Moving to QGIS in Local Government

1. Moving to QGIS in Local
Government
Paul Trodd – North Devon Council

2. Why did we change?
 We had a limited Web GIS
 Our desktop GIS was not INSPIRE compliant
 The cost to upgrade was prohibitive
 Savings could be made

3. What did we do?
 We had a play with QGIS
 We set up Geoserver to sort out INSPIRE
 We used INSPIRE to get approval to change our GIS
 We converted our own existing layers into Spatial
Layers in SQL Server 2008 R2
 Settled for a combination of methods depending on users
 We did a lot of testing on mapping set up

4. What did we do?
 We brought in some training from Dotted Eyes
 We visited Matt in Dartmoor
 We used the money we saved from INSPIRE to do this
 For two of us this was really showing us we were on the right
track.
 Our biggest benefit from training was being introduced to GDAL
 We created a version of QGIS that looked like our
existing software, tested it and got ready to go live

5. How we have set it up
 We set up a central project of all our layers
 Our projects relate to the departments using them
 We embed layers in other projects from this one.
 Users access these from a corporate directory
 The GIS team have a full version
 Users get a cut down version with just the tools they need.

6. The GIS Team version

7. The User version

8. Our layer set up
 We have editing layers and view only layers
 Layers created from shape files are editable by
default
 Users get these in projects depending on their needs
 We don’t tell users this.

9. Our Layers Typical Set Up
SQL 2005
Planning System
SQL 2008R2
Spatial Database
Editing Layer
View Only Layer

10. Our mapping set up
LAN
Aerial Photos
from Windows
Server
DMZ
F
I
R
E
W
A
L
L

11. Plugins Used
 The Most Useful Plugins we have found and use
 go2Streetview
 Spatial Query Plugin
 CADDigitize
 qgis2leaf and qgis2web
 Georeferencer GDAL
 Coordinate Capture
 Viewshed Analysis
 Gdal Tools
 Postgres Search

12. Postgres Search
 We have adapted this plugin to provide an address
search

13. Postgres Search
 We have adapted this plugin to provide an address
search

14. Rolling out QGIS
 We created a Novell distribution
 Distributed it to and trained our existing GIS staff
 In the process of distributing to all other staff

15. Future Plans
 We currently have a My Neighbourhood application
 We are developing a web GIS using leaflet
technology
 We plan to enhance the My Neighbourhood
application by embedding the leaflet map

17. Worth A Mention
 Speak to others who have done it
 Back stuff up and don’t be afraid to experiment
 Our staff have taken to it quickly and we have no
regrets

18. Contacts
 paul.trodd@northdevon.gov.uk

19. Any Questions?