Open-Source GIS:

Open-Source GIS:
A Balancing Act Between a Wampeter and Saltpeter
John G. Van Hoesen, Green Mountain College
Unfolding the Map: Making Geospatial Information Accessible to the Public
Background
1.0
Wampeter or Saltpeter?
• Vonnegut (1974)
“Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons”
• Egenhofer and Mark (1995)
“Naïve Geography”
• DiBiase (2007)
“Is GIS a Wampeter?”
• Goodchild (2007)
“Volunteered Geographic Information”
• Turner (2006)
“Intro to Neogeography”
• Sui (2008)
“The Wikification of GIS…”
(Sui, 2005)
Background
2.0
Wampeter or Saltpeter?
“Central control of computer databases, such as GIS, tend to increase the
power to the bureaucrats, administrators, technical experts and computer
literate groups who use them at the expense of those who lack the expertise to
access to these systems”
Arnoff (1989)
“Naïve geography is a necessary underpinning for the design of GISs that can
be used without major training by new user communities
such as average citizens, to solve day-to-day tasks”
Egenhofer and Mark (1995)
“Instead of asking how to find the need or data people want, instead ask how to
allow the public needs to inform and drive data collection and access”
Huang and Chuang (2005)
Background
3.0
Wampeter or Saltpeter?
“Neogeography is about people using and creating their own maps, on their
own terms and by combining elements of an existing toolset. Neogeography is
about sharing location information with friends and visitors, helping shape
context, and conveying understanding through knowledge of place”
Turner (2006)
“This new phase of development is the wikification of GIS, which is driven by
the massive and voluntary contribution among both amateur and experts using
Web 2.0 technology”
Sui (2008)
“Another source of interest in GIS becoming a tool of participatory democracy
has been the need to reinvingorate traditional models of citizen involvement in
making decisions about the use of public , natural resources”
Jankowski (2009)
Web/Online
Collaboration
Functionalize
Three Basic
Elements
Three Basic
Functions
Map
Community
Web Technology
Integrated
Online
Community
Framework
(OCF)
Phenomenalize
Bloggers
&
Wikis
Theorize
Three Basic
Phenomena
Three Basic
Theories
Participatory
Research
(Chuang and Huang, 2005)
Visualization
Participation
Naïve
Geography
Web/Online
CiGIS,
PPGIS, PGIS
Google
Earth, Yahoo
Map, etc
The Playing Field
1.0
Open Source Options?
• MapWindows
• QuantumGIS
• Capaware
• TerraView
• SAGA GIS
• Jump GIS
• SavGIS
• GRASS
• OSSIM
• gvSIG
• ILWIS
• uDIG
• fGIS
?
N
Kristina Lerman; http://www.isi.edu/~lerman
The Playing Field
2.0
GeoWeb Options?
Web 2.0 Applications
Google Earth/Maps

(http://thematicmapping.org)
WikiMapia – (www.wikimapia.org)
Platial Maps – (http://platial.com)
Ning – (www.ning.com)
The GMapCreator
http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/software/gmapcreator.asp
OpenStreetMap – (www.openstreetmap.org)
MetaCarta Labs –
MapRectifier –
(http://labs.metacarta.com)
(http://labs.metacarta.com/rectifier)
Flickr / Picasa
BatchGeocode – (www.batchgeocode.com)
GeoNames – (www.geonames.org)
GeoRSS Tagging
GeoParsing – (http://gutenkarte.org)

RSS to GeoRSS Converter
Everyone Assembling the Web:
The Difficulty Curve of DIY
Platforms, Tools, and Pieces
QUANTITY OF CREATORS
Variety and Output
Hundreds
of Millions
• Web desktops
• Badges
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Feeds
• Enterprise 2.0
(Anyone)
Tens of
Millions
• Simple mashups
• Situational Apps
• Widgets
• WOA
(Expert Users)
Complexity and Sophistication
Hinchcliffe (2007)
Millions
• Web apps
• Enterprise mashups
• Composite apps
• Office 2.0
• SOA
(Developers)
The Playing Field
3.0
Decision Making Process
• Desktop GIS vs. GeoWeb?
• WMS vs. Onsite Storage?
• Transport & Delivery?
• Learning Curve?
Unfolding The GeoWeb
• VCGI WMS Server
http://maps.vcgi.org:8080/wmsconnector/servlet/co
m.esri.wms.Esrimap?service=WMS&servicename=V
GIS_BASEMAP&version=1.1.0&request=getcapabili
ties
• You could also use VCGI Interactive Viewer
Future of Mapping
GeoWeb Wampeter?
• Web 3.0 Intuitive Interfaces
• Robust Browser Applications
• Embedded PGIS
• Online Storage
References
Arnoff, S. 1989. Geographic Information Systems: A Management Perspective. Ottawa, Canada:
WDL Publications, 294p.
Huang, A.W-C. and Chuang, T-R., 2005, Commonsense Geography meets Web Technology:
Online Community Mapping. Open GIS & Web GIS 2005 Conference Procedding, pp89-98.
DiBiase, D.W., 2007, Is GIS a Wampter? Transactions in GIS, 11(1): 1-8.
Egenhofer, M.J. and Mark, D.M., 1995, Naïve geography, in, Frank, A.U. and Kuhn, W. (eds),
Spatial information theory: A theoretical basis for GIS. Lecture notes in computer sciences,
Springer-Verlag, 988: 1-115.
Goodchild, M.F., 2007, Citizens as sensors: The world of volunteered geography. GeoJournal,
69(4), 211-221.
Hinchcliffe, D., (2007), Tracking the DIY phenomenon Part 2: Mass customization, mashups,
and recombinant Web apps. ZDNET: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Hinchcliffe/?p=81
Jankowski, P., 2009, Towards particpatory geographic information systems for communitybased environmental decision making. Journal of Environmental Mangement, 90: 1966-1971.
Sui, D., 2008, The wikification of GIS and its consequences: Or Angelina Jolie’s new tatto and
the future of GIS. Computers, Environment, and Urban Systems, 32: 1-5.
Turner, A., 2006, Introduction to neogeography. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media Short Cuts,
54p.
Vonnegut, K Jr., 1974, Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons (Opinions). New York, Dell
Publishing.