Everything that I used to do in Matlab, I now do in Python, safe in the knowledge I can take the scripts with me wherever I go.In this post I describe the free programs that I use every day, and what I use them for.I do not use them simply to conform to stereotypes about cheap Scotsmen.
Any workflows or methods can be taken to different computers, different institutions or sent to friends in different countries without worries about expensive licences. Geophysical Software Software Such AsI also use some free ( gratis ) proprietary software such as Google Earth. While philosophically different to FLOSS software, for practical purposes the advantages are the same. There are many websites about the advantages of switching to Linux and the high-profile organisations that have already done so. You definitely dont need to be a geek to run it, but it can help to have one around to set it up in the first place. It has the HUGE advantage that once you know the commands to do what you need, you can write them in a script and repeat the task 1000 times with very little extra effort. It feels like your computer is working for you and most of my workflows now take advantage of this. It is based on the popular Ubuntu distribution so it has a wide range of software available in easily-installed packages and there are lots of helpful tutorials for it online. The latest versions of Ubuntu have a tablet-style interface; I prefer the way that Mint sets things up for the desktop. You could also try Xubuntu or Linux Mint Cinnamon instead as both are the same under the hood. Each comes as a LiveCD, so you try them out without altering your system. Windows and Mac versions exist for most and can be found with a quick Google search. It handles raster and vector data in all formats and is easily scriptable to automate workflows. I use it to create new GIS datasets from raw data e.g. LiDAR point clouds, digitising field maps, image analysis of multispectral remote-sensing data. It is ideal for making and printing maps from pre-existing datasets. It also has a nice georeferencing tool and can be used as an interface to GRASS GIS. Includes OGR, which does the same with vector files (e.g. This is what actually does a lot of work behind-the-scenes in GRASS and QGIS. You wont see an issue of Journal of Geophysical Research that doesnt contain at least one figure made in GMT. The best feature is the ability to geotag photos then view them in Google Earth ( see video here ). It is widely-used by scientists and is extremely versatile because it can be easily extended using addon modules such as these below.
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