[OSGeo-Discuss] Re: Will there be an OSGeo Desktop shootout atFOSS4G 2010?

[Daniel Ames]

Hi all,

This is a great discussion and I think that we're all generally on the same
page. Here's a little more food for thought regarding a desktop shootout:

Why compare to ESRI? The answer is because they own the lion's share of the
market with "one-third of the global market share, and are used by nearly 80
percent of GIS users worldwide from all professions." (at least that's what
Wikipedia says...).

So if this is true, then that means that 80% of GIS users are asking the
question, "Why should I use desktop open source XXX instead of ESRI?" And
the three main sub-questions are:

Can I open the same files?
Can I make the same maps?
Can I do the same analyses?
Can I teach the same lessons?

So rather than looking inward at ourselves and watching a "shoot out"
between the FOSS solutions (which presumably results with someone lying dead
and bleeding on the floor...), it be more productive and better for the
"cause" to look *outward *and do some kind of a comparison that helps those
80% of all GIS users answer the questions above?

Something like the MS thesis about GRASS and ArcGIS that was mentioned, but
web-based and updated by the various project members. I'd be happy to commit
some student resources to this evaluation, particularly if some subcommittee
of people could agree on what the tests would entail.

- Dan



On Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 2:01 AM, Miguel Montesinos <
mmontesinos at prodevelop.es> wrote:

>  Hello,
>
>
>
> I think that a simple comparison to what ArcGIS does is limitating. Several
> issues arises:
>
>
>
> -          Why compare to ArcGIS 9.3 and not Geomedia, MapInfo,…?
>
> -          What about features that OS GIS desktops provides not present
> in ArcGIS 9.3?
>
>
>
> I’d rather have a comparison among all of them under equal conditions, for
> instance a feature comparison based on the maximum features all products
> offer, as well as a perfomance analysis.
>
>
>
> For this, a common dataset of both file and service based data should be
> available. In Spain there are “a lot” of public official geodata which could
> be used as test datasets.
>
>
>
> I also like very much Paul Ramsey’s approach about what I like and what I
> don’t made by people belonging to different projects.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------
>
> Miguel Montesinos
>
> CTO
>
> PRODEVELOP, S.L.
>
> mmontesinos [at] prodevelop [dot] es
>
> www.prodevelop.es
>
>
>
> Miguel Montesinos
>
>
>
> *De:* discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:
> discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] *En nombre de *Daniel Ames
> *Enviado el:* lunes, 21 de diciembre de 2009 19:25
> *Para:* Maxim Dubinin; OSGeo Discussions
> *Asunto:* Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Re: Will there be an OSGeo Desktop shootout
> atFOSS4G 2010?
>
>
>
> Folks, I like the structured comparison approach that Cameron outlined.
> Also equally (or perhaps more useful) would be to put together a wiki page
> with goals and benchmarks based on ArcGIS 9.3. And then indicate where the
> os packages compare. This would provide us with the ability to answer the
> most important question which is "can this do what the proprietary software
> does."  For example, we could post a couple of maps made in AG and then
> challenge each desktop team to create and upload the same maps. Etc.  I have
> a line shapefile with 200 shapes. We could upload it and have everyone do
> some timing to show how fast to load,pan, etc on the data. This could also
> serve as a way for some of the teams to see their own deficiencies and find
> critical tasks to work on (they could then update their reporting on the
> wiki and indicate the version number)... - Dan
>
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>
>


-- 
Daniel P. Ames, Ph.D. PE
Associate Professor, Geosciences
Idaho State University - Idaho Falls
amesdani at isu.edu
geology.isu.edu
www.hydromap.com
www.mapwindow.org

*************************************************************************
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