[OSGeo-Discuss] Abstract, please look at.

[Frank Warmerdam]

Gary Watry wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I am starting to put together a presentation for the Florida Joint Mapping
> Conference. The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
> (ASPRS) Florida Region, is soliciting presentations for the Joint Mapping
> Conference entitled "Accessing Geo-Spatial Data".  
> 
> Here is what I want to submit as a abstract
> 
> Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Abstract
> 
> Open Source GIS Software and its potential use in the Post Grad Environment
> 
> One of the major issues that arise with the introduction of Geospatial
> technology in a post-college education or research program is the inherent
> cost of Commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS). The initial cost and
> annual maintenance fees for most COTS, is hard to justify by the occasional
> use of these applications in Non-GIS courses and research projects. The
> introduction of Free Open Source Software (FOSS) at the college and
> post-grad level will make available the powerful tools of Geospatial
> analysis without the cost. As FOSS applications achieve parity and in many
> cases exceed the capabilities of the comparative COTS tools, a valuable tool
> is available to the grad student or research assistant. Once educated in the
> usefulness and availability of FOSS applications, the individual would be
> able to download, utilize, and then discard the appropriate GIS tools until
> the next time they were useful. If and when the FOSS applications are not
> capable of meeting the needs of the user, then and only then should the
> individual be encouraged to examine COTS.  

Gary,

This seems like a useful presentation to make.

I would encourage you to focus on a variety of benefits of FOSS in the
post-grad / research environment.

  * Low cost - focus available research money on humans and hardware.
  * Low barrier to introducing new tools.  No purchase cycle just to try a new
    package.
  * Ability to verify what is going on internally.  Black-boxes interfere with
    good science.
  * Flexibility to tweak any aspect of the system in experimentation.
  * Ability to disseminate solutions to other researchers without requiring
    them to acquire software licenses first.

Some of the above benefits are generic too many fields, but some of them are
(in my humble opinion) especially important in research.  I think it would be
an error to be overly focused on the cost aspect.

I trust you will let us know when it is complete so we can make the material
more widely available?

Best regards,
-- 
---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent