GIS software - how easy is it to learn if already competent in AutoCAD?

[Mr.Alex]

Hi all,

 

I wasn't sure where to post this question. I hope here is ok.

 

As above, how easy would it be to learn GIS software if I already use AutoCAD on a daily basis?

 

Is it the kind of thing I could teach myself, and get the basics pretty quickly? Or is it much more in depth than that?

 

Thanks,

 

Alex

[Tyke]

We work with several GIS packages and whilst they are all pretty similar, they all have their own peculiarities. They are basically a CAD program but all the entities have data affixed to them and its the manipulation of this data that is the main point of GIS. The cration of objects in a GIS is not always so straight forward as in CAD, but it is possible and also needed. Your CAD skills will help you in this area.

 

Behind every GIS there is a database and a part of the job of a GIS operator is to query the database. Here your CAD skills will not be of much help. Basic queries are already saved and can be quickly called, but if you are going to write the queries yourself you need some background.

 

Basically when you know in which GIS you are going to work you could self teach but my experience is that it is better to get some training. You would get the basics pretty soon and practice will make you better. It's a steep learniing curve!

 

Good luck with it.

[Mr.Alex]

Thank you for your reply!

 

It sounds more in depth than I'd naively imagined! It's for a one off job, so I think it is sounding like too much to learn really. Although it might be a handy skill to have in the future too.

 

Thanks,

 

Alex

[Tyke]

I have five people who work dail in various GISs and at the beginning the error rate was quite high, but as time went on they improved significantly and now the error rate is almost nil, everybody makes a mistake occaisionaly.

 

I think too for a one off job it would be better to leave it alone.

[Mr.Alex]

Thanks Tyke, very useful indeed!