Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
There are a number of factors to consider:
• Your comfort level with various operating systems
• The types of applications you need
• Your budget
Typically you will choose the software for your current platform and
be on your way. For those of you who are comfortable in two or more
operating systems (say Linux, Mac OS X, or Windows), your options are
more varied. I would rank my choices pretty much in that order. If you
have a choice, Linux or OS X may be a better fit for you. If not, we plan
to show you Windows users plenty of options in the coming chapters.
To get the most benefit as an advanced (and to some extent an inter-
mediate) user, you should probably consider Linux or a Unix variant.
As your demands increase, you require software that is more readily
available on those platforms.
Budget figures in somewhat, with the hardware for some platforms
costing more than others. Since your software acquisition costs are
going to be low or nonexistent, you can afford to spend a little more on
hardware.
2.4
Selecting the Right Toolkit
We mentioned this earlier, but it's worth repeating. Pick the applications
for your toolkit based on what you want to do. There is no point in
installing every GIS application out there to view Grandma's house and
the local latte stand. Those are valid uses, but why make it hard on
yourself? On the other hand, you should think ahead a bit and keep
your options open. That way we won't end up installing a simple viewer
and expect to do volume or fill analysis. To give you a head start, we'll be
also shows the appropriate user classes. This is really a generalization,
but it does give you an idea of the level of experience appropriate for
each application. In reality, many of the applications can be used across
the spectrum of user classes.
To help you learn more about the software choices available, you can
refer to the survey of open source desktop GIS applications and the
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