A proof of concept migrating existing Veterans Affairs National Cemetery’s GIS data from MS SQL Server/ArcGIS software configuration to an open source GIS platform using PostGIS/PostgreSQL, QGIS, and JavaScript in order to reduce software licensing costs and annual subscription fees. There are many misconceptions about open source software such as not being equivalent to Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software or it’s less secure and may include malicious code. Some GIS professionals fear a transition to open source platform dues to its complexity and many different moving parts, but it is possible to fully adopt open source platform from existing ArcGIS configuration.

1. FOSS4G INTHE
GOVERNMENT
2018 GISITR
Samuel Song
Department ofVeterans Affairs (VA)
National Cemetery Administration (NCA)

2. AboutVeterans Affairs
National Cemetery Administration (NCA)
▪ Provides burial benefits to honorably discharged veterans and their families at no
cost
▪ Burial benefits include free burial space, opening and closing of the grave, care of
gravesites such as landscaping, a Government headstone or marker, a burial flag, and
a Presidential Memorial Certificate
▪ 136 national cemeteries in 40 states nationwide
Department ofVeteransAffairs (VA)
Veterans Health
Administration (VHA)
Veterans Business
Administration (VBA)
National Cemetery
Administration (NCA)

3. Types ofVeteran Cemeteries
▪ National Cemetery: Operated by the Federal Government or theVA
▪ StateVeterans Cemetery: Operated by State Government and receives grants
from theVA
▪ TribalVeterans Cemetery: Operated by Native American tribes and receives
grants from theVA
Arlington National
Cemetery is operated
by the Army (DoD)

4. Evolution of NCA’s Mapping Program
Paper Maps from the 1950s AutoCAD (2013) GIS/GPS (2020)

5. Problem
▪NCA is reliant on Esri products such as ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Enterprise (i.e.
ArcGIS Server) which are very expensive ($7,296 forArcGIS Desktop Advanced with
Government discount or $14,000)
▪NCA’s GIS program is expanding and will require more desktop GIS licenses
▪More funding is required to purchase additional ArcGIS Desktop licenses (need 5
moreASAP!)
Software Cost
Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Core Edition for 2 cores - Open License
Program (OLP)
$16,504
ArcGIS for Server Enterprise Standard $16,322
ArcGIS Desktop Standard, 7 licenses @ $5,713 each $39,991
ArcGIS Desktop Standard Concurrent Primary Maintenance (annually) $1,451

6. Project Goal
▪ Migrate existing NCA’s GIS data that is currently using Commercial off-the-
shelf (COTS) software to Free and Open Source forGeospatial (FOSS4G) for
cost savings
▪ Demonstrate that FOSS4G software can replace existing commercial
capability

7. Pros and Cons of FOSS4G
Pros Cons
Absolutely no licensing cost Lack of technical support
Free to use, modify, distribute, and
obtain source code
Can be unstable, has bugs and security
flaws
Continuously improving
(i.e. QGIS 3.23, OpenLayers 5.2.0)
Programmers can lose interest and
abandon software project
Learning curve for users

8. FOSS4G Challenges from the Government Perspective
▪ Open source software are not tested therefore it may contain bugs and security
flaws
▪ Commercial software such as ArcGIS, ERDAS, AutoCAD are tested by the
Government through FedRAMP
▪ Certain ports (i.e. 5432, 8080) used by Postgres and GeoServer/MapServer may be
blocked by IT
▪ Web apps developed using JavaScript can contain security flaws
▪ Open Source software is seen as unstable
Companies using Postgres
▪ Twitch
▪ Pandora
▪ and many more…
Stable
Unstable

9. Existing Proposed (FOSS4G) Other Considerations
Desktop
GIS
Database
Web
Server
QGIS Server
Web GIS
ArcGISAPI for
JavaScript
Geostack

10. Why QGIS, PostGIS/Postgres, and Leaflet?
▪ QGIS is user friendly and stable
▪ QGIS has a large library of plugins (i.e. tools) that can be added
▪ Postgres is proven and widely recognized and used by many real-world companies
(i.e., Pandora)
▪ PostGIS only works with Postgres
▪ GeoServer has a UI and creating map service is easy
- MapServer requires configuring the map files
▪ QGIS is compatible with GeoServer
▪ Leaflet (JavaScript based) is visually pleasing and easy
to script
MapServer relies on configuring
Map file to publish map services

11. QGIS Plugins (about 574)
Plugin Description
QuickMapServices A convenient list of datasets and basemaps from Google,
Landsat, OpenStreetMap, Bing, etc.
DB Manager Import/export data between PostGIS/Postgres and QGIS
GeoServer Explorer Publish data and layer styles as map services from QGIS
interface and connect services from GeoServer in QGIS
qgis2web Generates and export web map application in OpenLayers
or Leaflet using QGIS project file
*There is a plugin for
creating heatmap

12. Study Area
▪ Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois (one hour south of Chicago)
▪ Size of land: 983 acres (Land can accommodate 400,000 gravesites)
▪ About 3,850 burials a year (43,911 out of 53,907 gravesites used)

13. Burial Options & MarkerTypes
Burial Options Types Size Description MarkerTypes
Lawn Crypts
(preplaced concrete
vaults)
Casket 3’ x 8’
Traditional Caskets
with concrete liners
Casket
4’ x 8’
5’ x 10’
In-Ground
Cremations
Urn
3’ x 3’
4’ x 4’
5’ x 5’
Columbarium Urn N/A

14. GIS Layers
Property Line Buildings Water Systems Trees
Headstones
(GPS collected)
Grave Plots Grave Sections
▪ Pavements
▪ Water Features
▪ Grass Areas

15. Desktop GIS
ArcGIS Desktop 10.4 QGIS 2.18
ArcGIS Basic ArcGIS Standard ArcGIS Advanced
QGIS Functionality

16. NCA DataViewer (Commercial Beta)
▪ Existing Web GIS developed using ArcGISAPI for JavaScript onArcGIS Enterprise

17. Methodology
1) Copy File Geodatabase fromArcGIS Desktop
2) Add vector layers from File Geodatabase in QGIS and symbolize as necessary

18. Methodology (Cont’d)
3) Create a empty database in Postgres using SQL
- You can also right-click and click “Create”
4) Enable PostGIS extension
in Postgres

19. Methodology (Cont’d)
5) Import vector layers as tables to Postgres using QGIS’s DB Manager Plugin

20. Methodology (Cont’d)
6) Create layer styles using QGIS or uDig and copy/paste XML to GeoServer’s
Style Editor

21. Methodology (Cont’d)
7) Create map services in GeoServer using the UI
- SupportsWMS, WFS, WCS, etc

22. Raster data on Postgres and GeoServer
Postgres
▪ Run raster2pgsql GDAL based tool to upload raster to Postgres in the
Command Prompt
GeoServer
▪ GeoServer allows publishing image services
using GRID and GeoTIFF formats
▪ Geoserver also mosaics imagery
raster2pgsql -s 3443 -I -C -M
C:UserssamueDownloadsWillCounty2015WCOrthos9INimagesILWILL054421O
rthoSectorTile.tif -F -t 250x250 public.willcounty2015 | psql -d
abraham_lincoln -U postgres -p 5432

23. Methodology (Cont’d)
8) DevelopWeb GIS in Leaflet

24. Web GIS in Leaflet

25. Web GIS in Leaflet (Cont’d)

26. Web GIS in Leaflet (Cont’d)

27. Web GIS in Leaflet (Cont’d)

28. Leaflet Plugins
Function Plugin GitHub URL
Draw
Leaflet/Leaflet.draw https://github.com/Leaflet/Leaflet.draw
Legend
unbam/Leaflet.SlideMenu https://github.com/unbam/Leaflet.SlideMenu/bl
ob/master/examples/index.html
Find (GeoCoder)
k4r573n/leaflet-control-osm-
geocoder
https://github.com/k4r573n/leaflet-control-osm-
geocoder
Overview map
Norkart/Leaflet-MiniMap https://github.com/Norkart/Leaflet-MiniMap
Geolocate
domoritz/leaflet-locatecontrol https://github.com/domoritz/leaflet-
locatecontrol
Mouse Position ardhi/Leaflet.MousePosition https://github.com/ardhi/Leaflet.MousePosition
Navigation Bar
davidchouse/Leaflet.NavBar https://github.com/davidchouse/Leaflet.NavBar

29. qgis2web plugin
▪ Allows users to create web app in Leaflet and OpenLayers (web app is hardcoded
to read GeoJSON files or .js)

30. Issues
▪ InstallingGeoserver
- Required JRE version 8 32-bit and MicrosoftWeb Platform
- Also changed localhost port to 8000 (port 8080 was taken by MapServer)
▪ Uploading raster data to Postgres
- Had to use raster2pgsql GDAL tool in the Command Prompt (CMD)
▪ GeoServer only supports Esri Grid and GeoTIFF
- Orthoimagery from USGS which was JPEG2000 (.jp2) had to be converted to GeoTIFF using
the USGS Raster Conversion Scripts tool
▪ GeoJSON layers will not show up inWeb GIS
▪ Leaflet uses EPSG: 3857 (Web Mercator) so GeoJSON data had to be re-projected
▪ SLD Layer style file from QGIS did not work in GeoServer
- uDig desktop GIS was used to create layer style; XML was copied and pasted into GeoServer
▪ Could not get the Leaflet.WMS plugin to work in order to read attribute data onWMS
- Added popup attribute functionality to GeoJSON data as workaround

31. Lessons Learned
▪ Migrating Esri file geodatabase to Postgres is easier than you think
▪ QGIS is a very powerful alternative to ArcMap
▪ uDig desktop GIS is horrible
▪ GeoJSON works extremely well with Leaflet but Leaflet may not handle complex web functions
▪ Popup attribute to readWMS layer can be tricky in Leaflet
▪ WFS-T is required as a map service for database editing capability; database editing
will not work on aWMS layer
▪ Esri Geodatabase and SDE allows direct database connection for easy read/write
▪ Coding is easier in Leaflet compared to OpenLayers but OpenLayers
has more functionality
▪ Mix and match since there are lots of JavaScript toolkits such as
GeoExt, D3, jQuery, etc.
▪ It is easier to reclassify rasters in ArcGIS than QGIS

32. Proposed Solution
▪ Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois
Existing Proposal 1 (hybrid) Proposal 2 (hybrid)
Desktop GIS
*ArcGIS Desktop Standard
costs $7,000
Database
Web Server
Web GIS ArcGIS API for JavaScript
ArcGIS API for JavaScript
or
Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS
ArcGIS API for JavaScript
or
Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS

33. Limitations
▪ Popup attribute box currently does not work onWMS layers
▪ GIS features are “read-only” and attributes/geometry cannot be edited or modified
Future Research
▪ Leaflet with working popup attribute box onWMS layers
▪ Addition ofWFS and REST services
▪ Web GIS in OpenLayers5
▪ Web GIS with editable feature attributes and possibly geometry editing
▪ Test QField mobile data collector app to possibly replace Collector forArcGIS and
Survey123

34. FOSS4G in the Government
Sublette County GIS (Wyoming)
using MapServer, PostGIS, and OpenLayers
Arlington National Cemetery (Army)
using Leaflet
USGSWatershed Boundary DatasetWeb Edit App is developed using Leaflet