The (new) GIS Toolkit:

Transcription

1 The (new) GIS Toolkit: Mixing and matching open source and commercial GIS tools to meet individual GIS needs and goals Randal Hale - NRGS Carol Kraemer - NRGS

2 Why limit yourself to one solution? Fulcrum QGIS Desktop

3 Who am I and Why am I here... Randal Hale Started my GIS career in 1992 with TVA Did a lot of things with regards to maps, photogrammetry, data collection mapping standards. Retired in 2008 to concentrate on NRGS Since then I ve done a lot more things with regards to maps, clients, GIS, databases, travel, etc. Boards for Mid South ASPRS, GA URISA, and active in way too many mapping communities

4 Fascinated with GIS Tools - both Open Source and Proprietary Proprietary/Commercial ESRI (22 years and counting) ERDAS/Intergraph Microstation Autocad (used just enough to not like it) Open Source FOSS4G (last three years) Linux (last 12) QGIS GRASS GDAL PostGIS/Geoserver/OpenGeoSuite OpenStreetMap

5 The motives to change my way of thinking In 2011, I started taking a different look at things... The Problem: A job for a client did not go well. What went wrong? What went right? What is in my GIS Toolkit? How many GIS tools are out there? Process vs. more software

6 The motives to change my way of thinking Listening to our clients: If I have to spend any more money on Software If I have to spend any more money on Maintenance We bought this software and it s not helping DON T SELL ME MORE STUFF!

7 Then, in 2013, NRGS ended up in the U. S. Virgin Islands! View from the Crystal Palace in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

8 Florida Puerto Rico The U.S. Virgin Islands consists of 3 main islands St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas

9 U.S. Virgin Islands Fun Facts Square Miles in Total Approximately 106,405 Residents Named by Columbus 1493 for St. Ursula and her Virgin Followers Purchased by the U.S. March from the Danish Transfer Day Still a huge tourist destination for Denmark Main Export is Rum It is cheaper than water or electricity

10 U.S. Virgin Islands Street Addressing Initiative (USVI SAI): The Pilot Project NRGS was the ground crew. We had to address 1500 houses (500 per main island) before hurricane season/deadline The company that hired NRGS doesn t use ESRI software (All Open Source) The University we were working with used nothing but ESRI Software. The only thing I cared about was data

11 What would you take? If you had to leave your office for three months what would you take? Special Considerations: Limited Internet Limited Phone Sketchy Electricity How much data do you take with you? Laptops Operating Systems? Support?

12 Parcel address marked through in favor is USPS Address...

13 The Fire Department didn t know their address

14 I could tell stories all day - BUT, the most important... It s the PROCESS! After the process was understood, we could then pull from our GIS Toolkit - a mix of Open Source and Proprietary GIS Software Fulcrum for mobile data collection (offline) TileMill for creating map tiles used within Fulcrum mobile app QGIS Desktop for data editing/attribution PostGIS/Postgresql for the server/backend Google Docs for mail merging (Address notification) ArcMap for Map Production

15 Field Crew Servers off Island Fulcrum app (mobile) Android/iPhones IPADS Fulcrum Server Office Crew QGIS Desktop Fulcrum app (web) PostGIS Google Docs ArcMap Mainland Office QGIS Desktop Postgresql

16 What does this mean to you? Software can be connected as long as you have a process The software is there to support you - not the other way around. Budget: Most of the software used was free and very robust. Therefore budget wasn t an issue. At the end of the project - Data. Good clean data to help the people in the USVI.

17 Rundown of Software and how it works QGIS: My new favorite love affair with FOSS4G Supports a wide range of data and image formats With the 2.2 release, it s on a 4 month release schedule Edits Shapefiles, Spatialite, Postgis, etc... Connect to Geoserver Can share data with ArcGIS through shapefiles, Spatialite, and CSV.

18 QGIS Desktop 2.2

19 Rundown of Software and how it works Geoserver Share data out from a central location WMS/WFS/Tiled Images There s a new release about every quarter Connects to PostGIS/QGIS Can share data with ArcGIS WMS/WFS.

20 GeoServer

21 Rundown of Software and how it works PostGIS/Postgresql Postgresql has 15 years of active development PostGIS extends Postgresql with geometry Supports Raster/Vector exports geojson/shapefiles/kml, GML, etc Topology! ArcGIS can read Postgresql tables/data can be shared through shapefiles/spatialite

22 PostGIS/Postgresql

23 When should you consider these alternative GIS tools? Client has no GIS and no clue how to get started Client has a very small budget/non-existent Current Suggestion is QGIS Maybe postgresql/postgis Proper documentation/training They will need GPS Equipment FOSS4G provides a path for moving forward.

24 Example Client Scenario... Utility has ArcEditor Utility maintains all of its data in shapefiles Utility is using ArcGIS Online and doesn t understand it. Alternative solution: Suggestions are Install OpenGeo Suite Suite provides postgis/geoserver/geowebcache/geoexplorer Install QGIS for employees that have nothing. Data is maintained in a PostGIS shared as wms/wfs/spatialite Process to move data from GPS to Database Process to pull data out to shapefiles when needed. ArcGIS is there for map production/analysis They lose no existing functionality / Gain more flexibility!

25 Why should you consider mixing and matching GIS tools? One solution does not fit all. Open source software isn t difficult to use and it s very capable and budget friendly. Budget constraints. It doesn t matter what you use - focus on the data and develop a process. Don t get stuck on software. Learn some new software and gain a better understanding of the concepts behind the buttons.

26 GOOD PEOPLE - THANK YOU! Randal Hale rjhale@northrivergeographic.com twitter: rjhale (423)