[Qgis-user] Local Government for QGIS

[James Keener]

I'm actually in the process of starting a company that sells GIS services
and consulting to municipalities.  I'm basing it on CartoDB for a web front
end, and then, unless they beg to use ESRI, QGIS for things like topology
and analysis.

I really do think there is room to break into the market, especially since
many municipalities are still using paper maps or just offload their GIS
needs to their default engineering firm.

I'm defiantly willing to help build software, models, documentation, &c
aimed around open source municipal GIS.

Jim

On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 4:43 PM, Randal Hale <
rjhale at northrivergeographic.com> wrote:

> I've contemplated the same thing. I've been working on an openforestry
> template (which I'm failing to update on github) for that very reason (well
> two - to see if I could do it and because I want to provide an alternative).
>
> It's doable - it's just finding a coalition of the willing to start
> piecing it together. ESRI does have a lock with all those models: small
> government, utilities, forestry. Everyone gets roped in and then they get
> stuck. My current shaking my head moment is the ESRI Parcel Fabric model.
> You get so deep into that one on just the conversion work you'll never get
> out of it cleanly (I assume - I've never tried).
>
> QGIS is the desktop component to make that happen with a database backend
> (right now for me it's postgresql/postgis). Support is the next biggie -
> people want someone to call and yell at when it doesn't work.
>
> My .02 cents,
> Randy
>
>
> On 06/11/2015 04:28 PM, Steve G wrote:
>
>> I am not sure this is the correct forum for a start to this discussion,
>> but
>> I've been pondering this for a while and interested what others think.  I
>> work for local government in the U.S. and when people generally talk about
>> GIS there is no doubt an automatic association with the ESRI ArcGIS
>> platform.  And beyond GIS itself, the dominance that ESRI has is even more
>> pronounced given the fact that many cities have implemented other related
>> systems (permitting, computer aided dispatch, etc) that are identified
>> business partners with ESRI.  Furthermore, the "GIS Local Government"
>> track
>> that ESRI developed has evolved to offer an "turnkey" approach for local
>> government self-service to establish a robust geodatabase (Local
>> Government
>> Information Model), maps, apps, web services, etc.  This extends a COTS
>> approach for local governments to establish, develop, and maintain a
>> fairly
>> complete GIS.  In my opinion, pure genius...because for a lot of small
>> cities/governments with limited staff and budget, the turnkey approach is
>> very appealing.  For city bureaucrats thinking about
>> implementing/extending
>> GIS, what they might think as little $$$ and you get all of this?
>> Awesome...here's my money.
>>
>> HOWEVER, this approach has its drawbacks.  Long-term license/use costs,
>> vendor lock-in, continuous waiting for someone at the company to fix
>> something....well, the list goes on (just read any blog post supporting
>> open
>> source/FOSS).
>>
>> So, with the evolution of QGIS as a prevailing replacement/alternative for
>> the other product, is anyone thinking about building more of a turnkey
>> approach (database, maps, apps, web services, etc) geared to local
>> governments?  I like the direction of the OpenGeo platform (and others)
>> trying to provide the whole software stack, but still if a small local
>> government wants to have a full fledged interactive GIS, it might seem
>> like
>> a lot of work to develop and maintain.
>>
>> I am interested in other thoughts...perhaps this belongs on a blog post
>> somewhere more independent, but perhaps this can be a place to begin.
>>
>> Steve G.
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> View this message in context:
>> http://osgeo-org.1560.x6.nabble.com/Local-Government-for-QGIS-tp5210489.html
>> Sent from the Quantum GIS - User mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
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>
> --
> -----------------
> Randal Hale
> North River Geographic Systems, Inc
> http://www.northrivergeographic.com
> 423.653.3611 rjhale at northrivergeographic.com
> twitter:rjhale     http://about.me/rjhale
> http://www.northrivergeographic.com/introduction-to-quantum-gis
> Southeast OSGEO: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Southeast_US
>
>
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