[OSGeo-Discuss] question

[Ezra Boyd]

Hi Tilottama,

After training in Arc for a few years, I started using open source
about two years ago.  I use both for my day job, but for my side work
at home I just us open source GIS.

I can tell you that Quantum GIS is very useful and powerful.  Some
tasks, such as creating a new shapefile, editing a shapefile, or
referencing a raster, actually seem easier in Quantum compared to Arc.
 The program also has plugins that integrate with GRASS and with R.
The most recent version of QGIS is a big improvement, though you will
still have to overcome a few bugs if you get into more complicated
analysis and statistical tasks.  Using GRASS standalone, it took me a
little while to get things started.  But once you get over the initial
steps, it has a lot of tools with an very intuitive GUI.  I've tried
to work with spatial data in R, but I'm not much of a coder so I
didn't get very far.  As far as gvSIG, I have not used it yet, but I
have been looking at the documentation and it looks very powerful and
usable.  Finally, you might want to also took into SAGA, another OS
GIS Desktop program.

The bottom line is that you can certainly replace Arc with OS
software.  Some things are going to be easier.  Other tasks will
require some initial patient debugging and customization, but that
really is the advantage that OS has over Arc.

Hope this helps!!!

Ezra



On Sun, Nov 27, 2011 at 10:31 PM, Tilottama Ghosh <waggymaggy at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have been using ArcGIS for all my projects for over four years. I moved
> back to India, my home country, this year, and have realized how
> unaffordable ArcGIS is for most people in India. Therefore, it is time for
> me to start using the available Opensource GIS software. I mostly use the
> Analysis tools, Spatial analyst, Spatial statistics, Data Management
> tools in ArcGIS. Could you please suggest which of the open source GIS
> software - GRASSgis, Quantum GIS, and gvSIG, would provide me with similar
> tools to work with? Any kind of suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks and Regards,
>
> Tilottama
>
>
> --
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>