Software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed with or without modification.
45
votes
5answers
2k views
How to calculate most efficient route passing through all the houses in the world?
I'm new to GIS.
I need some help in determining the best or most efficient route, using a flying sleigh, through all the houses in the world. One of my coworkers told me that this site would be the ...
40
votes
19answers
4k views
What are some Free and Open Source GIS Desktop packages
Can someone please give me a list of free and open source GIS desktop packages?
35
votes
4answers
1k views
What are the FOSS equivalents to these ArcGIS products?
I'm a long-term user of ESRI software, and I now have a need to use free and open source software.
I've been reading about Open Layers, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, GeoServer and MapServer but I can't find ...
31
votes
6answers
3k views
Free GIS workshops, tutorials, and applied learning material
Note 1: Please enter answers separately or feel free to edit this post directly
Note 2: Please report on any broken links so they can be removed
This thread lists free as in $0 workshops in GIS and ...
30
votes
7answers
5k views
Creating drive time polygons using open source tools
Is anyone using open source tools and/or data to generate drive time polygons that radiate out from a given location? For example, I have used ESRI products like Network Analyst and Business Analyst ...
27
votes
1answer
2k views
How to smooth the polygons in a contour map
Here is a contour map for which all the polygons of levels are available.
Let ask how to smooth the polygons keeping all vertices preserved in their exact locations?
Indeed the contour is made on ...
26
votes
7answers
5k views
Open source methods for kriging?
I have a point dataset which I'd like to Krige, ideally using an open-source software package. If possible, I'd also like to choose the semi-variogram model during the process to improve the ...
26
votes
6answers
932 views
How to convince an organization to move towards open source GIS?
After spending the better part of the year on this site I am seeing how big the open source GIS community is. I used to just think it was ESRI and nothing else. That said, how do you begin to nudge or ...
24
votes
7answers
586 views
GIS developer blogs … recommendations?
I'm looking for recommendations for GIS blogs ... specifically GIS developer blogs. I'm less interested in the geography than in how apps are put together.
I'd like to keep up with ESRI ArcGIS as ...
23
votes
5answers
3k views
Comparison of the different open source GIS servers
I currently know the following open source GIS servers:
Geoserver: java based, vector and bitmap support, also supports. Is now on par with mapserver (performance-wise).
mapserver: c/c++, used to be ...
21
votes
8answers
5k views
Open Source Tool capable of reading Esri File Geodatabase (.gdb)?
I have an Esri File Geodatabase(.gdb) file that I would like to convert to shapefile (or any other non-proprietary format). Are there any Open Source tools to do so?
21
votes
4answers
1k views
Are there open source alternatives to ArcCatalog?
I'm looking for open source alternatives to ArcCatalog. The software should run on both Win and Linux and support the usual file formats (shp, kml, gml, ...) and databases (especially PostGIS, ...
20
votes
8answers
1k views
How to easily shift all features in a vector dataset?
Let's say that I put together a Shapefile and all the features have their vertices shifted by a constant amount. What's the easiest way of shifting all the features (hence the (x,y) position of their ...
20
votes
4answers
433 views
What are some good introductory books or articles about Open Source GIS for students coming from an ESRI background?
I am preparing an intermediate GIS course for graduate and undergraduate students who have likely not been in touch with anything but ESRI software. It is an existing course in the curriculum that I ...
19
votes
4answers
485 views
How to generate schemas of GIS hardware / software / workflows?
Quite often I find myself in a situation where I need to explain hardware or software GIS infrastructure to people with no or limited knowledge of GIS. Or give an overview of geoprocessing tasks ...
19
votes
7answers
1k views
Work flow for georeferencing imagery using open source tools?
Does anyone have a recommendation for a work flow for georeferencing high resolution aerial photography using open source tools? Comparison of user friendliness and robustness between Quantum GIS ...
19
votes
9answers
1k views
Discontinuous or Interrupted map projections?
Do any of the current open source GIS softwares support discontinous projection systems? E.g. sinusoidal, dymaxion, butterfly, etc? If not, are there any affordable commercial ones that do (affordable ...
19
votes
3answers
576 views
Are there any OpenSource ArcObjects Projects?
One of the major benefits of developing GIS applications based on opensource libraries, is that many projects spring up on top of them which are also opensource.
Well designed opensource projects ...
18
votes
3answers
561 views
What are the differences between spatial databases?
What is the difference between Oracle Spatial, PostGIS, SQLServer2008, SpatiaLite, and MySQL in terms of their spatial support. Are there specific use cases where each shines. What might you want to ...
16
votes
6answers
810 views
What's the most promising application (use) of OpenStreetMap data?
In some areas OSM data is very complete and has a level of detail not seen in closed data sources. Another distinguishing factor is that it contains the knowledge of the people who live in that areas. ...
16
votes
4answers
546 views
Advice on a generic open-source package roadmap
I just wanted to ask an advice from the open source GIS gurus on a recommended stack to use for my envisioned project, as I do not fully understand the limits of the possible with most packages. I ...
16
votes
1answer
722 views
Is there an open source GIS to view and edit CityGML models?
I'm looking for an open source GIS that supports viewing and editing of CityGML models.
So far, I've found a list of open source applications that support CityGML, but they all seem to be ...
15
votes
3answers
2k views
Is there a decent open source map-editor?
I would like to have an open source map editor for drawing a city map? I don't want to use OpenStreetMap. It will be a custom map project.
I don't need an advanced GIS system, but a simple ...
14
votes
4answers
815 views
What is Change Detection and how I can perform such analysis with open source tools?
From wikipedia page:
Change detection for GIS (geographical information systems) is a process that measures how the attributes of a particular area have changed between two or more time periods. ...
14
votes
4answers
2k views
How to create a simple front-end for a PostGIS database?
My organisation collects a lot of environmental monitoring data (stream flow, water chemistry etc.) most of which is currently stored in Excel. I’d like to get everything into a database – probably ...
14
votes
6answers
807 views
Creating simple image from vector data
Can anyone suggest a quick (and preferably open source) way to create an image from a shapefile. For example, I have a shapefile containing parcel boundaries, I want to create a png file depicting ...
14
votes
4answers
767 views
What is the best open-source web mapping solution for handling 3000+ polygons
I have 3000+ polygons which represent watersheds (18 main watersheds). At the first stage all the 18 watershed will show and their list will be placed in the left sidebar. If any user mouse over the ...
14
votes
3answers
1k views
Network Analyst - Is it the only choice?
I'm not sure how reasonable this question even is, but it leaves me no less curious after a bit of searching. If I am looking to build a network based on road features and attributes, is Network ...
14
votes
4answers
347 views
Is there a FOSS solution for legend parsing in a web mapping environment?
Our web mapping requirements are fairly standard - some basic querying and the ability to print out the resulting map (or save the image). Typically we've used ESRI products in the past (right now ...
14
votes
2answers
624 views
How to detect roads from satellite images?
OpenStreetMap has announced a Bing API to detect roads. I want to know what is the theory behind road detection and if there is any open source tool that do that.
13
votes
9answers
665 views
Open Source Training Materials
This recent question made me wonder if there are any open source training materials for GIS.
By this I don't mean training specifically for open source software - of which I know there are some - ...
13
votes
7answers
1k views
Fastest way to spatially join a point CSV with a polygon Shapefile
I have a 1 billion point CSV file and a shapefile with around 5,000 polygons. What would be the fastest way to spatially join points and polygons? For each point, I need to get the containing polygon ...
13
votes
2answers
284 views
Opensource solutions for finishing maps
After seeing the $600 price tag for Adobe Illustrator, I am especially interested in learning open source solutions for finishing maps created in a GIS. What open source, or commonly available, ...
13
votes
5answers
1k views
Pure Python Library for Geometry Operations
Does anyone know of a pure Python (no C or Java dependencies) library for doing geometry operations such as buffer, union, intersects, etc? I'm looking for something that Google AppEngine compatible. ...
13
votes
5answers
1k views
Rendering overlapping lines
I am making a map containing information about public transportation: busses, trams, etc. The map will have a layer containing for example the tram lines. Each line has its own colour, and is ...
12
votes
4answers
619 views
Python module to delete SHP features (without Desktop GIS installed)
I have a piece of software (not Arc) that runs nightly on a non-production machine which updates shapefile features from an external database. Periodically I would like to delete all of the features ...
12
votes
2answers
2k views
How can I switch baselayers as a user zooms in to the map in OpenLayers
I have a map which overlays Open Street Map data on imagery for Pennsylvania. As a baselayer to the roads (and eventually other layers) I have two baselayers - Blue Marble NG and USGS EROS 1ft ...
12
votes
2answers
444 views
What's up with OpenJump?
OpenJump is a nice GIS, very functional, with many updates and has a beautiful rendering. But it's not very popular, and you don't see it around in discussions, in osgeo comunity, etc. And ...
12
votes
3answers
636 views
Open Source Map Composing Tool
Are there any open source tools which can be used for map composing, preferably GUI based. I use Quantum GIS sparingly but I am interested to know if there are others. The tool must be able to read ...
12
votes
2answers
334 views
Is there any open-source object-oriented GIS?
Most GIS are layer based. But I am looking for open-source object-oriented GIS. Is there any out there?
By object-oriented I mean logical data model for vector GIS. Here's explanation of my ...
12
votes
3answers
3k views
Free Alternative to AutoCAD Map
I would like to know if there are any free (for commercial use) software packages that roughly correlate to the functionality in AutoCAD Map. Specifically, I am looking for something that is:
...
11
votes
5answers
4k views
Pure JavaScript Library for Geometry Operations
Does anyone know of a pure JavaScript library for doing geometry operations such as buffer, union, intersects, etc? I want to play with doing these operations in the browser. It looks like ...
11
votes
5answers
437 views
List of desktop GIS FOSS case studies
I think we should create a list of best desktop GIS FOSS case studies. First of all this list will be useful to anyone who considers desktop GIS FOSS for a project as an viable alternative.
11
votes
1answer
299 views
automating roof orientation detection from satellite imagery
A while ago I did a neighbourhood roof orientation survey for solar panel deployment, by visually checking each roof and marking individually whether they were south or almost south-facing.
As this ...
10
votes
4answers
1k views
Best open source operating system for open source GIS?
I'm wanting to get into open source GIS, and it looks like PostGIS on Postgres is a good DBMS to go with, and there are plenty of posts on desktop editors. What I haven't come across (and forgive me ...
10
votes
9answers
1k views
What is a good Javascript web API (preferably open) for building web maps that require little/no maintenance?
I have recently volunteered to make a web map for a local non-profit. The map will be pretty basic. It needs to display Lane county, Oregon split into multiple districts, with a "central office" ...
10
votes
6answers
381 views
Free / Open source GIS Education sources
I'm looking for free / open source GIS education sources for advanced GIS users. Specifically sources that cover programming, spatial analysis, modeling, spatial databases / data management. I use ...
10
votes
6answers
596 views
Open source Cloud GIS
I'm looking for an open source cloud GIS solution.
Current situation:
Up to 100gb of data stored in file geodatabases that is updated daily. Data is used to create maps as well as geoprocessing ...
10
votes
4answers
435 views
Looking for free program, similar to 3D Analyst, to visualize tree stands in 3D
Heyho,
I want to make a 3D stand visualization of trees in a specific area. I need something similar in functionality to ArcGIS 3D Analyst, but I don't have a license for that plugin anymore.
The ...
10
votes
4answers
505 views
Suggestions for simple mapping platform for alumni web site
I'm working on a proof of concept alumni site with a WordPress backend. I want to have a very simple map that shows where alumni are living. I'm thinking something like the Bing API or a simple open ...
