[Live-demo] pycsw in OSGeo Live.

Mon Apr 25 19:06:07 EDT 2011

Hi all,
On behalf of the pycsw development team, I would like to ask if we can
include our project in OSGeoLive 5.0.

I am providing requested answers below:

   -  Please describe your application.

   -  What is its name?

pycsw

   -  What is the home page URL?

http://pycsw.org/

   -  Which OSI approved Open Source Licence is used?

MIT

   -  What does the application do and how does it add value to the
      GeoSpatial stack of software?

pycsw is an OGC CSW server implementation written in Python.
pycsw implements clause 10 (HTTP protocol binding (Catalogue Services for
the Web, CSW)) of the OpenGIS Catalogue Service Implementation
Specification, version 2.0.2.

We believe that pycsw would be a good addition for the LiveDVD, since it
provides a lightweight, standalone alternative to current Java-based, CSW
server implementations.

   -  Stability is very important to us on OSGeo-Live. If a new user  finds
   a bug in one application, it will tarnish the reputation of all  other
   OSGeo-Live applications as well. Do you have a bug free, stable  release,
   which has been rolled out to production in a number of  locations? Please
   discuss the level of testing that your project has  gone through, the size
   of the community that uses the application, and  how long the project has
   had mature code.

Currently pycsw is in beta stage, but the latest 0.1.0 release is considered
pretty stable.
As a standalone CSW server implementation, pycsw passes 100% the OGC Cite
tests for this release.  CITE tests are run daily.  Additional tests are
also provided with the source code which are tested before release. This
latest release is well tested, but not currently deployed to a production en
vironment. Demo web pages can be found here: http://pycsw.org/demos.html.

 The pycsw community is relatively new, and there is growing interest given
the release of 0.1.0.  pycsw integrates with other foss4g packages (i.e.
OWSLib), and is already being integrated in various interoperability
demonstrations (CSW <-> WPS integration with the ZOO project).

   -  OSGeo-Live is targeted at applications that people can use  rather
   than libraries. Does the application have a user interface  (possibly a
   command line interface) that a user can interact with?

pycsw  is a web service (implementation of OGC CSW standard). Currently it
does not include client code (internally uses OWSLib in cases needed). There
are some tester web pages (http://pycsw.org/demos.html)  that are also
included in a clean setup.

   -  We give preference to OSGeo Incubated Projects, or Projects which are
   presented at FOSS4G  conferences. If your project is involved in OSGeo
   Incubation, or has  been selected to be presented at FOSS4G, then please
   mention it.

We are a new project, and didn't have the chance yet to apply for OSGeo
Incubation or get involved in a FOSS4G conference, but we hope to do so in
the future :)

   -  With around 50 applications installed on OSGeo-Live, us core
   packagers do not have the time to liaise with every single project email
   list for each OSGeo-Live release. So we require a volunteer (or two) to
   take responsibility for liaising between OSGeo-Live and the project's
   communities. This volunteer will be responsible for ensuring the install
   scripts and English documentation are updated by someone for each
   OSGeo-Live release. Also test that the installed application and  Quickstart
   documentation works as expected on release candidate releases  of
   OSGeo-Live. Who will act as the project's liaison person.

I would be happy to act in the requested role, as I am already involved in
the OSGeoLive project.

   -  OSGeo-Live is Ubuntu Linux based. Our installation preference is:

   -  Install from UbuntuGIS or DebianGIS

   -  Install .deb files from a PPA

   -  Write a custom install script

         Can you please discuss how your application will be installed.

At this moment, we have rpm packages for openSUSE and plan to create deb
packages for Ubuntu. Until then, we can create an installation script (
http://pycsw.org/installation.html )

   -  We include Windows and Mac installers for some applications. Would you
   be wishing to include Windows and/or Mac installers?

Not at this point. Perhaps in the future releases

   -  OSGeo-Live is memory and disk constrained. Can the application run in
   512 Meg of RAM?

Yes, pycsw can easily run even in 256 Meg of RAM under Apache Web Server

   -  How much disk space will be required to install the application and a
   suitable example application?

pycsw by itself only occupies ~2Mb of disk space. Its dependencies though
(lxml, sqlalchemy, shapely), can occupy a bit more disk space if not already
included in OSGeoLive already.

   -  We aim to reduce disk space by having all applications make use  of a
   common dataset. We encourage applications to make use of the  example
   datasets already installed:

   - http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_Add_Project<http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_Add_Project#Example_Datasets>
   #Example_Datasets<http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_Add_Project#Example_Datasets>
   If another dataset would be more appropriate, please discuss here. Is  it
   appropriate, to remove existing demo datasets which may already be  included
   in the standard release.

pycsw exposes metadata, and as such requires sample XML documents (Dublin
Core and ISO 19139:2007).  Since the demo datasets for pycsw are plain xml
metadata files in sqlite database files, we can include existing metadata
xml files (perhaps Geonetwork demo data?). The demo metadata we provide are
~20 xml files (CITE data from OGC and some xml files created with gimed
editor)

Best regards,
Angelos

-- 
Angelos Tzotsos
Remote Sensing Laboratory
National Technical University of Athens
http://users.ntua.gr/tzotsos
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