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Hardware Requirements for GIS

posted by Satri on Thursday August 09, @02:21PM        Permalink  Trackback URI  Slashdotthis  Diggthis  Del.icio.us
from the give-me-teraflops dept.

GIS Monitor offers an article on hardware requirements for GIS. From the article's introduction: "Conversations I had this week with two dozen geospatial professionals confirmed my impression that there are two short answers: "it depends" and "it's a non-issue." Because of the first answer, in what follows I will often use such words as "usually" or "mostly." The second answer is due to the fact that, in general, new software releases are not pushing the limits of hardware bought within the last couple of years. Hardware requirements for GIS depend primarily on: * the tasks to be performed * the size of the files used * the total volume of GIS work to be performed * how often the most demanding tasks are performed * the percentage of time, if any, spent in the field."

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• Hardware Issues

  (Score:2, Insightful)

  by johnjreiser (143) on Thursday August 09, @02:48PM (#1632)
  ( http://www.njstateatlas.com/ )

  Your processor speed is limited to processing information it can store and retrieve. Having multiple hard drives or a RAID array to work off of is a key to having some of your larger datasets process faster. A large amount of system memory also helps.
• Statements miss the point

  (Score:3, Insightful)

  by mcoyne (209) on Thursday August 09, @11:31PM (#1634)

  All fine and good if you live in a "developed" country. What about the developing world that can't afford to have even two-year old computers, not to mention the GIS software. When I hear statements like the ones in this article it tells me that many geospatial professionals don't get it. The real power is in making GIS accessible and easy to use for as many people as possible. Tying any application to a particular OS or even moderate system requirements only limits it's ultimate usefulness.