Eric, in your column you dwelled on the “free as in free beer” aspect of open source, where anybody can download the software and use it, gratis. ![]() Through the efforts of the worldwide communities of enthusiastic, part-time developers who program in their own time, these open source geospatial products of great sophistication are made available to those who need them most!Īgain, thank you for hi-lighting open source geospatial products in your column! In fact, for the vast majority of potential users (such as those I worked with), what are in the current versions are more than enough for their needs. If you take a close look at QGIS, for example, you’ll see that the current release version (1.7.4) and the development version (1.9.x) contain highly sophisticated tools that rival those from commercial packages. Without open source GIS products, none of this would have been possible, especially in today’s economic climate. Granted, the maps were fairly simple maps, but perfectly adequate to communicate to their constituents whatever needed to be communicated. ![]() In other townships, I initially had to sit down and coach them in the use of QGIS and uDig, but they soon caught on and started producing their own mapping products. Such open source web mapping tools included Open Layers, Geoserver, and even Google Maps API, even though Google Maps API is not, strictly speaking, open source. For a couple of townships, I just had to show them how to download and install these tools, and then they were off on their own! After they created paper maps and such for their use (planning commission work, recreational planning, and so on), I made online interactive versions for their websites using open source tools. (Here again, up here in rural northwest lower Michigan, townships typically can’t.) The townships up here typically have populations in the low thousands.įor this segment of potential users, open source desktop GIS tools such as QGIS and uDig turned out to be just what was needed. In other townships, staff have enthusiasm for, but not training in, GIS tools, and are willing to spend the time to learn and use them if their townships can provide them with such tools. There, some of the staff may actually be trained in using commercial GIS tools (from previous employment or from schools), but their small, rural townships may not be able to afford licenses for them. Open source tools, I think, represent an “enabling” technology and movement, especially for impoverished township governments like those I worked with in northern Michigan. ![]() There are over 1200 of them in the state. Last year, I finished an online MGIS degree from Penn State, using open source GIS and web mapping tools with local township staff for my “capstone project.” Here in Michigan, townships are the local units of government that are below counties in the hierarchy of governments. I’ve been following your writings for a few years now, and I’m delighted to see you bring up open source geospatial software in your column! His point is that with open source GIS, anyone can modify the software source code to add or change features of the software. The first letter points out an important fact about open source GIS that I didn’t touch on last week. I’d love to hear from more folks about their open source GIS apps. There are two letters from readers I’d like to share with you because I think they clearly represent two different perspectives of the open source GIS discussion. ![]() I received a bit of email from my article last week on open source GIS.
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