Open Source GIS

For fun and profit

Jo Cook / @archaeogeek

Astun Logo

The Questions

Who is this person standing up here?

What does Open Source really mean?

What is it like to work in Open Source GIS?

What technologies are worth focussing on?

Who is this person?

I've been working in GIS since 2001

First within archaeology, and now working for a GIS consultancy

I "discovered" Open Source GIS for myself in 2005(ish), and now I work almost exclusively with Open Source GIS

I work for Astun Technology, and I'll talk a bit more about what we do later

What 'Open Source' really means

It's just a license...

...but a different kind, that protects the author of the code, whilst disallowing discrimination and restriction of use

It's not like this

Microsoft Communism

David Erickson (CC-BY-SA)

Or even this

Free Beer

©freebeer.org

It's about interoperability and common standards

Interoperability

Kate Andrews (CC-BY-NC-SA)

It's about given you long term control over your work

Control

Massimo Valiani (CC-BY-NC)

It's about having the choice over which tools you use

Choice

OSGeo Live Wordcloud

So, how can you make a career in Open Source GIS?

By adding value, expertise and support

Introducing Astun Technology

Astun Team

At Astun, we have a software suite

Astun Stack

Primarily used by local councils

South Norfolk DC

We also make bespoke software

FishMapMon

We run training courses

QGIS Training

We help organisations meet their INSPIRE requirements

Get INSPIREd

We run user groups

User Group

and Hackathons

Hackathon

All of this is based on the Open Source GIS stack

Stack

The underlying source code is free, but we add value/support/expertise

Open for Business

Key Technologies

Whether you go into Open Source or not

PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is increasingly used as a cost-effective replacement for proprietary databases

The basics of server-based, spatially enabled databases are roughly applicable to PostgreSQL, SQL Server and Oracle

PostgreSQL

QGIS

These days, QGIS is a perfectly acceptable replacement for proprietary desktop GIS

It's also fully cross-platform, with loads of support

QGIS

Python

Both open source and proprietary GIS use python

It has modules for working with rasters, vectors, databases and many more

You WILL be able to write working code within minutes of starting to use it!

Python

Scripting: JavaScript

It's now possible to do sophisticated visualisation of GIS data directly in the browser

Check out three.js, Turfjs, and D3.js

Turfjs

GitHub

The easiest way to learn about repositories and version control

It's not just for code- share documentation/presentations/data/your CV

Both proprietary and open source companies have an increasing presence

GitHub

My first GitHub commit

first commit

vaguely rude place names

Things to take away

Learning cross-platfrom tools will get you a step up, whatever area you go into

Scripting and SQL will provide a flexible and powerful alternative to desktop-GIS workflows

They might even save you time and money

Open Source is a viable career option

It can be a point of principle, or a way of life

It's certainly a disruptor in GIS

but it's also just a software license!

and finally, enjoy what you do- it's fun!

Dancing UK

Thanks!

Find me at about.me/jocook

Find this talk at archaeogeek.github.io/ucltalk_2015

Questions?

tumbleweed