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| GeoCommunity Mailing List |
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| Mailing List Archives |
| Subject: | RE: GISList: Manifold 5.x vs. ArcGIS 8.x |
| Date: |
02/04/2003 07:53:27 PM |
| From: |
Paul Heersink |
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Dare I?
I haven't checked the list for a week or so and was
surprised when I did to find a discussion that began
with a comparison of Manifold and ArcGIS. "Began"
because, other than a few posts, not much was said
comparing the two.
I use the ESRI suite of products at my day job as the
lead cartographer in a government office. Just so we
are all aware of where I'm coming from, I've been
working as a cartographer for the past 5.5 years. Not
long, but in the GIS field I suppose it's long enough.
Being a cartographer I am not into the "heavy duty"
GIS (e.g. analysis, script writing, etc. - what else
do you guys do?). ArcGIS is at times slow but I'm used
to it. It is also rather buggy when it comes to
editing (I'm running 8.1 - is 8.2 any better?). ArcGIS
is also an improvement over its previous incarnations
and I'm content with it.
I also run my own part-time business on the side and
when I required a GIS package a number of years ago I
did a little research. Naturally, my budget as an
individual is much smaller than my government's so
cost was an important factor. I considered purchasing
ArcView 3.2. With the host of scripts available it is
quite functional (I still use it from time to time
instead of ArcGIS 8.1) but the cost was just too
prohibitive. There are a number of GIS software
package available in a price range similar to what
Manifold is that are probably comparable in
functionality. I can't remember exactly why I settled
on Manifold but I did.
Manifold has done most of what I wanted a GIS software
package to do - that is, edit, project, buffer, clip,
etc (and it projects images! Not something I could get
ArcGIS to do). Nothing major in terms of GIS analysis
but then that's not what I needed it for. Someone else
would have to speak on that. What it doesn't do
(release 5.5 just coming out supposedly fixes that) is
export files to a graphics package properly. But I've
worked around that and for the price I paid I am
certainly content with it.
So, those were my two cents - Canadian cents, by the
way, so really for most of you that's 1.5 cents.
I hope this helps in getting the discussion back on to
where it started out at.
Paul
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