A desktop GIS is an application for showing maps and interrogating them. Through analysis of maps you are able to answer a variety of questions of a geographical nature. With a desktop GIS you create maps which give answers pertinent to what is being investigated.
Modern GIS solutions provide a map window for viewing your spatial data. Most will automatically provide a table of contents listing the layers being displayed in the map. Manipulation of the map data is achieved through menus, toolbars and dialogue boxes. Many GIS solutions are customisable so that only the features which you commonly use are displayed. With the latest versions of Windows various toolbars and dialogue boxes can be automatically docked to suit your requirements. Both MapInfo and ArcGIS can use these latest Windows facilities when docking, pinning, displaying and hiding dialogue boxes. Any Windows based solution can also have toolbars either docked or floating to suit individual requirements. Again, most GIS solutions will also save your preferences when you close the software. On opening again these same settings will then be restored rather than the default.
ArcGIS, MapInfo and QGIS will save your map, with the layer settings, in a special file so that the map can be restored with all the relevant layer information when you wish to view it. Each of these software solutions has its own file storage system. For instance, ArcGIS saves a map document in .mxd format, MapInfo saves a workspace document in a .wor file and QGIS saves a project document in a .qgs file. It is important to remember to keep all the files relating to the map together. This is vital if you wish to send your map to other users of the same software. It is possible to open an individual vector file in a shape or tab format. However, for anyone of these software solutions to open a map file ie .mxd, .wor, .qgs all the relevant vector or raster files must be saved in the correct way. That is, within the same directory structure. Otherwise you will be asked to show where the files for each individual vector or raster layer have been saved in order to display the complete map file.
This leads onto the question of compatibility between the various GIS solutions just mentioned. ArcGIS can open its native shape files (.shp), which is a format created by ESRI the developers of ArcGIS. Any map document files of type .mxd saved by ArcGIS are going to be in a format which will only be fully compatible with ESRI software. MapInfo can open files in the TAB format (.tab) as well as shape files (.shp) and QGIS can open both these formats. Opening these formats also depends on several other relevant files being present. However, a map file such as a .wor, .mxd or .qgs, can only be opened by the software which created it. So if you want to send a QGIS user maps in a MapInfo format you should send all the individual layers which make up the map rather that in a MapInfo workspace .wor format. Additionally, information about how those layers should display as well as projection information should be included.
Being able to read and write to files in various formats has always been a problem with software and it is not an issue which just relates to GIS solutions. With software upgrades it is often the case that even users of the same GIS solution can run into problems when one user is on a different version to another. Understanding that compatibility can be an issue means that extra care should be taken. This will ensure that when maps are being used between different GIS versions and solutions these compatibility problems are understood so that they do not become an issue.
If you would like to further explore how GIS could help your organisation jps services offers one and two day training courses in QGIS, ArcGIS and MapInfo.
This leads onto the question of compatibility between the various GIS solutions just mentioned. ArcGIS can open its native shape files (.shp), which is a format created by ESRI the developers of ArcGIS. Any map document files of type .mxd saved by ArcGIS are going to be in a format which will only be fully compatible with ESRI software. MapInfo can open files in the TAB format (.tab) as well as shape files (.shp) and QGIS can open both these formats. Opening these formats also depends on several other relevant files being present. However, a map file such as a .wor, .mxd or .qgs, can only be opened by the software which created it. So if you want to send a QGIS user maps in a MapInfo format you should send all the individual layers which make up the map rather that in a MapInfo workspace .wor format. Additionally, information about how those layers should display as well as projection information should be included.
Being able to read and write to files in various formats has always been a problem with software and it is not an issue which just relates to GIS solutions. With software upgrades it is often the case that even users of the same GIS solution can run into problems when one user is on a different version to another. Understanding that compatibility can be an issue means that extra care should be taken. This will ensure that when maps are being used between different GIS versions and solutions these compatibility problems are understood so that they do not become an issue.
If you would like to further explore how GIS could help your organisation jps services offers one and two day training courses in QGIS, ArcGIS and MapInfo.
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