In July 2013,
NeSI, the New Zealand E-Science Infrastructure, organised lightning talks in Ignite format (20 slides, 15 seconds each) at the
eResearch NZ conference in Christchurch.
I had the chance to present a little piece on the dream team combination of FOSSGIS (free and open source software for Geographic Information Systems) and
OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards, and how they are great enablers for Science and Education. Stumbled over this presi in my archives and thought I could share it:
A rough transcript :-)
1. Hi, I’m Alex and I’m a Geoinformatics PhD student at AUT University and I’m working in a New Zealand groundwater research project with GNS Science in Taupo.
2. Today I’d like to tell you the story of my journey. I think it is a great story and I want to share it with you - and being in my first year I needed to get my head around stuff.
3. So my part in the so called SMART aquifer characterisation project is about a groundwater web-portal for New Zealand. I need to collect, analyse, mash-up, visualise and share again a lot of different groundwater related data sets – and everything shall happen in the web
4. Little did I know before …The diversity of available content, formats and technologies is quite overwhelming – So I had to figure out where to start.
5. So my story is basically about discovery –a step by step exploration – to build something for the better of humanity (well, definitely for New Zealand)
6. And what helped me in this rather iterative and incremental process? Open Source software, especially Free and Open Source Software for Geoinformation Systems (FOSSGIS)
7. It worked for me for two reasons: If it didn’t perform, I could have a look inside and fiddle around with it to make it fit my demands – well, or I’ll just try something else, you know, freedom of choice.
8. And if you even want to give back to the community, you often can propose and contribute enhancements to make such software better – however all things optional
9. Alright, second thing, data sharing - Let’s have a look what’s happening out there in the vast expanses(expansiveness) of the internet.
10. So there is the Open Geospatial Consortium, the OGC, is an international consortium of 482 companies, government agencies and universities participating in an open consensus-based process to develop publicly available standards that "geo-enable" the Web, and thus fostering interoperability. Interoperability is key.
11. They create specifications for data formats and web services and so forth, to interact, integrate and communicate with each other. You can download the full specifications for free and again, you could also participate.
12. So now, does that OGC stuff work with open source? Bamm, there’s a huge open source software ecosystem supporting OGC standards – go to osgeo.org or 52north.org and you will likely find everything you need to start.
13. And that’s actually really high quality software, They are often even the reference implementations for particular OGC standards - and you still can do with it whatever you want.
14. Ok, I don’t want to pull out what’s happening internationally, you know, Aussie, North America or Europe … Well, I learned New Zealand is just really awesome, too
15. So NZ has a Geospatial Office that published the NZ Geospatial strategy in 2007 which actually says “USE OGC STANDARDS” and make environmental and other spatial datasets available.
16. And boom, agencies, research institutes and even Kiwi-based commercial companies open up massive NZ datasets to the public – accessible through OGC interfaces and open source – OPEN STANDARDS work
17. So data and technology was available. I could start with small steps, be open, be agile and flexible. I really felt enabled to discover, grow and share in return.
18. So how can you facilitate that wealth of knowledge? I heard in New Zealand there is a GIS Masters programme available, is it covering OGC and Open Source software? I don’t know actually, but I’ve been asked to co-author an “Open GIS” module in another international GIS Masters (I could make it open access perhaps)
19. Well, having OGC and FOSSGIS at hand – you can conduct as well as support top-notch science and research, and also foster education of kids at school, students at uni even citizens at home with the same set of tools … communicate science and knowledge about this country and its beautiful nature that deserves protection and sustainable development
20. So when do you start? Thanks everyone, acknowledgements to GNS, AUT, eResearch NZ, MBIE/MSI
