Quantum GIS is considered to be the fastest advancing
open source GIS application today.
Quantum GIS is able to run on Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX operating
systems. The aim of Quantum GIS is to
eventually become a completely functional GIS system, with advanced analysis
capabilities. This will occur over time,
as Quantum GIS is barely four years old.
Quantum GIS is mostly written in C++. The main features of Quantum GIS include the
following:
·
Zoom controls
·
Measurement tools
·
Identify tool
·
Interactive selection tool
·
Move map button
·
Pointer tool
·
Open table data capabilities
The article summaries below will help you to better
understand Quantum GIS from a user’s perspective in real world situations.
Author: Derek (last name not given)
Mac GIS Software Review, Part 1
Cartographica.com Website
Created: February 28, 2006
Accessed: August 4, 2006
http://www.cartographica.com/article.php?story=20060228220202157&mode=print
This article consists of the author
reviewing several open source GIS programs.
The author installed and ran them on Mac OS X. Even though this is a proprietary OS, it is
based on UNIX and BSD, of which Linux is based.
The author discussed each program under the following areas: basic
program information, major features of each, ease of use, an analysis
challenge, and overall results from his experience with each program.
In
the part of the article pertaining to Quantum GIS, the author discussed its
ability to allow both basic raster and vector based analysis functions. He stated Quantum GIS supports ESRI shape
files, ArcInfo coverages, MapInfo data, all OGR formats, and PostGIS data
layers. Also discussed was the ability
to enter X & Y data coordinates into Quantum GIS. The author liked the programs plug in
manager, which allowed the user to deal with GPS and georeferenced data. Especially liked by the author was the
programs ease of changing symbology and adding data.
The
major problem that author had with Quantum GIS was no real analysis plug-ins
were available for use with the program.
Another problem was the inability of the program to use its buffer tool
with native ESRI shape files without first having to import them into PostGIS
format.
Overall, the author thought Quantum GIS
was easy to use, but it had some flaws that hindered it from becoming a
complete GIS system. He felt the
programs online documentation held a lot of promise with its easy to read
installation manual and user guide. The
article ended with the author stating Quantum GIS had a lot of promise, but
would be best used as a viewer at the present.
Authors: Engineering Technologies Canada Ltd.
Open Source GIS for Small Businesses in the
Engineering Technologies
Accessed: August 4, 2006
http://engtech.ca/archives/OpenSource_GIS_Review.pdf
This
article discussed three major open source GIS programs: GRASS GIS, Quantum GIS, and Mapserver Web
GIS. This summary will concern the
authors review of Quantum GIS. The
author stated that Quantum GIS was not a fully functioning GIS tool, since it
did not have any complex analysis tools.
The authors did note that with PostGIS and PostgreSQL,
Quantum GIS could work with databases and queries, and be able to present the
results. Quantum GIS was noted for its
excellent GUI interface. The supportive
user group of Quantum GIS was also discussed as being good providers of useful
information.
Drawbacks
to Quantum GIS were that it was still relatively new and constantly being
updated, along with the fact that it did not have fully featured analysis
tools. The authors noted that if the
program was used with other analysis tool programs that it could become a very
effective GIS system.
If you would like to find out more about Quantum GIS,
feel free to click on the following link: http://www.qgis.org. The link is to the Quantum GIS website, where
you can find excellent documentation and help concerning this program.
You can also click on the following link to see
screenshots of Quantum in action.
http://qgis.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=107&Itemid=80