GIS Software & Hardware
Overview
POEC 6383 GIS Implementation & Management
Ronald Briggs
University of Texas at Dallas
3/23/2016
Ron Briggs UT-Dallas
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Introduction
• From the discussion of Fundamental GIS Concepts we noted:
– two types of data: spatial data (where) and attribute data (what)
– two models for data representation: raster model and vector model
– two computing environments: traditional relational data base model and
object-oriented model
• as we search for software for our GIS project, ideally we seek
implementations which:
– handle both spatial and attribute data, and pay commensurate attention to
each
– support vector and raster formats, including
• conversion between the two
• analytic capabilities for both
– utilize relational data base or object-oriented computing models
• how do software vendors in the market place meet these needs?
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Software Categorization
• Professional/industrial
– capable of supporting on-going operational processes and management
needs of the enterprise
– permits programming of business processes and geospatial applications
• Desktop/Presentation
– support the analytical needs of professionals processing geospatial data
• Business and other Niche Applications: targeted toward specific subsets
of applications
– to business for site selection and market area analysis
– to specific industries e.g. transportation, telecomm, oil & gas
exploration,
– to specific applications e.g. rectification, thematic mapping
• Mass Market
– general public & personal productivity applications
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Software for GIS: Mass Market differences
(based on Thrall and Thrall, 1998)
Least
Complex
Most
Users
• Digital atlas
– e.g Rand McNally New Millenium, MS Encarta,
National Geographic Picture Atlas
• Interactive street display & route planning
• Internet Mapping: geocoding and routing
– urban yellow pages
• Spreadsheet and Database Mapping
Mass Market
– e.g. De Lorme, MS Streets98, AAA
– Lotus Ver. 5 (Atlas Mapmaker)
– Excel for Windows 95/97 (Mapinfo)
Most
Complex
Least
Users
•
•
•
•
Clip Art and ready-made maps
Thematic Mapping
Desktop GIS & Business/Niche Applications
Prof./Industrial: Geographically-enabled programming
Professional Desktop versus Mass Market
The capabilities of mass market (display, single-point geocoding,
thematic mapping) plus
•
•
support for raster as well as vector data
(and perhaps also images)
user-selected (rather than proprietary)
spatial data input
•
–
–
–
–
– digital format (shape files, TIGER files,
etc)
– geographic format (datum, projection)
•
•
•
•
variety of standard attribute data input
formats (spreedsheets, comma
delimited text, dBase, etc.)
external data base access/connectivity
via SQL, ODBC, etc.
internal data customization and query
(e.g calculating new variables and
querying all)
selective overlay of input spatial data
comprehensive support for spatial query
and logic
•
•
•
•
•
polygon joins and overlay
point in polygon
intersection of lines and polygons
buffering around points, lines and
polygons
batch geocoding with variety of userselectable options
topological editing of input (or new)
spatial data
customization of maps and graphics for
display and hardcopy
variety of digital data output formats for
graphic (e.g. gif, tif, jpeg) and nongraphic data
macro, scripting or programming
capability
Software for GIS: professional/industrial
The Industry Leaders
• ARC/INFO (ESRI, Inc., Redlands, CA)
– privately owned by Jack Dangermond, a legend in the field and former Harvard prof.
– originated commercial GIS
– still clear market leader with about a third of the market
• Intergraph (Huntsville, AL)
– origins in proprietary CAD hardware/software
– strong in design and FM (facilities mapping), and running hard to match ESRI in GIS
– its UNIX-based MGE (Modular GIS Environment) product evolved from its older
CAD products
– after split with Bentley, courageously committed to NT and object technology in
1995 and first released “new generation” GeoMedia product in March 1997
• Bentley Systems (Exton, PA)
– Bentley brothers (Barry & Ray) originally developed the PC-based Micro-Station
product under contract with Intergraph, but split in 1995
– have very successfully continued to develop and sell MicroStation GeoGraphics
since then.
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Software for GIS: professional/industrial
The Also-Rans and Wannabes
•
Smallworld Systems (Englewood, CO)
•
– origins in Oxford, England
– emphasis on FM & utilities
– The first to use OO (in early 1990s) but can it
now compete as established vendors do the
same?
•
Autodesk’s AutoCAD Map
– dominant CAD supplier and world’s 4th largest
software company
– fully topological AutoCAD Map introduced in
1996 (but no raster)
– illustrates convergence of CAD/GIS.
– possible industry leader since many places
already use standard AutoCad for mapping
•
•
GDS (Graphic Data Systems, Englewood CO)
– originated as McDonnel Douglas in-house
system
– owned now by Convergent Group and EDS
– closure in 1997 left its customers in the lurch
(e.g. City of Irving)
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ERDAS/Imagine, ER MAPPER, PCI,
Envi, Genasys II,
– origins in remote sensing thus raster
oriented but now include vector support
– ERDAS long established leader
– ER MAPPER very agressive newcomer
originating in Australia
– Envi, another relative newcomer
– PCI long-term Canadian player
– Genasys II older and fading US player
– new satellite data products enhance their
attractiveness
GRASS (Rutgers Univ.)
– raster oriented, but some vector routines
– originally developed by US Army
Construction Engineering Research
Lab(CERL) in Champaign, IL;
– army ended dev. & support in 1996 but
assumed by Baylor University.
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Software for GIS: Desktop/Presentation
• ARCVIEW from ESRI
– stand-alone GIS, or user front-end to ARC/INFO
– strong customization (via AVENUE language)
• Mapinfo (Troy, NY)
– very aggressive and successful newcomer
• Atlas/GIS (from Strategic Mapping, Santa Clara, CA)
– one of the originators of PC-based mapping
– purchased by ESRI in 1996
• Other Commercial Entrants
– Maptitude (Caliper Corp, Newton, MA): cheap--one of the best deals around
– WinGIS (Progis Corp, Austria): European entry
– SAS/GIS (at last, SAS tries to catch up)
• IDRSI (Clark Univ)
– one of the pioneering, university developed packages, but limited commercial
penetration altho trying hard
– raster orientation with some vector capabilities
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Software for GIS: Business & Niche
• BusinessMAP (from ESRI): $99 choropleth and pin mapping (originally
Maplinx)
• Tactician: specialist product for market analysis, site selection, etc.
• NDS (National Decision Systems): marketing data supplier released IMark software in 1999, combining older Infomark Express (reporting) and I-Map
(maps) products
• GeoQuery (Naperville, IL): a mapping product based on Intergraph
GeoMedia
•
•
•
•
Surfer (Golden Software): contour creation & spatial interpolation
Map Viewer (Golden Software): thematic map creation
Blue Marble Geographic Calculator: projections, conversions, etc.
EDX, Planet (from MSI), Cell CAD II: wireless telephony planning
Software for GIS: Leading Vendor’s Products
• Autodesk
Autodesk World
www.autodesk.com Autodesk MapGuide
AutoCAD Map
ArcView (AV)
Arc/Info
• ESRI
AV Business Analyst
www.esri.com
AV Internet Map Server
BusinessMap Pro
GeoMedia
Geomedia Pro
• Intergraph
Geomedia Web Map
www.intergraph.com Geomedia Network
MapInfo Pro
Mapinfo MapXtreme
• MapInfo
MapXtreme Java
www.mapinfo.com
MapInfoData Target Pro
Desktop GIS
Web-based GIS
CAD mapping
Desktop GIS
Prof./Indus. GIS
Business GIS
Web GIS
Entry business maps
Desktop GIS
Prof./Indus. GIS
Web-based GIS
Networking modules
Desktop GIS
GIS apps. Server
Web-based Server
GIS for marketing
$1,995
$9,990
$4,250
$1,195
$10,000
$11,995
$10,500
$149
$1,500
$7,500
$10,000
$2,000
$1,295
$24,495
$24,495
$695
Source: PC Week 1/4/99
GIS Market Share (%)
VENDOR/YEAR
1992
1993
1994*
ESRI
Intergraph
MapInfo
GDS
Atlas (Strat. Map)
30.3
24.1
5.6
4.9
4.9
IBM
Enghouse
3.3
2.2
ERDAS
2.2
Genasys
PCI
2.1
2
Other
Total ($millions)
18.4
495
1995
1996**
32.5
26.5
5.1
6.5
2.7
548
591
**GIS World, July ‘97, p. 12 quoting Daratech
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Software Selection: Considerations and Trade-offs
• Price ($)
• Future needs
– you generally pay for capability, but
do you need it?
– cost doesn’t always equate to
capability, but there’s usually some
catch
– analytic capabilities
– data types
– conversion expensive
• retraining
• data conversion
• application conversion
• Learning curve
– simplicity of use for limited function •
products
– consistency of interface for multifunction products
Organizational needs
– consistent software
• info sharing
• lower support & training costs
• lower costs via mass licenses
• Market share
– will it be around in the future?
– experienced workers available
– third party services: add-ons,
training, consultants, etc.
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– targeted software
• lower train/support via simpler
interface
• lower cost via targeted function
– best of both via add-ins or object
orientation.
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ESRI Product Line-up (main products)
• ArcView (multiple operating systems: PC, UNIX, VMS, MAC)
– desktop GIS for end-user visualization, analysis and query
– GUI driven, with extensive customization capability via AVENUE scripting
– generally presumes inputted data developed elsewhere e.g with ARC/Info
(Data Automation Kit released 1996; essentially a subset of PC/ARCINFO)
• ARC/INFO (workstation operating systems: UNIX, NT)
•
•
– comprehensive tool kit for geographic data input, analysis and management
– A/I Version 8 Workstation same as A/I v. 7 & earlier: command driven, with GUI
dev. capability via AML (ARC Macro Language); both NT and UNIX
– A/I Version 8 Desktop is complete re-write with GUI interface using MS COM
objects: only runs on NT, not available under UNIX
– PC ARC/INFO is a DOS/Windows subset of workstation ARC/INFO (dieing)
MapObjects (PC only)
– set of OLE automation objects for mapping and GIS to incorporate into OO
application development environments such as VB, Powerbuilder and Composer
SDE (Spatial Database Engine)
– extensions to ORACLE (and other) to support spatial data and geographical analysis
• ArcCAD (PC operating system only)
– bridges
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CAD and GIS, thus useful
for UT-Dallas
integrating data between the two
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ArcInfo Version 8
• With Version 8, now have two flavors:
Workstation:
– classic, command-line ArcInfo
– same as version 7 and earlier, with minor enhancements
– the only option for UNIX, but also on NT
Desktop:
– Largest Microsoft COM/ActiveX application to date
– Full GUI interface
– Customization via Visual Basic for Applications (altho’
must have ArcInfo to run custom apps)
– New data base concepts: Geodatabase
– Available on NT only; no UNIX version
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ArcInfo Desktop
ArcCatalog (schema editor, with VISIO generation)
• The base application for ArcInfo Desk
• Windows Explorer-like interface
• for organizing access to data and metadata
• For launching other Desktop apps: MAP and TOOLBOX
ArcMap (object editor)
• Powerful GUI for spatial data editing and map viewing
• ArcPlot/ArcEdit & ArcView View/Layout combined
• Map projections on the fly (not via conversion as in AV)
ArcToolbox
• GUI interface to GIS tools via wizards
• Classic ArcInfo runs underneath
• Supports execution on remote machines
• v. 8.0 does not support Geodatabases, ImageCats, Map librarian,
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GRID data
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ARC/INFO Workstation Line-up:
Base Components
• ARC
– entry point to ARC/INFO, and ARCEDIT and ARCPLOT in particular
– geographic data maintenance and processing
• INFO
– the relational data base system (RDBMS) foundation for ARC/INFO
• ARCEDIT
– for editing geographic data
– supports input from wide variety of sources including keyboard,
mouse, digitizer, other GIS databases
• ARCPLOT
– graphic subsystem for database display and map production
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ARC/INFO Workstation Line-up:
Other Components
ARC/EDIT/PLOT Extensions
Semi & Independent Modules
• COGO (Coordinate Geometry)
• GRID
– supports surveying data, plat
preparation, etc. for suveyors and
civil engineers
• TIN (Triangulated Irregular
Network)
– analysis of raster data
– includes vector/raster &
raster/vector conversion
• ArcPress
– vector-based surface modelling
• NETWORK
– network analysis, such as shortest
route
• ArcScan
– raster to vector conversion
• ArcExpress (optional product)
– enhances printing on raster devices
• ArcStorm (storage
management)
– geog. data manager for large data
systems
– graphic display optimization
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Choices, Choices, Choices!!
• Where is my bus? DART service manager. Want application to
display real time location of buses on touch-screen terminal to
passengers waiting at Richardson Transit Center
– use MAP Objects incorporated into Visual Basic app.
• Council, get off my back! Planner for Plano. Need faster, easier,
jazzier way of answering council member queries.
– use ArcView, since city has extensive ArcInfo coverages; write Avenue
scripts to automate most common queries
• Keep the water flowing. Manager for North Texas Municipal
Water Supply District. Swamped by growth. Needs help to
manage his infrastructure.
– select Arc/Info 8
• Keep the Taxes Coming In. Director of IS for Big City. Must tie
all my data together--land ownership, tax rolls, utility lines, roads,
911 calls etc. Needs enterprise solution.
– SDE with ORACLE data base, accessed with ArcExplorer (free), ArcView,
and ArcInfo 8
Hardware and Platforms for GIS
•
•
•
•
CPU (Pentium or RISC): powerful with lots of memory (128MB min for AI8)
Disk storage: lots--especially for images
Input devices: Digitizer, Scanner, CD-ROM/DVD, network/Internet
Output devices:
– Large, high-res. display (relatively expensive)
– Wide-bed color plotter (now usually inkjet, and affordable)
• Operating System:
– NT is eclipsing UNIX on the Desktop
– MAC and UNIX supported by fewer and fewer vendors
•
Platforms:
–
–
–
–
PC or RISC Workstation
Mainframe--gone
Minicomputer—now also gone
Networks and Distributed Systems now the norm
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The Religious Tenets of GIS
• ArcInfo is the only true GIS
• Intergraph is the only used GIS
• MAPINFO is the only useable GIS
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The GIS Market
In 1992, according to Dataquest, GIS growth
rate estimated at 35% per year
• GIS related hardware
$0.5 Billion
• GIS related software
$1.1 Billion
• GIS Consulting services $2.4 Billion
The big money is in consulting, not software
or hardware (although much consulting is
software related).
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