[Qgis-user] Big sharing problem - Slow when data are shared in more than one user - QGIS 0.11

[Mike Toews]

Micha Silver wrote:
> Could you elaborate on the "extra software and database setup" bit?
> Many thanks,
> Micha
>
Hi Micha,

To connect PostGIS with ArcGIS products (basic ArcView license and up) 
you can use zigGIS (http://pub.obtusesoft.com/). This program used to be 
open source (see http://code.google.com/p/ziggis/ although I've had no 
luck making it work with 9.2). The developer has since commercialized 
and revamped the program with a $279 price tag. (In context and ranting 
in Canadian dollars, ArcView is about $3000, but the minimum license 
required to connect and edit with an ArcSDE spatial database is 
ArcEditor, which is about $10000. I think ArcInfo is about $20000, and 
ArcSDE is about $15000 not including database software, which ranges 
from $0 for PostgreSQL to $5000 for MS SQL Server and to $60000 for 
Oracle Spatial). ZigGIS adds some GUI controls to ArcGIS, and it has 
read/write capabilities. The demo is worth a try, but it only shows a 
limited number of rows. I don't have a lot of experience with this 
product, so I can't say too much about any limitations except that it 
appeared to work fine.

To connect PostGIS with Autodesk products (i.e., AutoCAD Map 3D 2008 and 
up, MapGuide Enterprise or MapGuide Opensource) you can use the PostGIS 
Provider for FDO (http://trac.osgeo.org/fdo/wiki/FdoPostGISNotes in 
addition I recommend using the Windows DLLs from 
http://www.geomapgis.com/web/geomap-group/fdo/index.html). However, this 
FDO Provider is regarded as beta-quality in every sense (see "Open 
Tickets" on Trac page). I've run into many issues with this driver, but 
have overcome many of these with customized trigger functions that 
synchronize a second replica table for FDO clients. The nice thing about 
this effort is that the CAD folks where I work can continue to use 
familiar software to digitize coordinates, polylines, etc., and the 
geospatial data are identical in QGIS and AutoCAD displays at all times.

I've also used PostGIS for a limited amount of time with Manifold System 
(http://www.manifold.net/), which has built-in support. However, I've 
had issues with adding and editing shapes since it commits edits 
instantly without any ability to fill in attributes before, which 
usually raises PostgreSQL constraint errors (e.g., I need to assign a 
unique non-null name to each new feature of a certain layer).

With all that said, by far my best PostGIS experience with a desktop app 
is with QGIS, since it works "out of the open source box".  I don't need 
to fabricate any database workarounds for QGIS as I do for FDO, which is 
of great convenience. The people at my workplace that are using QGIS 
(starting since 1 month ago) have picked it up quickly, and the value of 
GIS in the office has gone up quite a bit, since it is no longer 
exclusive to the few technicians with expensive software.

-Mike