MapServer/FreeGIS and the market

[Ken Lord]

Hi Mike,

A side note to your point about ESRI vs MapServer  ....

Things must be different here in Vancouver BC. ESRI is very familiar
with MapServer here and definately is against it. I had the 'pleasure'
of dealing with an ESRI salesmen here at a mining conference last year
who not only tried to put down MapServer in every way possible, but
also dragged in the name of a local MapServer proponent, claiming that
the person had gotten fed up with and dumped MapServer for ArcIMS, not
knowing that I knew the person myself.

That person had a great laugh hearing how ESRI had told me of his
demise ... I gave him the news right after he had brought me up to
date with a number of mapserver advances his group was working on.

I myself have no experience with ArcIMS, and only limited experience
with ArcSDE, but soon after the encounter with the ESRI salesmen I
priced out what it would cost to run ArcIMS with ArcSDE on an Oracle
database and found the price to be roughly $50,000 not including
roughly $15,000 in annual maintenance fees.

So take your open source experience, apply for jobs that don't even
mention open source ... and tell the company how you can save them
$50,000+  by using MapServer with PostGIS.  It's as if they are
getting you for free while you build a product for them.

Since my run-in with that ESRI salesmen at the mining conference, I
have built what I think is a powerful mining/exploration Mapserver
website for a small exploration company ... for a fraction of what
just the software would have cost from ESRI.  In fact if ESRI were the
only option, the project would have remained a dream.

In other words, open source gives you leads into the market for jobs
or projects that are simply unaffordable using ESRI. You need to show
the companies that cheaper options exist that can give them what they
want ... and that will keep you busy.

Cheers,
Ken Lord
Vancouver BC


On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 15:00:02 -0900, Mike Davis <mike.and.kerry at gmail.com> wrote:
> I believe it will be a while before you start to see Mapserver related
> job postings in any large quantity.  To a certain extent this is
> because web-mapping is still a relatively small segment of the GIS
> industry and there are many more GIS Analyst/ Cartographer/ Image
> Analyst positions than positions that solely deal with web based
> mapping.  Many shops that produce Mapserver or ArcIMS sites have a GIS
> Analyst working double duty when necessary or an IT guy who can throw
> together and manage IMS sites.
> 
> That being said I think there is a definite advantage to knowing how
> to create and manage web sites with multiple tools.  Companies and
> Gov't Institutions go through phases of "we are going Microsoft/ ESRI
> everything" or "Open Source is CHEAP lets do everything Open Source"
> and someone who can adapt to meet their needs using the tools
> available will always be valuable.
> 
> To answer your questions:
> 
> I don't think experience with free GIS or Mapserver is enough to get
> you started.  I would recommend at least a GIS certificate from a
> Community College or Technical University.  This will give you some
> basic foundations in the theory behind GIS as well as some hands on
> with different GIS software (although these days ESRI seems to have a
> lock on the education side).  If this option is not available start
> volunteering for local non-profit organizations (like conservation
> groups, crime stoppers, etc) set up some nifty web sites for them and
> then use them for resume padding.
> 
> I don't believe that commercial software companies are actively trying
> to discourage jobs that use free GIS software in any way other than
> their natural push to encourage people to use their software.  We use
> Mapserver for all our web mapping needs, but the rest of our GIS
> infrastructure is ESRI based.  When I mention this to the ESRI folks I
> usually get a mixture of bewilderment and mild amusement from them.
> Most ESRI folks have absolutely no idea what Mapserver is and those
> that do don't seem to know what its capabilities are compared to their
> software.
> 
> On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 09:11:34 -0300, Eduardo Patto Kanegae
> <lists at webmapit.com.br> wrote:
> > Hi folks,
> >
> > this is more a discussion and "opinion-collector" topic than a technical
> > question.
> >
> > Despite the known high potencial of MapServer and other very useful free gis
> > tools, it's still very hard to find MapServer/Free GIS job offers at gis
> > jobs websites or other GIS related sites.
> >
> > Why do you think this happen this way?
> > - do you think mapserver/freegis packs are not sufficient known to get a
> > place at commercial media?
> > - or could commercial proprietary software companies be doing something to
> > avoid free gis from growing up?
> > - or does companies know that this kind of professional is more difficult to
> > find and then prefer not to loose time on high media announces and look for
> > professionals only via people networking?
> >
> > best regards,
> >
> > Eduardo Patto Kanegae
> > http://www.webmapit.com.br
> > ICQ: 303747254
> > MSN: eduardo_patto at hotmail.com
> > phone:+55(16)9994-2928
> >
> > Treinamento em UMN MapServer -
> > http://www.webmapit.com.br/ptbr/?menuoption=mapserver
> > Fórum MapServer Brasil - http://mapserver.cttmar.univali.br/forum
> >
> > ***Fim da Mensagem / End of Message ***
> >
>