the ultimate tool for teaching FOSS4G

Ricardo.Pinho@GISVM.com

Salutation

• My name is Ricardo Pinho

• I’m the author of the GISVM concept

• I come from Oporto - PORTUGAL, the most south-westerly country of Europe

• I work on a Portuguese Local Authority

• Please, forgive me if my English isn’t perfect!

• After a long 28 hour flight, I am very glad to be here in this wonderful city of Sydney!

Summary

“GISVM, the ultimate tool for teaching FOSS4GGISVM, the ultimate tool for teaching FOSS4G”

• What is GISVM?• How to run GISVM?• 1st year statistics• Case study: Teaching FOSS4G• Other uses: LiveDVD, Click2Try, TabletPC, …

GISVM definition

G.I.S.V.M.G.I.S.V.M. stands for: GGeographic IInformation SSystem VVirtual MMachine

A possible definition would be:

“A new way to distribute and run GIS tools that allows you to use them immediately, wherever and however you want to, without the usual install and configuration complications”

GISVM concept

Cooked from the mixture of threeingredients:

= GIS Virtual MachineGIS Virtual Machine

+ GIS+ Free Software+ Virtualization

Virtualization history

• The term was coined in the 1960s, to refer to a virtual machine, a term which itself dates from the experimental IBM M44/44X system.

• Virtualization was effectively abandoned during the 1980s and 1990s when client-server applications and inexpensive x86 servers and desktops established the model of distributed computing.

• On February 8, 1999, VMware introduced the first x86 virtualization product, "VMware Virtual Platform“.

(source: wikipedia)

Virtualization success

“Virtualization is a proven software technology that is rapidly transforming the IT landscape and fundamentally changing the way that people compute.”(source: vmware)

What is GISVM?

• GISVM is a virtual machine created on the VMware format

• Based on the Linux - Ubuntu operating system

• Installed with a complete set of Free Open Source for GIS (FOSS4G) applications.

• Now available in two versions: Desktop and Server

What is inside?GISVM GISVM DesktopDesktop

GISVM GISVM ServerServer

Linux Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop

+ Samba, SSH

+ Apache/PHP/MapServer

+ PostgreSQL/PostGIS

+ Java/Tomcat/GeoServer

+ Quantum GIS

+ gvSIG

+ Kosmo

+ uDIG

+ FWTools: OpenEV, GDAL/OGR, Proj4, OGDI

+ standard Ubuntu application pack with OpenOffice

Linux Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition

+ Samba, SSH

+ LAMP Server pack (Apache, MySQL and PHP)

+ Java/Tomcat Java Server

+ PostgreSQL/PostGIS, ZigGIS and FDO ready!

+ Mapserver

+ Geoserver

+ Deegree

+ Webmin

How to run GISVM?

• GISVM is a virtual computer which runs within your physical computer.

• To start using it you need to first install a program on your current Operating System which can run a virtual machine (Virtualization layer)

• Them just run GISVM or any other Virtual Machine.

How to run GISVM?

• There are Free Virtual Machine Players available on the Internet: VMware Player / Server / ESXi, Virtual Box, Xen, etc.

• They allow you to run GISVM on any Windows,Mac and Linux for free.

Advantages of GISVM

• Ready to use, a "computer" that has all applications already installed, which reduces the amount of time wasted on installation and configuration.

• Runs on any environment, as it is based on Virtualization technology which can be run on computers with different operating systems (Windows, Macintosh and Linux).

• Flexible and adaptable, to different situations and needs, as, apart from the tools it offers, you can customize and adapt it.

• A complete pack, which offers the user the possibility of using a complete range of GIS applications all together.

1st year statistics

• Site access statistics (1 Set 2008 – 30 Set 2009)

1st year statistics

• World access statistics (27 Set 2008 – 30 Set 2009)

1st year statistics

• Download statistics (1 Set 2008 – 30 Set 2009)

GISVM for Teaching

• One of the biggest success stories of GISVM has been its adaptation to teaching environments.

• Teachers have been adding their data, exercises and extra applications to GISVM.

• Then they share this new GISVM version with all the students, who then have access to a ready-to-use learning environment.

• Apart from other benefits, this is saving a lot of class time which would otherwise be used on irrelevant tasks.

Case study: Teaching FOSS4G

• Email received at 28.May from Stefano Casadelo (Ph.D.):

Dear Ricardo,I’m a forest ecologist with experience in spatial ecological modeling.

Together with a colleague we are teaching “ecological modeling and spatial data analysis” using open source tools.Our trainings are dedicated to Master’s and Doctoral level students in different UniversitiesLast month we used GISVM for teaching purposes in a one week training in Spain.

Teaching FOSS4G

• Stefano’s Email continues:

…I would like to let you know that GISVM worked fine with excellent results in the framework of teaching.

It only crashed once in a week (due to a memory problem) on one machine out of 25.

We sponsored the use of GISVM among University students.

Teaching FOSS4G

• Stefano’s Email continues:

…I can tell you from my previous experience of training carried out with QGIS / GRASS / R installation on Windows, Mac or Linux, on the day before training, only 3 machines out of over 15 were functioning.

Using the Virtual Machine GISVM, in half a day’s work we were able to install GISVM, prepare and be ready to use a set of 25 computers.

Teaching FOSS4G

• Final Evaluation questionnaires show satisfied students (class of 20 students – 15 replies):

Do you want to use those tools in future (% of students)

0,64

0,64

0,73

0,82

0,82

0,91

0,36

0,36

0,27

0,18

0,18

0,09

0,00 0,20 0,40 0,60 0,80 1,00

Linux SHELL

GDAL

R

GRASS

AWK

GNUPLOT

YES

NO

GISVM possible uses…

• GISVM for FOSS4G distributionFOSS4G distribution:FOSS4G 2009 LiveDVD, built from GISVM concept

GISVM possible uses…

• GISVM for FOSS4G trialFOSS4G trial:Click2Try, using GISVM on Cloud Computing

GISVM possible uses…

• GISVM on the field (personal experience)

WMS

Thank you!

• Stefano Casalegno & Giuseppe Amatulli

• Jorge de Jesus – GISVM R version

• Cameron Shorter – LiveDVD project

• Andrea Antonello – BeeGIS support

• All GISVM users…

Thank you!

visit:

www.GISVM.comRicardo.Pinho@GISVM.com

(next at Demo Theatre GISVM DEMO)