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Is there any place one can find a list of ArcGIS alternative or near-alternative tools found in (any of) the open source softwares? I am not looking for software but individual tools found in the software.

I started my GIS career with ArcGIS. Today I am using more and more Open Source software such as QGIS, SAGA GIS, and R among others. I have spent hours and hours of time when finding different tools that do the same thing as those so conveniently found in ArcGIS (because you know what to look for). It would be very convenient and time saving to just check the alternative from a list than spend time googling and reading various manuals and doing trial and error at your desktop.

e.g., ArcMap: Spatial Analyst: Raster calculator - SAGA GIS: Grid Calculus: Grid Calculator

I see that there are several threads dealing with this, but they are regarding this with a smaller scope:

  1. Seeking open source alternative to ArcGIS Desktop's Integrate tool?
  2. GDAL (or other open-source) equivalent of Arc's Point To Raster Tool
  3. Are there open source alternatives to ArcCatalog?

I am looking after a comprehensive, "dictionary type" of list.

So is there a comprehensive list or a site regarding this, and if not, how could we get one? I think this would be very useful for a whole lot of people!

PolyGeo
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reima
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    Urgh...was just about to answer =). Here is a link to a matrix which compares GIS software with various functionality. I found it very useful. This link is for the owner's blog which asks the same question. – Joseph Mar 23 '15 at 11:20
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    That's awesome, this type of comparison is what I am looking after, although it could be more detailed (from software to tool level). Hope this reopens, I don't consider this as duplicate! – reima Mar 23 '15 at 11:24
  • Yeah it's a brilliant matrix, I'm glad it was made as it is very useful to compare functions and tools! – Joseph Mar 23 '15 at 11:29
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    @PolyGeo This question is about tools, not software (or products), which is the case in the linked duplicate question. – reima Mar 23 '15 at 11:43
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    There are regularly questions on GIS.SE that are (essentially), "How can I do [ArcMap operation] in [not ArcMap software]?" and having a glossary/dictionary like this to refer to could be a huge help :) – Erica Mar 23 '15 at 14:24
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    Sorry, imho, even if this is not a duplicate, it is still much too broad to fit the format of this site as specified in our [faq]. – underdark Mar 23 '15 at 18:41
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    I agree with @underdark: A proper answer to this question would list literally thousands of tools and hundreds of web sites--and by the time it could be assembled it would have substantially changed. I'm not suggesting that would lack usefulness, but only that it's more than will fit our format or that we can successfully curate here. – whuber Mar 23 '15 at 19:58
  • @whuber Yes, I agree the complete answer would be very long (maybe it would be easier to handle just QGIS-ArcGIS). Maybe this thread, per se, is not the best forum to post complete answers (lists), but my question was asking whether there is already something like that, and if not, what would be the proper way to do so, is it some sort of wiki-page, or what..? At least I think this is the best forum to start research on this! I see there is a lot of interest to this just by looking at the number of individual threads considering the ArcGIS alternative tools! – reima Mar 24 '15 at 06:07
  • The three earlier Q&As that you list and say have a smaller scope are to me well scoped for the focussed Q&A that we do here. If I were looking for an alternative to an ArcGIS tool I would use Google and/or GIS SE to search direct for such a tool rather than searching here for a list and then visiting and searching through that list. – PolyGeo Mar 24 '15 at 11:30
  • @PolyGeo There is absolutely nothing wrong with those questions, and they do have "a good scope". I'm just saying that does it make sense to start a new thread regarding every individual tool? If such list or glossary would exist (as a wikipage or whatever), it would be pointless to do so and a lot of time would be saved. After all the question was about whether such list exists (y/n) and if not, how could we get one? Maybe this is wrong forum to ask this kind of question or raise discussion, but I couldn't figure a better one, after all I think it is here where most GIS-knowledge is found. – reima Mar 24 '15 at 12:43
  • We must not forget that GIS SE (and SE sites in general) is not a discussion forum which is why we talk in terms of Q&As rather than threads. Any question that seeks answers that are yes, no or a link seems problematic. I know your question is well intentioned which is why I closed it as a Duplicate rather than Too Broad because the former are usually left on SE sites much longer. – PolyGeo Mar 25 '15 at 06:21
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    I think there could exists "suitable" answers for this type of question too (e.g. Josephs comment). After all I think is only a matter of time when such glossary is going to come. Maybe I even start doing it myself :) But yes, I get your point, maybe this question is too much in the grey area of SE format, after all. – reima Mar 25 '15 at 08:05

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