The (new) GIS Toolkit:Mixing and matching open source and commercial GIS tools to meet individual GIS needs and goals

Randal Hale - NRGS

Why limit yourself to one solution?

QGIS Desktop

Fulcrum

Who am I and Why am I here...

Randal Hale

● Started my GIS career in 1992 with TVA

● Did a lot of things with regards to maps, photogrammetry, data collection mapping standards.

● Retired in 2008 to concentrate on NRGS

● Since then I’ve done a lot more things with regards to maps, clients, GIS, databases, travel, etc.

● Boards for Mid South ASPRS, GA URISA, and active in way too many mapping communities

Fascinated with GIS Tools - both Open Source and Proprietary

Proprietary/Commercial● ESRI (22 years and counting)● ERDAS/Intergraph● Microstation● Autocad (used just enough to not like it)

Open Source● FOSS4G (last three years)● Linux (last 12)● QGIS● GRASS● GDAL ● PostGIS/Geoserver/OpenGeoSuite● OpenStreetMap

The motives to change my way of thinking

● What went wrong? What went right?

● What is in my GIS Toolkit? ● How many GIS tools are out there?

● Process vs. more software

The Problem: A job for a client did not go well.

In 2011, I started taking a different look at things...

Listening to our clients:

● “If I have to spend any more money on Software…”

● “If I have to spend any more money on Maintenance…”

● “We bought this software and it’s not helping…”

● “DON’T SELL ME MORE STUFF!”

The motives to change my way of thinking

Then, in 2013, NRGS ended up in the U.S. Virgin Islands!

View from the Crystal Palace in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

What would you take? If you had to leave your office for three months what would you take?

Special Considerations:● Limited Internet

● Limited Phone

● Sketchy Electricity

● How much data do you take with you?

● Laptops

● Operating Systems?

● Support?

Florida

Puerto Rico

The U.S. Virgin Islands consists of 3 main islands - St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas

U.S. Virgin Islands Fun Facts

● 133.73 Square Miles in Total

● Approximately 106,405 Residents

● Named by Columbus 1493 for St. Ursula and her Virgin Followers

● Purchased by the U.S. March 31 1917 from the Danish○ Transfer Day○ Still a huge tourist destination for Denmark

● Main Export is Rum○ It is cheaper than water or electricity

U.S. Virgin Islands Street Addressing Initiative (USVI SAI): The Pilot Project

● NRGS was the ground crew.

● We had to address 1500 houses (500 per main island) before hurricane season/deadline

● The company that hired NRGS Uses Free and open source for GIS (FOSS4G)

● The University we were working with used nothing but ESRI Software.

● The only thing I cared about was data

Parcel address marked through in favor is USPS Address...

The Fire Department didn’t know their address…

● Trimble Junos with Arcpad/Terrasync failed

● Mail Merge on Door hangers failed

● Fell back to using an OSM data collection app/Pen Paper/Laptop to do the addressing

● Overall - we worked harder and not smarter

● I was left saying “I need one thing that does everything”

First time out in the field

Overview on Mon Bijou

Overview on Mon Bijou

Overview on Mon Bijou

Overview on Mon Bijou

Overview on Mon Bijou

Overview on Mon Bijou

● There was no magic bullet software

● When we sat down and actually looked at what happened we were only missing workflow

● We had mostly everything - we just weren’t putting it together correctly.

● Which was really annoying because screw ups cost

time.

The Problem wasn’t Software

I could tell stories all day - BUT, the most important...

● After the process was understood, we could then pull from our GIS Toolkit - a mix of Open Source and Proprietary GIS Software ○ Fulcrum for mobile data collection (offline)○ TileMill for creating map tiles used within

Fulcrum mobile app○ QGIS Desktop for data editing/attribution○ PostGIS/Postgresql for the server/backend○ Google Docs for mail merging (Address

notification)○ ArcMap for Map Production

It’s the PROCESS!

What does this mean to you?

● Software can be connected as long as you have a process

● The software is there to support you - not the other way around.

● Budget: ○ Most of the software used was (mostly) free

and very robust. Therefore budget wasn’t an issue.

● At the end of the project - Data. Good clean data to help the people in the USVI.

Rundown of Software and how it works

QGIS:● My new favorite love affair with FOSS4G

● Supports a wide range of data and image formats ● With the 2.2 release, it’s on a 4 month release

schedule

● Edits Shapefiles, Spatialite, Postgis, etc...

● Connect to Geoserver

Can share data with ArcGIS through shapefiles, Spatialite, and CSV.

QGIS Desktop 2.2

Geoserver

● Share data out from a central location ● WMS/WFS/Tiled Images

● There’s a new release about every quarter

● Connects to PostGIS/QGIS

Can share data with ArcGIS WMS/WFS.

Rundown of Software and how it works

GeoServer

PostGIS/Postgresql● Postgresql has 15 years of active development

● PostGIS extends Postgresql with geometry

● Supports Raster/Vector○ exports geojson/shapefiles/KML, GML, etc

● Topology!

ArcGIS can read Postgresql tables/data can be shared through shapefiles/spatialite

Rundown of Software and how it works

Fulcrum● Mobile Data Collection on Ipads/Androids/IOS

● Server backend

● Can export to: ○ shapefiles○ spreadsheets○ spatial lite ○ CSV

● Can work offline

Rundown of Software and how it works

Fulcrum

When should you consider these alternative GIS tools?

● You are starting out with nothing

● Client has budget concerns

● QGIS for Desktop ○ Depending on needs -> Postgis ○ Possibly Geoserver○ Develop a process○ ArcGIS fits in here

● Leverage software budget for hardware/training

FOSS4G provides a path for moving forward.

● Utility has ArcEditor ● Utility maintains all of its data in shapefiles ● Utility is using ArcGIS Online and doesn’t understand it.

Alternative solution:● Suggestions are Install OpenGeo Suite

○ Suite provides postgis/geoserver/geowebcache/geoexplorer

● Install QGIS for employees that have nothing. ● Data is maintained in a PostGIS

○ Shared as wms/wfs/spatialite● Process to move data from GPS to Database ● Process to pull data out to shapefiles when needed. ● ArcGIS is there for map production/analysis

They lose no existing functionality / Gain more flexibility!

Example Scenario...

● One solution does not fit all.

● Open source software isn’t difficult to use and it’s very capable and budget friendly.

● Budget constraints.

● It doesn’t matter what you use - focus on the data and develop a process. Don’t get stuck on software.

● Learn some new software and gain a better understanding of the concepts behind the buttons.

Why should you consider mixing and matching GIS tools?

Randal Hale rjhale@northrivergeographic.com twitter: rjhalehttp://about.me/rjhale(423) 653-3611

GOOD PEOPLE - THANK YOU!