Slide 1
Open Source GIS for Local Government:Benefits and
PracticalitiesGateway Group, October 2009
Jo CookSenior IT Support and Development OfficerOA Digital
[email protected]+44 (0)1524 880212
Thanks for inviting me along today. Last time I was here, I
talked informally about open source GIS, how it relates to INSPIRE,
and about getting maps on the web.This time, circumstances are
different. The credit crunch means that everyone is trying to get
value for money, short and long term, and avoiding risk.I'm going
to talk about how an open source approach might be less risky, and
better value for money than a conventional approach.I'll also talk
through a short case study about a local authority using open
source GIS.
Open source GIS is not new
1978: Map Overlay and Statistical System (MOSS)
1982: Geographic Resources Analysis Support System (GRASS)
1983: Proj4 Coordinate System Library
1986: PostgreSQL Database
1995: University of Minnesota Mapserver
Open Source GIS packages and libraries have been around since
1978, and all these packages are still in use (is it a revolution
if it takes 3 decades?)
The libraries, in particular GDAL, for working with raster data,
and Proj4 for working with projections and coordinate systems, are
now included in proprietary products such as ESRI.
Geospatial standards evolved from open source GIS
1992: Open GRASS Foundation (OGF) is founded
1995: OGF is re-structured as the Open Geospatial Consortium
(OGC)
2009: OGC signs memorandum of understanding with the Open Source
Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo)
The main standards body for geospatial data is the OGC- the Open
Geospatial Consortium.
This developed directly from the OGF, the Open Grass
Foundation.
The OGC use open source products as reference implementations
for their standards such as Web Mapping Services and Web Feature
Services. These are considered to be fully featured implementations
against which other packages (OSS or proprietary) can measure
themselves.
In January 2009 the OGC signed a memorandum of understanding
with OSGeo, citing open source software and open standards as being
good for business, and allowing further collaboration on reference
implementations.
So OS GIS is not only well established and mature, but also has
a close relationship with the international standards body.
Open source is big business
www.ohloh.net
Open Source is relatively big business these days. The
granddaddy- RedHat is worth around 5 billion dollars.
Before the acquisition by Oracle, the MySQL database was worth
around 90 million dollars.
It's harder to figure out how much open source GIS projects are
worth. OhLoh.net attempts to do this- and measures the activity of
open source projects and the number of person-hours invested in the
code. Using OhLoh we can calculate that the OSGeo group of projects
are worth around 159 million dollars in total, an increase of 37%
on 2008.
License promotes use rather than restricts it
No discrimination
No restriction
Technology Neutral
(http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php)
There are many open source licenses, and this does cause some
confusion. However for general use, where you are not intending to
develop new software yourself, the license can be seen as extremely
flexible.
If you ever read the EULA on a proprietary product you might
have a surprise Many are based on United States export regulations,
preventing people from certain prohibited countries from using the
product.
Some licenses prevent you from publishing the results of
benchmark tests, meaning you can't properly judge the program
against it's competitors.
In comparison, the open source licenses are designed to promote
fair use rather than restrict it.
Where's the money in open source?
Techefreak (flickr)
http://mandown.co.nz/esri-new-zealand/arcgis-9-3-arrives/
The product is more than the software, or the hardware. It is
the services, training, packaging, support that goes with it.
Traditionally, selling the software allows companies to
cross-subsidise access to the additional parts of the product.
When the software is free, selling access to the additional
parts of the product, such as the support, certification and
training, allows cross-subsidy of the development of the free
product.
The customer has the choice
The advantage to the customer is that they have the choice of
buying the added value products if they wish to, but they don't
have to.
They don't need to predict the number of licenses they may
require in advance.
They can try before they buy.
FUD!!!
Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual
property sense to everything it touches(Steve Ballmer: Microsoft,
2001)
Its a political movement as well as a technical effort. People
who buy our products dont typically want to buy open source because
they want to acquire total integrated support for their mission
critical applications. Do we want ambulance dispatch running on a
system thats not as well supported?(Jack Dangermond: ESRI,
2008)
Negative press around open source software abounds. Joking
aside, open source is often referred to as a movement, with
political connotations.
Commonly the perceived risk of using open source software is
referred to, along with the notion that it's OK for non critical
use. This is interesting when you consider the number of web
servers running apache.
Perception of risk
Biggest barriers to adoption of open source in local
governmentPublic Sector Forums: Open or Closed? A survey of Open
Source Software in Local Government, August 2009
Joking aside, in a recent survey (Public Sector Forums: Open or
Closed? A survey of Open Source software in local government,
August 2009) stated that risk was the main barrier to open source
adoption at local government level.
Lack of awareness and organisational culture were also high on
the list.
Encouragingly, support and security concerns were fairly low
down the list.
Total cost of ownership
Training
Hardware
Maintenance
Support
Whitewash from proprietary companies would have you believe that
the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of open source software can be
higher than that of a commercial product.
It is true that you may need to train your staff.
It is true that you may need to upgrade your hardware.
It is true that you will need to support the product and provide
annual maintenance.
What does the license have to do with this?
Total cost of ownership
Training
Hardware
Maintenance
Support
Entry Costs
Exit Costs
I would argue that the greater interoperability of open source
software means that the barriers to entry and exit are considerably
reduced.
There is no commercial reason to force you to upgrade to a new
version of a package, and to make you change file formats.
There is no reason to lock you in to a particular software
package.
There is no 3-year license with penalty clause for exiting
early.
A sensible approach
There is a way to minimise any perceived risk.
Choose only projects that are clearly sustainable. OSGeo have an
incubation process that guarantees the intellectual property rights
of every line of code, and ensures a proper project management
infrastructure is in place.
Use OhLoh.net to analyse the activity of a project, and its year
on year financial worth.
Support and training
OSGeo maintains a list of service providers on a
county-by-country basis for all the software they promote.
Increasing numbers of training courses are now available in the
UK for open source GIS software, for example at the Universities of
Lancaster and Newcastle.
A number of companies exist in the UK to support open source
GIS, OA Digital is one, but there are others. All will come and run
training courses for you, tailored to your requirements.
The UK local chapter of OSGeo is also up and running, and will
be happy to help you with any issues you might have.
Level playing field
In almost all cases, OSS meets the definition of 'commercial
computer software'(United States Department of Defense, October
2009)
The United States Department of Defense have recently issues
guidance on the use of Open Source Software, stating that it now
meets the definition of commercial computer software, and should be
treated as such during procurement and market research.
In fact, the DoD sees the ability to view and modify the source
code as more secure, easier to respond rapidly to changes or
threats, and sees the broader peer-review of the code base as more
reliable.
Case Study
Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation online planning
map
Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation (TTGDC)
approached OA Digital about creating an online map of planning
applications after seeing a talk we gave on open source GIS at the
British Computing Society.
TTGDC have proprietary planning application software built
around MapInfo and Microsoft SQL Server. They wished to display
information about planning applications on their main website, to
get information to the public quickly and easily, avoiding the need
for them to visit the office.
The new web GIS should allow people to view planning
applications, either by searching for a planning reference or by
post code. It should have a simple interface, but with the
possibility of adding more advanced functions. Users should be able
to click through to more detailed information about a plan,
including photos and other media.
MapGuide Open Source
Editing layers with MapGuide Open Source
TTGDC looked at the offerings provided by the proprietary
software vendors and decided that they didn't offer the
functionality, or the flexibility and future extensibility they
required.
They particularly liked the idea of using MapGuide Open Source
(MGOS), as it provides an easy to use Graphical User Interface for
configuring data, creating online maps, and styling them to suit
their corporate image. With some training and initial setup, they
should be able to use this to create their own web maps in future,
without needing to hire in developers.
Integration
OS
Base MappingPostcode DataPlanning
OutlinesMapServerMapguide
Open
Source
Miss Mass (flickr)
MGOS can connect to, and display, data from a variety of
formats, including MapInfo. This means it can be slotted into the
TTGDC workflow without disruption or changes to current
practice.
OA Digital have also installed MapServer, to serve Ordnance
Survey base mapping to MGOS in a more bandwidth-friendly way, using
Web Mapping Services. This can be extended to serve base mapping to
desktop GIS too, making data management easier.
There have been issues- it would appear that not all
standards-compliant packages are made entirely equal, and it is
less easy to integrate with MapInfo data than one would like!
Summary
Open source software in general is mature enough to consider in
commercial procurement
Perceived risk can be minimised by choosing sustainable, active
products, commercial support and training
All of these things exist for open source GIS!
Thank You!
Jo CookOA Digital
http://[email protected]+44 (0)1524
880212oadigital.netwww.osgeo.org/uk
This work is licenced under the Creative Commons
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94105, USA.
Thanks again for listening, this talk is available online with
notes, should you wish to replay it in the comfort of your own
office.
Click to edit the notes format
Number of Votes
Considered too risky65
Lack of awareness65
Organisational culture56
Availability of skills49
Vendor lock-in48
Senior management buy-in48
Security concerns45
Few proven examples in local government42
Lack of 24/7 support33
Lack of prominence in central government strategy29
