Esri in Redlands, California offers ArcGIS, a geographic information system.
$100
per year
Surfer
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Surfer is a data visualization suite from Golden Software in Colorado for oil and gas companies, or other entities in other industries requiring geological or environmental data.
I'm very grateful to be able to use it, and I have a master's degree with a focus in Geospatial Analysis. There can be a bit of a learning curve, and I try to build user-friendly ways for volunteers to see & collect data. Meanwhile, if a colleague is less confident with building such a system, it may be more difficult for them to implement.
Surfer has been excellent for us, a small company, to process the electrical resistivity, refraction microtremor, and MASW data collected in the field. There are an increasing number of programs capable of assisting in this geophysical analysis but Surfer is the most advanced. The ability to create both 2D and 3D figures in the program while managing data is a huge help. It also greatly improved report quality and helped clients better understand what the results were for a study.
The user interface can be tricky at first. It's a little rough around the edges and takes a little time to get the hang of.
Not an ideal application for older employees. There are too many things with the interface that make it not worthwhile to train employees with less computer experience.
Manipulating data within Surfer is difficult because you have to do things in a certain order. Not terrible if you get the hang of it but certainly frustrating at first.
Simply because the program deserves it. It seems to me that it is a fundamental tool for the storage, analysis, and interpretation of medium and large-scale phenomena, unmanageable with traditional engineering software. Its versatility in the handling of the different "layers" with which the data is handled and interpolation tools, make this software a powerful ally both for companies and for the educational part of the universities.
Once set up, the tools are extremely easy to use. I had a staff member develop a tool for field data collection, that included an external and internal dashboards to monitor progress in days. The field workers that collected the data, barely knew how to use a computer, and within minutes they could use the application that was configured for them.
ArcGIS' web support is quite good. They also have a broad user base that is active in answering community members' questions. For more sophisticated questions, ArcGIS technical support is good at answering questions, although answers usually are not instantaneously available. I'd also say that ArcGIS is working hard at making its technical support more reachable, at least it appears that way.
My students love the "drop" feature in Google Maps, but besides that it truly doesn't compare. I love that you can add, delete, or change layers to this map to better understand its larger affect. There are many more ways to manipulate maps on ArcGIS than on Google Maps. I can also add personal details and information if I want to create a specific map, something that I am unable to do with Google
Surfer is very unique with respect to its capabilities. I am not aware of any other mapping software that is at the same time flexible, has a friendly interface, and creates such nice-looking maps.
The worst thing about Surfer is the cost. My company can only afford one license at the moment which means only one employee gets to use it regularly. Not so great when someone is sick or you have a huge wave of projects.
The user interface is a little rough but younger employees have been great at catching on quickly and producing great images.
There's nothing else quite like Surfer. It's versatile and not to difficult to use so, though the licenses are expensive, it is an excellent program that has done wonders for our company!
