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What Kinds of GIS Are Available?
What Kinds of GIS Are Available?
There are many different types of GIS software packages available, everything from free lightweight “data viewers,” to numerous Open Source programs, to expensive commercially available software packages. There are
numerous companies producing a wide variety of GIS software. According to
a 2007 GIS Salary Survey conducted by the Urban and Regional Information
Systems Association (URISA), GIS products from the Environmental Systems
Research Institute (Esri) were found to be among the most popular and
widespread in their usage. See Hands-on Application 5.5: Esri TV for more
information about Esri and their current GIS innovations and applications.
Located in Redlands, California, Esri was founded by Jack and Laura
Dangermond in 1969. By 1982, Esri released the first of its “Arc” products,
the initial version of Arc/Info, a key GIS software package. Though extremely
powerful in its analytical capabilities, Arc/Info was also a product of the DOS
command-line era of computing. As such, there were literally hundreds of
different Arc/Info commands, each with numerous variations in their usage,
optional commands, and syntax. Today, new iterations of this version of Arc/
Info are no longer being made, but the command-line software is available
and referred to as “Workstation Arc/Info.”
Esri would later release ArcView, a Windows-based tool for viewing
and examining spatial data. ArcView featured things common to a graphical user interface, such as pull-down menus, icons, and windows, and as
Say you’re trying to develop some GIS resources
for your local community, which includes needing
data about the area’s sewer system. You get the
data in a format that your GIS software will read,
but it doesn’t come with any metadata—meaning
you have no information on how the sewer data
was created, the accuracy of the data, what the
various attributes indicate, the date it was created,
or the datum, coordinate system, or projection the
data is in. How useful is this dataset for your GIS
work? When metadata for a GIS layer is unavailable
(or incomplete), what sorts of issues can occur when
trying to work with that data?
What Happens When You Don’t Have Metadata?
Thinking Critically with Geospatial Technology 5.1
Esri is constantly coming up with new developments,
software innovations, and GIS applications. As a
way of distributing this type of news, Esri runs their
own channel on YouTube, called Esri TV. To check
out their online videos, open your Web browser and
go to http://www.youtube.com/user/ Esritv. What
kinds of applications or information about Esri software are being distributed in video form?
Hands-on Application 5.5
Esri TV
Esri the Environmental
Systems Research
Institute, a key
developer and leader of
Geographic Information
Systems products.
Arc/Info an Esri GIS
product that required
command-line entry for
tools and capabilities.
ArcView an Esri GIS
product developed with
a Windows interface.
What Kinds of GIS Are Available?
What Kinds of GIS Are Available?
There are many different types of GIS software packages available, everything from free lightweight “data viewers,” to numerous Open Source programs, to expensive commercially available software packages. There are
numerous companies producing a wide variety of GIS software. According to
a 2007 GIS Salary Survey conducted by the Urban and Regional Information
Systems Association (URISA), GIS products from the Environmental Systems
Research Institute (Esri) were found to be among the most popular and
widespread in their usage. See Hands-on Application 5.5: Esri TV for more
information about Esri and their current GIS innovations and applications.
Located in Redlands, California, Esri was founded by Jack and Laura
Dangermond in 1969. By 1982, Esri released the first of its “Arc” products,
the initial version of Arc/Info, a key GIS software package. Though extremely
powerful in its analytical capabilities, Arc/Info was also a product of the DOS
command-line era of computing. As such, there were literally hundreds of
different Arc/Info commands, each with numerous variations in their usage,
optional commands, and syntax. Today, new iterations of this version of Arc/
Info are no longer being made, but the command-line software is available
and referred to as “Workstation Arc/Info.”
Esri would later release ArcView, a Windows-based tool for viewing
and examining spatial data. ArcView featured things common to a graphical user interface, such as pull-down menus, icons, and windows, and as
Say you’re trying to develop some GIS resources
for your local community, which includes needing
data about the area’s sewer system. You get the
data in a format that your GIS software will read,
but it doesn’t come with any metadata—meaning
you have no information on how the sewer data
was created, the accuracy of the data, what the
various attributes indicate, the date it was created,
or the datum, coordinate system, or projection the
data is in. How useful is this dataset for your GIS
work? When metadata for a GIS layer is unavailable
(or incomplete), what sorts of issues can occur when
trying to work with that data?
What Happens When You Don’t Have Metadata?
Thinking Critically with Geospatial Technology 5.1
Esri is constantly coming up with new developments,
software innovations, and GIS applications. As a
way of distributing this type of news, Esri runs their
own channel on YouTube, called Esri TV. To check
out their online videos, open your Web browser and
go to http://www.youtube.com/user/ Esritv. What
kinds of applications or information about Esri software are being distributed in video form?
Hands-on Application 5.5
Esri TV
Esri the Environmental
Systems Research
Institute, a key
developer and leader of
Geographic Information
Systems products.
Arc/Info an Esri GIS
product that required
command-line entry for
tools and capabilities.
ArcView an Esri GIS
product developed with
a Windows interface.