[GRASSLIST:109] Re: Considering replacing ESRI

[Bernhard Reiter]

Roger,

thanks for sharing your experiences.

On Wed, May 21, 2003 at 09:02:26AM -0700, Roger Miller wrote:
> Technically, I see a few problems in the comparison:
> 
> Most GRASS analytical tools are raster-based.  The resolution and precision of
> those analyses are scale-dependent.  The vector-based tools provided by the
> ESRI products can resolve detail and provide precision that are not dependent
> on scale. For instance, in a GIS coverage that spans 10's of thousands of
> square miles ArcInfo can accurately represent (e.g.) canals that are only a
> few feet across.  As a practical matter, GRASS's raster tools cannot do the
> same thing. In my experience this is a capability of the vector-based tools
> that is unnecessary and frequently abused, but it is still seen as an
> advantage for the ESRI products.

Note that GRASS has some vector functionality and GRASS 5.2 will 
bring a matured vector support. 

The development team for GRASS 5.1 lead my Radim Blazek
already completed the vector support in the experimental version.

Help is always welcomed to accelerate the process.

> ESRI offers a polished product with complete support at a pretty high price. 
> GRASS is not a polished product.  It doesn't have many critical bugs left but
> there are capabilities missing, planned features that aren't yet implimented
> and software included in the GRASS source package that doesn't work.  GRASS
> has no licensing fees, but third-party support for GRASS is hard to find. 

But it can be found.

We have a small list of companies on the FreeGIS CD
compare http://freegis.org/FreeGIS-CD-doc-online/1.2.2/service.en.html
and the menu on the right side.
(We only list the companies which would pass the criteria for the
GNU business network.)  Of course there are many more.

	Bernhard
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