[postgis-users] Mandrake Linux GIS project?

[Wood Brent]

Hello everyone.


The msg below is from a Mandrake Linux development list. The idea behind the
chemistry site is interesting (to me anyway). The reason I'm bringing it up:



I'm using a variety of Open Source GIS/mapping packages/tools/libraries on
Mandrake & the idea of setting up a comparable resource with the support of
Mandrakesoft I believe is a good one.

I know there are things like licencing issues (eg: Postgres/PostGIS) but a
repository or even extra CD with Open Source GIS resources seems feasible.

At a GIS related conference a couple of years ago I presented a 3D
visualisation system for fisheries data, and the response from the group was
impressive. Not because what I did was so great, but that it could be done with
"free" software. There is a real growth in fisheries GIS worldwide, especially
in the third world, supporting coastal fisheries managment and aquaculture, and
budgets for Arc & Oracle spatial are limited.

The most impressive thing I have found with Open Source GIS in the last couple
of years is the interoperability. I can download shapefiles, e00 data or many
other formats. Use avcimport, ogr2ogr, shapelib, shp2pgsql to extract &
reformat, or load into PostGIS. I can query/browse with psql, pgaccess or
graphically with QGIS/JUMP, I can analyse with GRASS or R & prepare high
quality publication maps with GMT. Then toss mapserver at it to web-enable the
stuff. Add some GPS capture software.

The mix of software seems suitable for releasing as a GIS toolkit, complete
with operating system, office suite, image editing software, etc.

While we have Geoware releasing GMT & supporting data & freegis.org with a CD
compilation, I'm not aware of anyone offering everything in a nice, ready to
install with a package manager approach. 


So my questions: 

Do others believe that the concept of such a GIS toolkit is worth taking
further?

Are the various people working with all these packages interested in working
with Mandrake to develop such a system?

Is Mandrakesoft interested in adding such a software compilation to it's list
of packages, perhaps even a Mandrakemove version of GIS Knoppix?

Am I way too far out in left field?



  Brent Wood




>Subject: Re: [Cooker] mandrake for scientists
>Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 19:00:49 -0400
>
>On Tue, 2004-06-08 at 23:26 +0200, Guillaume Rousse wrote:
>> I'd like to communicate more on this topic, for two reasons:
>> - first, most admins only knows about redhat, and tend to install it 
>> everywhere
>> - second, i'd like to lobby scientist themselves for choosing free 
>> software licences instead of crappy "free for non commercial use" or 
>> worst licensing agreement.
>> 
>> Anyone interested ?
>
>http://groundstate.ca/mdk4chem
>is almost 2 years old.
>
>Austin