CSC468 Geographical Information System | Prithivi Narayan Campus | Dev Timilsina

Introduction of open concept in GIS

Open GIS is the ability to share heterogeneous geodata and geoprocessing resources
transparently in a networked environment.
It is the full integration of geospatial data into mainstream information technology. What
this means is that GIS users would be able to freely exchange data over a range of GIS
software systems and networks without having to worry about format conversion or
proprietary data types.

A Geographic Information System is a multi-component environment used to create,

manage, visualize and analyze data and its spatial counterpart. It’s important to note that
most datasets you will encounter in your lifetime can all be assigned a spatial location
whether on the earth’s surface or within some arbitrary coordinate system (such as a
soccer field or a gridded petri dish). So in essence, any dataset can be represented in a
GIS: the question then becomes “does it need to be analyzed in a GIS environment?” The
answer to this question depends on the purpose of the analysis. If, for example, we are
interested in identifying the ten African countries with the highest conflict index scores for
the 1966-78 period, a simple table listing those scores by country is all that is needed.

Additionally, Open GIS seeks to facilitate the exchange of information not only between
individual GIS systems but also to other systems, such as statistical analysis, image
processing, document management, or visualization. Especially with the proliferation of
geo-based websites, the networking component of GIS systems with other data
processes is becoming more important. In summary, the fundamental requirements of an
Open GIS are:

Interoperable application environment: a user environment that is configurable to

utilize the specific tools and data necessary to solve a problem irrespective of the data
structure origin or software.

Shared data space: a generic data model supporting a variety of analytical and
cartographic applications.

1
devtimilsina@pncampus.edu.np
CSC468 Geographical Information System | Prithivi Narayan Campus | Dev Timilsina

Heterogeneous resource browser: a method for exploring and accessing the

information and analytical resources available on a network – this is becoming an
especially important goal with the rise of geo-based Internet sites.

There are three main focuses needed to bring forth an Open GIS system. The first
objective is the creation of an interest group to consolidate the Geographic
Information System’s industry activities and establish a channel to communicate
interoperability issues within the OpenGIS Consortium. The second focus is the
identification and resolution of interoperability issues and their introduction into the
global Open GIS specification process. The third focus is the informative role an Open
GIS Consortium would perform to inform the GIS industry about the Open GIS
process. Regular meetings (Open GIS forums) would highlight information pertaining to
the Open GIS movement. Technical debriefings are also necessary to provide detailed
information concerning the outcome of OGC Technical Committee meetings.

Why Open GIS?

1. Extends open system benefits to GIS.

2. Achieve inter-operability between system, data and functionality
3. Establish common language and unified model for geographic information

Benefits of Open GIS

1. It allows integration with computing standards.

2. It provides quick and efficient development cycles.
3. It avoids data transfer redundancies.
4. The OGIS will lower the cost of maintaining data and make it easier for agencies
to provide data to taxpayers, commercial entities, and other agencies.

Open GIS Consortium (OGC)

OGC is an international voluntary consensus standard organization that enforce

collaboration in a consensus process encouraging development and implementation of
open standards for geospatial contents and services, GIS data processing and data
sharing. OGC has three operational units. They are as follows:

2
devtimilsina@pncampus.edu.np
CSC468 Geographical Information System | Prithivi Narayan Campus | Dev Timilsina

1. Specification program
2. Interoperability program
3. Outreach and Community adoption

Open GIS Consortium (OGC) is a unique organization of GIS users and vendors
developing standards to guide the application of new distributed computing technologies
to geodata and geoprocessing. State and local governments will be principal beneficiaries
of the Open GIS Consortium's Open Geodata Interoperability Specification (OGIS), a
geoprocessing standard that will enable a much higher level of GIS interoperability than
can be obtained with data standards and data translators alone.

The OGIS will make it possible for geodata and geoprocessing resources to communicate
information about their content and capabilities to a user's application, transparently and
in real time. OGIS will also make it possible to share - with other GIS and non-GIS
applications - data and processing that are currently confined within "monolithic" GIS
applications. Interfaces conforming to the OpenGIS Presentation Specifications will geo-
enable Web sites and mobile devices for every imaginable application of geospatial
technology. The value of small location-aware mobile devices containing cell phone,
Internet link, and graphics display will be greatly increased by open Web mapping
capabilities. Consider any of the application domains listed below. Then imagine

1) the multiple on-line servers that contain the catalogs, spatial databases, and
processing services,

2) the people in the field who will use the mobile devices to get information and update
the databases, and

3) the associated application domains which will benefit from access to this domain data.

Open-source software for spatial data analysis

An open-source software application by definition is software that GIS users can freely
access and modify the source code for. Open-source projects typically are worked on by
a community of volunteer programmers. Commercial GIS software, like Esri's ArcGIS Pro,

3
devtimilsina@pncampus.edu.np
CSC468 Geographical Information System | Prithivi Narayan Campus | Dev Timilsina

are fee-based and proprietary systems. Open source GIS programs are based on
different base programming languages.

R is a programming language and software environment for statistical computing and

graphics supported by the R Foundation for Statistical Computing. R and its libraries
implement a wide variety of statistical and graphical techniques, including linear and
nonlinear modeling, classical statistical tests, time-series analysis, classification,
clustering, and others. The R-ArcGIS Community, for example, is a community-driven
collection of free, open-source projects making it easier and faster for R users to work
with ArcGIS data, and ArcGIS users to leverage the analysis capabilities of R.

QGIS

QGIS is a free and open-source GIS software licensed under the GNU General Public
License. QGIS is an official project of the Open-Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo).
It is a cross-platform GIS solution, supporting a variety of operating systems like Linux,
Mac OSX, Windows and Android. QGIS allows users to create maps with many layers
using different projections and to view, edit and analyze raster or vector data.

QGIS also integrates with other open-source GIS packages, including PostGIS, GRASS,
and MapServer to give users additional functionality. Plugins written in Python or C++
extend QGIS’s capabilities. Plugins can geocode using the Google Geocoding API,
perform geoprocessing using fTools, which are similar to the standard tools found in
ArcGIS, and interface with the PostgreSQL/PostGIS, SpatiaLite and MySQL datases to
access additional data formats.

GRASS

The Geographic Resources Analysis Support System (GRASS) is a free and open source
GIS software licensed under the GNU General Public License. It is a cross-platform GIS
solution, supporting a variety of operating systems like Mac OSX, Windows and Linux. It
is used for GIS data management and analysis, image processing, spatial and temporal
modeling and visualization.

4
devtimilsina@pncampus.edu.np
CSC468 Geographical Information System | Prithivi Narayan Campus | Dev Timilsina

SAGA GIS

The System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses (SAGA) GIS is a free and open source
GIS program, licensed under the GNU General Public License. SAGA does not require
installation on the computer, and it runs on Windows, Linux and FreeBSD.

SAGA GIS provides a learnable platform for implementing geoscientific methods, through
the implementation of an Application Programming Interface (API). It is used for geo-
statistics, grid calculation and discretization, projections, dynamic process simulation, and
terrain analysis. SAGA is maintained by an international developer community.

GeoServer

GeoServer is an open-source server written in Java that allows users to share, process
and edit geospatial data. Designed for interoperability, it publishes data from any major
spatial data source using open standards. GeoServer has evolved to become an easy
method of connecting existing information to Virtual Globes such as Google Earth and
NASA World Wind, as well as to web-based maps such as OpenLayers, Google Maps
and Bing Maps. GeoServer aims to operate as a node within a free and open Spatial Data
infrastructure. Similar to how the Apache HTTP Server has offered a free and open web
server to publish HTML, GeoServer aims to do the same for geospatial data.

OpenLayers

OpenLayers is an open source (provided under the 2-clause BSD License) JavaScript
library for displaying map data in web browsers. It provides an API for building rich web-
based geographic applications similar to Google Maps and Bing Maps. OpenLayers
supports GeoRSS, Keyhole Markup Language (KML), Geography Markup Language
(GML), GeoJSON and map data from any source using OGC-standards as Web Map
Service (WMS) or Web Feature Service (WFS).

MapServer

MapServer is an open source platform for publishing spatial data and interactive mapping
applications to the web. Originally developed in the mid-1990s at the University of

5
devtimilsina@pncampus.edu.np
CSC468 Geographical Information System | Prithivi Narayan Campus | Dev Timilsina

Minnesota, MapServer is released under an MIT-style license, and runs on all major
platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X). MapServer is not a full-featured GIS system, nor
does it aspire to be.

PostGIS

PostGIS is an open source software program that adds support for geographic objects to
the PostgreSQL object-relational database. PostGIS follows the Simple Features for SQL
specification from the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).

PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL, often called Postgres, is an object-relational database management system

(ORDBMS) that can handle workloads ranging from small single-machine applications to
large Internet-facing applications with many concurrent users.

PostgreSQL is cross-platform and runs on many operating systems, including Linux,

FreeBSD, Mac OS X, Solaris, and Microsoft Windows. On MacOS X, PostgreSQL has
been the default database starting with Max OS X 10.7 Lion Server, and PostgreSQL
client tools are bundled within the desktop edition. The vast majority of Linux distributions
have it available in supplied packages.

PostgreSQL is a free and open-source software, released under the terms of the
PostgreSQL License, a permissive free-software license.

CartoDB

CartoDB is a Software as a Service (Saas) cloud computing platform that provides GIS
and web mapping tools for display in a web browser. CartoDB users can use the
company's free platform or deploy their own instance of the open source software.
CartoDB is offered as freemium service, where accounts are free up to a certain size.
CartoDB was built on open source software including PostGIS and PostgreSQL and is
split into four components:

1. a web application, where users can manage data and create custom maps.

6
devtimilsina@pncampus.edu.np
CSC468 Geographical Information System | Prithivi Narayan Campus | Dev Timilsina

2. a Maps API that acts as a dynamic tile service, which creates new tiles based on
client requests;
3. a SQL API, where PostgreSQL-supported SQL statements can be used to retrieve
data from the database and serve data in various formats including JSON,
GeoJSON, and CSV; and
4. the CartoDB.js library, which can wrap the Maps and SQL APIs into complete
visualizations or be used to integrate data into other web applications.

FWTools

A set of open-source GIS binaries for Windows (win32) and Linux (x86 32bit) systems
intended to be easy for end users to install and get going with. FWTools includes OpenEV,
GDAL, MapServer, PROJ.4 and OGDI as well as some supporting components.

Web Based GIS system

Access to spatial data as well as advanced mapping and spatial analysis over the Internet
is becoming more common. There are two broad kinds of web mapping applications:
static and interactive. Static maps displayed as an image on a web page are quite
common. If you already have a digital map (e.g., from scanning a document), you can be
up and running very quickly with a static map on your web page.

1.Web-based GIS is based on a type of distributed information. This set of technological

services is part of a communication structure between the GIS server and the client. Their
relationship is expressed through URLs (created by the server) and HTTP (for the
customer). Spatial data access, advanced mapping and spatial analysis are the most
common type of analysis options in Web-based GIS. Learn more in: Geographic
Information Systems.

2.Also known as ‘Internet GIS’; is a new technology that is used to display and analyze
spatial data on the internet. It combines the advantages of both internet and GIS. It offers
public a new means to access spatial information without owning expensive GIS software.
Learn more in: Planning Online: A Community-Based Interactive Decision-Making Model.

The volume is organized in five sections:

7
devtimilsina@pncampus.edu.np
CSC468 Geographical Information System | Prithivi Narayan Campus | Dev Timilsina

1. Analytical and Geospatial Services;

2. Performance;
3. Growth and LBS (location-based service)
4. Collaboration and Decision Making, and
5. Open Standards for Geospatial Services.

Find information about map server technology and examples of online mapping.

ArcGIS Enterprise

Esri’s mapping and analytics platform.

geothinQ

geothinQ is a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform that powers smart, data-
driven real estate decisions for land development professionals and property
stakeholders. Backed by robust land mapping technology, geothinQ provides on-demand
access to property data across the country including environmental, demographic and
topographic information. The platform creates a fast and visual land evaluation process
resulting in sustainable projects that produce a positive ROI for developers.

Google Earth

8
devtimilsina@pncampus.edu.np
CSC468 Geographical Information System | Prithivi Narayan Campus | Dev Timilsina

Google Earth combines satellite imagery, geographic data and Google’s search
capabilities to create a virtual globe application that you can download to your desktop to
access online spatial data. Find resources here to help you expand this geographic data
viewer application.

Google Maps

Using Google Maps on individual web sites,

called map hacking, is a fast and easy way to
add geographic information to personal web
sites. Listed here are resources to help you
understand how to embed Google Maps in your
own site.

gvSIG Online

Based on open-source software, gvSIG lets

users publish maps in the cloud as well as
manage an organization internally through web
maps.

Mapserver

MapServer is an OpenSource development environment for building spatially enabled

Internet applications. The software builds upon other popular OpenSource or freeware
systems like Shapelib, FreeType, Proj.4, libTIFF, Perl and others.

Mango: Create simple interactive web maps with GIS functions.

9
devtimilsina@pncampus.edu.np
CSC468 Geographical Information System | Prithivi Narayan Campus | Dev Timilsina

Important of Web GIS

Web GIS provides many more opportunities to provide broader access to your
authoritative GIS data, enabling you to move your system of record to a system of
engagement that facilitates everything from self-service mapping to making better
decisions. It makes GIS more accessible, more affordable, and more pervasive. It
amplifies the value of GIS, and the role of GIS professionals.

Web GIS is much more than a new trend, it’s the new paradigm for implementing a
modern GIS. It’s fundamentally changing how we think about GIS, and the role of GIS
professionals.

The shift from client/server architectures to Web services enables us to connect to a world
of information, from our enterprise to the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, and more. It
pushes GIS forward into real-time mode instead of static data. Web GIS enables us to be
more agile, moving from custom application development to configurable templates and
web app builders. And most importantly, Web GIS moves us from proprietary data into
open data and shared services that can empower everyone.

If you’ve not done so already, it’s time to rethink your GIS, and consider the new
opportunities and workflows that Web GIS provides.

10
devtimilsina@pncampus.edu.np
CSC468 Geographical Information System | Prithivi Narayan Campus | Dev Timilsina

Open-source GIS data

An open-source data has code that is open and free for download, modification and re-
use. This is the opposite of a proprietary or closed source database in which the code is
protected to prevent copying.

In simple terms, Open Data means the kind of data which is open for anyone and
everyone for access, modification, reuse, and sharing. Open Data derives its base from
various “open movements” such as open source, open hardware, open government, open
science etc.

Some of the freely available geographic datasets - all ready for loading into a Geographic
Information System are.

Physical Geography

Natural Earth - Vector: Includes coastline, land, oceans, islands, rivers, lakes, glaciated
areas and bathymetry. Available at multiple levels of detail. A version of this data is also
available in the Wagner VII projection, which has good equal area properties, here.

Natural Earth - Raster: Includes various raster images, intended for use as backgrounds
for other data, for example hypsometric tints, satellite derived land cover, shaded relief
etc.

Global Map: A set of consistent GIS layers covering the whole globe at 1km resolution
including: transportation, elevation, drainage, vegetation, administrative boundaries, land
cover, land use and population centers. Produced by the International Steering
Committee on Global Mapping.

DIVA-GIS Country Data: A collection of data collected from a number of the sources
below - includes administrative areas, inland water, roads and railways, elevation, land
cover, population and climate. Probably the easiest place to get a simple set of data for
a specific country.

UNEP GEOdata: A wide range of data from the United Nations Environment
Programmed including Global Forest Cover, Global Potential Evapotranspiration, Global

11
devtimilsina@pncampus.edu.np
CSC468 Geographical Information System | Prithivi Narayan Campus | Dev Timilsina

Average Monthly Temperatures, Dams, Watershed Boundaries and much more. To get
data, choose Advanced Search and select Geospatial Data Sets from the top drop-down
link

Koordinates: GIS data aggregation site including data in a number of categories such
as elevation, environment, climate etc. Some global datasets, some based on continents,
some for specific countries. Mostly vector, but some raster. Registration required

MapCruzin: GIS aggregation site including wide range of data for various areas of the
world. Some datasets appears to be of low quality, but others are good.

GeoNetwork: GIS aggregation site including a wide range of data under various
categories (both human and physical).

European Environment Agency: Maps and datasets from the European Environment
Agency, covering a huge range of physical geography and environmental topics. Europe
only.

Land and Ocean Boundaries

GSHHS: A Global Self-consistent, Hierarchical, High-resolution Shoreline Database -

which basically means it's good quality (no internal inconsistencies, good accuracy).

Elevation

GDEM: 30m resolution global elevation data derived from ASTER satellite images

SRTM (nice download interface): Approx 90m (3 arc-second) resolution elevation data
from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission for most of the world. Same data as next
item, but with a nice download interface.

SRTM: Approx 90m (3 arc-second) resolution elevation data from the Shuttle Radar
Topography Mission for the whole world.

EarthEnv-DEM90: 90m-resolution near-global DEM created by merging the GDEM and

SRTM products and post-processing to fill voids and smooth data.

ETOPO1: 1 arc-minute resolution relief model including ocean bathymetry.

12
devtimilsina@pncampus.edu.np
CSC468 Geographical Information System | Prithivi Narayan Campus | Dev Timilsina

Global Multi-Resolution Topography: Gridded elevation at approximately 100m

resolution, covering terrestrial and sea-floor topography.

MERIT DEM: Multi-Error-Removed Improved-Terrain DEM, created by removing multiple

different types of errors from existing DEMs including SRTM. Available by emailing the
developer for a password.

ALOS Global Digital Surface Model: 30m-resolution Digital Surface model from the
ALOS satellite

NASADEM: 1-arc-second resolution DEM based on SRTM data

EU-DEM: 25m-resolution DEM covering the whole of Europe, available for download in
tiles

OpenTopography: A community-based site giving free access to high-resolution

topography data. Data at the moment appears to be clustered on the West Coast of the
USA and in Greenland, and is available both as dense point clouds and processed DEMs.

ArcticDEM: Detailed elevation models of all land areas greater than 60 degrees north,
generated using photogrammetry from high-res satellite images.

Weather and Climate

WorldClim: Climate data for past, present and predicted future conditions. Includes
temperature (min, max, mean) and precipitation. 1km x 1km resolution.

NCAR GIS Climate Change Scenarios: Lots of data from the National Centre for
Atmospheric Research models, including data used by the IPCC in their reports.
Registration required

CRU Climate Datasets: Various datasets including temperature, precipitation, pressure,

drought, paleoclimate and others, from the (infamous) Climate Research Unit at the
University of East Anglia. High and low resolution datasets available.

Downscaled GCM Portal: A wide range of downscaled (that is, higher resolution data)
created from the outputs of a wide range of GCMs. Covers the majority of important
climate variables.

13
devtimilsina@pncampus.edu.np
CSC468 Geographical Information System | Prithivi Narayan Campus | Dev Timilsina

European Climate Assessment and Dataset: Gridded observation data across Europe,
including cloudiness, temperature, precipitation, humidity, pressure, snow and sunshine.

Global Potential Evapotranspiration and Aridity Index: Potential Evapotranspiration

data and indices of aridity at 30 arc-second resolutions in raster format.

GlobAerosol: Aerosol data in raster format (provided as NetCDF files), including

estimations of AOD at 550nm and the Angstrom coefficient.

Global Aerosol Climatology Project: Monthly averages of Aerosol Optical Thickness

and the Angstrom exponent from 1981 to 2006.

Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring: Provides near real-time and

retroactively-generated datasets of cloud cover, type and temperature, surface radiation
budget and temperatures, amongst others.

Climate Analysis Indicators Tool: Carbon Dioxide emissions data by country, and by
US state, including measures of adaption.

International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project: Monthly averages of a number of

cloud variables including cloud cover (and associated breakdown by frequency), cloud
top temperature, cloud water path, cloud optical thickness etc.

Climatological Database for the world's oceans (CLIWOC): Data compiled from ships
logs compiled during voyages between 1750 and 1850. Includes various meteorological
observations, broken down by date, ship and year.

IRI/LDEO Climate Data Library: A wide range of over 300 datasets from various climate
models and datasets.

World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Center: Extensive set of data collected
from many stations across the world, recording ozone information (from ozonesonde
ascents) and ground-level ultraviolet irradiance.

Gridded climatic data for North America, South America and Europe: A huge range
of climatic data at 1km and 4km resolution, derived from various models, including

14
devtimilsina@pncampus.edu.np
CSC468 Geographical Information System | Prithivi Narayan Campus | Dev Timilsina

temperature, precipitation, snow and derived variables such as water deficit and
continentality.

For more details visit those links

Link 1 , Link 2

15
devtimilsina@pncampus.edu.np