Program Reviews

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Last updated on Tue 13 Jul 1999 at 05:47 PM

I've written reviews of Visual Modflow and Processing Modflow for Windows (PMWIN) Argus ONE and Groundwater Vistas. I also contributed to a review of GMS 2.0 (Ground Water, Vol 35, No. 4 p. 728-729.). The developers of GMS have posted that review on their web site. On this page, I briefly list my opinions about the primary differences I see between the three programs. Newer versions of the Argus ONE MODFLOW interface, Visual MODFLOW, Processing MODFLOW have been released since these reviews were written. Thus those reviews are now outdated.

One person has sent in a comment about Visual MODFLOW.

two comments have been sent in about Argus ONE:

• Comment 1
• Comment 2 (This one is from Argus itself.)

	Argus ONE 4.2 with MODFLOW/MT3D PIE 1.0	Visual Modflow 2.0	PMWIN 4.0	Groundwater Vistas 2.15
Operating system	Windows 95 or Windows NT	DOS (but can run under Windows too).	Windows (but can't perform many common Windows functions).	Windows 95, 98, and NT
Supplementary Packages supported	PCG2, DE4, BCF5	BCF2, PCG2, HFB, CHD	BCF2, PCG2, HFB, CHD, STR, IBS, RES, DE4	BCF3, PCG2, HFB, CHD, STR, IBS, Variable anisotropy package
Unsupported packages included in the MODFLOW executable	All USGS Packages plus variable anisotropy package	STR, GFD, BCF3	BCF3, GFD1, TLK1	TLK, DE4, GFD, RES
Supported programs	MODFLOW96, MT3D	MODFLOW88, MODPATH, ZONEBDGT MT3D	MODFLOW88, PMPATH, Water Budget Calculator, MT3D, PEST (UCODE in PMWIN 5)	MODFLOW88, MODFLOWT, MODFLOW/SURFACT, MODPATH, MT3D, RT3D, PATH3D, PEST
Version of MT3D supported	public domain	public domain	public domain	public domain
Model types	3D, quasi-3D	3D	3D, quasi-3D	3D, quasi-3D
particle tracking	not supported	steady state, transient	steady state, transient	steady state, transient
ease of use	very easy	very easy	very easy	very easy
automatic specification of proper stress periods	no	yes	no	no
grid refinement	best	better	good	better
Handling of cell properties during grid refinement	best	better	good	better
ability to expand physical model dimensions	yes	no	yes	yes
ability to inport data from MODFLOW input files	no	yes	no	yes
units conversion	yes	yes	limited	no
editing modes	plan view	plan and cross-sectional view	plan view	plan view
ability to directly edit all input parameters	no	no	yes	yes (except recharge layer)
on-line help	extensive	limited	extensive	extensive
special features	Extremely flexible methods for entering property values, Source code for MODFLOW PIE is in the public domain and can thus be modified by anyone with the requisite skills to support additional packages or methods, New interpolation methods and other new functionality can be supplied by the user by writing plug-in extensions.	WHS solver, and data interpolation	data interpolation, stochastic field generator	MODFLOW documentation converted to help files, Telescopic mesh refinement, simulate variable density conditions using equivalent fresh water heads. calibration statistics and plots
Ease of use of water budget program	not currently supported	easier	easy	easier
graphics quality	good	better	good	better
theoretical maximum model size (may require enormous memory to achieve)	limited only by MODFLOW96 itself (200 layers maximum) and computer memory	500x500x60	2000x2000x80	limited only by MODFLOW 88 itself 80 layers maximum) and computer memory

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