To All, I agree MapInfo needs to get on the stick and decide on a geodatbase format for themselves(not Oracle spatial because normal small businesses cannot afford it).
Some thoughts I have on differences are: ESRI tools have a steeper learning curve than MapInfo. ESRI seems to assume you used their tools in college so had plenty of time to mess about with them. This isn't the case for most business users. So MapInfo tends to be more user friendly especially to a business who is just beggining their GIS program. Then there is the cost difference MapInfo is quite a bit cheaper than the ESRI tools. I have a unique situation where I work because our company is so huge and made up of so many other smaller companies that we bought. So we have every GIS system you can think of from Mapserver to ESRI(3.x - 8.3) to MapInfo to G.R.A.S.S. to FME, Microstation, AutoCAD..... basically if you can think of a CAD or GIS system we probably have to support it here. The only exception to that is Manifold, we don't have any systems currently using that but I'm sure we will someday. So I get to see these systems side by side in everyday use. Hands down MapInfo is easier to use. It's cheaper, and long term maintenance costs are much cheaper(ESRI likes to break compatibility in their new releases while MapInfo doesn't). Another thing that is important to think about is if eventually you will want to share your data with other users in the business who aren't GIS professionals. Both major companies have a free viewer. ESRI locks theirs down hard in what you can and can't do with it. MapInfo on the other hand has a super functional viewer that is also highly extensible. The only thing they forbid you from doing with it is giving it the ability to save edits to tables. So say you have four or five GIS people in your market but you have 1300 internal users that need to search and use that data behind the firewall(that's what we have in one of the markets where I work). MapInfo is definitely the way to go here if that is your case. The one major reason for me to use ESRI tools is when I am doing heavy thematic type work or research of some kind. ESRI has much better data analysis tools and when you combine that with a geodatbase for querying ect. MapInfo really doesn't compete well in that dept. For sharing maps on the web we use Mapserver(open source) because hands down in every dept it beats both MapInfo's MapExtreme and ESRI's ArcIms. It really takes a professional developer to set it up though, but so do the other two solutions. It really depends on what you are looking for in a GIS system. You have to look at what type of work you will be doing, who are your end users of your data, ect. and base your decisions on that. I think MapInfo and ESRI really target two separate types of GIS work so you need to decide which of those two your business model mostly closely fits and go with that. Andy -----Original Message----- From: Richard Nicoll [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 3:43 AM To: Lars V. Nielsen (GisPro); Robert Crossley Cc: MapInfo List Subject: RE: MI-L Differences between MapInfo and ArcView. Hi All, In addition to those differences already discussed, perhaps the most important is the geodatabase feature within ArcGIS. For those listers who are not aware of this feature, in a nutshell it enables the storage of geometric and attribute data entirely within a RDBMS - as opposed to 'flat' TAB or SHP files. This brings numerous benefits to the spatial modeller, such as the ability to declare relationships between any objects (irrespective of the type) based on geometrical or attribute features, enforced topological validity (8.3 onwards), 'true' network modelling, UML/WFS support, metedata creation, etc. A good resource for more information on the geodatabase model capabilities: http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/geodatabase/index.html I really see this as the 'next generation' of GIS data model design and one which MapInfo must move toward in the future. Of course there are also plenty of problems with esri's model, including the not to be ignored steep learning curve and cost ;) - Rich Nicoll -----Original Message----- From: Lars V. Nielsen (GisPro) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 14 February 2005 20:21 To: Robert Crossley Cc: MapInfo List Subject: Re: MI-L Differences between MapInfo and ArcView. Hi Robert, I've only worked briefly with ArcGIS v9, but I think I can answer the question you mention: > Project = Workspace. No, an ArcGIS project is much more than a simple workspace. An Arc project includes tools and GUI setup. A workspace is just an automation macro. >MapInfo's spatial objects have colour etc. as a property of that object, meaning that you can set the style of different objects in one table to display differently by default - no need to thematicise every layer. Yes, ArcGIS works with styles per layer. But in AG you can apply styles from external data sources based on attributes in the tables, so it's similar to how a MapInfo table would function. Thematic coloring is on top of this. >MapInfo has text spatial objects, allowing you to create text that can be more accurately placed on a map. These objects can have a database attached the same as other spatial objects. ArcGIS only works with labels, not text objects, afaik. > You can mix spatial object types in one table (not recommended, but handy some times). Handy maybe, but mixed topography tables usually throw MapInfo users into a fit. Single topology tables is not a severe limitation, and I'll wager that the vast majority of MapInfo tables are single topology anyway. > Each table has a projection, and you can have a map composed of layers that are different projections. As can ArcGIS v9. Best regards/Med venlig hilsen Lars V. 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