[Live-demo] [Ica-osgeo-labs] OSGeo-Live in a training setting

Tue Jul 29 02:01:38 PDT 2014

Hi Lluís, Cameron,

It is an excellent idea to setup a testimony wiki page for OSGeo-Live. Also, once you setup the testimonial wiki page, others (for example Barend Köbben<http://kartoweb.itc.nl/kobben/> ran successful workshops using OSGeo Live USB http://kartoweb.itc.nl/kobben/SOMAP-OSGEO-workshop/  ) can also contribute and it will become a good source for those who are new to get a quick understanding.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Lluís and all Girona colleagues for their excellent Open GIS summer school initiative which is now in its successful fifth year. It not only helped train a new generation of students in Open geo technologies but has also helped inspire staff in other universities to follow up on this idea . We now have universities in China, India and other countries now wishing to replicate this model which is the best proof of its real impact.

Suchith

From: live-demo-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:live-demo-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Cameron Shorter
Sent: 29 July 2014 09:30
To: Lluís Vicens; ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org; live-demo at lists.osgeo.org
Subject: Re: [Live-demo] [Ica-osgeo-labs] OSGeo-Live in a training setting

Thanks Lluis, your description is very comprehensive, and a valuable, unbiased summary of OSGeo-Live's strengths and weaknesses in a teaching environment.

I expect this summary will be something that others will want to reference in future, and as such, I would like to copy it into a public location.
I'm thinking that we should either set up a testimony wiki page, or include testimonies in our existing history page. (I'm currently erring toward adding this testimony into the history page).

Does this make sense?

On 29/07/2014 2:10 am, Lluís Vicens wrote:
On 19/06/14 23:19, Cameron Shorter wrote:
Hi Carson,
Thanks for the question re how OSGeo-Live should be used within a training setting.
This is a question we have received a few times now, and I'm interested to hear thoughts from others who have used, or wish to use OSGeoLive in an educational setting.

What is are the key use cases we are aiming to address regarding use of OSGeo-Live in an educational setting, and in particular, what needs are required from an educator's perspective?

Is a VM suitable?
What datasets are required?
Is a standard OSGeo-Live distribution sufficient, or do trainers need to download and install specific things for their course?

Dear Cameron and others,

I'll try to summarize our use of the OSGeo-Live in our educational activities such as the Spanish FOSS4G workshop, summer school on GIS, UNIGIS MSc ...

As a global assessment, we must admit that we are pretty happy about  the overall behaviour of the OSGeo-Live. We have been using it in most of the Spanish foss4g workshops[1], covering a broad range of issues and themes such as GIS Desktop Workshops (QGIS, gvSIG, GRASS, PostGIS and pgRouting, ... even JASPA), Programming workshops (Integration of geospatial free technologies, Introduction to python for geospatial applications, programming new applications for Sextante, ...), Web Applications Workshops (Introduction to MapProxy, Developing Web Applications with AngularJS and Leaflet, OpenLayers and GeoServer, ...), and other specific workshops such as the integration of OSM data + imposm + TileMill, ...

We generally don't need to install extra packages and libraries but, if need it, we can do it without arising too many problems. So, in general terms, there are no remarkable problems installing new pieces of software.

Sometimes the tricky issue is that the host pc has low RAM memory, so we can't assign more than 2Gb, to the virtual machine. But, I suppose that this has nothing to do with the OSGeo-Live.

We have intensively used the OSGeo-Live to conduct the whole Summer School each July [2], with a pretty good performance. Sometimes, we had some troubles with few machines (slow performance, some crashes, etc...) but without a clear and concrete reason. Just happens. :)

However, during this edition we encountered a problem with OpenJump and PostGIS. Each time we tried to configure a new connection to a PostGIS database, OpenJump started to freeze...

Regarding to the datasets, we have been using Natural Earth data and OSM data included on the distro, as well as some external datasets. Nothing to mention in here. Good performance in every sense.

Last but not least, within the UNIGIS MSc framework, we really encourage students to make use of the OSGeo-Live DVD for their assignments and practical work. UNIGIS is a online MSc so sometimes, it's a little bit difficult to help students to properly install and make use of the OSGeo-Live virtual disk. This could take some time but nothing specially relevant. The big issue, for those who are not familiar with a new OS, is to not enter in a state of panic the first time they see a linux environment in front of their eyes... alone :)  In a face-to-face courses, this is more easy to handle than in an online course but with a little bit of patience and positive attitude, this is not a barrier.

In summary, using OSGeo-Live virtual disk has a double positive result: discovering and working with foss4g, as well as discovering a new OS.

Thanks to all the OSGeo-Live crew for their work and passion. Good job!

[1] http://www.sigte.udg.edu/jornadassiglibre
[2] http://www.sigte.udg.edu/summerschool2014/

On 19/06/2014 9:36 am, Carson Farmer wrote:
Hi Cameron, we aren't using it (right now), but it *has* been discussed. Students will have access to their own virtual machine during the course, so using the OSGeo-Live image is an option. Part of the course involves installing some of the required apps, so we weren't sure if we wanted to go with the pre-installed stuff on OSGeo-Live... having said that, I guess we could work with a modified version. Any thoughts on this? Additionally, we will be *telling* students about OSGeo-Live, and they will leave with that as a resource.

Cheers,

Carson

On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 6:08 PM, Cameron Shorter <cameron.shorter at gmail.com<mailto:cameron.shorter at gmail.com>> wrote:
Hi Suchith,
Will this course make use of OSGeo-Live? If so I'd be keen to add the details to our history page:
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_History

Keeping track of how OSGeo-Live is used provides the motivation and business justifications people and organisations use to justify contributing to OSGeo-Live.

I'd also like to hear from any others making use of OSGeo-Live such that we can add your use to this page.

On 18/06/2014 10:57 pm, Suchith Anand wrote:

From: carsten.kessler at gmail.com<mailto:carsten.kessler at gmail.com> [mailto:carsten.kessler at gmail.com] On Behalf Of Carsten Kessler
Sent: 18 June 2014 13:45
To: ucgis-all
Subject: Free and Open Source GIS course – Aug 4–8 @ Hunter College, NYC

Dear all,

we will be offering a five day professional training course on FOSS GIS at Hunter college, NYC, the first week of August: http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/ce/gis

Feel free to forward the course description below to potential participants.

Best,

Carsten Kessler

FREE AND OPEN SOURCE GIS

August 4 to August 8, 2014, 9 AM to 5 PM

The Department of Geography at Hunter College of the City University of New York and Hunter Continuing Education are offering a five day professional course in Free and Open Source GIS. This five day course will span the entire range of GIS data capture, management, analysis, and visualization of geographic information using Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). These different elements of the GIS workflow will be discussed over the first four days and will then be applied in a final project completed on Friday. The course will combine lectures with hands-on sessions where participants will work with different free and open source GIS packages. Since we expect participants from many different organizations in the tri-state area, this training course also presents an excellent networking opportunity.

The course is designed for experienced GIS users who want to broaden their skill set with expertise in the ever-growing world of free and open source GIS. Participants are expected to have a technical background and an interest in developing comprehensive workflows using multiple software components. While we do not require any programming experience, we will be working on the command line and developing some small scripts. Participants should be eager to master these valuable skills.

Instructors
Carson Farmer and Carsten Kessler are Associate Directors of the Center for Advanced Research of Spatial Information (CARSI Lab) and Assistant Professors for Geographic Information Science in the Department of Geography at Hunter College ‐ CUNY.

Carson<http://carsonfarmer.com/> has been working with open source GIS projects, including as core developer for QGIS, since 2007. His research interests revolve around movements and flows of individuals, information, and commodities within urban environments, and the development and implementation of novel spatial analysis methods and software aimed at characterizing these flows.

Carsten<http://carsten.io/> has extensive experience in projects around open data and the exchange of geographic information, both in international research projects and as a consultant. His research interests are in the areas of information integration, volunteered geographic information, emergency management, and collaborative and participatoryGIS.

Both instructors will be present for the duration of the course to support the participants in the hands-on exercises.

Location, registration and fees
The course will be held at the Department of Geography's computer lab in the Hunter North building at Lexington and 68th Street, Manhattan. Registration fee for this course is $1800 and includes access to computers and server space to run the exercises.

For more detailed information or to register, visit http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/ce/gis or contact the Hunter Continuing Education office at 212-650-3850<tel:212-650-3850> or ce at hunter.cuny.edu<mailto:ce at hunter.cuny.edu> .

---

Carsten Kessler – http://carsten.io

Center for Advanced Research of Spatial Information

Department of Geography

Hunter College – CUNY

695 Park Avenue

New York, NY-10065

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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<tel:%2B61%202%209009%205000>,  W www.lisasoft.com<http://www.lisasoft.com>,  F +61 2 9009 5099<tel:%2B61%202%209009%205099>

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--
Dr. Carson J. Q. Farmer
Associate Director, CARSI<http://www.carsilab.org/>
Assistant Professor
Department of Geography
Hunter College & Graduate Center, CUNY
695 Park Avenue
New York, NY, 10065
carsonfarmer at gmail.com<mailto:carsonfarmer at gmail.com>
@carsonfarmer<https://twitter.com/carsonfarmer>
http://carsonfarmer.com

--

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<http://www.lisasoft.com>,  F +61 2 9009 5099

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--

Lluís Vicens

SIGTE - Universitat de Girona

Pl. Ferrater Mora, 1

17071   Girona

--

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<http://www.lisasoft.com>,  F +61 2 9009 5099
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