[OSGeo-Discuss] overall value of market for business based on OSGEO projects?

Thu Jul 9 03:46:52 PDT 2015

On Jul 9, 2015 6:42 AM, "Camille Acey" <joyousnew at gmail.com> wrote:

> Having worked on the sales side of a fairly important player in the space,
> I can say this is not a trivial exercise. However, if you could give a list
> of say the top five to ten players in the space, you might be able to pull
> up previous years of revenue info (because a lot of that is on record in
> public filings/registrations). From there, you could likely get a ballpark
> number.
>
> I know lots of companies are working around with slide decks that say
> things like "Total Size of Geospatial Market" with a big pie chart and a
> tiny FOSS slice jumping out but I feel like it's more of a marketing clip
> art exercise than a result of actual number crunching. That said, you might
> reach out to Black Duck, they do lots of surveys on general open source
> stuff. Andrew Ross and Eddie Pickle might also have some ideas.
>
> Camille
> On Jul 9, 2015 5:56 AM, "Cameron Shorter" <cameron.shorter at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>  Hi Andrea,
>>
>> Not quite the same question, but an easier metric to measure, is the
>> "estimated cost of software to develop", using David Wheeler's method for
>> evaluating the cost of Linux to develop
>> http://www.dwheeler.com/sloc/redhat71-v1/redhat71sloc.html
>>
>> You can find OpenHub metrics for OSGeo projects referenced from:
>> http://live.osgeo.org/en/metrics.html
>>
>> On 9/07/2015 3:53 pm, Andrea Giacomelli wrote:
>>
>>      Hi Brian, and thanks for the inspirational overview. I totally
>> agree with it.
>>
>>  But if I go back with this to my colleague (I won't meet him at the cafe
>> after close-of-business today because I'm travelling, but tomorrow might
>> well be), he will claim that this is too much of a quasi-philosophical
>> explanation.
>>
>>  A simple way of getting the number is simply checking the revenue of the
>> key  companies involved in the business.
>>
>>  The next "quantum leap" in innovation might be round the corner and
>> completely change our paradigms for estimating the size of a market, but
>> until this happens, if we are assigning a value to it, we are making a bet.
>>
>>  The "third level" you mention is what my colleague calls "ecosystem
>> services". Interestingly, their value can be estimated as well (I have
>> started to work a few years ago on one of these cases);
>>
>>  but for the time being, I will stick to "level 1", considering the
>> thread open for a couple of days, should any other folk wish to drop a line.
>>
>>  Thanks also for the "good travels" in Italy...in fact I am an Italian
>> citizen and a resident, but I travel quite a lot up and down "The boot", as
>> we call it (today towards the AC/DC gig in Imola...)
>>
>>  Best regards!
>>
>>  Andrea Giacomelli
>>  http://www.pibinko.org
>>
>>
>>
>> 2015-07-08 21:22 GMT+02:00 Brian M Hamlin <maplabs at light42.com>:
>>
>>> Hi Andrea -
>>>
>>>   like so many good questions looking for a simple answer, there is no
>>> simple answer..
>>> Let's make a "thought experiment" .. and divide economic acitivity into
>>> three different groups..
>>> Each one could be measured in currency, but I wll argue that only one of
>>> them makes sense..
>>>
>>>  * in the first case, the market is like a physical market . someone has
>>> eggs to sell, or furniture, or a service like medical service..
>>> a customer pays in currency, and all transactions are recorded
>>> (somehow).. the ecomonic value is the sum of all transactions..
>>>
>>> * the second is a market like a legal federation of many marketplaces..
>>> things are available from multiple sources, so prices go up and down..
>>> the prices change for a variety of reasons. But, what if someone "gives"
>>> something essential, for non-market reasons..
>>> the price may go down.. but what if a machine is invented that make one
>>> million times more of a good or service?
>>> does the price go down ? what if the machine makes something that was
>>> never available before.. is there a price ?
>>>
>>> * the third is the natural world we live in.. a unique collection of
>>> clear air, clean water, things to eat and places to live and
>>> make babies.. what is the "price" of clean water ? does it go up or
>>> down.. what is the "price" of a rhinocerous or an elephant,
>>> that is a living being not in the human market at all .. what if the
>>> actions of the market kills or poison things that are not in the
>>> market, to make room for things that are in the market..
>>>
>>>   what if software can be used to understand these relationships outside
>>> of any market ?
>>>   what is the "price" of this software ..
>>>
>>> So, in the first and most simple case.. you could take the sum of
>>> economic activity inside the exchange of currency..
>>> However, on a larger scale, the second and third measures are very
>>> important.. I say that the OpenSource Geospatial
>>> software worlds are very much in all of those.. so any number you count
>>> in the first one will be a poor measure of the
>>> others..
>>>
>>>   good travels in Italy
>>>   Brian M Hamlin
>>>
>>> --
>>> Brian M Hamlin
>>> OSGeo California Chapter
>>> blog.light42.com
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
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>>
>> --
>> Cameron Shorter,
>> Software and Data Solutions Manager
>> LISAsoft
>> Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf,
>> 26 - 32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW 2009
>>
>> P +61 2 9009 5000,  W www.lisasoft.com,  F +61 2 9009 5099
>>
>>
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>
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