[OSGeo-Discuss] gvSIG: as desktop application officially supported by OSGeo

[Alex Mandel]

OSGeo Live is intended for testing, demos, teaching, and virtualization.
It's goal is not to be a normal install and use workstation distro -
though it can be installed we don't support this.

Yes you are right Xubuntu is not the lightest distro, it is a lighter
weight distro compatible with Ubuntu. You'll notice we are currently
working to move to Lubuntu to keep it lighter. This does make it
possible for people to apt-get install whatever else they might need
when running a vm or persistent install.

We have considered other bases before, but in general it has to be
Ubuntu or Debian so we can use all the packages available from
UbuntuGIS/DebianGIS and needs to be a good distro for beginning linux
users. Majority of our users are not Linux users to start. DSL is an
option, but would be a lot of work to pick and choose all the base apps
normal users might expect.

If this doesn't fit your needs you are welcome to work on an alternate
version and we'd be happy to host a split in the tree to contain other
variants or some service to build custom lighter variants. There has
been discussion of splitting into Desktop and Server variants. We might
go down that road in the future as we further automate the build servers.

Clearly it works for someone as we have 20,000+ downloads per release.

RPMs are not cross distro - Redhat/Fedora/Centos/Sci Linux are all
redhat derivatives thats why they can share some rpms. Occasionally
these can be converted for other distros when the deps are bundled or light.

That said there is an OSGEO EL Geo group aimed at providing packages for
that family of distros.
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Enterprise_Linux_GIS

Yes gvSig will be moved to the regular list whenever the Incubation
committee makes the request after approval of graduation.

Thanks,
Alex

On 05/15/2014 09:52 AM, ProjectNewAge wrote:
> Angelos (Tzotsos) and Jorge Sanz informed me that
> * gvSIG is finishing its incubation into the OSGeo Foundation
> (http://www.osgeo.org/incubator ,
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/GvSIG_Incubation_Checklist ,
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/GvSIG_Incubation_Status )
> * the OSGeoLive project exists which allready bundles OSGeo software
> (http://live.osgeo.org/en/index.html )
> 
> So, my previous requests/mail can be scrapped. However, I thought
> about the OSGeo Live operating system, which is based on Xubuntu.
> Xubuntu is said to be "lightweight", but that's not really true, at
> least not compared to other Linux operating systems. SliTaz is by far
> lighter (16 mb ram required instead of 256 or even 512mb for Xubuntu,
> see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SliTaz_GNU/Linux and
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xubuntu#Goals
> 
> Also, I wonder whom will download the OSGeo live CD; it contains much
> more programs than what most users (even professionals) will need.
> Also, some other programs (not for geo-tasks may be missing) which
> certain users do need.
> Perhaps that a good alternative is to simply make a website with the
> RPM versions of the install packages; these can pretty much be
> installed on any Linux OS (including SliTaz, see
> hg.slitaz.org/tazpkg/raw-file/tip/doc/tazpkg.en.html )
> 
> Thomas
> 
>> gvSIG is finishing its incubation into the OSGeo Foundation, that's why it
>> appears at the incubating block. You can read more about the incubation
>> process at [1].  If you are interested on the details on gvSIG incubation
>> you can visit [2] and [3].
>>
>> Best Regards
>>
>> [1] http://www.osgeo.org/incubator
>> [2] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/GvSIG_Incubation_Checklist
>> [3] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/GvSIG_Incubation_Status
>>
>>
>> --
>> Jorge Sanz
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: ProjectNewAge <projectnewage at gmail.com>
> To: discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> Cc:
> Date: Tue, 13 May 2014 15:50:12 +0200
> Subject: gvSIG: as desktop application officially supported by OSGeo
> Hi,
> 
> I just wanted to ask whether gvSIG could be mentioned a desktop
> application officially supported by OSGeo (currently this isn't the
> case, see "OSGeo Projects" column at the right at
> http://www.osgeo.org/
> 
> I think it is superior to all others mentioned, as it is:
> * very lightweight (in comparison to QGIS and GRASS GIS)
> * very simple (much easier to learn for 1st time users)
> * able to download maps from a database (unlike the others, as far as
> I know), see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Geographic_information_system#Advantages_of_a_GIS_program_over_Google_Maps.2FGIMP_combo
> * able to be used as GPS navigation software; en-route navigation e.g.
> when using a laptop
> 
> Also I wanted to mention the idea of bundling all complementary
> software with a Linux distro (e.g. SliTaz ); an alternative is to make
> packages for several Linux distro's and/or windows/OS X.
> 
> Finally I wanted to present the idea of cooperating with/supporting of
> neighbourhood committees, see the mail below sent to the wild network.
> 
> Thomas Smith
> 
>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>> From: ProjectNewAge <projectnewage at gmail.com>
>>>> Date: Fri, 9 May 2014 17:07:17 +0300
>>>> Subject: Re: Idea for additional activities
>>>> To: cass at thewildnetwork.com, cassandra at thewildnetwork.com,
>>>> hello at thewildnetwork.com
>>>>
>>>> I forgot to mention one other idea: in the documentary, it was clear
>>>> that a major issue was that many green spaces/public parcs were
>>>> disappearing (atleast in the city the documentary was shot). This may
>>>> not be the case in every city in Europe (some are seeing a reverse
>>>> trend), however it will certainly be the case in a lot of cities.
>>>> Besides increasing the safety risk for children, it's also an issue
>>>> for flood protection (as dirt/soil acts as a temporary water buffer), and for conserving wild species (connected green urban areas can act as a wildlife corridor, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_corridor ).
>>>>
>>>> So, I suggest you promote the setup of local neighbourhood committees;
>>>> these can provide the weight necessairy when contacting town halls,
>>>> ... Such letters sent to town halls can possibly persuade them to
>>>> redesign certain parts of the city (implementing more green zones, and
>>>> segregated cycle facilities (see
>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segregated_cycle_facilities ). When
>>>> sending letters, the committees should do their best to allready
>>>> integrate a complete redesign of the neighbourhood they wish to see
>>>> altered. There are many tools online to do this (ie  GPScoordinates.eu,
>>>> Google Maps, Google Streetview, the GIMP, gvSIG, ...
>>>>
>>>> These local committees can be promoted, not just in your own region or
>>>> the United Kingdom, but troughout Europe and beyond. They can make a
>>>> significant difference.
>>>>
>>>> Thomas
>>>>
>>>> PS: Perhaps that you could contact Transition Network in regards to
>>>> this idea (see http://www.transitionnetwork.org )
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