Introducing OSGeo.nl - The Dutch Language Local Chapter of OSGeo

OSGeo.nl
-
The Dutch Language
Chapter of OSGeo
Just van den Broecke
OSGeo Ghent 2013
June 13, 2013
www.justobjects.nl
www.osgeo.nl

About Me
Independent Open Source Geospatial Professional
Secretary OSGeo Dutch Local Chapter
Member of the Dutch OpenGeoGroep
Just van den Broecke
just@justobjects.nl
www.justobjects.nl
Today I am mainly here as former trailblazer and now secretary (secretaris) of the OSGeo.nl,
the Dutch Language Local Chapter of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo).

1. Open Source
2. OSGeo.org
3. OSGeo.nl
Agenda
Our main topic for today will be OSGeo.nl.

What is
Open Source?
What is Open Source (for Geospatial)?
I will ﬁrst share some of my views on Open Source for Geospatial, as “spatial seems special” when
looking at some core requirements and architectures in the spatial domain. In many other aspects
“Spatial IT” is like regular IT.

Source Code
Is
(Almost) Irrelevant
Huh ? We’re at an Open Source conference and you’re stating this? Hopefully got your attention. Let
me explain this further. Many people, especially those from outside the software industry, look at
software like crown jewels, the most valuable asset, that needs to be guarded and sold in as large
quantities as possible. Selling licenses would be the (only) road to richness. Giving software away
for free seems plain stupid. While this holds true for some very large companies like MS and some
lone IOS-app-builders, there is more to the picture. Like the great Paul Ramsey (OpenGeo/PostGIS)
said in his 2009 FOSS4G Sydney keynote: The Whole Product is what counts. Most of the money is
earned, both in proprietary and open source, by adding value to the bare software. After talking a
little bit about earning money (if time permits), I will show you my view on what “Open Geospatial”
is about. Also there the actual software is just one of the (three) enabling pillars of a greater good...

CASCADOSS:
Model of Berlecon Research (2002)
Software Value-Chain
From: CASCADOSS Del. 1.5 KULeuvenwww.berlecon.de/studien/downloads/200207FLOSS_Basics.pdf
The SVC was taken from an earlier study from Berlecon als available on the net. But I will lead you
through the essentials.

SoftwareValue Chain
From: CASCADOSS Del. 1.5 KULeuven
Each step adds value. Note: I am not talking about value in terms of money, just value, for example
for a customer.
“The steps in this value-chain are:
-Software development: analysis, design, programming and testing of the software.
-Documentation: writing documentation (API documentation, Reference Manual, User Guides, Tutorials, Howto's, FAQs, ...)
-Software packaging: creating a user-friendly package of the software; bundling the software with other packages.
-Marketing/sales: marketing the software, closing sales, promoting wide-spread adoption, distribution.
-Consulting: providing consultancy with respect to the software.
-Integration/custom development: Integrating the software in the client's systems,
customizing it for user-specific needs
-Training: training in the use or customization of the software
-Support: end-user support (telephone, e-mail), installation and update support, bug fixing
-Application management: operational management of the client's applications based on the software.”
This chain is really no different than a value-chain for proprietary software. “Revenue-generating
activities in the value chain such as training, support and consultancy remain unaffected.” No business model yet
here. Business models/tactics are basically one or more slices where you want to intercept in this
chain. Let’s look at a few of them.

SoftwareValue Chain
Development
for a customer.

SoftwareValue Chain
Development Documentation
for a customer.

SoftwareValue Chain
Development PackagingDocumentation
for a customer.

SoftwareValue Chain
Marketing/
Sales
for a customer.

SoftwareValue Chain
Marketing/
Sales
Consulting
for a customer.

SoftwareValue Chain
Marketing/
Sales
Consulting Integration
for a customer.

SoftwareValue Chain
Marketing/
Sales
Consulting TrainingIntegration
for a customer.

SoftwareValue Chain
Marketing/
Sales
Consulting TrainingIntegration Support
for a customer.

SoftwareValue Chain
Marketing/
Sales
Application
Management
for a customer.

Model 2: Support Seller
Marketing/
Sales
Application
Management
“In this model the company that creates a F/OSS product offers support services to users of the product. The model is based
on the premiss that the creators of a software are the best suited to provide support because they are the creators.”

?

Support Packages:
SLAs
Fixed Price Support
Subscription
“Standardized support packages are offered as an SLA or support subscription for a fixed price on a (typically) yearly basis.
This last model is the most important”

Could be also a third-party, i.e. not the company that is the creator of the FOSS product.

Model 3: Platform Provider
Marketing/
Sales
Application
Management
“The company bundles several F/OSS products into a complete solution or platform. The company
provides quality-assurances that the selected products work together. ...This model is usually combined
with the (Third-Party) Support Seller Model. First, because it is far easier to support and bug-fix a
complete solution (platform) as it implies greater control over the operating environment. Secondly, the
value proposition is enhanced for the customer if he can source the platform and related support
services for the same supplier.”

?

License Fee
usually combined with
Support Seller
“Usually a license fee. However, the business model is mostly combined with a support seller model. In that case, the license fee will
cover access to support services together with the bundled product.”

We see the familiar Red Hat bundling Linuxes, but more and more platform providers in the open
soruce geospatial arena.

Model 4: Consulting
Marketing/
Sales
Application
Management
“The company provides consulting and customization services with respect to a range of F/OSS products. This model is certainly the most widely adopted model.”

Model 4: Consulting
?

Consulting Services (p/hour)
Fixed Price Custom Development
Model 4: Consulting
“Services are usually sold on a time & means basis. Custom developments are often contracted on a fixed price basis.”

Model 4: Consulting
Many of you. Also means competition. This is good for customers. But you may also want to think
to get into one of the other models that may be more niche like the SAAS/PAAS (hosted solutions)
where geospatial services built on FOSS are provided In The Cloud (not treated here)...
So from a business perspective I hope you have seen that it is not just about the bare software.

Open .... Geospatial
===
Four Things
Back to the Three Pillars and the Four Things. Ok, but what, let’s count.

Open
Data
1
When we are building SDIs, albeit open or closed, we need data, raster, vector, lots of it. Without
data we usually can’t do much in a geospatial application. Think of background basemaps (yes,
maps are also data!) to start with. Open Data means different things to different people. Some data
for example is “less than open”. Take Google Maps. Read the GM TOU. But we are in prosperous
times w.r.t. Open data: more and more governments open up (PDOK in the Netherlands e.g.),
OpenStreetMap is blossoming and within the EU the INSPIRE legislation opens up many silo’s. Check
out the presentation by Arnulf Christl on “Open Data in the Geospatial Context:” http://
metaspatial.net/conferences/gwf2013_opendata.html#/ . How are you in Belgium doing with open
data? It is good to see that today we have several talks on Open Data today , like “The current status
of Open Data in Flanders” by Pieter Colpaert and the next speaker(s) introducing (the value and fun
of) OpenStreetMap. So in the beginning was the Open Data!

Open
Data
Open
Standards
2
Secondly, no Open Source yet, Open Standards. Most, if not all SDI’s are distributed, interconnected
systems. So we need even more standards than other IT-domains. Open Standards for example, for
network protocols and data formats to exchange raster, vector information and metadata. While we
need lots of Open Data we would rather not have too many Open Standards, just a few good ones.
What are “good standards” ? A whole subject by itself. Also we are lucky with some commonly
established geo-standards, maybe they are not optimal (WFS!GML!), but there are not so many to
choose from: raster images via WMS, vector via WFS, metadata via CSW, coverages via WCS,
geoprocessing via WPS. WIth WMS and WFS the most abundant.

Open
Data
Open
Standards
Open
Source
3
O yes, and thirdly we need Open Source software as well. With Open Source meaning that the source
code is available under an Open Source license. Many options here: from GNU GPL to Public Domain.
So we have a nucleus of three aspects that in my view are the relevant pillars for “Open Geospatial”.
So what would be the fourth?

Open
Source
Open
Data
Open
Standards
Open
Processes
4
The fourth aspect is what one could call “Open Processes”. These deﬁne the activities and rules for
people to build, extend and use the nucleus.
Without these Open Processes the ﬁrst three elements would be just “dead matter”.

Open
Source
Open
Data
Open
Standards
Open
Communities
4
“Open Processes” should better be called “Open Communities”. In the end it is all about people,
ranging from developers to end-users, working together.
This collaboration is usually very distributed in these communities, more and more enabled by The
Cloud (should mention The Cloud at least once in any talk).
One can view Open Communities as concentric circles around the nucleus: anyone can make a
contribution and anyone can decide on his/her amount of involvement.
Note that these communities are not just about developers! The most successful Open Source
projects have vibrant communities of both (end)-users and developers. In reality there are many
more roles and the distinction between user and developer is not even important. An end-user may
for example contribute to a native translation in her language of messages emitted by the software
or the documentation, a designer may create a nice logo: hence “contributors” would be a better
notion.

Open
Source
Open
Data
Open
Standards
People
4
Eventually all this Open Source/Data/Standards is an enabler for people working together! People
may have different motivations to contribute: even large companies like Intergraph may contribute
to let’s say GDAL for specific drivers. Software is basically encoded human knowledge. I always find
“My Software” a strange notion, as one usually makes a small addition to a huge pyramid of
knowledge from the commons. I mean from the OS you are running, up to libraries, algorithms and
widgets you are using or copying, they all have been invented/reviewed/refined through decades of
human activity. I like the FOSS phrase: “I am (merely) standing on the shoulders of giants”. Closing
the whole pyramid off and saying “this is mine” seems from that perspective awkward. It is also a
personal choice that I rather live in a world of sharing and giving. (Plus you meet nice people too!).
“Mixed Source” gives me mixed feelings.

“Proprietary Software
Keeps Users
Helpless and Divided”
Richard M. Stallman
INTERVIEW Richard Matthew Stallman (RMS) on the importance of free software: http://www.techradar.com/news/software/
proprietary-software-keeps-users-helpless-963248 (and many other refs on the web). The term Open Source came along
much later (end 90s), not all, like RMS, were happy with that term as it dilutes the case for Free Software/GNU GPL. Hence
some people talk about FOSS i.s.o. Open Source.

Open
Source/Data/Standards
Empowers and Unites
People
Though I fully agree with RMS-statement, I often like to reverse RMS’s statement.

Example:
Let’s Git to the
Hub
-
GitHub
1. What is Open Source for Geospatial?
GitHub is just one of the many platforms “In The Cloud” where people, both users and developers,
work together on Open Source in a transparent environment. Many of the managerial tasks, like
reporting, have been automated such that the focus can be on the actual products. Sorry for your
managers! These days GitHub resembles almost a social medium like Facebook. “Social Coding”.
Wiki’s and other collaboration platforms are abundant. Sending Word and Excel documents and
code via email has become something we did in the dark ages....

Open Source
Geospatial
Ecosystems
This new way of collaboration on a global scale is what I ﬁnd one of the fascinating aspects of open
source. Lets get back into the open geospatial world and see how it is actually organized,
introducing some of the major organizational players.

Lake ecosystem: Source: Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Wikipedia: “An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (plants, animals and microbes) in conjunction with the nonliving components of their
environment (things like air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a system.[2]. “. Usually natural ecosystems are taken as a model for forms of
sustainability. Like for example aquatic ecosystems. There’s a tension between chaos and an equilibrium like entropy and energy. Sustainability
sort of comes natural with FOSS: software is created as needed by users or developers (itches) i.s.o. a marketing strategy (apps!!). It is harder to
produce excess. “Sustainable FOSS projects” is another matter, often still problematic, but with the Cloud as enabler we ﬁnd more and more
opportunities like crowd funding.

Users Developers
Open
Processes
The Open Geospatial Ecosystem
I like this idea of ecosystems in Open Source: Users, Developers, Software tied together to produce
long-term ever-increasing value that is greater than the sum of individuals and software
components. Within FOSS4G the notion of Open Standards, Open Data and Crowd Sourcing also
tends to make these components even better integrated. OGC standards also raise competition in
performance/quality/features for similar products. Think of WMS shootouts...
Also there is a strong tendency here to build on each other’s work, “standing on the shoulders of
giants”. Client and server projects “working towards each other” where standards are vague (SRS/
CRS encoding, Axis Ordering!!). In practice many projects build on core geospatial libraries such as
GDAL/OGR and GeoTools.

http://geotux.tuxfamily.org/index.php/en/geo-blogs/item/291-comparacion-clientes-web-v6
When we zoom in we would ﬁnd sub-ecosystems. This example shows the major geospatial web-
mapping clients and their interrelations.
And just as in a real world eco-system: species arise, dominate for some time and die off. Look how
many build on OpenLayers. Watch the now Leaﬂet island in the next years....But given our limited
timeframe I would like to stick to some of the major inhabitants of our global ecosystem, that is 3
major organizations.

Users Developers
Open
Processes
Open
Standards
When looking at Open Standards for Geospatial, the OGC, OpenGeoSpatial Consortium is the main
one to go to.

www.opengeospatial.org
The ﬁrst place to look for geospatial standards is the Open Geospatial Consortium or OGC. http://
www.opengeospatial.org/

Users Developers
Open
Processes
Open
Standards
Open
Data
Open Data: the OpenStreetMap or OSM can be somewhat compared to Wikipedia, in the sense that
users are jointly gathering geodata via crowdsourcing to build a map of the entire world. But in
essence OSM is about the data itself as a map is just a speciﬁc rendering of the data. Think of other
apps like routing and geocoding. Other open data sources are more and more governments like via
PDOK www.pdok.nl in the Netherlands making their geodata available via webservices (WMS/WFS) or
downloads. Within the EU the INSPIRE initiative is a great driver for this movement. How is your
country doing?

OSM is also an entire software and service ecosystem (built with Open Source) to manage all aspects
of geodata management via The Cloud. From gathering, editing and mapmaking to map-
bugtracking. Using the OSM software stack one could even build an SDI. You will be hearing more
about OSM in the next talk

Users Developers
Open
Processes
Open
Standards
Open
Data
Open
Source
Last but not in the very least, when it comes to Open Source for Geospatial, the Open Source
Geospatial Foundation, or OSGeo, is your one-stop shop.
OSGeo software tends to use many of the OGC standards (e.g. WMS, WFS, CSW). Much of OSM
software made with OSGeo products (e.g. GDA/OGR, PostGIS etc).

Open Source Geospatial Foundation
www.osgeo.org
Your Open Source Compass
...organizes geospatial IT
So what is OSGeo?

From: http://arnulf.us/Publications#2011 GIN Pres
From the Live DVD presentation by Cameron Shorter https://svn.osgeo.org/osgeo/livedvd/promo/
trunk/en/presentation/

This image is somewhat outdated: off course Geomajas has now been graduated.

From: http://www.slideshare.net/justb4/osgeonl-introductie-geo-freedom-day

Mission
“Stimuleren van het gebruik
en de ontwikkeling van open
source software voor geo-
informatie in het
Nederlandse Taalgebied”

Slogan
“Wegwijs in Open Geo-ICT”
Like OSGeo.org we aim to be a compass, “wegwijzer”, within the land of Dutch-language Geo-ICT.

.nl = ISO Language Code
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639-1_codes

Voor Wie?
Iedereen die “iets” met
Open Geo-ICT
doet
wil doen
of interesse heeft
(en dit kan lezen)
Uiteraard voor iedereen, we willen vooral niet een club ontwikkelaars worden, of een club
gebruikers. We willen er juist zijn voor een zo breed mogelijke schakering van mensen uit grofweg
3 groepen: Users (end-users, integrators), Developers, Students (Universiteiten, (Hoge)scholen).

Voor Wie?
Developers
Users
Students
Uiteraard voor iedereen, we willen vooral niet een club ontwikkelaars worden, of een club
gebruikers. We willen er juist zijn voor een zo breed mogelijke schakering van mensen uit grofweg
3 groepen: Users (end-users, integrators), Developers, Students (Universiteiten, (Hoge)scholen). We
want to create a platform where these groups can meet, interact, exchange ideas etc. We want to be
open to those just seeking information, seeking software, wanting to do business or that want

Activities
Events: OSGeo.nl Dag, GWF
Local initiatives “Stammtish”
Space for SIGs
Do-ocracy !

www.meetup.com/OSGeoNL/
Just van den Broecke - GeoFreedomDay 2012

68
Coach
The DreamTeam
Keynote
Technical Business & Application
OSGeo Open Source Seminar - Geospatial World Forum - 25 April 2012 - Amsterdam
Marketing
Coach
2012
OSGeo/FOSS
Seminar GWF

But my role here today is as I call it trailblazer for OSGeo.nl the Dutch Chapter of OSGeo. I will tell you more about OSGeo and
OSgeo.nl later.

OSGeo.nl Stats op 100613
• 111 subscribers op [Dutch] mailinglijst
• 90 leden ingeschreven op OSGeo.org Wiki
• 47 IRCs gehouden, notulen en chat-logs
• Wiki + Website www.osgeo.nl operationeel
• Social media:Twitter (geen FB en G+), Meetup
• 5 key events gehouden (2xNJ Borrel, 2xGWF, OSGeo.nl Dag)
• GeoStammtisches, o.a. 2x Wageningen
• OSGeo.org Local Chapter status verkregen 22 maart 2012
• Stichtings Akte passeren: 21 juni 2013

Meedoen?
Opgeven via www.osgeo.nl
- registreer op OSGeo.org Wiki
- voeg je naam toe aan “Dutch” leden
- registreer op [Dutch] mailing lijst

For Discussion
- what would you like to see from OSGeo.nl?
- would you like an active role?
- would you like to present at OSGeo.nl Day?
OSGeo.nl : we like to be a do-ocracy. If you have an idea let us, via e.g. Dutch mailing list know.
What activities would you like to see?

Open .... Geospatial
===
Four Things
Bakc to the Three Pillars and the Four Things. Ok, but what, let’s count.

1. Open Data
2. Open Standards
3. Open Source
4. Open Communities

Open Source
Geospatial
Ecosystems
OSGeo - OGC - OSM

Introducing OSGeo.nl - The Dutch Language Local Chapter of OSGeo

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