ArcView Vs Smallworld GIS environments
Charles Russell, BSc Auckland
environments. Is one better than the other? What are the advantages and
disadvantages of either over the other? How do they stack up against each
other?
Charles
Uffe Kousgaard
when it comes to facilities and pricing.
"Charles Russell, BSc Auckland" <charles...@paradise.net.nz> wrote
in message news:VDen8.1287$eF4.1...@news02.tsnz.net...
Bob*The*Builder
really depend what you user requirements are. More detail would be
needed to give a decent answer
Bob
Charles Russell, BSc Auckland
starting to use Smallworld over the ESRI software and that local
councils/government are the only people using ESRI products. WHY?
Charles
"Bob*The*Builder" <b...@builder.com> wrote in message
news:92qr9u8phrfim46cq...@4ax.com...
Peter Halls
> The reason I ask is because I have been told that more & more companies are
> starting to use Smallworld over the ESRI software and that local
> councils/government are the only people using ESRI products. WHY?
Strange story ... I wonder who is putting *that* about! My experience is
that ESRI software remains the most widely used - and across industry
boundaries. Maybe your contact has other reasons for steering you towards
Smallworld?
ESRI, according to the independent industry watchers, have the lions
share of the world market place, though under 50% whilst Smallworld were
last seen hovering on the 10% line ...
Object GIS are great for application areas in which the inter-relationship
of the entities modeled is known and not itself the subject of study. On
this basis, most facilities management and cadastral type applications
would seem to be fair tragets for Smallworld, Gothic, etc. You also seem
to forget that ESRI have also adopted the object model in several of their
products - presumably in response to their customers' demands. One would
expect utilities and local government to fall into this camp (and thus
prefer Smallworld!).
There are many applications, especially in the environmental 'world' where
the subjects of study are the very interelationships that must be used to
define the object structures. For these the object model is not so well
suited ... of course, some local authorities have work in this arena too.
There is not, nor ever can be, a 'one fits all' abstraction for spatial
information and modelling. There is room for more than the present range
of models ... I just wish that more of the vendors would take
interoperability seriously and enable us better to use the product most
suited for each task! I also hope that the GIS industry will never
be 'taken over' by a single player, as Microsoft have taken over the
desktop world ... *that* would stifle innovation.
Oh, and your original question ... comparing ArcView and Smallworld is
rather like comparing clay and cheese - true, both have an object model
beneath the skin but that is where the resemblence ceases! Smallworld is
more comparable with the ArcGIS 8 'ArcObjects' GML approach, but has a
different object-relational database model. ArcView 8 is merely a
cut-back, almost 'taster', version of ArcGIS 8.
Peter
>
> Charles
> "Bob*The*Builder" <b...@builder.com> wrote in message
> news:92qr9u8phrfim46cq...@4ax.com...
> > A better comparison would be ArcGIS/ArcInfo and GE Smallworld. It will
> > really depend what you user requirements are. More detail would be
> > needed to give a decent answer
> >
> > Bob
> >
> > On Sat, 23 Mar 2002 00:00:21 +1200, "Charles Russell, BSc Auckland"
> > <charles...@paradise.net.nz> wrote:
> >
> > >Does anyone know what the differences are between ArcView and Smallworld
> GIS
> > >environments. Is one better than the other? What are the advantages and
> > >disadvantages of either over the other? How do they stack up against
> each
> > >other?
> > >
> > >Charles
> > >
> >
>
>
>
>
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