13 replies to this topic

[greg585]

Thinking of purchasing Surfer as currently only have an ArcView license and require some contours. Will probably require more functionality too but the $14,000 aud for an upgrade to a ArcEditor license is slightly steep! Especially when Surfer is only $700 aud.

Has anyone used Surfer much? Any good?

Thanks in advance,

Greg

[Charles Syrett]

I've used Surfer for years and I'm quite happy with it. It has good controls for shading as well. You could also try Manifold, which is less specialized but has lots of other GIS capabilities. Global Mapper will also do contours, but it doesn't have a choice of interpolation algorithms, which you get with Surfer and Manifold.

Charles Syrett
Map Graphics
http://www.mapgraphics.com

[Ed Gage]

Thinking of purchasing Surfer as currently only have an ArcView license and require some contours. Will probably require more functionality too but the $14,000 aud for an upgrade to a ArcEditor license is slightly steep! Especially when Surfer is only $700 aud.

Has anyone used Surfer much? Any good?

Thanks in advance,

Greg

Surfer is installed in our teaching lab at University. Very nice feature set, but is geared towards geostatistical analysis, interpolation methods (krigging, etc.). If you are just looking to generate contours from a raster layer (e.g. DEM), you might try the open-source (and free) QGIS. Check out the following tutorial...

How to generate contours using raster data in Quantum GIS (QGIS)
http://www.gistutor....m-gis-qgis.html

[greg585]

Cheers for that Charles, will definitely look into manifold as its cheaper than surfer and looks have have more functionality!

Ed - I usually make the contours from point data (usually bore holes). Used to use QGIS to do this but they have updated the contour add on so it does not appear to work any more. Think you are mean't to download a few other bits of software with different libraries on them for it to work. so now even if you follow the guide step by step the contour feature does not work

http://www.gistutor....m-gis-qgis.html

Cheers,
Greg

[bljm]

Hi Greg,

Have you downloaded and evaluated the Surfer 10 demo version (www.goldensoftware.com)? I want to make sure you have everything you need to make the most of your Surfer evaluation. If there is anything I can do to help your evaluation or answer any questions, please let me know.

Thanks,
Kari Dickenson
Golden Software
kari@goldensoftware.com

Cheers for that Charles, will definitely look into manifold as its cheaper than surfer and looks have have more functionality!

Ed - I usually make the contours from point data (usually bore holes). Used to use QGIS to do this but they have updated the contour add on so it does not appear to work any more. Think you are mean't to download a few other bits of software with different libraries on them for it to work. so now even if you follow the guide step by step the contour feature does not work

http://www.gistutor....m-gis-qgis.html

Cheers,
Greg

[Esther Mandeno]

Thinking of purchasing Surfer as currently only have an ArcView license and require some contours. Will probably require more functionality too but the $14,000 aud for an upgrade to a ArcEditor license is slightly steep! Especially when Surfer is only $700 aud.

Has anyone used Surfer much? Any good?

Thanks in advance,

Greg

Surfer is great for generating contours. We have it all: most of the Golden software suite and ArcGIS. I use Spatial Analyst and 3D Analyst. With all those tools, I usually have what I need to create terrain features. With that said, Surfer will get the job done.

You can also take a look at GlobalMapper. That's another nifty, light-weight GIS data converter (and will generate contours). We have that too!

[greg585]

Sorry late reply been on holiday. Got the Surfer Demo up and running and so far all good! Will let you know how i get on. Thanks for all the information/advice.

Greg

[Sab]

I recommend QGIS + GRASS. It has all features for creating DEM or contours you may need.

[Hans van der Maarel]

I recommend QGIS + GRASS. It has all features for creating DEM or contours you may need.

But in a previous post Greg indicated that QGIS didn't seem to be working for him. Is there any light you can shed on that?

[Sab]

I recommend QGIS + GRASS. It has all features for creating DEM or contours you may need.

But in a previous post Greg indicated that QGIS didn't seem to be working for him. Is there any light you can shed on that?

Used to use QGIS to do this but they have updated the contour add on so it does not appear to work any more.

The reason given is very vague and I won't be able to help. But usually you need to set GDAL environment for QGIS. if you are a Windows and Mac user:
From the main menu, Raster > GDALtools settings.
I am using the latest version with no problem.

Cheers
Saber

[greg585]

So far very impressed with the Surfer features - makes some good contours from a range of selectable methods.

Sabre - After more trying to get it working on QGIS i have downloaded the new version of QGIS but i'm still unable to make contours from point data.

After i have added my point data and i press the Contour button a different error appears -

"Your matplotlib python module seems to not have the required version for using the last contouring algorithms. Please note : your points datas must be placed on a regular grid before calling this plugin, or update your matplotlib module to >= 1.0.0"

So i downloaded the new version of matplotlib. But when i try and install it says i need python 2.7 or above to install it.

Installed the python 3.1 and but matplot fails to find it when i try and install.

Not really sure what else i can do, if you have any ideas . .

Cheers,

Greg

[Sab]

You need to install QGIS through OSGeo4W.
There is an Advanced (first screen) option where you can choose dependencies.
This might help:
http://www.surfaces.co.il/?p=793

[MeteoInfo]

You can try MeteoInfo which is freely available at http://www.meteothinker.com. It's quit easy to create contours from point or grid data. IDW and Cressman interpolation methods are provided at present.

For example:
The precipitation data analysis process is attached as figures.
Input station precipitation data -> Create point layer of the stations -> Create shaded layer from the station data -> Set IDW interpolation method / Set Cressman interpolation method -> Edit the legend scheme -> Mask out the figure with polygon boundaries -> Make publish-ready plot in layout section.

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[greg585]

Cheers guys, got QGIS working through the OSGeo4W installer and checking out meteothinker now which looks great!