Thanks for all the thoughts so far: I agree with Lars, Paul and Ian that when the .NET feature freeze is over that MI needs to start moving forward again. I'm already having to look elsewhere when it comes to such things as transportation network topology, as MapInfo (and ArcView 8.x) cannot do what I need (unless anyone knows different...). OK so ArcEditor / ArcInfo can do it but then we're talking about something like EUR10000/USD12000 and EUR20000/USD24000 for them in the UK... I may have to look at CadCorp Map Editor or Map Modeller... (http://www.cadcorp.com)
In many ways, this is becoming irrelevant as transport modelling software becomes better at displaying results, such as with EMME/2 and ENIF (http://inro.ca/enif) - I have less need for GIS software these days than say 5 years ago... On Ian's point re: the last decade, I've been using MI since V4.0 / 1996, and I always found it to be far superior to the AV3.x line. MI is still my first choice for most things GIS, because it just 'works' without hassle, but is now looking weak in some areas next to the AV8.x line of software. Josh's point re: file directories is of course the only way to keep track of things. I think the day to day management of files is a bigger issue for me than that of file transfer... I think the ArcCatalog approach is a good way to keep an eye on the sea of GIS files in a directory... Here's hoping for future MI improvements... -----Original Message----- From: SCISOFT [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 20 March 2004 03:03 To: 'Matt Carlson'; 'MapInfo-L' Subject: RE: MI-L Constructive thoughts: MI & ArcGIS Matt / Paul / Lars Perhaps in the .NET version of MapInfo there may be some changes - let us hope so. I think the current system for handling (lots of attribute) data sucks. The real advantage I see in the Geodatabase concept is that (for those who need it - and many users aren't knowledgeable enough to know if they do or they don't) it imposes a well-designed data structure that is applicable to the particular geographic situation. There are lots of ready-made ones available, so even the database-agnostic amongst us can choose an off-the-shelf structure that makes good sense. For 'Enterprise' databases, we assume that whoever implemented the data stored there (I don't mean the manufacturer of the product - Oracle Corp etc, but the data-user) knew something about database design. At a 'lower' level - at least with MI 6.5 (I don't use anything more recent) - the handling of data is simple-minded if not na�ve. I refer to the fact that a nicely-designed set of related tables in (for example) a Microsoft Access database is of little use in MI because it can't cope with anything but a simple table. I know this doesn't help anyone and it's just an opinion. But I can still wish that in 2 or 3 versions time, MapInfo will start to do things right. Unfortunately, I've followed the wrong path for too long - perhaps I should throw away MI and reinvest in the ESRI product as I should have a decade ago! Ian Thomas -----Original Message----- From: Matt Carlson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, 19 March 2004 11:15 PM To: MapInfo-L ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Subject: MI-L Constructive thoughts: MI & ArcGIS Hello All, I use MI 7.5 and ArcView 8.3 - I have a question about MapInfo, based upon experience with ArcView 8.x: For those who know what I mean by the Personal Geodatabase concept in ArcGIS, is there any feasible way to store GIS data in a similarly 'neat' way in MapInfo? By this I mean to remove the need for 4 or 5 physical files per table (TAB, MAP, IND etc), but to store several (or many) tables in a single file. The reason I ask is the sheer number of files which can accumulate in a directory, and also the ability to transfer data to others in 'neat' packages. Any thoughts? Cheers, Matt __________________________________________________________ Matt Carlson Senior Transport Planner Arup 13 Fitzroy Street, London, W1T 4BQ, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7755 4114 Fax: +44 (0)20 7755 2451 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.arup.com <http://www.arup.com> http://www.arup.com/transportplanning/ <http://www.arup.com/transportplanning/> __________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Electronic mail messages entering and leaving Arup business systems are scanned for acceptability of content and viruses. ___________________________________________________________________ Electronic mail messages entering and leaving Arup business systems are scanned for acceptability of content and viruses. --------------------------------------------------------------------- List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | www.directionsmag.com | To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message number: 10984
