I found their conclusion somewhat disappointing.
Arc/GIS was launched in 1999, and Arc/INFO (command line predecessor, equivalent to GRASS) in 1982. GRASS also launched in 1982 and ILWIS launched in 1984, so how they can say these are "relatively young" does not make sense. Also to keep in mind that the code-base that many of these "younger" packages build on is much older than their launch dates... I think the "less overall GIS functionality" is due to the smaller user base and number of contributers, and has nothing to do with age per se. My 2c! But I would really like to hear from others on this topic. >>> 03/01/12 2:09 PM >>> The paper can be accessed directly with no subscription here: http://www.geo.uzh.ch/~sstein/manuscripts/sstein_freegitools_ecoinf2009.pdf An interesting read. Highlights from the Conclusion: "We report that due to the relative youth of the eight evaluated FOS GIS projects, they generally tend to have less overall GIS functionality than proprietary high-end GIS... However, on the positive side they all provide the basic GIS functions needed in LSE[Landscape Ecology]; they are easy to customise; a growing number of specialised functions and plug-ins already exists for specific LSE applications; and there is a growing community of practitioners willing to freely share their ideas, code and expertise." From: Howard Y To: [email protected] Date: 28/02/2012 14:51 Subject: [Qgis-user] Re: New to QGIS, Best solution? Sent by: [email protected] David, Tables 2 and 3 of the following paper have some very nice comparisons of various open source software and ArcGIS 9.3. Steiniger, Stefan, and Geoffrey J. Hay, Free and open source geographic information tools for landscape ecology, Ecological Informatics, Volume 4, Issue 4, September 2009, Pages 183-195. If you can't access their paper, contact the authors and they will send you a PDF of the paper. -- View this message in context: http://osgeo-org.1560.n6.nabble.com/New-to-QGIS-Best-solution-tp4498936p4522509.html Sent from the Quantum GIS - User mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ Qgis-user mailing list [email protected] http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-user This transmission is intended for the named addressee(s) only and may contain sensitive or protectively marked material up to RESTRICTED and should be handled accordingly. Unless you are the named addressee (or authorised to receive it for the addressee) you may not copy or use it, or disclose it to anyone else. If you have received this transmission in error please notify the sender immediately. All email traffic sent to or from us, including without limitation all GCSX traffic, may be subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation. -- This message is subject to the CSIR's copyright terms and conditions, e-mail legal notice, and implemented Open Document Format (ODF) standard. The full disclaimer details can be found at http://www.csir.co.za/disclaimer.html. This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. Please consider the environment before printing this email. _______________________________________________ Qgis-user mailing list [email protected] http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-user
