OpenSource Desktop GIS Developments – Is OpenJUMP GIS ...sstein/presentations/os_desktopgis... · OpenSource Desktop GIS Developments – Is OpenJUMP GIS approaching your Desktop?

UZH GIS BrownBag 1. Nov 2007 1

OpenSource Desktop GIS Developments –

Is OpenJUMP GIS approaching your Desktop?

Stefan Steiniger

GIUZ, University of Zü[email protected]


My Motivation

objectives:

• clarify some points on opensource software

• give an overview on opensource GIS tools

• talk on OpenJUMP GIS and its development

OpenJUMP, Image: Uwe Dallüge

GRASS GIS, Image: M. Lennert (http://grass.itc.it)

Quantum GIS, Image: M. Neteler

(pinus.chinju.ac.kr)

uDIG, Image: Refractions.net


Outline

1. OpenSource and Free Software

2. OpenSource GIS

3. JUMP GIS and OpenJUMP

4. Why using FOSS as researcher?


OpenSource on the Desktop:• Mozilla Firefox (browser) & Thunderbird (email client)• OpenOffice• Inkscape (vector) & GIMP (images) - drawing• FreeMind• PDFCreator• VideoLan Player (VLC)• JabRef – bibliography tool• MikTex & TeXnicCenter• Miranda IM - messenger• R, SciLab, GStat - statistics

Examples of OpenSource Software (OSS)

images: Wikipedia/enGIMP R

SciLab

OpenOffice

VLC

FreeMind

JabRef


Outline


• 3 Questions

• 2 Licenses (GPL & LGPL)

• 3 Misconceptions and 6 Myths

Note: talking about software licensing isn‘t a piece of cake


1. OpenSource and Free Software (1)

What makes up a Free („copyleft“) Software?

Free OpenSource Software (FOSS) meets 4 Constraints (www.fsf.org):

1. The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0)

2. The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to yourneeds (freedom 1).

3. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor(freedom 2).

4. The freedom to improve the program, and release yourimprovements to the public, so that the whole community benefits(freedom 3).



Is there a difference between OpenSource and Free Software?

OpenSource: is a term and „brand“

(Open Source Initiative - OSI: opensource.org)

Free Software: is a philosophy

(Free Software Foundation - FSF: www.fsf.org)

- Both describe software that is free of onerous licesense restrictions(use, copy, study, modify)

- But the word „OpenSource“ does not tell about the freedom to modify and redistribute

- A few cases exists where OSI approved licenses are not FSF approved

Do I need to care? not really, it is not about the terms OpenSource

or FOSS, but about a specific license


1 OpenSource and Free Software (3)

Terms related to OpenSource and Free Software

some

license

types

Source: Chao-Kuei (www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/categories.html)



What are differences between OpenSource and Proprietary Software?

- installation knowhow necessary

- training costs**

- price & maintenance fees

- customized development is difficult

- support as long as company exists

+ no license fees

+ unrestricted use (e.g. # installations)

+ no update enforcement

+ support of open standards

+ customization at API level

+ warranty* of developing company on product :holds for every company

+ components should work together

+ usually well documented software

OpenSource / Free Software

(e.g. OpenOffice, GRASS GIS)

Proprietary Software

(e.g. Microsoft Office, ArcGIS)

Note: I did not use the term commercial software here!

Based on comparison by Martin Weis (2005)*) BUT: license agreements often exlucede warranty**) BUT: user choice to invest in own resources or buy


Outline


• 3 Questions





- Several OSI and FSF approved licenses exists (large development projects have sometimes own ones)

- well known OpenSource licenses:

• GNU General Public License (GPL – full protection of freedoms)

• GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL – full protection)

• BSD (Berkeley), XFree86 (MIT), Apache, Mozilla, …(limited prot.) | (no protection) | …

Btw: What‘s GNU? ☺



The GNU General Public License - an immune license!

some license terms (of GPL Version 2):

• allows to run the program for your own purpose (§0)

• allows to copy and distribute -- if the GPL license/copyright is contained (§1)

• allows to modify the code and to distribute these versions -- if the modifications are documented and the modified versions are also licensed under GPL(!) (§2)

• allows distribution of the program and modified versions only -- if source code is attached or available (written offer) for 3 years (§3)

• „You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and

you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.”



What is meant if people say GPL is immune?

- When GPL software is modified or extended by others the licensemust still be GPL (another license is not allowed)

- When GPL software parts (i.e. as a function library) are used by othersoftware, then the license with the stronger restrictions/freedomremains, i.e. GPL license „wins“. (e.g. BSD & GPL = GPL)

To avoid the latter effect: Lesser GPL was introduced.

LGPL is very similar to GPL, but LGPL libraries can be used by non-GPL licensed software. (e.g. ESRI+GPL= , ESRI+LGPL = ☺)

Note: dual-licensing is an option and often done, this is possiblebecause the developer has still author rights on his work.


Outline


• 3 Questions




1. OpenSource and Free Software (8) - Myths

Misconceptions about the GPL license*:

1 – „If you use code licensed under the GPL, you have to releaseyour program's source code no matter what."

Correct: source code must be released only if you distribute thesoftware

2 – „Software licensed under the GPL must be given away for free, it cannot be sold."

Correct: Copies can be sold and download fees raised.. the onewho pays is …. But what you pay usually for is documentation.

3 – „Any software created with GPL tools must be released underthe GPL."

Correct: Programs created with opensource software are notaffected by the GPL. Only programs that inlcude GPL code.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License



Parts of the following are taken from M. Wheatley*:

- Myth 1: The attraction is the price tagWheatley: stability and effectivity may be other factors**

- Myth 2: Savings aren‘t realWheatley: because you don‘t pay for every copy of thesoftware you can safe money

- Myth 3: There is no supportIf there is a user base, there is support. For instance forOpenJump GIS offer 2 companies paid support in Germany alone.

- Myth 4: It is a legal minefieldseveral off-court arrangements took place; indemnifications are

offered; in 2006 GPL proved ist validity as license on a court in Munich (Landgericht I).

* M. Wheatley, 2004: The myths of Open Source, www.cio.com

** ACTUATE, 2007: attraction no license fees: 82.8%



Parts of the following are taken from M. Wheatley*:

- Myth 5: OpenSource isn‘t for mission-critical applicationsWheatley: a banking system (Banca Popolare di Milano)runs with opensource components

- Myth 6: OpenSource isn‘t ready for the desktopthat‘s something I am hoping to refute below ☺

Btw: interesting figures- 50% of OSS projects started by companies with comercial intention*- In Germany 59% of companies „use“[?] OSS software (US: 48%)**- 80% of OSS developers are IT professionals (96% male )***

*) missing original source

**) ACTUATE (2007)

***) Robes et al. (2001), Hertel et al (2003), Open Source

Jahrbuch 2006: p. 210


Outline


2. OpenSource GIS




Outline

OpenSource GIS

• Organization: A shared and divided World?

• OS GIS projects: Building a Spatial Data

Infrastructure with OSS?

• FOSS Desktop GIS: Only a selective overview!


2. OpenSource GIS (1)

Organizational Issues

- clarification: OpenGIS/OpenGeospatial Consortium ≠ OpenSource,

but rather about standards and „interfaces“/communication

- official body since 2006: OSGEO Foundation (www.osgeo.org)

- Infos on OSS: www.freegis.org

- conference series:

FOSS4G (worldwide, www.foss4g2007.org, 670 participants)

FOSSGIS (DE, www.fossgis.de)



A shared and devided world?

- GIS tools developed and maintained by companies vs. enthusiasts

- C(++) projects vs. JAVA projects

- libraries vs. web tools vs. desktop applications

- OSGEO supports 12 software projects (3.Aug.2007),

=> What about the others?


Outline

OpenSource GIS




• OSS Desktop GIS: Only a selective overview!



Projects - „Bits“ of History:

Grass GIS* – 1978/80 first libraries: US Army Corps of Eng. (CERL)

. because ArcInfo was to expensive

. Fort Hood IS in 1982, Grass 1.0 in 1985,

. last release (V4.1) in 1992

. revival in 1997/1998 (Baylor Univ. & U. of Hannover)

. relicensing to GPL in 1999

Proj/Proj.4 – early 1980, Library for projections by USGS (Evenden 2003)

OpenMap – GIS toolkit, started 1992 as MATT with DARPA founding

OGR/GDAL – Library for raster and vector formats by F. Warmerdam

. focus on data conversion, launch in 1998

FreeGIS.org ‘99, UMN MapServer 96/97, PostGIS in 00/01, JTS 00/02

Desktop: SAGA ‘01/2, Thuban ‘03, JUMP ‘02/3, QGIS ‘02/3, uDIG ‘04/5*) Westervelt (2004)


2. OS GIS Projects (2)

- non-exhaustive overview of projects in P. Ramsey (2004, 2006, 2007)

- GIS core tools projects (data i/o, api‘s, projection, indexing, geometry):

. GDAL/OGR (OSGEO)

. GeoTools (OSGEO) & DeeGree (lat/lon) & GeoAPI (OGC)

. Proj4 (projection library)

. Java Topology Suite (JTS) & Geometry Engine OS (GEOS)

Java Applications*

* Ramsey (2006)

C++ Applications*



Can we built a Spatial Data Infrastructure with OpenSource GIS tools?



Example of a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI):

http://INTERNET

WebMapServer

DesktopGIS

Data Collector

DesktopGIS

GIS Analyst

DataStorage

Data Provider

Map Viewer

Thin Client

Map Editor

Thick Client

End User (e.g.Municipality / NGO)

GeoPortal



Example of a SDI with OpenSource Components:

http://INTERNET

UMN MapServer,

GeoServer,

Deegree,

(MapGuide

OpenSource)

Data Collection:

OpenJUMP, ...

GIS Analysis:

GRASS GIS + QGIS,

Kosmo, gvSIG, SAGA,...

Data Storage:

PostGIS,

(H2 spatial)

Thin Client:

MapBuilder,

Mapbender

Thick Client:

uDig, QGIS,

Thuban, ...

End User (e.g.Municipality / NGO)

GeoPortal


Outline

OpenSource GIS




• FOSS Desktop GIS: Only a selective overview!


2. FOSS Desktop GIS selection

- since 2002 a number of free Desktop GIS projects started (> 5)

- GRASS GIS and OpenMap earlier, but with military background

- different foci of OS GIS:

. user background: novice, familar user vs. expert

. application: data editing, conflation, analysis, viewing

. main data type: raster vs. vector

. devel. platform: C++, Java, Python, (PhP?)


2. FOSS Desktop GIS selection – OVERVIEW

01. GRASS02. Quantum GIS (QGIS) 03. JUMP GIS family: OpenJUMP – SkyJUMP – deeJUMP - PirolJUMP04. uDig : (recently joined by/with JGrass team: dedicated to hydro - geomorphology)

05. SAGA06. Thuban : GIS viewer07. Kalypso : (dead?)08. gvSIG09. Kosmo10. OpenMap : GIS ToolKit11. ILWIS 12. mezoGIS : GIS viewer13. Fmaps : (dead)14. OrbisGIS : under development (promising)

not opensource, but free for use: Spatial Commander, Forestry GIS, Google Earth, ArcExplorer, TNTlite, TatukGIS Viewer, ...


2. FOSS Desktop GIS selection

authors ranking

Prof., lists (+)

User: strong

Dev: UniGöttingen

???Win,Linux, [C++]

Raster, Analysis

FamiliarU-Expert (Res)SAGA

OJ 1.2: SFS, WMS,GML,SLD (WFS/-T plugin)

WFS,WCS underdevelopment

gvSIG 1.0: SFS, WMS, WFS, WCS, WMC, GML

uDig 1.1: SFS, WMS, WFS, GML, SLD

QGIS 0.9: WMS, WFS, SFS (via PostGIS), GML (via OGR)

Grass 6.3: GML (via OGR), WFS, WMS

standards

Prof., lists (++)

Prof., lists (++)

Prof., lists (++)

Prof., lists (++)

Prof., lists (++)

Prof., lists (++)

supportcommunityplatfomappl. focususer level

User: ww, growing

Dev: ww, Volunt.

User: ww, strong

Dev: ITC/ 52°Nord

User: ww, strong

Dev: Company

User: ww, growing

Dev: Companies

User: ww, strong

Dev: ww, Volunt.

User:ww, large

Dev: Universities

Win,Linux, (Mac)[Java]

Win [MS Visual C]

Win,Linux, Mac [Java]

Win,Linux, Mac [Java]

Win,Linux, Mac [C++]

Linux, Mac (Win) [C,

Vec, Editing, Analysis

Vec+RasterAnalysis

Vec+Raster

goal: ArcViewfunctionality++

Vector, Web, Viewing, Anal.

Vec+Raster, Viewing, GRASS-GUI

Vec+Raster, Analysis

Novice-Expert (Res)

Novice-Expert

FamiliarU-Expert (Res)

Novice-Expert

Novice-FamiliarU

FamiliarU-

Expert (Res)

Evaluation criterion

JUMP / OpenJUMP

ILWIS

gvSIG

uDig*

QGIS*

GRASS

Desktop GIS

*) strong development activities: application focus may extend, ww = worldwide


2. FOSS Desktop GIS – Geographic Resource Analysis Support System (http://grass.itc.it/)

GRASS GIS Image: M. Lennert (http://pinus.chinju.ac.kr/grass/grass63/screenshots/images/native_wingrass63.jpg)

1st screenshot

of Windows

prototype


2. FOSS Desktop GIS – Quantum GIS (www.qgis.org)

Quantum GIS Image: M. Neteler (pinus.chinju.ac.kr)

note:

link to

Grass tools


2. FOSS Desktop GIS – user friendly Desktop Internet GIS(http://udig.refractions.net/)

uDig Image: http://udig.refractions.net/confluence/display/UDIG/Screenshots

Developer:

Refractions

Research Inc.

(Canada),

Axios (ES),

Organizations

based on

Eclipse RCP


2. FOSS Desktop GIS – Generalitat Valencia Sistema d‘InformacioGeografica (http://www.gvsig.gva.es/index.php?id=gvsig&L=2)

gvSIG Image: http://www.gvsig.gva.es

Developer:

IVER Techn.

(Spain)

Budget: 12 M.e

4 years, 40dev

from Region of

Valencia


2. FOSS Desktop GIS – ILWIS 3.4

ILWIS Image: http://52north.org/joomla/images/stories/52n/admin/ilwis_screenshots/ilwisss.jpg

Developer:

ITC (NL) &

52° Nord


2. FOSS Desktop GIS – System for Automated GeoScientific Analysishttp://www.saga-gis.uni-goettingen.de/

SAGA GIS: http://www.saga-gis.uni-goettingen.de/html/images/bild8.gif

Developer:

Uni Göttingen -

Physical Geography

Group

(Germany)


Outline


2. OpenSource GIS




What is OpenJUMP GIS?

• JUMP GIS - developed by VividSolutions Inc. and RefractionsResearch (Canada) for B.C. and Ontario Ministries (2001/2)focus: data conflation

• Java Unified Mapping Platform

• in 2003/4 development stopped due to limited funding

• group of volunteers* now tries to merge the developments:

„OpenJUMP“ as common „core“ (few changes as possible)

• users: professional organizations, teaching, research

*) JUMP Pilot Project, www.openjump.org


Outline

JUMP GIS and OpenJUMP

• Functionality & Features

• Strengths & Weaknesses


3. OpenJUMP – Features (1)

Focus: vector data, editing & analysis

Functionality OpenJUMP 1.2 B:

. file formats: *.SHPr/w, GMLr/w, DXFr,w,p , MIFrw,p -- tiffr, jpgr, ecwr, MrSIDr,p

. database: PostGISr (w,p),

Oracler,p, ArcSDEr.p

. geometry and topology

validation tools

. vector overlay

. spatial & attribute query

. basic attribute calculator

To be continued…

p: functionality per plugin,

r: read, w:write



Functionality Continued.. :

. basic styling & labeling

. printingp (SVG)

. WMS & WFSp

. scripting (BeanShell,

Jythonp)

. multi-language support

. Java: Win, Linux, OSX

. license: GPL

p: functionality per plugin,



. simple user interface

. sophisticated modular architecture

. developer API (Java) . datastore framework (new, DB read)

. plug-in concept => enables rapid prototyping

JTS: Geometry library (OGC SFS,

spatial predicates, indexing, ..)

JUMP 1.1


Outline

JUMP GIS and OpenJUMP

• Functionality & Features

• Strengths & Weaknesses


3. OpenJUMP – Review (1)

STRENGTHS: The UZH Gen Group uses JUMP Framework because:

• it‘s build on the (robust) geometry library JTS (OGC: SFS)

• it‘s written in Java (platform independent, suitable for web services)

• it supports standard data formats (shp, GML)

• the plugin framework enables:

• rapid prototyping

• easy customization

• it‘s visualization capabilities

Community:

- help by other users

- commercial support available

- functionality via plug-ins by others WebGen: Web Generalization Services,

Neun 2007 (Ph.D thesis)


3. OpenJUMP – Review (2)

WEAKNESSES:

TECH: Missing functionality

- data loaded in memory (no caching)

- no writing to databases (except PostGIS),

- no raster algebra,

- no built-in projection support (but plugin exists)

- simple feature model (problems for advanced projects)

- basic visualisation capabilities (no data exploration)

• missing (end-user) documentation (…but on the way)

• slow core development

• no development road map

• user needs to inform oneself

• user feedback could be better (bugs)


Outline


2. OpenSource GIS


4. Why using FOSS as researcher … ?


Why using FOSS?

Rationals…- no need to re-invent the wheel- saves money (no license fees)- is scalable (server applications)- best documentation available: the source code- adapt it to your needs- take it with you, and use it wherever you are- open source supports research principles:

„experiments must be reproducable“

Drawback: somebody may exploit your developments!

BUT.. You can stand on the shoulder of others, and as researcher you are probably paid by the society. So let‘s returnsomething…


5. Summary

You have seen…

• what „OpenSource“/Free Software means

• GPL misconceptions and myths

• OS GIS projects

• A selection of FOS Desktop GIS

• OpenJUMP GIS Strengths and Weaknesses

• delivered rationals for using FOSS


Thank you for listening!

My Question: Is OpenJUMP GIS approaching your Desktop?

And your‘s…

Documents

OpenSource Desktop GIS Developments – Is OpenJUMP GIS ...sstein/presentations/os_desktopgis... · OpenSource Desktop GIS Developments – Is OpenJUMP GIS approaching your Desktop?