[ale] Just Announced - GIS Mapping Workshops in Georgia

[Brian Pitts]

Jim Kinney wrote:
> It will be a great day when ESRI uses an open standard for their file
> format so ArcGIS can be used to produce an output file that doesn't
> require a closed, proprietary product to review. As slick of a tool as
> ESRI make, my wife was furious that her class project was going to be
> essentially lost to her permanently once class was over unless we fork
> out $$$ for ArcGIS AND $ for a Microsoft license. So she has only a
> PDF we managed to generate using opensource print to pdf tools.
> 
> At least a freely available ArcGIS reader that runs on Linux, Mac and
> Windows would be an improvement. Maybe an ArcGIS-lite with a maximum
> layer count of say - 10 - and a maximum number of specified
> coordinates of say - 100 all at a cost under $100.
> 
> In the meantime, GIS-GRASS, PostGIS and other freed tool chains get used here.
> 

The last time I worked with someone using ArcGIS, they sent me
shapefiles. [0] I had no trouble viewing them using QGIS or working with
them using utilities from mapserver and gdal.

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapefile

All the best,
Brian Pitts