Seasons greetings listers, I tend to agree with Bill here, the challenge for me is not spatial accuracy for intensive analysis. My use of GIS is often simply communicating spatial relationships to non content experts. I certainly would receive the most value from any future upgrades if there was a focus on improving cartographic output... Generally speaking MI seems to have the analytical capacity I require (or the flexibilty to create it via MB), but lacks capacity in areas (ie: CartoGraphics) that I find it more difficult to compensate for. Cheers, Al.
*************************************************** Alistair Hart GIS Project Officer Health Surveillance Tropical Public Health Unit Network PO Box 1103 Cairns QLD 4870 Ph: 0740 503 628 Fax: 0740 311 440 E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>> Bill Thoen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 23/12/05 9:15:30 >>> Søren Breddam wrote: >This shouldn't be hard to implement.. Topology is obviously more difficult. >If the topology issue was implemented, we could sell our license to >Microstation ;-) And do even more interesting queries. > > Well, in the beginning, MapInfo decided to use a simple model that didn't need the rigorous set up that topology requires. When MI came out, it was trivial to make a map -- you just drew what you wanted and presto! You had a map. From the very beginning they were after the business market, not the science people. In fact MapInfo's first product was more like a pin-map tool to locate customers, franchises, etc. i.e. strictly business. It's also why they've resisted being called a GIS, opting instead for "desktop mapping." Business people don't know GIS, and don't wan to know GIS, but they're bang alongside things that are as accessible as a "desktop." MapInfo basically made a tool that could associate data with drawings, which is actually a fairly powerful concept. The alternative was Acr/INFO. To use that, you needed to understand GIS at the techno-weenie level and build your map objects by first establishing the nodes, then snap the arcs to those (assigning to and from nodes) and then build polygons by assigning ids to the left and right sides of the arcs. To do all this properly generaly took some time, but in the end, you were assured that operations like dissolving smaller areas into larger ones, or finding adjacent polygons or traversing a network all became pretty straight-forward when you could use arc-node topological math. Personally, I prefer ESRI's model because I like the internal consistency that topology adds. I also like their idea of associating style information with data attributes rather than making it part of the map data. That makes it easy to select information from the data with SQL whereas in MapInfo, if you want all the blue objects for example, you can't use SQL. But I must admit, there are times when MapInfo's model is just so much simpler to implement and sometimes a map *is* just a drawing with some data attached and you don't need to do anything with topology. My point is that I don't think MapInfo needs to be more "GISey" as much as they should pay attention to what their core market and focus is (or was.) It was business information analysis and presentation of spatial data. That means not only do they need good analysis tools (and data) but they really need to sex up their graphics presentation capability. They aren't aimed at doing modelling or network analysis so they don't *need* topology. But they do need better graphic tools so that the software's output can blow the collective socks off an audience. _______________________________________________ MapInfo-L mailing list [email protected] http://www.directionsmag.com/mailman/listinfo/mapinfo-l ***************************************************************** This email, including any attachments sent with it, is confidential and for the sole use of the intended recipient(s). This confidentiality is not waived or lost, if you receive it and you are not the intended recipient(s), or if it is transmitted/ received in error. Any unauthorised use, alteration, disclosure, distribution or review of this email is strictly prohibited. The information contained in this email, including any attachment sent with it, may be subject to a statutory duty of confidentiality if it relates to health service matters. 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