Slide 4 of 17
Notes:
- There are a number of good commercial GIS packages available: E.S.R.I.’s ArcInfo and ArcView, for example. Commercial packages have the advantage of supporting a wide range of potential applications and of having an active users community with which to exchange information.
- The “homegrown” route, for example Robert M. Ragan’s GISHYDRO tends to be oriented towards a specific application (e.g. GISHYDRO is geared towards hydrologic analysis). The strength of a homegrown GIS is that all functionality is understood in precise detail because it is designed by a single person (or small group). Also, the software is not subject to the whims of the software marketplace where products come and go. Investment of efforts in a package that disappears from the market ultimately represents a “dead end” from the user standpoint.
