A Survey of Open Source GIS

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A Survey of Open Source GIS

• The View from 30,000 Feet orA Mile Wide and
  an Inch Deep

Paul RamseyRefractions Research
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Two Tribes

• C Tribe
• UMN Mapserver
• GRASS
• OpenEV
• QGIS
• OGR/GDAL
• PROJ4
• GEOS
• PostGIS

• Java Tribe
• GeoTools
• GeoServer
• DeeGree
• OpenMap
• JUMP
• uDig

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C Tribe
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C Libraries

• GDAL
• Raster Format Reader / Writer
• OGR
• Vector Format Reader / Writer
• PROJ4
• Coordinate Reprojection
• GEOS
• Geometry Objects and Functions

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C Servers

• Mapserver
• OpenGIS Web Map Server
• OpenGIS Web Feature Server
• OGR / GDAL / PROJ4
• PostGIS / ArcSDE / OracleSpatial
• PostGIS
• OpenGIS Simple Features for SQL
• PROJ4 / GEOS

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Mapserver
TIFF
PostGIS
ArcSDE
Oracle
WMS
Mapserver
WFS
Shape
MapInfo
WMS
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PostGIS
WMSClient
JUMP
Internet
WMS / WFS
LAN
PostGIS
WFSClient
QGIS
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C Applications

• OpenEV
• QGIS
• Thuban
• GRASS
• OSSIM
• GMT

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OpenEV
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QGIS
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Thuban
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GRASS
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OSSIM
OpenSourceSoftwareImage Map
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GMT

• Generic Mapping Tools
• UNIX Philosophy
• Many small tools, chained together
• Gridding, Contouring, Plotting
• Surface Models

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Java Tribe
JCS Conflation Suite
OpenMap
uDig / JUMP2
GeoServer
JUMP Unified Mapping Platform
GeoTools
WKB4J
DeeGree
GML4J
JTS Topology Suite
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Java Libraries

• JTS Topology Suite
• OpenGIS Geometries and Methods
• GeoTools
• Data Formats, Java GIS Toolkit
• WKB4J
• Java Well-Known Binary Reader / Writer
• GML4J
• Java GML Reader / Writer

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Java Applications

• OpenMap
• DeeGree
• JUMP / JCS
• GeoServer
• uDig

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OpenMap

• Oldest Complete Java Toolkit
• Telephone Company Project (BBN)
• Design Application (not Data) Focused

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DeeGree

• Academic Roots
• Bonn University
• Message Passing API
• OpenGIS Standards
• Server Focused (WMS, WFS, SLD)

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JUMP / JCS

• Specialized Original Vision (Conflation)
• General Purpose Tool
• Editing, Processing, Transforming

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GeoServer

• OpenGIS WFS-T
• Web Feature Server - Transactional
• OpenGIS WMS (Beta)
• Database Datasources Shape

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uDig

• User-friendly Desktop Internet GIS
• WFS, WMS, WRS
• PostGIS, ArcSDE, OracleSpatial
• Printing, Reprojection
• Shape, GeoTIFF
• GeoInnovations
• Schedule

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Summary

• Strengths
• Server Side
• Heterogeneous Environments
• Performance
• Standards Support
• Complex or Custom Applications

• Weaknesses
• Interactive Desktop
• Paper Production
• Lowest Common Denominator
• Standard Applications

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Questions?
1 Mile
1 Inch