[postgis-users] PostGIS/ArcWhatever Functionality Matrix, HowTo type, etc.

[P Kishor]

On 8/19/06, Eric Randall <eprand at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Has anyone put together anything like this?  Remember the ArcGIS Desktop
> functionality matrix, which I think originally was an excel type file
> but now is a pdf.

Well, shouldn't it really be a PostGIS/Postgres vs. ArcSDE/<rdbms of
choice> functionality comparison?

Granted, there is much you can do with PostGIS that you can also do
with ArcGIS, but ArcGIS (also a collective and confusing name for many
products) ArcMap for example is geared for desktop. And I have to
admit, albeit somewhat grudgingly, that some things in ArcGIS are
pretty nicely done -- a very nice and detailed help system, a mostly
intuitive interface, and a really amazing Modelbuilder, likes of which
_I_ haven't seen in any other software.

That said,

> I think it would be cool to have available a PostGIS/ArcInfo
> Functionality Matrix type thing that not only outlines funtionality but
> also tells how to do it.  I've used PostGIS to perform many of the
> functions only available with ArcInfo licensing, and also do things that
> are more difficult to do with ArcInfo.  Anyone else think this would be
> useful?  I'll be happy to put it together but there are probably lots of
> folks doing things that I'm not that could contribute.  What do you think?

Yes, such a matrix would be really very nice. If you start work on it
on a wiki site (maybe the PostGIS wiki, if there is one), then others
can contribute to it as well.

Many thanks,



-- 
Puneet Kishor http://punkish.eidesis.org/
Nelson Inst. for Env. Studies, UW-Madison http://www.ies.wisc.edu/
Open Source Geospatial Foundation https://edu.osgeo.org/