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Free and Open Source Software's for

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 EUROPEAN ACADEMIC RESEARCH
Vol. I, Issue 12/ March 2014

ISSN 2286-4822 Impact Factor: 3.1 (UIF)

www.euacademic.org DRJI Value: 5.9 (B+)

Free and Open Source Softwares for Geographic

Information System (GIS)

JAGDISH CHAND
Department of Geography
Govt. PG College, Nahan, HP
India

Abstract:
Open source may be viewed by many as a revolutionary
phenomenon that is capable of providing the software industry with an
alternative and competitive way of doing business. Research done so
far has tackled the history and business aspects of the open source
phenomena, and only few have researched its technical aspects. The
results of the research provide an insight on how different categories of
people view open source, and demonstrate that lack of awareness about
open source concepts and its competencies may be a major reason
behind the poor adoption of open source solutions. The results of the
comparative analysis also demonstrate that Map Server is technically
equivalent to its commercial counter parts. A new open source sharing
platform has emerged from the joint initiatives of the educationist,
researchers and software developers. Present paper throws light on the
contemporary development of this open source technology in field of
geographic information system (GIS). An effort has been made to
review the main components of open source technology at desktop and
web based platforms, while the significance of open source technologies
has been also discussed.

Key words: Open source; GIS; Map Server; Educationist; Open

source technology.

Introduction
The development of free and open source software has

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experienced a boost over the last few years. The variety of Free
and Open Source Software (FOSS) that can be found on desktop
computers ranges from word processors (e.g. OpenOffice.org),
web browsers (e.g. Mozilla Firefox) to drawing (e.g. Inkscape)
and scientific applications (e.g. R Project). In the GIS domain,
the widespread use of FOSS is apparent as well. This rise in
popularity of free GIS tools can be measured using four
indicators. The first indicator is the number of projects started
in the last couple of years. For instance, in last two years 20
entries have been added to the list of software projects on the
website FreeGIS.org (containing now 330 entries). As a second
indicator, there is increasing financial support by governmental
organizations for the foundation of FOSS GIS projects. The
listing of desktop GIS projects provided below shows that
governmental funding supports at least 4 out of 10 projects. The
third indicator is the download rates of free desktop GIS
software. SAGA GIS for instance experienced an average
increase of downloads in its documentation section between
2005 and 2008 from 700 to 1300 per month. Finally, a fourth
indicator is an increasing number of use cases of open source
GIS software such as PostGIS for the geospatial database
(Ramsey, 2007a).
Along with this trend towards the application of open
source software goes the number of research publications that
mentions the use of open source software tools and libraries.
Furthermore, software and algorithms developed in research
projects are increasingly being published under open source
licenses. As such, it is important to note that the free and open
source software movement that postulates the freedoms of use
and modification for software is not restricted to software only.
Rather one regards free software as the foundation of a
learning society where we share our knowledge in a way that
others can build upon (FSF 2008a). Hence, this movement also
includes the free availability of data that forms a basis for our
knowledge. Certain initiatives that focus especially on the free

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availability of geodata do exist. Probably the best-known project

is the OpenStreetMap Project. This movement of free software
and data is further facilitated by (online) platforms such as
Sourceforge.org, which provide an environment for software
development, Eduforge.org, which aims to foster the sharing of
ideas, research outcomes, and open content for education, as
well as the Open Knowledge Foundation (okfn.org) and
ScienceCommons.org, which both provide strategies and tools to
develop, protect, and share open (i.e. free) knowledge (Badard
and Braun 2003, Mitasova and Neteler 2004, Pebesma 2004,
Burghardt et al. 2005, Buliung and Remmel 2008).
As previously mentioned, the amount of new GIS
software projects being started is noticeably increasing. It is
aim with this article to provide an overview on more than
fifteen FOSS GIS projects, which develop and maintain
different desktop GIS. However, this is not the first topic of an
overview on GIS related FOSS tools. The potential of open
source software for implementing spatial data infrastructures
(SDIs) reviewed by earlier many scholars. The open-source
software provides great potential to make available components
for SDI implementations that are affordable by resources poor
organizations and add that many building blocks for SDIs are
already available. An annual overview on open source GIS
projects, remarks that existing (FOS GIS) products are now
entering a phase of rapid refinement and enhancement (Reid
and Martin 2001 and Ramsey 2007b).
An introduction and a structured overview into the
multitude of different FOS desktop GIS projects are missing,
which additionally discusses issues of the application of FOSS
in GIScience research and education. A necessary requirement
for such a review will be to clarify the terms related to open
source and free software first. Therefore, outline is provided
that what is meant by free software, briefly explain two
common software licenses, and address three common
misconceptions. Afterwards, they introduce the world of FOSS

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GIS in terms of organizations and software groups. The

following section then provides an overview of major free
desktop GIS projects and will outline possible evaluation
criteria (Wagner 2006).

What does Free Software and Open Source Software

mean?

A couple of terms, such as proprietary, free and General Public

License (GPL), are often used with respect to open source
software. It is to see that the terms free software and open
sources software seems to cover different domains despite their
large overlap. The opposite domain of free and open source is
the domain of proprietary software. The domain of the latter
encloses terms such as closed software and shareware. The
existence of the three different domains of free, open source and
proprietary software requires that at least two of these domains
are clearly defined, while the third domain covers those
software that is excluded from the others. Such a definition has
been setup for free software by the Free Software Foundation
(FSF, www.fsf.org) and for open source software by the Open
Source Initiative. According to the FSF, software can be
labelled as free software if the associated license conditions
fulfill the Free Software Definition (Smith, 2008), which grants
four freedoms:
1. The freedom to run the program, for any purpose.
2. The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt
it to your needs.
3. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your
neighbour.
4. The freedom to improve the program, and to release
your improvements to the public, so that the whole
community benefits.
Free and open source softwares available from different web
sites for geographic information system.

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CommonGIS Fraunhofer Institute, Germany

Type: GIS http://www.commongis.com
Java based GIS package with strong thematic mapping and
exploratory data analysis facilities (this is the successor to the
Descartes software). New facilities include movement analysis,
a range of ESDA and decision support facilities and L.O.G.I.S -
a "Library of Optimization Algorithms for Geographical
Information Systems" used in the new Districting add-on.

Fragstats University of Mass., USA

Type: Landscape analysis
http://www.umass.edu/landeco/research/fragstats/fragsta
ts.html
Analysis of ecological raster data. Spatial pattern analysis for
categorical maps. V3 is a raster-only program, whereas V2 has
support for ArcInfo vector files (coverages).

GDAL
Type: GIS tools
http://www.gdal.org/
Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL/OGR) is a cross
platform C++ translator library for raster and vector geospatial
data formats that is released under an X/MIT style Open
Source license by the Open Source Geospatial Foundation. As a
library, it presents a single abstract data model to the calling
application for all supported formats. It also comes with a
variety of useful command line utilities for data translation and
processing. GDAL supports over 50 raster formats, and OGR
over 20 vector formats.

GeoDa Spatial Analysis Laboratory, Univ of Conneticut,

USA
Type: Exploratory data analysis
http://geodacenter.asu.edu/software
Exploratory spatial data analysis, vector (L Anselin). GeoDa is

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the latest incarnation of a collection of software tools designed

to implement techniques for exploratory spatial data analysis
(ESDA) on lattice data. It is intended to provide a user friendly
and graphical interface to methods of descriptive spatial data
analysis, such as global and local (LISA) autocorrelation
statistics and indicators of spatial outliers, plus some more
advanced regression analysis facilities.

GMT School of Earth Science and technology, Univ of

Hawai'I, Manoa
Type: GIS tools
http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu/
GMT (Generic Mapping Tools) is an open source collection of
around 60 tools for manipulating geographic and Cartesian
data sets (including filtering, trend fitting, gridding, projecting,
etc.) and producing Encapsulated PostScript File (EPS)
illustrations ranging from simple x-y plots via contour maps to
artificially illuminated surfaces and 3-D perspective views. It is
designed as a command line driven suite of programs for Unix
environments.

GRASS Open source

Type: GIS
http://grass.itc.it/
Geographic Resources Analysis Support System. Open source
GIS with both raster and vector support. Geographic Resources
Analysis Support System, commonly referred to as GRASS, is a
Geographic Information System (GIS) used for geospatial data
management and analysis, image processing, graphics/maps
production, spatial modeling, and visualization. GRASS is
currently used in academic and commercial settings around the
world, as well as by many governmental agencies and
environmental consulting companies.

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System (GIS)

GVSIG Generalitat Velenciana, Spain

Type: GIS
http://www.gvsig.org
gvSIG is a desktop tool designed to manage geographic
information. It is characterized by a user-friendly interface that
can easily access the most common raster and vector formats.
In a single view, it includes local files as well as remote data
through SDI standards, geographic databases, etc. Multiple
language support - its interface is in Spanish, Valencian,
English, Basque, Gallego, Czech, Chinese, French, German,
Italian, Romanian, Polish and Portuguese.

ILWIS ITC
Type: GIS
http://www.itc.nl/ilwis
The Integrated Land and Water Information System (ILWIS) is
a PC-based GIS & Remote Sensing software, developed by ITC
up to its last release (version 3.3) in 2005. ILWIS comprises a
complete package of image processing, spatial analysis and
digital mapping. It is easy to learn and use; it has full on-line
help, extensive tutorials for direct use in courses and 25 case
studies of various disciplines.

Landfrag Univ of Conneticut

Type: Landscape analysis
http://placeways.com/products/landfragtool.php
The Landscape Fragmentation tool is designed to be used in
ESRI's ArcGIS 9.2 geographic information system (GIS)
software and allows users to analyze fragmentation using their
own raster land cover information. The forest fragmentation
model uses the land cover data from Connecticuts Changing
Landscape to characterize the degree to which our forests have
become carved up by developed landscapes, especially roads.

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MapGuide
Type: GIS
http://mapguide.osgeo.org/
MapGuide Open Source is a web-based platform that enables
users to quickly develop and deploy web mapping applications
and geospatial web services. MapGuide features an interactive
viewer that includes support for feature selection, property
inspection, map tips, and operations such as buffer, select
within, and measure. MapGuide includes an XML database for
managing content, and supports most popular geospatial file
formats, databases, and standards.

OSSIM Open Source

Type: Image handling
http://www.ossim.org/
Open Source Software Image Map (OSSIM) is a high
performance engine for remote sensing, image processing,
geographical information systems and photogrammetry.

PostGIS Refractions research,

Victoria, BC, Canada
Type: GIS
http://postgis.refractions.net/
PostGIS adds support for geographic objects to the PostgreSQL
object-relational database. In effect, PostGIS spatially enables
the PostgreSQL server, allowing it to be used as a backend
spatial database for geographic information systems (GIS).

QGIS
Type: GIS
http://www.qgis.org/
Quantum GIS (QGIS) is a user friendly Open Source
Geographic Information System (GIS) that runs on Linux,
Unix, Mac OSX, and Windows. QGIS supports vector, raster,
and database formats.

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SAGA Abteilung fr Physische Geographie

Geographisches Institut Gttingen, Germany
Type: GIS
http://www.saga-gis.org/
Open source GIS designed with geosciences in mind, especially
terrain and hydrographic analysis. Powerful raster analysis
and programmability.

Virtual Terrain Project VTP

Type: Visualisation (2D and 3D)
http://vterrain.org
3-D Terrain Modelling/Virtual Reality software. The goal of
VTP is to foster the creation of tools for easily constructing any
part of the real world in interactive, 3D digital form.

Conclusion

The FOSS geospatial software world has recently seen a lot of

activity. For instance, a formal organization has been founded,
a related conference series is on the way to establishing itself,
and new software projects have been started. One aim of this
article was to present an overview on organizational structures
in the open source community, and to closely examine those
projects that develop desktop GIS software. To further the
understanding of the open source software development the
outcome of article to introduced important terms and discussed
advantages and disadvantages of FOSS for the general user.
The second conclusion that can be drawn is that most of the
projects have a slightly different application and platform focus.
Furthermore, with the exception OrbisGIS, all presented
projects have reached a mature stage and the software offers a
multitude of functionalities. As the analysis reveals, some of
the FOSS software listed, such as GRASS GIS and gvSIG, can
provide more functionality than proprietary low-end GIS
products, such as ESRIs ArcView.

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In the discussion section the study explicitly argued for

the use of open source practices and software in research. The
study could highlight that the principles of free software
conform to one fundamental research principle of experiments
must be reproducible. That is, if the source code is given, then
everybody is able to learn from the source code and directly
improve upon the algorithms and models without running into
the danger of misinterpretation. In contrast, GIScientists have
developed and implemented methods for the handling of spatio-
temporal data types and methods for 3D/4D geo-visualization
and analysis in free and open source software. Hence, if aim is
to test and develop new models and the emerging theories in-
time, rely (more or less) on open principles and software that
allowed to adapt the software to research needs, and on
software that is not focused on the end-user. Thus, free
software supports the scientific development by facilitating
learning, testing of hypothesis, amelioration and comparing of
models and algorithms, and the spreading of valuable or even
ground-breaking results.

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