[OSGeo-Discuss] Whitebox GAT

[John Lindsay]

Hello, 

I wanted to let you know about a new open-source GIS project that I have initiated called Whitebox Geospatial Analysis Tools. Whitebox GAT is a user-friendly and expendable GIS with significant capabilities for spatial analysis. In developing Whitebox GAT I have taken a transparent approach to the open-source paradigm. That is, if the user would like to know how a particular tool's algorithm works, they need not download the source code and wade through the immense code base to find the few lines of relevant code. Instead, each tool has a 'View Code' button that will bring up the specific code related to the tool. Furthermore, they are able to convert the code into other programming languages. The idea is to remove some of the barriers that exist between the developer community and the user community. My analogy is that commercial software is like a locked library where only a few select individuals have the right to access the information contained within; most open source software packages, at least from the viewpoint of the user, is like a public library but there is no cataloging system and the books are all written in Greek; Whitebox is much more like the Internet. You can download Whitebox GAT from:

http://www.uoguelph.ca/~hydrogeo/Whitebox/index.html

I'd certainly appreciate any feedback that you may have.

John Lindsay, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Dept. of Geography, Univ. of Guelph
Guelph, Ont. N1G 2W1   CANADA
Phone: (519) 824-4120 x56074
Fax: (519) 837-2940
Email:  jlindsay at uoguelph.ca
Department Web: www.uoguelph.ca/geography/
Personal Web: http://www.uoguelph.ca/geography/faculty/lindsay.html