TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    CARTO

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ACarto (formerly CartoDB) in Brooklyn, New York offers their location intelligence solution.N/A

    GeoStreamer

    N/AN/AGeoStreamer is a marine seismic system from PGS in Oslo.N/A

    Surfer

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ASurfer 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.N/A
    Pricing
    CARTOGeoStreamerSurfer
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    CARTOGeoStreamerSurfer
    Free Trial
    NoNoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Best Alternatives
    CARTOGeoStreamerSurfer
    Small Businesses
    ArcGIS
    Score7.8 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    ArcGIS
    Score7.8 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    ArcGIS
    Score7.8 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    CARTOGeoStreamerSurfer
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.1
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    CARTOGeoStreamerSurfer
    Likelihood to Recommend
    CARTO
    CartoDB is great for generating geographic visualizations of data where the geographies are well-defined. It would be great for analysts to develop visualizations of data with spatial elements. That being said, the software is limited if you want to do any real data munging or analysis, as it can be cumbersome to use and there isn't a great interface for actually saving the results of different manipulations (you can save it as a new file, but it's hard to do version control, etc.). I would recommend preparing the data outside of CartoDB and only using the tool for visualization once the data is well prepared.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    PGS
    No answers on this topic
    Golden Software
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    CARTO
    • It is amazing at allowing control of the visualizations. It takes a little bit to get used to but the combination of full SQL queries and CSS-like styling is very powerful.
    • The services are built on a robust stack of open source software. I was able to build a standalone instance of CartoDB relatively easily (after some research and trial and error).
    • Server side map rendering is key for handling large data sets. The way the images are returned makes them very easy to catch in an HTTP cache to minimize the hits to the server. The interactivity that CartoDB has built in makes this completely transparent to the end user, they can click on parts of the static images and be presented with popups or change map styles. It's a very clever implementation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    PGS
    No answers on this topic
    Golden Software
    • The interface is simple and easy/quick to learn, so that not much experience is needed to start generating maps.
    • The map layouts are easy to manipulate, change colors, scale, labels, contour interval, etc...
    • Simple but functional mathematical and logical functions allow for the calculation and manipulation of grids.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    CARTO
    • I don't like the new Builder UI as it has been tough to explain. Other than that I have no complaints.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    PGS
    No answers on this topic
    Golden Software
    • 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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    CARTO
    CartoDB is more user friendly and quicker to learn than ArcGIS Online and Mapbox
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    PGS
    No answers on this topic
    Golden Software
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    CARTO
    • CartoDB definitely saves a lot of time when creating visualizations. Previously, I would use different software and have to make edits manually (or just create the visualizations manually to start with). I would say that the software definitely cuts the time required to create certain visualizations by a half or two-thirds.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    PGS
    No answers on this topic
    Golden Software
    • 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!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots