Metafory warstwy, mapy i stylu graficznego w ArcGIS, MapInfo i Aviso

Metodę semantyczną przedstawioną w poprzednim artykule autora zastosowano do analizy podstawowych metafor trzech programów GIS, z których dwa są popularnymi produktami rynkowymi, a trzeci jest dziełem autora.

Semantic analysis, outlined in previous paper (W. Pomianowski 2005), has been applied to three GIS packages. ArcGIS and Maplnfo are commercially successful and popular mapping tools, Aviso was conceived by author and is not yet available to the public. The analysis revealed that common set of terms is used in three systems, but the meaning beyond them is different. Graphics style metaphor is most uniform in three systems. ArcGIS and Aviso seem to be closely related in the way they build upon map and layer metaphors, while Maplnfo suffers from inconsistencies, terminological confusion and lazy coding. The strength and high abstraction level of metaphors is not crucial for casual cartography, however it becomes important for advanced cartographic projects, where map long term maintenance is a major factor.