Transcript Going Mainstream

Going Mainstream
Geo Spatial Data Infrastructures with Open Source
What to expect from this presentation
●
●
●
Mainstream IT components have reached a high level of
perfection. They are used throughout the GIS context
without us really noticing too much
Thorough and useful standardization enables us to use
mainstream technology in the context of GIS
Spatial Data is turned loose. Currently a paradigm shift
is on the way turning proprietary data free
WebGIS with Free Software Example
Software components:
 Free Operating System
 Free Web Server
 Free Web Map Server (WMS)
 Free Spatially Enabled Database
 Free Web Scripting Language
 Free Web Map Client Suite
Standardisation:
 Open GIS Consortium
 ISO Standardisation Organisation
Mapbender
This architecture can
be seen at work:
http://wms.ccgis.de
Databases
●
●
●
●
Databases have developed enormously. They are used
throughout all contexts and for all purposes
With the SQL standard a common language has grown
which is used throughout IT business
It was only a question of time until databases would also
start to understand geometry – now they do
More than that: databases learn to manage spatial
geometry with spatial operators (GEOS)
Spatial Operations
●
●
●
●
What before was highly secret knowledge to some
proprietary producer is slowly but distinctly becoming
common knowledge
In this context Open Source has an even larger impact
on traditional business models than just by not charging
money for licenses
The possibility to access database operators directly
with PHP opens the possibility to use them directly from
the thin client front end
GIS desktop systems are starting to have a hard time
proving that they are really needed
Operating Systems
●
●
●
●
It is very easy to install and maintain Operating Systems
with very different specific features
Operating Systems even come with basic GIS software
components, for example databases and web services
There are people organizing ports collections which
make the installation of GIS software very easy
Some Operating Systems even directly come with GIS
software installed or have explicitly been compiled with
it (GISIX: GRASS on Knoppix)
Standardization
●
●
●
●
SQL is not discussed any more, it is being used by any
software and all applications
SQL has been extended by spatial operations for
Simple Features (PostgreSQL/PostGIS, Oracle/Spatial)
It will only take little time until every large database has
to support Spatial Data, if it wants to serve the market
There is no difference between proprietary and Open
Source Software when it comes to using standards
Who is THE GIS USER
●
●
●
●
The GIS user is and always will be the specialist
working with strange software on strange data
The spatial data is growing to be of interest to a much
larger community
Everybody living in the spatial data wants to have
access to read and learn about it
Politics are starting to understand this need for spatial
data in a common context
Political activities
●
●
●
●
Very interestingly political activities throughout the world
point in the same direction
It has been recognized that spatial data does not stop at
national borders
Processes on spatial data (pollution, traffic, energy)
does not stop at borders either
Governments must provide their people with spatial data
for little or no cost – else the people organize
themselves – and they already do :-)
Thank You for your attention
For more information please contact:
Arnulf B. Christl
[email protected]
CCGIS Christl & Stamm GbR
Siemensstr. 8
53121 Bonn
Germany
Visit our web sites at:
http://www.ccgis.de
Visit the Mapbender Project homepage at:
http://www.mapbender.org