1. Using Open Source GIS Technology overview Presented by Aaron Racicot – GIS Programmer aaronr@ecotrust.org January 25, 2006 A Citizen of Salmon Nation

2. Outline  Introduction  Benefits/Limitations of Open Source  Technology Overview  OS GIS – Desktop Environments  OS GIS – Server Tools  Workflows of interest  Desktop “paper map” publishing  Web map publishing  Web-Based real-time decision support  Where is it all going?  Where to go for more info

3. Who am I… B.S. Computer Science Split Personality Telemark/BC Skiing Rafting Guide Mountain Rescue M.S. Environmental Science Open Source User/Developer GIS Programmer

4. Ecotrust - Salmon Nation

5. Why Open Source? “Free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. Free Software!

6. Freedom

7. Benefits/Limitations of Open Source Benefits: –Software cost = $0 –Source code is available and modifiable –User and development communities flourish –Development cycles are VERY fast Limitations: –Total cost is NOT = $0 –Many applications are not as polished as the proprietary counterparts –Compatibility with proprietary software can be an issue

8. OS GIS – Desktop Environments GRASS GIS

9. OS GIS - Server Tools GRASS GIS GDAL/OGR R-Statistics

10. OS GIS – Server Tools Pro’s: –Wide variety of platforms supported (i.e. UNIX, Linux, Windows, Mac OS) –Often very fast and efficient for the job –Many formats supported –You can pick the best tool for the job –Most conform to the OGC standards for interoperability Con’s: –Linking them together is often hard –Write support is often not supported for proprietary formats –Ability to integrate into proprietary systems is limited (i.e. can not link PostGIS database to ArcMap…yet) –Separate packages all with their own strengths –Requires multiple installs and maintenance –User interfaces are often the last part of development –Harder to produce traditional “paper maps”

11. Workflows of Interest Most GIS applications have a similar work flow pattern…  Gather spatially explicit data  Process that data to suit the user needs  Produce outputs useful to the end user

12. Work Flow – Paper Map Publishing Data Gathering Data Formatting Data Processing Map Formatting Map Production User Request User Response

13. Workflow – What OSGIS is good at Data Gathering Data Formatting Data Processing Map Formatting Map Production User Request User Response Great at data processing but poor at formatting and creating paper maps Paper Map Publishing

14. Example – Paper Map Publishing QGISArcMap

15. Work Flow – Web Map Publishing Map Formatting Map Production Web User Request Web User Response Static Data Storage Web Services

16. Work Flow – What OSGIS is good at Map Formatting Map Production Web User Request Web User Response Static Data Storage Web Services Great at all aspects of traditional web-based mapping Web Map Publishing

17. Examples – Web Map Publishing Custom DHTML/JavaScript Chameleon

18. Examples – Web Map Publishing Ka-Map DM Solutions Cartoweb3 CampToCamp

19. Work Flow – Real-Time Web DST Web User Request Web User Response Static Data Storage Web Services Data Gathering Data Formatting Data Processing Map Formatting Map Production Real-Time Web Decision Support Tools

20. Work Flow – What OSGIS is good at Web User Request Web User Response Static Data Storage Web Services Data Gathering Data Formatting Data Processing Map Formatting Map Production The Problem Is The Arrows! Connecting a web request to server side GIS analysis is tricky Real-Time Web Decision Support Tools

21. Example – Real-Time Web DST Siuslaw Watershed Restoration Initiative

22. Work Flow – Real-Time Web DST Data Gathering Data Formatting Data Processing GRASS Mapserver Mapserver on the front end… GRASS on the back end…

23. Ecotrust Example At Ecotrust we are trying to help pull it all together in an Open Source context - QGIS and GRASS as a desktop supplement - QT as an application development framework - PostGIS to store vector data layers - Mapserver as a web-based front end - Chameleon/Custom Interface as a client user interface - GRASS as a server side GIS for DST development - OGR/GDAL to pre-process all of the vector and raster data - R-Statistics and GMT for graphing and statistical work

24. Ecotrust Example - OCEANSystem Chameleon Mapserver R-Statistics User driven… Web interactive tools… GIS analytical computing… PostGISGRASS

25. Ecotrust Example - OCEANSystem QGIS/GRASS

26. Where is it all going? Real-Time Decision Support Tools Integration of OS software across organizations “Google” type interfaces (smooth user experience) –AJAX driven –Streaming media –Seamless datasets Large datasets require more pre-processing Pressure on large private companies to become more responsive to end user needs Integration of OSGIS with proprietary software – required for migration path… Start of services based business…

27. The Future of GIS in Salmon Nation QGIS/GRASS GIS Web-Based Mapserver R-Statistics GMT Fully Integrated Open-Source GIS QGIS/GRASS GIS – Fully functional server GIS doing the heavy lifting. Runs on the server located at Ecotrust. UMN Mapserver – Making data accessible via the web. Geo- spatial server viewed through a web browser. Taking our vision to a growing audience. Adding the analytical glue to make smart decisions based upon sound GIS analysis. Making GIS analysis accessible and affordable for Salmon Nation

28. Where to go for more info OSGIS  Maptools - http://www.maptools.org  FreeGIS - http://freegis.org/  Open Source GIS - http://opensourcegis.org/ Standards  OGC - http://www.opengeospatial.org/ Desktop  GRASS - http://grass.itc.it/  QGIS - http://qgis.org/  UDIG - http://udig.refractions.net/confluence/display/UDIG/Home  JUMP – http://jump-project.org/  OpenEV - http://openev.sourceforge.net/ Server/Web  Mapserver - http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/  GRASS - http://grass.itc.it/  PostGIS - http://postgis.refractions.net/ Tools  Remote Sensing - http://remotesensing.org/tiki-index.php  GDAL/OGR - http://gdal.maptools.org/index.html  PROJ.4 - http://proj.maptools.org/

29. The End Tool Screen Shots Follow

30. Backup - GRASS

31. Backup - QGIS

32. Backup - OSSIM

33. Backup - UDIG

34. Backup - JUMP

35. Backup – R-Statistics

36. Backup – PostGIS Geometry WKT Geometry