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| Subject: | RE: GISList: GIS software for the masses |
| Date: |
06/10/2002 07:58:39 AM |
| From: |
Neil Havermale |
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You are quite right. But recently the government hasn't been too worried
over a couple of nearly "exclusive" reliances: on ESRI for most public GIS
data investments, and in your example, Microsoft technology.
Not so long ago the USDA attempted to bring along the GRASS open-source and
literally spent 10s if not 100s of millions trying to GRASS-ize and UNIX-ize
the Nation's soil survey and farm program legacies. The Forest Service went
through several millions of dollars building a RFP and ended up selecting
IBM and ESRI for their internal mapping and office needs. Between the Forest
Service's nomination and the reality of the endless failures of trying to
get UNIX friendly and into the county Farm Service Centers they finally
determined reliance on off-the-shelf office products (Windows and Office)
and GIS was the politically and likely economically correct position.
So today someone wanting to access the Nation's digital Soil Survey must own
a copy of ArcView were as only a year or two ago could get buy on
ArcExplorer... (Wasn't ArcView originally a "freeware"?). Note: Paper
County Soil Surveys are still free....
You will be absorbed. Frustration is futile!
FYI
MidNight Mapper
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
NRCS Soil Survey Division: is proud to announce the release of SOIL DATA
VIEWER 3.0. A version of Soil Data Viewer designed for other agencies,
partners, public and NRCS non-CCE computers is available as a downloadable
ARCVIEW extension or on CDROM. This version of Soil Data Viewer will install
on Windows 95, 98, NT, and 2000 Professional operating systems. A
Web-downloadable version and user guide can be found at:
http://www.itc.nrcs.usda.gov/soildataviewer/updates.htm
under Stand-alone Soil Data Viewer 3.0.
Soil Data Viewer 3.0 is designed to work with the new SSURGO Version 2 data
structure and will not work with previous SSURGO products. The new SSURGO
dataset includes SSURGO spatial data and the new SSURGO version 2 soil
attribute data. Complete SSURGO version 2 datasets containing both the
spatial and new attribute data are available on a limited basis. These
updated SSURGO datasets will become more commonly available as previous
versions of SSURGO products are reattributed and certified for distribution.
Users needing pre-certified SSURGO version 2 attribute data should contact
the state soil scientist responsible for the respective area and request a
NASIS 5.0 data export. The contact information for the NRCS state soil
scientist can be found at
http://www.statlab.iastate.edu/soils/soildiv/personnel/sodir.html. Upon
receiving the data export, the user will link the spatial and attribute data
using the procedures described in
http://nasis.nrcs.usda.gov/products/updatedbf.htm. This process will create
an interim SSURGO version 2 dataset that can be used with Soil Data Viewer.
For further information and technical assistance, please contact:
Robert D Nielsen
Soil Scientist - Soil Survey Interpretations
USDA - Natural Resources Conservation Service
National Soil Survey Center
Federal Bldg, Rm 152, MS36
100 Centennial Mall North
Lincoln, NE 68508-3866
Office 402.437.4149
Fax 402.437.5336
email: bob.nielsen@nssc.nrcs.usda.gov
The data is free and downloadable at
http://www.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov/ssur_data.html. The data version should be
data 6/2001 or newer and you will also need the Microsoft Access template 97
or 2000 from http://www.itc.nrcs.usda.gov/soildataviewer/updates.htm.
Instruction on putting the data together are also on this site. If the data
is older than 6/2001 contact the NRCS office in your state for an updated
attribute file. State contacts can be found at
http://www.statlab.iastate.edu/soils/nssc/ left frame Directory and Staff:
State Office: etc.
Bob Nielsen: NSSC Soil Scientist
Phone 402-437-4149
-----Original Message-----
From: Anthony Quartararo [mailto:ajq3@spatialnetworks.com]
Sent: Friday, May 24, 2002 3:50 AM
To: hvp@regiononepdc.com: gislist@geocomm.com
Subject: RE: GISList: Re: Re: GIS software for the masses
How, may I ask does this tilt the balance anywhere ? Did we read the same
article ? I'm just waiting for Dimitri to weigh in on this as well.
I can only imagine the sheer volume of "vertical silos" that exist within
the national security establishment, all because of "open-source" yahoos
that promote the technology, then fail to deliver the "holy-grail" of
interoperability, transparency and longevity. The US Government, in all its
forms and fashions is ESRI's biggest customer by far, always has been,
without that customer base, it probably wouldn't exist. How "open" is that
suite of products? Nada, zilch, zip. Is it going to be usurped by some
"flavor of the month" attempt at "open source GIS". Not in our collective
lifetimes.
Anthony
-----Original Message-----
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