In the early 1980's gis systems were becoming available to a much wider audience than in previous decades. Up to this time some organisations had spent millions on specialised mainframe based solutions. These systems often had plotting capabilities which alone often cost between £50,000 and £100,000 per device. Taking inflation into account this represented an investment of more than £135,000 for a single monochrome electrostatic plotting device at today's prices. In the circumstances, thirty years ago gis systems were only available to the largest of organisations.
Fortunately the arrival of the IBM personal computer enabled enterprising organisations like ESRI and MapInfo to produce gis systems which were financially within the reach of a much wider audience than the mainframe systems achieved. MapInfo was very successful at offering a low cost solution and was able to offer gis software significantly cheaper than its main rival ESRI. At this time ESRI was concentrating on a more specialised market offering sophisticated solutions based on a Unix work station platform. At that time an ESRI workstation solution could easily cost in excess of £20,000 for a single seat. This is equivalent to £50,000 today and so still represented a substantial investment. MapInfo offered less powerful pc based solutions for approximately a tenth of ESRI workstation solutions. MapInfo grew very rapidly building a large and successful user base. By offering low cost gis software, when compared with its main competitor ESRI, MapInfo expanded rapidly providing very capable gis solutions to a mass market.
As markets developed over the last thirty years MapInfo and ESRI have remained significant players in the gis arena. Whilst MapInfo is now part of the Pitney Bowes organisation ESRI has remained independent. Significantly ESRI has developed a range of systems to rival MapInfo software in both price and functionality.
As gis has become more popular with all sizes of organisations the cost of entry has continued to fall significantly in real terms. This has enabled many more small and medium sized organisations to invest and benefit from gis by making use of the many powerful features it provides. Modern desk top gis is enabling companies to make better commercial decisions based on the powerful and easy to use features available within both open source and proprietary solutions.
With the introduction of open source solutions such as Quantum GIS the entry level has again been lowered to the point where it is now within the reach of any organisation or individual. Open source means that now everyone is able to use gis solutions to help grow their businesses. Open source has also enabled many larger organisations to encourage greater usage of gis as the investment cost is confined to support and training. Whilst it is fair to say that gis solutions such as Quantum GIS are free to down load and install there is still a requirement to understand what the software can and cannot achieve when compared to proprietary alternatives. For many small and medium companies it may be all that is required. Even the largest organisations could use Quantum GIS to complement proprietary software in order to make better use of their gis investment.
As markets developed over the last thirty years MapInfo and ESRI have remained significant players in the gis arena. Whilst MapInfo is now part of the Pitney Bowes organisation ESRI has remained independent. Significantly ESRI has developed a range of systems to rival MapInfo software in both price and functionality.
As gis has become more popular with all sizes of organisations the cost of entry has continued to fall significantly in real terms. This has enabled many more small and medium sized organisations to invest and benefit from gis by making use of the many powerful features it provides. Modern desk top gis is enabling companies to make better commercial decisions based on the powerful and easy to use features available within both open source and proprietary solutions.
With the introduction of open source solutions such as Quantum GIS the entry level has again been lowered to the point where it is now within the reach of any organisation or individual. Open source means that now everyone is able to use gis solutions to help grow their businesses. Open source has also enabled many larger organisations to encourage greater usage of gis as the investment cost is confined to support and training. Whilst it is fair to say that gis solutions such as Quantum GIS are free to down load and install there is still a requirement to understand what the software can and cannot achieve when compared to proprietary alternatives. For many small and medium companies it may be all that is required. Even the largest organisations could use Quantum GIS to complement proprietary software in order to make better use of their gis investment.
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