I am not sure I have read every single posting on this thread,
however I have read many of them. I am somewhat surprised that no
one mentioned that fact (little known?) that several years ago
MapInfo had a product called MapInfo ProGeometry Manager (an mbx)
that was a topology tool (did several flavors of clean and
build). It was actually quite powerful and worked nearly as well as
any other tool I have used to do this work. Some but not all of that
tool has been incorporated into Object editing in MIPro (Check, Clean
etc.). The unfortunate thing, for some of us anyway, is that they
stopped supporting the stand alone and didn't add the full monty to
the software.
As Bill T pointed out, MapInfo does make object creation (maps) quite
easy. For those of us who need or want topologically clean data sets
(and I admit that what constitutes the latter can be quite a range,
again depending on your own needs) there are lots of tools out there
to do the job, albeit a difficult one. I would go for ease of data
creation with the option of topology any day. That paradigm
certainly works best for us, and for our clients' needs as well. I
think if we imposed stringent topology requirements on data creation
the software would be not nearly as popular with my industry as it is
currently where I have seen MapInfo gain enormous ground over ESRI
products in the last 5 or so years.
When it comes down to it many geologists just want something in
between a CAD program and full fledged GIS and are happy to leave the
more technical issues to others (consultants or someone else in the
organization).
Cinda Graubard
GeoMax
Specialists in Mineral Exploration and GIS
Data--Visualization, Integration, Analysis, Interrogation, Preparation
Software-- Training, Sales, Support
_______________________________________________
MapInfo-L mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.directionsmag.com/mailman/listinfo/mapinfo-l
