From rhoskins@home.com Fri Jul 2 06:27:40 1999 Received: from mxu3.u.washington.edu (mxu3.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.7]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.02/8.9.3+UW99.01) with ESMTP id GAA13634 for ; Fri, 2 Jul 1999 06:27:39 -0700 Received: from ha1.rdc1.wa.home.com (siteadm@ha1.rdc1.wa.home.com [24.0.2.66]) by mxu3.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.02/8.9.3+UW99.06) with ESMTP id GAA25008 for ; Fri, 2 Jul 1999 06:27:39 -0700 Received: from c501552a ([24.5.121.123]) by ha1.rdc1.wa.home.com (Netscape Mail Server v2.02) with SMTP id AAA7020 for ; Fri, 2 Jul 1999 06:27:38 -0700 Message-ID: <000901bec48e$a48c2280$7b790518@olmpi1.wa.home.com> From: "Richard E. Hoskins" To: Subject: WAPHGIS: MapInfo v.s. ARCVIEW Date: Fri, 2 Jul 1999 06:27:33 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 A MapInfo - ArcView comparison Richard E. Hoskins reh0303@DOH.WA.GOV ----- Original Message ----- From: Wilson Baker To: Sent: Thursday, July 01, 1999 10:43 AM Subject: MI (Fwd) RE: MapInfo v.s. ARCVIEW > Here in an interesting user review from Patterson Graydon of the > Ottawa-Carlelton Police Department. It was posted on the crimemap > list server in response to a request for persons who had used both > MapInfo and ARCView > > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > > We made a similar move from MapInfo to ArcView last spring (1998). > > Pro's to making switch > * ESRI products seem to much more robust in terms of add-ins, scripts, > useful tools etc > * Most. if not all, government generated data seems to be in Arc > formats > * ArcView is easily programmed (if you have a knowledgeable > programmer) to make the product look customized and do all sorts of neat > stuff. > * ESRI's SDE product makes data serving very slick > * Layering is nicer in that attributes are attached via a project > (a.k.a. workspace in MapInfo), not attached to a map layer. > * Most of ArcView's projects, scripts are text-editable to assist in > recovering damaged files. > * Printed maps look very professional > * ESRI support is outstanding, they are very responsive and nice to > work with. MapInfo was difficult to work out problems with, unless you > happened upon the right support person. > > Con's > * About 2-3 times the cost (MapInfo & Vertical Mapper are about $2000, > while ArcView and Spatial Analyst are $6000) > * Not as intuitive as MapInfo, MapInfo is a GUI desktop product with > ease of use. ArcView is built up from a DOS background with a GUI add-on, > not everything works smoothly. > * Printed maps are very easy to produce with MapInfo layouts, > ArcView's is very time consuming to design - but look better when done. > > As an end-user of the product, I like ArcView's functionality better. > However I used to actually use MapInfo more than I use ArcView now. I found > it very easy to get in and use MapInfo and do much of the mapping myself. > Now, I ask someone else to do it because I don't have the time and patience > to work in ArcView. > > ------------------------------------------------ > Tetrad Computer Applications Inc. > internet site http://www.tetrad.com > call toll-free 1-800-663-1334 .