Partnerships between Industry and Communities through Open Source

1
Partnerships between Industry and Communities
through Open Source

• OSGIS 2004 MUM2
• David McIlhagga, President
• DM Solutions Group

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Open Source The Ingredient for Partnership

• Communities are guaranteed to be free of barriers
  for propagation of technology to associated
  groups
• Industry is ensured growth and success through
  the development of quality technology
• Result Partnership based on trust and shared
  end goals
• Restrictive LICENSING is the barrier to mutual
  success

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Open Source for Communities of all Types and Sizes

• Government
• Academia
• Industry
• Non-Government Organizations

4
Government Community - Enabling a Distributed
Infrastructure for the National Forest
Information System (NFIS)

• Requirement for assisting provinces and
  territories in Canada to publish data to OGC
  specifications
• Cost of paying for software licenses of existing
  software supporting OGC and deploying to all
  provinces -- prohibitive
• The cost-effective solution - fund implementation
  of Web Map Service support in MapServer and
  deploy with no license restriction
• The added bonus - somebody else later funded
  support for other specifications that NFIS then
  reaped the benefits from.

5
Government Community - Publishing point data to
OGC specifications within Environment Canada

• Problem - Vast majority of spatial data in
  Environment Canada is NOT in spatial formats. It
  is held in standard databases or flat files.
• Data Providers have a requirement to publish to
  OGC specifications, but do not want to convert to
  a spatial format. The capabilities and cost of
  commercial products are overkill for this
  requirement.
• Solution - Enhance MapServer to support direct
  read of point data in non-spatial data formats
  and deploy throughout the organization.
• Bonus - Additional support for the Time variable
  in MapServer currently being funded by another
  community will in the future be required by
  Environment Canada.

6
University Community - Incorporating Open Source
into Carleton Universitys GIS Curriculum

• Problem - Within universities, there is a lack of
  curriculum for Internet Mapping available and
  dominance of teaching based on single vendor
  solutions.
• Problem - Students enter the workforce without
  the skills or more importantly, knowledge that
  open source exists or is an option.
• Solution - DM Solutions and Carleton University
  develop a short intro to Internet Mapping based
  on MapServer and Chameleon and make it available
  as open source curriculum.

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Industry as Vehicle to Community - MapsOnline -
an affordable solution for small communities

• Problem - PeopleGIS recognized that commercial
  licensing of industry software is prohibitive for
  small communities to afford publishing data
  within web mapping applications
• Solution - PeopleGIS and DM Solutions partner to
  develop an affordable solution for numerous small
  communities in New England.

8
NGO Community Centre for Sustainable Watersheds
requires technology for a Watersheds InfoXchange

• Problem - Technology solution is required to
  better support community collection of sensitive
  watershed information
• Problem - Community groups do not have the funds
  to purchase commercial solutions to achieve this.
• Solution - DM Solutions and CSW jointly solicited
  funding to support the development of WIX with
  the full solution to be made freely available.
• The Future Result - Affordable solution for
  similar communities across Canada and around the
  world and potential for rapid growth in adoption
  of open source technologies.

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NGO Community - Trailpaq Partnership in Action
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NGO Community - Developing a map-based Health
Planning tool for CIET Group

• Problem - Spatial health planning tool required
  by community groups to make better policy
  decisions in health planning around the world.
• Problem - Most of the people who need this, dont
  have the money for software licensing.
• Solution - DM Solutions and CIET partner to
  develop CIETmap based on OpenEV for free
  distribution around the world.

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Oceanographic Community - Bridging the gap
between Land and Water

• Problem - GIS has not traditionally met the needs
  of the oceanographic community
• Problem - Software licensing fees for GIS are
  prohibitive for any single individual group in
  the community
• Solution - Through community funding from the
  Office of Naval Research and SURA SCOOP Program,
  MapServer is enhanced to support key components
  required by the community for the benefit of all
  community stakeholders.

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What do all of these examples have in common?

• Licensing fees can be a significant barrier to
  finding creative partnering solutions between all
  forms of communities and industry.
• Value can be measured in many forms other then
  license costs.
• Collective Value for community identifies the
  opportunity for collaboration between industry
  and communities and focuses them as partners on
  finding a mutually beneficial solution.

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Thank you!

• Contact Information
• Dave McIlhagga
• Email mcilhagga_at_dmsolutions.ca
• Phone [phone] x15
• http//www.dmsolutions.ca