[Qgis-us-user] QGIS Capabilites

Tue Feb 8 08:18:03 PST 2022

I’ll echo what Randy said. It’s not a comparison of the whole ESRI ecosystem to just QGIS. You need to look at the whole open source tool set.  I also use QGIS exclusively for my desktop GIS work (although I have free access to a huge set of ESRI tools through my campus) but I also use things like PostGIS and Leaflet and R regularly. Open data formats allow for seamless exchange of data between programs. You should also be aware of the enormous set of plugins for QGIS, including the “experimental” plugins, as well as the processing toolbox, that extend QIS’ functionality.  And as Randy says, the open source community can’t be beat. Have fun experimenting and learning!

Best,
Michele

Michele Tobias, PhD
Geospatial Data Specialist
DataLab: Data Science & Informatics
Data & Digital Scholarship
UC Davis Library

370 Shields Library
(530)752-7532
mmtobias at ucdavis.edu<mailto:mmtobias at ucdavis.edu>
ORCID: 0000-0002-2954-8710<https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2954-8710>

Pronouns: she, her, hers

From: Qgis-us-user <qgis-us-user-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> On Behalf Of Randal Hale
Sent: Tuesday, February 8, 2022 4:43 AM
To: qgis-us-user at lists.osgeo.org
Subject: Re: [Qgis-us-user] QGIS Capabilites

The long and short answer is "it depends...". Heh.

So I run a business and it's all QGIS for me all day - but - ESRI is an ecosystem of tools. Everything they do is to keep you in that mix so everything is interrelated - i.e. if you're going to buy one piece of software you might as well "buy it all" to make sure it works together. So you get this whole "ESRI URBAN, ESRI Indoors, ESRI Collector, ESRI Dishwasher, ESRI tokens (R), ESRI WEB, Esri Scripting Language, etc etc"

With me:

  *   QGIS is my desktop GIS of choice.
  *   PostGIS provides the database back end. It is developed separately - but works great with QGIS.
  *   Qfield/Input provide mobile data collection. Those are basically QGIS mobile BUT they aren't developed by "QGIS" - they orbit the QGIS community and many of the core developers also develop these tools (so they will work great).
  *   QGIS Server will publish QGIS projects onto the web. That can be used in conjunction with about anything named above. There are a lot of options to push your data onto the web.
  *   Geoserver and Mapserver - which are completely different from QGIS provide QGIS compatible services (OGC Services) that you can pull into anything I've named above.

I've barely touched the amount of software/tools you get in the FOSS4G side of life. All share the common DNA with QGIS - but are different.

...and where I'm going with this is the FOSS4G toolset provides a rich environment for you to pick and choose from to set up the same thing you would with ESRI. The Tools are free in general (some have commercial subscriptions like INPUT) but setup and "building" what you want may take some time.

I can't imagine you can't have a good experience with the FOSS4G side of life - you can create what you want and double bonus you get a community to bounce ideas off of - not just a sales person.

As I tell clients - worry about the process and pick your tools and life is good. If you get into buying something off the shelf - again - process over tools and it should work great.

Yell anytime - welcome to the fun side of GIS.

Randy

On 2/7/22 22:25, Christopher L Rogers wrote:

Hello Everyone,

I’m new to the group and to QGIS but as a Techno Uber Geek of many years I’m very intrigued at the adoption and evolution of this Open GIS platform.

Currently, I am trying to evaluate, contrast, and compare the QGIS platform to the various products in the Esri ArcGIS lineup to see if the QGIS platform has evolved to the point where it may be a better fit what I am trying to achieve in developing Management Solutions for various industries.

The Esri product lineup makes this very easy but in the terms of business it’s much more difficult to have a viable and sustainable business with the Esri platform and it does come with some technical restrictions though it is quite a powerful and solution rich environment.

I would appreciate it if someone could tell me or point me in the right direction to information that would help me determine where there are products that are equally capable such as between ArcGIS Pro and QGIS Desktop or ArcGIS Enterprise and QGIS Server.

Also, does QGIS have solutions/applications similar to Esri's tools such as; Survey123, QuickCapture, Experience Builder, Web AppBuilder, Field Maps (formerly ), Workforce, Dashboard, Insights, StoryMaps, ArcGIS Hub, Indoors, Urban, etc.

Thanks for your assistance in advance as I hope to gain a better understanding of what QGIS is and isn’t as well as what it can and can’t do comparatively speaking.

Sincerely,

Chris Rogers “The New Guy” ;-)

_______________________________________________

Qgis-us-user mailing list

Qgis-us-user at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:Qgis-us-user at lists.osgeo.org>

https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-us-user

--

Randal Hale

rjhale at northrivergeographic.com<mailto:rjhale at northrivergeographic.com>

https://www.northrivergeographic.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/qgis-us-user/attachments/20220208/1f686d95/attachment-0001.html>