"Dr. Michael Francis" wrote:
>
> We are in the process of planning a new GIS research laboratory at Dubai
> Polytechnic....I was wondering if anyone had any idea how MapInfo compares
> with these two products [ArcView and GeoProfessional] and if we would be
> gaining anything by buying into one of them over the other.
> I have been told that MapInfo is not a 'real' gis - is this so?
Hi Michael!
MapInfo is of course a GIS!, whoever told you anything else must work
with a strange definition of GIS. Or maybe it was a salesperson.
But that is really beside the point - what matters is the work that is
to be done.
To limit the scope of your lab to either ESRI or MapInfo products (or
something else) would needlessly cripple the possibilities for your
work.
In order to do GIS research, and I assume also provide education at
different levels, a GIS lab must possess the tools of the trade. Those
tools definitely do include MapInfo, as well as ARC/INFO, ArcView and
maybe some GIS-dedicated raster image handling tool.
Programming for GIS will need MapBasic and Avenue which are dedicated
programming environments, but maybe also OXC components such as
MapObjects and MapX for development in C++ for example.
In order to study web-enabled GIS something like MapXsite/MapXtreme is
needed.
Also remember that educational institutions can normally buy software
for their purposes at a substantial discount, 80% for MapInfo here in
Sweden.
As for the unwillingness, or reluctance to provide you with promotional
material, I can only regret such an attitude. Maybe someone who is in
the position to fix the problem will read this and get back to you.
--
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