A presentation given at EDINA's Geoforum 2013 about the Free, OpenSource and Freemium software and data that is useful for Digimap users. The presentation highlights which software and data we feel best meets Digimap users needs and points to resources for further reading.

1. Open & ‘Free’ Geo
Software & Data
June 20th 2013
Geoforum 2013

2. Overview
• Why bother with Open?
• OpenSource, Free, Freemium Software
– Desktop
– Cloud based
– Webmaps
• OpenSource Data, Open Data, Freemium Data
– Quality
– Accessibility

3. Why Bother?
• Quality
– Much improved
• No Restrictions
– Off campus, commercial use, web publishing
• Demand
– Industry has noticed
• Cost
– Free*

4. OpenSource, Free, Freemium?
• OpenSource
– Free to download, use and develop
– Code or raw data is available to update or augment
• Free
– Free to download and use
– Code or source material is not available
• Freemium
– Free to download
– Extra functionality or content is not free

5. Desktop GIS

6. Desktop GIS
• OpenSource
– Quantum GIS (QGIS)
• http://www.qgis.org/
– gvSIG
• http://www.gvsig.org/
• Free*
– AutoCAD Map 3D (*for academic use)
• http://students.autodesk.com/
• Freemium
– ArcGIS Explorer Desktop
• http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/explorer

7. Quantum GIS: www.qgis.org
• Its Free
• Works on a Mac!
• Huge user community
– Online forums are very active
– Many people developing plugins and addons
• Version 2 will see parity in functionality and
ease of use with ArcGIS
• Becoming more widely used in industry
– Students with skills in QGIS will be in demand

8. Quantum GIS: www.qgis.org (2)
• Integrates well with Spatial Databases
– Postgres, MYSQL, ODBC, Esri, etc.
• Ordnance Survey are now producing
styling for their data
– Style Layer Descriptor (SLD) Files work in
most OpenSource GIS software
– www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/su
pport/products/styled-layer-
descriptors/index.html

9. Honourable mentions
• gvSIG: http://www.gvsig.org/web/
– Excellent foreign Language support
– There is a mobile version
• uDig: http://udig.refractions.net/
– Very easy to use but limited in its functionality
– It has not been updated for a while
• GRASS: http://grass.osgeo.org/
– Very powerful
– Very difficult to use
– Powerful tools available as a plugin for QGIS

10. Cloud Based GIS

11. Cloud Based GIS
• Accessed via the web
• For data visualisation and sharing
• ArcGIS Online: http://www.arcgis.com
– Freemium
• Google Earth: http://earthengine.google.org/
– More a Desktop GIS but storage is cloud based
– Freemium

12. Cloud Based GIS
Warning!
Ordnance Survey do not allow their licensed
data to be put into Esri or Google’s cloud
storage.

13. ArcGIS Online: http://www.arcgis.com
• Create maps online
– Add lots of data from ESRI Microsoft OS
– Upload your own data
– Share your maps
• Free Service
– All maps created are open for anyone to view
• Paid Service
– Included in the top level CHEST deal
– Keep maps private or share to small groups

14. ArcGIS Online: http://www.arcgis.com

15. Google Earth: http://earth.google.co.uk/
• Create maps online
– Add lots of data from Google
– Upload your own data
– Share your maps
• Free Service
– Google gets access to all the data you upload
• Paid Service: Google Earth Enterprise
– Host the data on your own server, OK for OS data
– Some analysis tools are available

16. Web Maps

17. Web Mapping
• Display your maps online rather than perform
analysis
• Some will allow editing and data creation
– MapBox (Freemium service built on Leaflet)
– Leaflet
– OpenLayers
– MapServer

18. Leaflet: http://leafletjs.com/
• Easy to use
• Very light weight
• Not very flexible
– Only uses Web Mercator projection
– Only uses GeoJSON or Native layers

19. Leaflet: http://leafletjs.com/

20. Leaflet: http://leafletjs.com/

21. OpenLayers: http://openlayers.org/
• Very Powerful
– Accepts a wide range of formats and data sources
• OpenSource with a large user community
– Lots of online help, someone will have encountered
and solved most situations
• Not so easy to use
– Must specify many options rather than rely on
defaults

22. OpenLayers: http://openlayers.org/

23. OpenLayers: http://openlayers.org/

24. Data
• Quality
• Accessibility

25. OpenSource, OpenData, Freemium Dataservices
• OpenSource Data
– Free to download, upload your edits
• OpenData
– Data created by organisations and individuals
– No restrictions on use*
• *You will need to credit the creator though!
• Freemium Data Services
– Free to use up to a point
– Charges for high usage

26. Data
• OpenSource Data
– OpenStreetMap
• Open Data
– OS OpenData
– BGS OpenGeoscience
– ShareGeo Open
• Freemium Data Services
– Google
– Bing

27. OpenSource Data

28. •Poor Quality?
•Patchy Coverage?
•Inconsistent?
•Inaccurate?
…Yes, but…
OpenStreetMap: www.openstreetmap.org/

29. OpenStreetMap: www.openstreetmap.org/

30. OpenStreetMap: www.openstreetmap.org/

31. OpenStreetMap: www.openstreetmap.org/

32. OpenStreetMap: www.openstreetmap.org/

33. •Poor Quality?
•Patchy Coverage?
•Inconsistent?
•Inaccurate?
OpenStreetMap: www.openstreetmap.org/

34. Open Data

35. OS OpenData: http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/products/os-opendata.html
• OS OpenData
– OS VectorMap District, 1:50 000 Scale Gazetteer, 1:250 000
Scale Colour Raster, Boundary-Line, Code-Point Open, Land-
Form PANORAMA, Meridian 2, Miniscale, OS Locator, OS
Terrain 50, Strategi, OS Street View
• 8 of the 14 views in Digimap Roam use open
data
• Data Download makes OS OpenData easy.
• OpenStream pipes it direct into your web app
or GIS

36. OpenGeosience: www.bgs.ac.uk/opengeoscience/
• Smallest Scale data available for download:
– 1:625,000 Scale
• Larger Scale data in online viewers and as a
WMS
– Geology of Britain, Boreholes, Hydrogeology,
Earthquakes etc.
• Geology Roam adds in the OS backdrop maps
• Geology Download
– Provides the large scale data you need ready for
analysis

37. ShareGeo Open: www.sharegeo.ac.uk
• A collection of 214 Open Datasets
– International (most for the UK)
• Contains:
– Datasets found by Geoservices Support
– Datasets created by the Geospatial community
– Very diverse topics:
• Census data
• Bird count maps
• Aluminium production
• Please contribute your data!

38. Open Data Services

39. Geospatial data: it isn’t just all about maps
• Most data has an element that is
geospatial or can be georeferenced
– Postcode, Place name, Location Stamp, IP Address
• Unlock Places
– can put a point or a polygon to virtually any data that
has a spatial element
– Global coverage (better in the UK)
• Unlock Text
– can dig out references from plain text

40. More Information:
• OSGeo: www.osgeo.org
– FOSS4G Conference
• http://2013.foss4g.org/
– Grass, Quantum GIS and PostGIS
• GoGeo: http://www.gogeo.ac.uk
– Lists most major free software resources:
• http://bit.ly/11J4tVg