FOSS4GDiscussion on Free and Open Source Software

for GeoSpatial Systems2013

2013 Pacific Islands GIS/RS User Conference18th – 22nd NovemberSuva, Fiji Islands

Sachindra SinghSystems Developer

Data Management SectionAGDT/SPC

SOPAC and FOSS

1994 - SOPAC adopted cc:Mail and SunOS – one of the first regional organization to have an electronic communication system in the Pacific region1994 - SOPAC was one of the founding members of PICISOC (Internet Society Charter for Pacific Islands)1996 - USP [The University of the South Pacific] and SOPAC were the first to connect to the Internet in the South Pacific. SOPAC also offered subsidized internet access to government organisations during this period.2000 - SOPAC migrated fully to open source services such email systems, GNU/Linux file shares, BIND, etc.2002 - SOPAC adopted open source tiki-wiki as a web presence and collaboration platform2004 - MapServer deployment to 14 Pacific Island Countries as part of a EU/EDF2006 - SOPAC adopted open source online library systems (Koha) and e-learning platforms (Moodle)2007 - OIP Geonetwork metadata service deployed2009 - Joomla CMS website launched2011 - PCRAFI Pacific Risk Information System Launched - on Geonode platform2011 - SOPAC Compendium Project launched - Digitial collection of all output from SOPAC/CCOP from 1972 to 20102012 - SOPAC Geonode SDI adopted across the division programmes/projects2013 - PacGeo Initiative started - Regional Geospatial Open Data Repository

Applied GeoScience and Technology Division, Secretariat of the Pacific Community

Why FOSS?• Usually has no upfront payment• Has a low Total Cost of Ownership (and high ROI)• Encourages a competitive market for support services. • Encourages a collaborative approach. • Places fewer restrictions on the users of the software.• Provides the opportunity for users to take direct control of the maintenance and

support of the software. • Allows the opportunity to try the software before committing to it. • May reduce vendor lock-in. • Allows users to view and modify the source code. • Allows users to take advantage of the improved functionality of new releases more

rapidly. • Increases interoperability. • Usually is modular

Source: A Guide to Open Source Software for Australian Government Agencies, June 2011, Department of Finance and Deregulation

Applied GeoScience and Technology Division, Secretariat of the Pacific Community

Why SOPAC?

2011 and 2012 Member Countries Recommendation for SOPAC division adopted by SPC Governing Council (CRGA)

“44. Strongly recommend that the SOPAC Division continues to prioritise, support, maintain and extend its existing open source analysis and data management tools and systems for partners and island members; and provide appropriate advocacy and support to island members in using open source technologies for ICT systems development.”

Applied GeoScience and Technology Division, Secretariat of the Pacific Community

Capacity Building and Training

QGIS desktop training held by SOPAC/SPC over the last year:

Applied GeoScience and Technology Division, Secretariat of the Pacific Community

SPC Land Resources Division, their extensions in Fiji Govt (Agriculture) 30

Tuvalu Lands Department 6

Fiji Veterinary Department 18

Fiji Department of Forestry 2

Marshals Islands Resource and Development Unit, Ministry of Environment 2

BioSecurity Authority of Fiji 18

76

Enterprise GISOn Premises/Cloud

Geonode SDI has 1:1 feature parity with other server-side alternatives.

Applied GeoScience and Technology Division, Secretariat of the Pacific Community

Spatial Data DiscoveryPowerful spatial search engineFederated OGC servicesMetadata catalogueSpatial Query and Analysis

Import and ManagePublish raster, vector, and tabular dataManage metadata and associated documentsSecurely or publicly share dataVersioned geospatial data editor

Interactive MappingGeoExplorer GIS clientGraphical style editorCreate multi-layer interactive mapsShare and embed maps in web pages

CollaborationSocial FeaturesReview, rate, and comment on dataGroups of usersActivity streamsAnnouncements and notifications

Desktop - QGIS

Matured significantly through 1.8 – 2.0 Release. Suitable for non-advanced usage.

Example:Semi-automatic Image Classification Plugin – supervised classification of remote sensing images, providing tools to expedite the creation of ROIs, the classification process, and the post processing phases (accuracy assessment, land cover change)

Applied GeoScience and Technology Division, Secretariat of the Pacific Community

Partners and Support

Applied GeoScience and Technology Division, Secretariat of the Pacific Community

Awareness & Education

Applied GeoScience and Technology Division, Secretariat of the Pacific Community

http://ict.sopac.org/gisos

Custom built Linux distribution for the Pacificcontaining all FOSS components SOPAC/SPC uses and trains on

Live CD

Side-by-side Installation

VirtualBox (for running on top of your currentoperating system)

Launched in 2011

5th Version 2013

1000~ Downloads

Suggested Recommendation

To strengthen cost-effective adoption of GIS in the Pacific as widely as possible, and to counter commercial GIS software privacy, it is encouraged that open source geospatial systems should be explored in depth and adopted after careful analysis and study, and if found suited to the immediate requirements.

Applied GeoScience and Technology Division, Secretariat of the Pacific Community