The speed with which computer technology has moved in the last twenty years has been almost breath taking. The power of today's computers makes the original IBM pc, which played a big part in bringing computing to the masses, seem absolutely minimal. Processing power is now significantly higher and storage capacity no longer an issue that held back many projects in the early days of the personal computer evolution.
Now the main parts of your computer, whether it is a desktop, laptop, tablet or smart phone are loaded with computing power, significant memory and hard storage capacity which enables programmers to produce ever more relevant solutions to our computer based problems. In the early days of pc programming the limitations of memory and hard disk size meant that programs had to work within those limitations. The way to think about the programmers problem is to view how the Romans used Latin to produce prose with the least words possible. Everyone has heard of the following Veni, Vidi, Vinci. With three words Caesar said that he came to Britain, he surveyed the country and then he conquered it. So why was Latin so concise. Well if you have very limited resources in terms of writing materials i.e. clay or stone tablets every word has got to count. In a similar way back in the early days of the pc because of the limitations of the hardware programmers had to make sure that every line of code was as effective as possible. It had to fit in a very limited memory space!
So what has this got to do with GIS? Well the two most popular desktop GIS solutions came about through the availability of a new medium: the personal computer. The first versions of MapInfo and Arc Info for the personal computer worked with the limitations of that software to produce very functional solutions for anyone wanting to work with location based problems. The code that was used to produce those early versions would have been Latin like in its creation. Every line would have to achieve its stated aim with nothing included that didn't justify its inclusion.
Fast forward more than 25 years and we now have multiple methods of accessing GIS software and multiple operating systems which GIS software now supports. Programmers can now write code without worrying as much about memory allocation or disk storage although these can still be a cause of difficulty as operating systems demand more memory than ever before.
With so much power, speed and functionality in our hardware and software we can expect significant developments in our software applications over the next few years. This should mean that GIS becomes more accessible and easier to use. Unfortunately whilst general proprietary office software like word processing, spreadsheets and database applications are now financially within anyone's reach proprietary GIS software is still relatively expensive. This makes GIS software, from the main proprietary suppliers, out of reach for general applications within a large proportion of the SME marketplace. Over time this must change. In the meantime, open source applications such as Quantum GIS will meet this segment of the marketplace and enable even the smallest business operation to gain access to the power of a real GIS software solution.
JPS Services provides both one and two days' introductory QGIS training courses. These courses cover all the main functionality of the software. We offer both onsite and online options whichever is most convenient for your organisation. We recommend that no more than six delegates attend these courses to ensure that each attendee receives appropriate support during the training process. For more information please complete the enquiry form.
So what has this got to do with GIS? Well the two most popular desktop GIS solutions came about through the availability of a new medium: the personal computer. The first versions of MapInfo and Arc Info for the personal computer worked with the limitations of that software to produce very functional solutions for anyone wanting to work with location based problems. The code that was used to produce those early versions would have been Latin like in its creation. Every line would have to achieve its stated aim with nothing included that didn't justify its inclusion.
Fast forward more than 25 years and we now have multiple methods of accessing GIS software and multiple operating systems which GIS software now supports. Programmers can now write code without worrying as much about memory allocation or disk storage although these can still be a cause of difficulty as operating systems demand more memory than ever before.
With so much power, speed and functionality in our hardware and software we can expect significant developments in our software applications over the next few years. This should mean that GIS becomes more accessible and easier to use. Unfortunately whilst general proprietary office software like word processing, spreadsheets and database applications are now financially within anyone's reach proprietary GIS software is still relatively expensive. This makes GIS software, from the main proprietary suppliers, out of reach for general applications within a large proportion of the SME marketplace. Over time this must change. In the meantime, open source applications such as Quantum GIS will meet this segment of the marketplace and enable even the smallest business operation to gain access to the power of a real GIS software solution.
JPS Services provides both one and two days' introductory QGIS training courses. These courses cover all the main functionality of the software. We offer both onsite and online options whichever is most convenient for your organisation. We recommend that no more than six delegates attend these courses to ensure that each attendee receives appropriate support during the training process. For more information please complete the enquiry form.
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