dotted eyes - open software, standards and data

dottedeyes.com

Dotted Eyes Ltd. Unifying the Spatial Environment

An Introduction to

Open SoftwareOpen StandardsOpen Data

© Dotted Eyes LtdAll trademarks are acknowledged

David Downing

Account Manager

[email protected]

Matt Walker

Technical Director

[email protected]

David Eagle

Principal Consultant

[email protected]

dottedeyes.com


The Dotted Eyes Story

• Over 20 Years experience in GIS Solutions• UK-Centric solution-lead organisation• Focussed on success through our ‘trusted

advisor’ status to our customers• 850 customers and growing• Profitable, professional, knowledgeable

dottedeyes.com


Our Partner Network

dottedeyes.com


Geographic, Location & Spatial Solutions

• Leading Premier Business Partner of PBBI (MapInfo)• Products and solutions based approach • Software plus related data and services• Power clients, intranet, internet and mobile solutions• Extract, transform and load tools and solutions• Integration and interoperability experience

dottedeyes.com


An Introduction to

Open SoftwareOpen StandardsOpen Data

Matt Walker

Technical Director

[email protected]

David Eagle

Principal Consultant

[email protected]

dottedeyes.com


GIS traditionally dominated by

Commercial data

Open SoftwareOpen StandardsOpen Data…are increasingly more relevant

MapInfo.TABAutodesk.DWG

Proprietary formats and interfaces

ESRI.SHP

Commercial software

dottedeyes.com


Dotted Eyes Approach

Long standing spatial solutions provider focused on providing tailored solutions to meet requirements and using the best tools for the job.

Commercial Open Source

dottedeyes.com


Evolution of Web Mapping at Dotted Eyes

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft IIS / ASP

SQL ServerOracle

MapInfo MapXtreme

MapInfo MapXtreme

HTML / HTTP

Database

Operating System

Web Server

Map Server

Web Service

Web Front-end

Microsoft Windowsor Linux

Linux

Tomcat / Java

SQL Server / OracleMySQL

MapServer

Flash / XHTML

XML / HTTP

PostGIS / MySQL

Linux

Tomcat / Java

PostGISMySQL

GeoServer

OpenLayers / XHTML

WMS / WFS

dottedeyes.com


Sustrans website 2002 built on a commercial software stack, utilising a proprietary mapping interface and Ordnance Survey data.

dottedeyes.com


Sustrans website 2010 built on a open source software stack, utilising a standards based mapping interface and Ordnance Survey data.

dottedeyes.com


Open Software

dottedeyes.com


Open Software

• Software for which source code is provided under a license which permits use, change and redistribution

• Developed in a public & collaborative manner by a community

• Commonly free of charge

dottedeyes.com


Examples of Open Software

dottedeyes.com


dottedeyes.com


Benefits of Open Software

• High quality

• Reliable

• Secure

“The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in” – Open Source Initiative

• Flexibility

• Reduced cost

• No vendor lock-in

dottedeyes.com


Open Standards

dottedeyes.com


Open Standards

• Formal technical specifications that define how systems communicate together with file formats and data structures

• Commonly well documented and maintained by a standards body

dottedeyes.com


FormatsGML, KML, CityGML…

Web ServicesWMS, WFS, WPS…

StyleSLD, SES…

Data StructuresSimple Features for SQL, CORBA…

Open Geospatial Standards

dottedeyes.com


Web Map Service (WMS)“a simple HTTP interface for requesting geo-registered map images” – Open Geospatial Consortium.

GetCapabilities

Capabilities Document

Supported formats, projections and layers

GetMapFormat, projection, layers and extent

Map Image

Of required extent showing specified layers in requested format and projection

dottedeyes.com


Web Feature Service (WFS)“(a set of interfaces) for data access and manipulation operations on geographic features using HTTP” – Open Geospatial Consortium.

GetCapabilities

Capabilities Document

Supported formats, projections and layers

GetFeatureFormat, queries and layers…

Features (GML)

From the required layers that satisfy the specified queries.

Basic WFSRead-only access to features, the vector equivalent of a WMS.

Transactional WFSSupport for both reading and editing features. Includes support for transactions and feature locking.

dottedeyes.com


Benefits of Open Standards

• Interoperability and data sharing

• Vendor independence

• Encourages competition

• Lower costs

dottedeyes.com


Open Data

dottedeyes.com


Open Data

• Data publicly available

• Subject to a suitable open data licence

“Anyone is free to use, reuse and redistribute without restriction (except, perhaps the requirements to attribute and share alike)” – opendatacommons.org

dottedeyes.com


Great Britain

Examples of Open Data

?

OpenStreetMap

US TIGER

dottedeyes.com


OpenStreetMap

"OpenStreetMap is a project aimed squarely at creating and providing free geographic data such as street maps to anyone who wants them." – openstreetmap.org

OpenStreetMap

• Crowd sourced• Collected using GPS, local

knowledge and digitising over open imagery and out of copyright maps.

• Worldwide cover but detail and quality variable.

dottedeyes.com


data.gov.uk

Recently launched by HM Government to provide access to public sector information. Spearheaded by Tim Berners-Lee the creator of the world wide web and Nigel Shadbolt.

• Central directory of government data

• Enabling the linked data initiative

• Ordnance Survey consultation ongoing looking at providing free access to some OS datasets

dottedeyes.com


Ordnance Survey Free

• Making Public Data Public recognises value of location• Options for the access mechanism could include:

– Online public viewing service– Online download centre– Web based Application Programming Interface (API)– CD or DVD distribution, with a charge for media and P&P

• Proposal to offer ‘Ordnance Survey Free’ data sets– “An additional contribution from government of up to £40m pa

from 2010/11 has been proposed. This would be funded from several government departments and Agencies”

dottedeyes.com


Summary

• There has been a growing trend towards Open Software, Standards and Data

• Significant advantages to open computing including flexibility, interoperability and low cost of adoption

dottedeyes.com


Case studies

dottedeyes.com


• Your total cost to deliver a project will decrease

• Increased ability to deliver core functionality

• Mitigate your ‘risk’ by working with a trusted partner

Benefits of Using Open Source Software, Standards and Data

dottedeyes.com


dottedeyes.com


"We are able to keep our match day transport map live and current. We are very pleased with Dotted Eyes as the work they have done

has been absolutely brilliant. It has been a real help to us. Without this solution we would have had to use static PDFs which

would have been a headache to update. The solution was cost effective, deployed very quickly and

exceeded expectations. There is also the added advantage that people visiting the site can play with the map interactively and

compare transport options to see what will suit them best.“

Lee Preece – Aston Villa FC

Aston Villa Football Club

dottedeyes.com


dottedeyes.com


“Licensing contractors can be complex and we recognise that a hosted web application can deliver greater cost-efficiency in data analysis and audited workflows, so

freeing up our internal GIS resource for other mission-critical work."

“Contractor Portal will help us to offer a reliable, fully managed data distribution service that simplifies contract

compliance for us and our contractors.”

Joanne Brooker – GIS Manager, SEEDA

dottedeyes.com


dottedeyes.com


Open Geospatial Stack

dottedeyes.com


Diagram adapted from opengeo.org

Web Client

Publishing / Services

Data

Desktop

Spatial ETL

dottedeyes.com


Web Client

dottedeyes.com


Web Client: OpenLayers

• Web-based user-interface to mapping data• Consumes WMS & WFS• Supports tiling for performance• Open source alternative to:

– Google Maps– Microsoft Bing Maps (formerly Virtual Earth)

dottedeyes.com


Publishing and Services

dottedeyes.com


Mapping Server: GeoServer

• Map rendering and data publishing• Supports WMS and WFS• Standards based styling (SLD)• Can utilise GeoWebCache for tiling and

performance• Open source alternative to:

– ESRI ArcGIS Server– MapInfo MapXtreme

dottedeyes.com


Database

dottedeyes.com


Database: PostGIS

• Spatial extension of PostgreSQL• Direct connection using desktop GIS clients• Enterprise class spatial database• Open source alternative to:

– Oracle Spatial– Microsoft SQL Server Spatial – ESRI ArcSDE

dottedeyes.com


Spatial ETL

dottedeyes.com


• Translation and Transformation• Capable of plugging into open source tools to

enable spatial transformation and translations• Provides a bridge between the open source and

proprietary GIS environments– Migrate PostGIS “Test” > Oracle Spatial “Live”

Spatial ETL: FME

dottedeyes.com


Load OSM Data

dottedeyes.com


Desktop

dottedeyes.com


Open Desktop GIS

MapWindow GIS

SAGA

GRASS

JUMP

dottedeyes.com


Desktop: Quantum GIS

• Supported on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and UNIX• Small installation footprint c.100mb• Minimal resources so functions on older computers• Used in academic and professional arenas• “Born” in 2002• Official current release is 1.3.0, aka “Mimas” (Sept 2009)

dottedeyes.com


Features of

• Format Support:– TAB, MIF/MID, Shape,

DGN, S57, CSV, GML, GPX, KML

– PostGIS, ODBC, Oracle Spatial, MySQL

– ECW, JPG, MrSID, GIF– …and many more

• View and overlay with no conversion required

• Core Features:– Digitising tools– Print composer– OGC support (WMS,

WFS)– Overview window– Spatial bookmarks– Identify/select features– Edit/view attributes– Feature labelling– On the fly projection

dottedeyes.com


Open GIS in action

• Demo– OpenLayers– GeoServer– WFS and WFS-T– PostGIS query and editing– Quantum GIS capabilities

dottedeyes.com


Summary

• Choose appropriate parts of the technology stack to suit your needs

• Connect to data in native format or transform and translate it with FME

• Analyse, query and edit• Invest in the ‘best-fit’ solution

dottedeyes.com


Open Source Licensing

dottedeyes.com


Principles of Software Licensing

• Copying and distributing the software

• Modifying the software or creating derived software

• Authorising anyone else from copying or creating derived software

Commercial License Open Source LicenseRestricts the user, to avoid: Open source software enables

the user to:

• Freely copy and distribute the software

• Modify the software and create derived software

• Pass these rights on to others

dottedeyes.com


Open Source Licenses

GPL Dual GPL LGPL/MPL Apache/MIT

Download

Evaluate

Use

Redistribute

Modify

Linux, GeoServer

MySQL, Ext/GeoExt

Firefox, MapGuide OS

OpenLayers, MapServer

Matrix adapted from original at http://www.bitsandbuzz.com.

1

1. Application must be licensed under the same license2. Library code modifications must be licensed under the same license3. Usually requires a commercial license from the copyright holder

2 2 2

3

dottedeyes.com


License Summary

• Open source licenses look to provide freedom and encourage adoption

• There are a variety of open source licenses in regular use ranging from Copyleft ‘viral’ licenses such as GPL to Permissive licences such as MIT

dottedeyes.com


Open Source Support

dottedeyes.com


One of the biggest challenges facing open source software in the business sector is the perceived lack of commercial support

dottedeyes.com


Open Source Support OptionsProduct

• Open source vendors often provide better support than commercial• Passion• Frequently include members of the original design team

Stack

• Assemble stacks of commonly used open source software components• Offer services around them - support, consultancy, training and integration testing

Community

• Active online communities• Mailing lists, discussion forums, direct E-mail correspondence

dottedeyes.com


Dotted Eyes Services

dottedeyes.com


Dotted Eyes Services

SupportStandard and tailored support packages

ConsultancyNeeds assessment, training, mentoring and data migration

DevelopmentUser centred solutions development

dotted eyes - open software, standards and data

Technology

open data data

open software software

open imagery

examples of open software

suitable open data licence

commercial open source

promise of open source

related data