[OSGeo-Discuss] Introduction

[Cameron Shorter]

Hi Pierre,

Welcome to the OSGeo community. It sounds like you have grit and 
tenacity if you have been sticking with a project for 11 years. They are 
valuable qualities in an open source developer.

I'll give you some tough advice which you possibly were not looking for. 
(You'd really want to get some co-contributors, right?)

Most Open Source projects fail. 
http://cameronshorter.blogspot.com/2018/11/comprehensive-research-into-open-source.html

One of the key criteria for long term success is to attract community. I 
feel it is much better to start with a community and then build 
software, rather than start with software and then attract community.

With open source software, it is best to use, extend, create (in that 
order).

I'd suggest look at existing OSGeo projects. Do any do what you do? If 
so, then join that project and that community. If something is close, 
then join the community and offer to add your extra functionality into 
their codebase. (I know, it will be harder than doing it yourself, but 
the advantage is that you will get a community.)

In looking for established projects, check out: 
https://live.osgeo.org/en/metrics.html (and pay more attention to the 
projects which have a strong community.)

Good luck.

On 16/10/19 8:07 pm, Pierre Abbat wrote:
> I found OsGeo while looking for software to turn a ZHD or GNS file into a
> RINEX file that I could run on my Linux laptop.
>
> I am a North Carolina land surveyor who have been working on a land surveying
> CAD program for over eleven years, starting when I was in surveying school.
> It's been on GitHub for years, but I'm still the only developer. I've also
> started some point cloud processing software, but it's not public yet.
>
> What I'd like to find is:
> *Other people interested in contributing. The programs are written in C++, but
> there are things to do that don't involve coding, such as writing help files,
> entering map projection data, drawing button icons, and translating.
> *A source of funding. I have a lead of a possible job, but it may be a few
> weeks before I hear back. I'm not in danger of running out of money, but I
> would like to buy some computers to test software on more OSes and processors.
> *Ideas on how to package and sell software. It's free software, but most
> surveyors I know run Windows, not Linux or BSD, and don't know how to install
> software from source. I've gotten it to run on Windows, but still haven't
> figured out how to package it. I'm thinking I could sell CDs with Windows
> binaries and source code.
> *Other projects that I might could contribute to.
>
> The CAD program is at http://bezitopo.org/ and in the Git repo at https://
> github.com/phma/bezitopo .
>
> Pierre

-- 
Cameron Shorter
Technology Demystifier
Open Technologies and Geospatial Consultant

M +61 (0) 419 142 254