John, I have become very familiar with ArcIMS and MapExtreme - having evaluated each package at length and by talking to quite a few organizations using/attempting to use them. It's been interesting to watch the evolution of traditional GIS Internet Map Server (IMS) technology over the last few years. Anyone evaluating a traditional IMS solution needs to know that there is significant complexity and significant upfront costs (software, hardware, custom development, web development) and very significant downstream costs and resources (administration, software updates and maintainence, bandwidth) required to implement traditional IMS solutions. My feeling is that the traditional IMS approach is only reasonable for organizations who absolutely have to implement a robust enterprise-wide GIS with extensive GIS functionality, have development and adminstrative staff on board, can host and manage their own server and bandwidth, and are willing to make a significant ongoing investment. It's just my opinion, but current IMS solutions seem to be technology for the sake of technology. How many customers did traditional GIS vendors query before heading off on this development/product path? Does putting a real map on a web site really have to be that complicated and expensive? There may be a good fit for large government organizations and WalMart, but what about the rest of us who simply want to put an interactive map on our website with essential features that visitors to our site expect - simply and at a reasonable cost. You may want to investigate BeyondGeo.com at http://www.beyondgeo.com. You can use your own maps in native MapInfo (TAB) or Shape (SHP) formats directly. Using this approach it's reasonable to have real, interactive maps on your web site within a hour or so after signing up - with absolutely no investment in hardware, software, bandwidth, administration, maintainance, or web development. Thanks, Jeff [EMAIL PROTECTED] Blue Marble Geographics "The Geographic Software Tool Company." http://www.bluemarblegeo.com >> Hello, >> I have noticed a thread asking for people's opinions on the two leading >> products of the GIS market, namely MapInfo and ArcView. >> Now I don't want to start a war between the ESRI camp and the MapInfo >> camp, BUT we are looking into internet mapping, and I was wondering if >> anyone had any experience with either of these or better yet, both. >> I would primarily like to know how easy it is to jump into each of these >> softwares if you have a thorough knowledge of both MapInfo and ArcView, >> and HTML, with no knowledge of Java and all that fancy other stuff. >> Basically, what I'm trying to say is, my supervisors asked me to look into >> internet mapping. So, this means, that *I* will end up doing the >> internet mapping here, so I want to do it with the easiest software >> possible, while at the same time looking like the hard working and >> devoted employee I really am. >> Oh, and there is one more thing I should add, we primarily use MapInfo >> here, but we can turn our tab files into shp files, with little to no >> worries at all. >> Thanks in advance for any help, and sorry about the ensuing bloodbath that >> may occur. >> John. >> _______________________________________________________________________ >> List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | www.directionsmag.com | >> To unsubscribe, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and >> put "unsubscribe MapInfo-L" in the message body. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Sponsor ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Digital GEO data for 125 countries LAND INFO International produces digital geographic data for over 125 countries. DEMs, satellite imagery, topo maps, vector map layers, flood maps, and more. Visit http://www.landinfo.com/indexdm1.htm and let our specialists find the right solution. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _______________________________________________________________________ List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | www.directionsmag.com | To unsubscribe, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MapInfo-L" in the message body.
