55 PM,
George R. C. Silva
wrote:
...
> One thing GIS OS software could have are better editing tools. I do miss
> them alot, and the one is ArcGIS are unbeatable (i dont know any O.S.
> software that have 'autocomplete polygon', tons of snapping options, etc -
> btw, if you do, let me know).
>
> FOSS is great, but it lacks (IMHO) better editing options.
We are working on that:
http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/WxPython-based_GUI_for_GRASS#Digitizer
Screenshots:
http://grass.osgeo.org/screenshots/gui.php
-> wxPython (new GUI)
You can try out the prototype in GRASS 6.3.0 (released yesterday):
http://grass.osgeo.org/announces/announce_grass630.html
Get MacOSX, Linux and now even native MS-Windows binaries with *installer*
at
http://grass.osgeo.org/download/index.php#g63x
Enjoy
Markus
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Message: 2
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2008 15:44:10 +1000
From: Cameron Shorter <cameron.shorter at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Can I do the same GIS tasks with OS (as
with ESRI)?
To: OSGeo Discussions <discuss at lists.osgeo.org>
Message-ID: <4812C12A.8050800 at gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Ravi,
What us Open Source evangelists are missing is an honest comparison
between ESRI desktop applications and Open Source equivalents.
What is it about ArcView and ArcGIS that people really like, listed
feature by feature in a table.
Then identify whether Open Source covers it and how.
Very important is to address usability. How quickly can an Arc* user
migrate to Open Source?
My skill set is lacking here as I don't have much experience in either
ESRI or the Open Source desktop tools. It seems like you have experience
with both which puts you in a unique position.
Is this something you, or one of your students would like to investigate
further? Maybe build a table similar to this one:
http://www.spatialserver.net/osgis/Desktopgis_overview.htm
RAVI KUMAR wrote:
> Hi,
> this is the kind of question I face when in my lectures evangelising
> OS GIS.
> ArcGIS has many tools, though some prefer to call it a deluge of
> tools, which almost distance the user from understanding the concept
> of GIS.
>
> Auto Complete Polygon:
> In Qgis which is a very userfriendly OS GIS you have 'Cut polygon', do
> try and find the difference.
>
> Polygonising from lines:
> Open JUMP has one of the most userfriendly approaches.
> Create lines and polygonise in OpenJUMP and the software automatically
> creates a folder for Dangles (un-wanted line pieces)
>
> The query is more for Vector GIS, I suppose.
>
> GRASS GIS:
> It has so many features for Image analysis and Raster GIS, the
> commercial GIS need a barge pole to even touch it. The vector Part of
> GRASS is robust too.
>
> Ravi Kumar
>
>
> */Markus Neteler <neteler at osgeo.org>/* wrote:
>
> On Thu, Apr 24, 2008 at 11:55 PM, George R. C. Silva
> wrote:
> ...
> > One thing GIS OS software could have are better editing tools. I
> do miss
> > them alot, and the one is ArcGIS are unbeatable (i dont know any
> O.S.
> > software that have 'autocomplete polygon', tons of snapping
> options, etc -
> > btw, if you do, let me know).
> >
> > FOSS is great, but it lacks (IMHO) better editing options.
>
> We are working on that:
> http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/WxPython-based_GUI_for_GRASS#Digitizer
>
> Screenshots:
> http://grass.osgeo.org/screenshots/gui.php
> -> wxPython (new GUI)
>
> You can try out the prototype in GRASS 6.3.0 (released yesterday):
> http://grass.osgeo.org/announces/announce_grass630.html
>
> Get MacOSX, Linux and now even native MS-Windows binaries with
> *installer* at
> http://grass.osgeo.org/download/index.php#g63x
>
> Enjoy
> Markus
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try
> it now.
>
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>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>
--
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Systems Architect
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
Think Globally, Fix Locally
Commercial Support for Geospatial Open Source Solutions
http://www.lisasoft.com/LISAsoft/SupportedProducts.html
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2008 09:19:28 +0300
From: Wolf Bergenheim <wolf+grass at bergenheim.net>
Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Can I do the same GIS tasks with OS (as
with ESRI)?
To: OSGeo Discussions <discuss at lists.osgeo.org>
Message-ID: <4812C970.2040808 at bergenheim.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
On 26.04.2008 08:44, Cameron Shorter wrote:
> Ravi,
> What us Open Source evangelists are missing is an honest comparison
> between ESRI desktop applications and Open Source equivalents.
>
This has been done somewhat. You might find it interesting reading.
--Wolf
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [GRASS-user] [Fwd: [OSGeo-Discuss] Can I do the same GIS
Tasks with OS (as with ESRI)?]
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:13:49 +0200
From: Markus Metz
To: grass-user at lists.osgeo.org
Todd Buchanan compared GRASS and ArcGIS in his master thesis (Geoscience
/ GIS):
Title: Thesis b
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