An assessment method for GIS-T software

Abstract

The objective of the research work summarized in this paper was to develop a method to assess, concerning its functional and performance characteristics, GIS software applied to transportation planning (the so-called GIS-T packages). Three computer packages were compared with the developed procedure,which focuses on several characteristics: descriptive aspects (e.g., learning time and customization possibilities, among others), basic GIS operational characteristics, advanced GIS features, and transportation planning routines. In order to conduct a more effective analysis of their potential as a transportation planning tool they were all applied for finding a solution of a problem involving the calculation of a simple, straightforward accessibility measure. The results found suggest that all three systems comply with the minimum configuration desired for GIS software. However, only two of them fit in the GIS-T category, since the third one did not supply the main necessary tools to solve the specific transportation problem proposed.