Plenary Talk from GeCoWest ~ Best of Breed for Geospatial.

1. GEOSPATIAL CONFERENCE OF THE WEST
Best of Breed for Geospatial
Michael Terner
@MT_AppGeo
September, 2013

2. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 2
Something is going on in our industry
Isn’t that part of why we’re all here at a newly branded SWUG 2.0
conference in Laramie?
www.organizedactions.com

3. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 3
So what is going on?

4. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 4
Overview
• Change happens. Period.
• What’s driving change now
• Some thoughts on how to make
sense of it all
–Best of breed outlook is part of that

5. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 5
Technology change is constant and accelerating
Need to plan around that fact
• Size and power of computers…
• Availability of the web…
• Emergence of tablets & touch user interfaces…
• Power of telephones…My phone has 32GB!?!
• Ease of use of software…
• Delivery mechanisms for software…
• Human expectations and receptivity…
• Etc. etc. etc. etc.

6. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 6
What can my phone do?
• Phone calls
• Rolodex
• Watch TV
• Take pictures
• Take video
• Navigate
• Store 10’s of GBs
of music
• Surf the web
• Time my
presentation

7. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 7
Some other things that are
driving change
Open Source
Software
The
Cloud
GIS is not that
special
New choices
in the geo
market
Mobile

8. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 8
What’s in a name?
GIS
Geographic
Information
Systems
• Geospatial
• Location
• LBS
• Spatial IT
• Etc.
vs.
GIS is not that
special

9. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 9
GIS vs. Spatial IT
• Paul Ramsey from OpenGeo makes
observation at FOSS4G-NA 2012
• Is our industry mis-named and held back
by the term GIS?
• Isn’t GIS a “kind of software”?
• Is manipulating “thick, expensive, complicated desktop
software really what we’re doing now?”
• Or, is it more about integrating geospatial analysis and maps
into a wide variety of databases and other IT systems?
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCidOGLSWkU

10. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 0
Are these things GIS?
Is GIS a part of these things?
Our industry is broader and more ubiquitous than just GIS

11. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 1
There are new choices in geo
marketplace
• New offerings from new suppliers
– Fulcrum, GIS Cloud, CartoDB, etc.
• New offerings/models from existing suppliers
– Esri goes cloud with ArcGIS On-line
– Google goes enterprise with Google Maps Engine
• Opportunity to think carefully
about how to capitalize on
new choices
– What kind of change does my
organization need?
New choices
in the geo
market

12. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 2
• Directions podcast from 1/31/11 posed the question
• “Podcast: Are Esri and Open Source Solutions the Only Options?”
• Adena Schutzberg & Joe Francica discussed state of the
market in response to a reader’s comment
• There is increased maturity of the tools
• There is an emerging business ecosystem
Open Source Software
We’re number 2?
Open Source
Software

13. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 3
There are companies that provide support
and services for geospatial OSS
• Boundless (nee OpenGeo) is
following the “Red Hat model”
• Insurance: That if something is broken, some entity will help get it
fixed; you can obtain support
• Assurance: That there is knowledge and expertise to assist you
with deploying and solving problems with these tools
Slides from Paul Ramsey, used with permission.

14. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 4
Open Source Summary
• Many organizations are having success with it
– AppGeo  FCC  NASA  US DoD  States of OK, MA, etc.
• Software is mature and community is vibrant
• Affordable scalability
• Options to build
hybrid systems
– Best of breed potential

15. The cloud matters
Infrastructure as a Service: IaaS
Thanks Wikipedia
The
Cloud

16. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 6
Hardware becomes less
important
The
Cloud
• We can outsource our data center?
• We can rent computing & storage?
• No brainer (if it works).

17. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 7
For infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
The cost model has changed
Huge new opportunities for small organizations
• Used to be: periodic capital investment
• Now is: predictable monthly operations cost

18. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 8
You do the math
~$2,000 /month
~$102,000 of
equipment & licenses
every 3-4 years

19. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 9
But it’s not just about the $’s
• Their air conditioning & internet
• Unattainable levels of availability
• Scalability
– New server can be delivered in minutes
• Flexibility
– You can change your mind

20. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 2 0
Mobile matters
• The devices are here
• The networks are improving
• People want it
Mobile

21. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 2 1
People are voting on mobile
with their fingers
• Pew Research Center
Pew Internet: Mobile ~ January 31, 2013
– 87% of American adults own a cell phone
– 45% of American adults own a smartphone
– “31% of current cell internet users say that they
mostly go online using their cell phone and not using
some other device such as a desktop or laptop
computer”

22. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 2 2
Which leads us to Best of Breed

23. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 2 3
We live best of breed in our regular
lives, why not in geospatial?
• The tools we like best
• That are best suited for the job
• Our calculus on cost/value
These are my cars

24. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 2 4
We are comfortable with best of breed
This is my kitchen
This is my personal
computing environment

25. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 2 5
Other relevant analogies

26. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 2 6
Capitalize on new
market possibilities
vs.

27. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 2 7
A few projects that illustrate
best of breed choices we made…

28. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 2 8
Pure Esri:
City of Baltimore: CityView
http://CityView.BaltimoreCity.gov
• Why?
– Won job competitively
– Esri was specified in RFP
– Customer had:
• Existing infrastructure (i.e., sunk costs)
• Existing expertise
– Chose customization approach we felt had longevity
• HTML5 + JavaScript

29. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 2 9
Pure Microsoft:
National Association of
Olmsted Parks
www.OlmstedOnline.org
• Why?
– Trickiest part of the site was a
workflow that allowed customer
to prepare images for loading
– Sharepoint was a good workflow solution to that problem
– Sharepoint integrates well with SQL Server
– SQL Server Spatial could handle map serving for relatively simple
geo capabilities
• Commercial base map (Bing)
• Draw, query, identify points
• Draw tiles (of scanned, georeferenced historic plans)

30. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 3 0
Mostly OpenGeo:
MapGeo hosted solution
www.MapGeo.com/BeverlyMA
• Why?
– Hosted solution needed to
be very low cost
– Highly scalable
• Architecture powers 55+ sites
– High performance
– Wanted to keep it focused
and friendly to use
/

31. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 3 1
Some MapGeo details
(and explanation of the “mostly”)
• Hosted in Amazon
– Essential for affordable
scalability
• 100% of published data
emanates from Esri
– Routine ETL into optimized
publishing fromat

32. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 3 2
Hybrid Solution:
Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool
• Why?
– WGA did not specify a technology in their RFP
– RFP required hosting for 1 year; afterwards TBD
– WGA does not have an in-house GIS operation
• No in-house infrastructure
– Relatively simple geo capabilities, but
– Wanted highly customized site
• “Unique web destination”
– High performance publishing
of 1 big data set
– Development is now underway
+ +

33. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 3 3
Western Governor’s Association
Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool - CHAT
Hybrid Components
• OpenGeo:
– GeoServer + GeoWebCache for tile
making
– PostGIS for geometry and query serving
• Goo
– Google Maps API for mapping
JavaScript framework
– Google base maps
• Esri:
– Used by states and University of KS for
data management/data aggregation

34. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 3 4
Some ideas on how to make
sense of it all…

35. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 3 5
Embrace the change
It’s not all the same / No one has all the answers
• Does one size really fit all?
• Tools to solve problems
• Tools to express your creativity
• Don’t settle for mediocre
• Understand what is available
• Understand how to mix-and-match

36. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 3 6
It’s not a question of “or”
Rather, it’s about “and”
• In the old days (i.e., 1980’s-1990’s)
– CAD vs. GIS? We needed both
– Raster vs. vector? We needed both
• New parallels with:
– Desktop vs. SaaS/Cloud
• Many will need both
– Market leader vs. other options?
• There’s room for both
• Choosing the best of breed makes sense

37. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 3 7
In conclusion
• From my March, 2013 blog entry titled:
“Looking forward/backward in early 2013 to fully embrace Spatial IT”
http://www.appgeo.com/blog/2013/03/
“When I look ahead, I cannot help but conclude that it
is a fantastic time for our Spatial IT industry. Never
have there been so many choices, and the learning and
experimentation is invigorating. It is always good to get
out of a rut and see things from a fresh perspective.”

38. © 2 0 1 3 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 3 8
Thank you
Michael Terner
mgt@appgeo.com
Twitter: @MT_AppGeo