Real-world QGIS users

Question

I am just beginning as a QGIS user, and I have used ArcGIS mostly in the past. I am in the position of having to defend QGIS as a viable solution for many, if not most, GIS needs for Country and City Planning (GIS for Urban and Regional Planning).

Is anyone aware of specific communities (small or large) or companies that are using QGIS for commercial-grade Planning GIS? Any in the US? Southeast US is even better...

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

There are multiple case studies on city planning available on http://qgis.org/en/community/qgis-case-studies.html, eg.

• QGIS in the governmental FOSSGIS stack of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland
• The use of QGIS in the Geodata Infrastructure of the City of Uster
• none in the US I'm afraid.

Answer 2

As @underdark said, the actual case studies in the United States seem to be sparse, or nonexistent. It is entirely possible, however, that people have not written anything about what they are using. Here are a couple of sources that I would recommend who may know more about software use in that area.

First, I would check out the southeast US chapters of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA). They are a professional group for GIS professionals that have members in both the public and private sector. It is likely they could point you in the right direction of agencies that use Open Source.

As for private companies, at least one that I would look into is Spatial Focus. They are a GIS consulting firm that have been using Open Source Software for at least the last 12 years.

Hopefully these generate some leads for you.
Good luck!!