<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div>Dear all,<br><br></div>thanks,<br></div>I find this is a very essential discussion to have, and with<br></div>QGIS, GDAL/R etc at its core and solution.<br><br></div>Much can be said, and should be said and changed,<br></div>but here a few points for a start:<br><br></div>-mapping relates to land, health and water management questions; many of these are widely unresolved nor do many people really want it to be resolved even.<br></div><br></div>-mapping is, and remains, a highly strategic and military topic. <br><br></div>-mapping affects economic growth and our neoliberal economy policy.<br></div><div>Software is directly embedded in that; now all driven by online developments<br></div><div>and its drivers.<br></div><div><br></div>-mapping and its tools and data are part of democracy.<br><br><br><div>Thus, a (tried) control of mapping, its data, and its tools, must come of no big surprise. It's a heavily vested subject.<br></div><div>(one can add easily remote sensing perspectives in that discussion, and one really should).<br><br></div></div><div>These things are not new, apply globally, and are part of any good Geography textbook really. <br>I would go that far and put it as a major topic for Climate Change!<br></div><div><br></div>So I think the current status of GIS & governments and its inertia can widely be derived from there.<br></div><div>We have much experience in that, world-wide (happy to share if somebody wants to know; just ask...).<br></div><div><br>What about a good set of GIS and Remote Sensing ETHICS ?<br></div><br>Yes, I find it's time things change for the better.<br></div><div>Keep me posted please.<br></div><div><br></div> Very best and thanks<br></div> Falk Huettmann<br><div><div><div><div><div><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 12:28 PM, Steve G <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:stevenlgolden@gmail.com" target="_blank">stevenlgolden@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">I am not sure this is the correct forum for a start to this discussion, but<br>
I've been pondering this for a while and interested what others think. I<br>
work for local government in the U.S. and when people generally talk about<br>
GIS there is no doubt an automatic association with the ESRI ArcGIS<br>
platform. And beyond GIS itself, the dominance that ESRI has is even more<br>
pronounced given the fact that many cities have implemented other related<br>
systems (permitting, computer aided dispatch, etc) that are identified<br>
business partners with ESRI. Furthermore, the "GIS Local Government" track<br>
that ESRI developed has evolved to offer an "turnkey" approach for local<br>
government self-service to establish a robust geodatabase (Local Government<br>
Information Model), maps, apps, web services, etc. This extends a COTS<br>
approach for local governments to establish, develop, and maintain a fairly<br>
complete GIS. In my opinion, pure genius...because for a lot of small<br>
cities/governments with limited staff and budget, the turnkey approach is<br>
very appealing. For city bureaucrats thinking about implementing/extending<br>
GIS, what they might think as little $$$ and you get all of this?<br>
Awesome...here's my money.<br>
<br>
HOWEVER, this approach has its drawbacks. Long-term license/use costs,<br>
vendor lock-in, continuous waiting for someone at the company to fix<br>
something....well, the list goes on (just read any blog post supporting open<br>
source/FOSS).<br>
<br>
So, with the evolution of QGIS as a prevailing replacement/alternative for<br>
the other product, is anyone thinking about building more of a turnkey<br>
approach (database, maps, apps, web services, etc) geared to local<br>
governments? I like the direction of the OpenGeo platform (and others)<br>
trying to provide the whole software stack, but still if a small local<br>
government wants to have a full fledged interactive GIS, it might seem like<br>
a lot of work to develop and maintain.<br>
<br>
I am interested in other thoughts...perhaps this belongs on a blog post<br>
somewhere more independent, but perhaps this can be a place to begin.<br>
<br>
Steve G.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
View this message in context: <a href="http://osgeo-org.1560.x6.nabble.com/Local-Government-for-QGIS-tp5210489.html" target="_blank">http://osgeo-org.1560.x6.nabble.com/Local-Government-for-QGIS-tp5210489.html</a><br>
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