June 12, 2006
It is nearly common knowledge that GIS finds its origins in
government agencies in that great northern territory we know as Canada.
I say "nearly” because there are still those who believe that GIS was
created by proprietary software vendors ... which I’ll bet makes the
marketing guys at these companies more than happy with themselves.
GIS is believed to have originated in Canada. The renowned "Father of
GIS,” Roger Tomlinson, calls Ottawa, Ontario his home and has been a
resident since the 1960s. His early work with computer mapping is
identified as the world’s first steps towards the GIS industry we all
know and love.
This article, however, goes beyond Canada’s role as the birthplace of
GIS. I want to summarize Canada’s role in open source GIS. I do not
wish to downplay the contributions of other countries around the world,
but only to shine a light on a number of contributors throughout Canada
who seem, collectively, to be setting the table.
I have learned through my conversations that Americans are not the only
people who like to talk about their country. Just ask a Canadian about
Canada, pull up a chair, grab a plate of poutine with gravy,
and settle in. Of course, this is all fine because the stories are
interesting.
There is, of course, the world of MapServer. While it is true
that MapServer came to us from Steve Lime out of the University of
Minnesota in 1994 (Minnesota is far enough north to require travel
south to access parts of Canada), it is also true that several
Canadians have been instrumental in MapServer’s development. First,
there is Frank Warmerdam out of Eganville, Ontario and his Shapelib
library. Lime picked up the library and supported the first versions of
MapServer. Warmerdam went on to add OGR and GDAL, which bring
tremendous vector and raster data support to MapServer and other open
source software. Along with others, Warmerdam has also been a lead
developer of OpenEV, a
powerful 2D and 3D image classification, editing, conversion, analysis,
reprojection and management tool released under the GNU LGPL open
source license.
If Lime is considered the "Father of MapServer,” then no discussion of
the origins of MapServer are complete without giving credit to the
"Mother of MapServer”: Daniel Morissette. Formerly of DM Solutions,
Morissette currently heads Mapgears, located in Chicoutimi, Quebec.
Morissette and Lime starting working together on MapServer technology
in 2000. They collaborated over the Internet; they would not meet in
person until 2004. Morissette and the rest of DM Solutions helped: port
MapServer to run on the Windows platform; enable Php Mapscript as a
scripting tool; provide support for OGC’s Web Map Service (WMS) and Web
Feature Service (WFS) specifications; add a lot of much needed
documentation.
DM Solutions, out of Ottawa, Ontario, continues to this day to make
contributions to MapServer and open source mapping tools by providing
us with Chameleon (an open source software platform that "widgetizes"
mapping components for ease of site development), kaMap (an open source
AJAX mapping platform similar in functionality to Google Maps), and
MapLab (an open source Internet software platform for the construction
of mapping websites). All these tools and more are supported on www.maptools.org. DM Solutions’s
role in the GIS open source industry has certainly been one of
leadership, providing that element of support that is often lacking in
open source environments.
In 2001, Refractions Research
entered the open source picture with the release of PostGIS, a spatial
database add-on to the open source object-relational database
PostgreSQL. This package rivals the functionality and performance of
ESRI’s SDE software, providing a significant advancement in spatial
data handling for MapServer and other open source software titles.
Refractions Research, out of Victoria, British Columbia, currently
offers a desktop GIS software product called uDig. Based on GeoTools
(which is based on the JTS Topology Suite, or JTS), uDig brings
Java-based GIS desktop tools to the open source industry.
JTS was created by another Canadian company called Vivid Solutions. Just four
blocks down the street from Refractions Research in Victoria, Vivid
Solutions created JTS en route to production of a Java-based desktop
GIS software called JUMP. JUMP, largely the brainchild of Martin Davis
of Vivid, has been very successful in the open source industry,
providing many of the common functions expected of a desktop GIS and
enabling Java programmers to build plug-ins.
Finally, I need to discuss the Canadian contributors from Autodesk. While Autodesk is an
American company, its MapGuide roots come from a Calgary-based company
(Argus) that Autodesk purchased in 1995. The lead architect for that
software, and today’s MapGuide software, is Bob Bray. Bray still
resides in Calgary. Of course, MapGuide made significant news when
Autodesk released MapGuide Open Source to the Open Source Geospatial
Foundation last year (www.osgeo.org).
This event is one of the most popular points of discussion in the GIS
open source industry and promises to remain so as open source
developers watch how Autodesk operates in this new role. Additionally,
Autodesk’s Ottawa office is the primary source of support for its
Feature Data Object (FDO) software, a now open source package that
supports retrieval and update of spatial and nonspatial GIS feature
data.
So, there we have it. The Canadians have certainly earned their seat at
the table with their contributions to open source GIS. You have to ask
yourself. ... Why? Why Canada? Why not the USA? Why not other countries?
Well, certainly other countries have contributed. European countries
and the United States have indeed contributed with products like
GeoTools, GeoServer, MapBender, MapBuilder, OSSIM and others. But
Canada seems far ahead of all the others. My research indicates a
possible reason for this is government funding.
Early forestry GIS work by Tomlinson and others was largely funded by
the Canadian federal government. Warmerdam’s work with Shapelib, OGR,
and GDAL was largely funded by GeoConnections
(a national partnership program to evolve and expand the Canadian
Geospatial Data Infrastructure), Canadian Forestry, Environment Canada
and the Atlas of Canada. DM Solutions’ work with MapServer and other
open source titles has been primarily funded by Parks Canada, Natural
Resources Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard, the Public Health Agency
Canada, and Geological Survey Canada. Vivid Solutions’ work with JTS
was largely funded by the Provincial Government of British Columbia.
Refractions Research’s work with uDig and other open source titles was
mostly funded by the Canadian federal government.
With this level of support over so many years, it is easier to see why
Canada has taken such a leadership role in the GIS open source world. I
have to ask why such support is lacking in the United States. Actually,
once you learn about the large government contracts with proprietary
GIS software vendors that exist in the US, it makes sense. This type of
software contracting is common in the US. As a matter of fact, it was
big news when the State of Massachusetts decided to move to "open
standards," ending the long term contracting opportunity that Microsoft
once had with the state.
There have been government investments in GIS software in the US,
including the USGS and Army Corp of Engineers’ investments in GRASS,
PROJ.4 and GCTP, as well as NASA’s support of MapServer and Worldwind.
But that funding seems to have given way to proprietary software
contracts over the past several years.
Certainly, there are good reasons for a government to pursue contracts
with proprietary software vendors, with support contracts possibly
being the single largest factor. But this may change with the GIS
industry clearly becoming focused on Internet software, where support
(including onsite support) may become less of a factor. And certainly
the argument can be made that such factors are more short-term in
nature than long term ... is it fair to ask a government to think long
term?
Apparently, it is in Canada.
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| Note that GeoServer (http://geoserver.org) has also benefited significantly from Canada's open source program. GeoConnections contributed funding to Refractions to add a web-based config tool and a validation engine to GeoServer, which also allowed them to improve GeoTools to get it in shape so they could base uDig upon it. And indeed GeoTools itself would have had a lot more work to do were it not for JTS, which is the core geometry library in GeoTools. MapBuilder also got its first major bump when Mike Adair from NRC started contributing. In the US there is some money towards open source, but they don't seem to understand how to fund open source the way that Canada has. In the Java world they slowly moved up the stack, from JTS, the root Geometry objects, to supporting GeoServer which is built on GeoTools and JTS, and then in turn to uDig, which is built on the same libraries plus eclipse. In the US the funding is haphazard and not followed up upon to make sure that open source communities are ready for the next step. But yes, three cheers for Canada, the Open Source GIS movement would be a shell of what it is today if not for the smart funding by several levels of government in Canada. Thanks Kevin for writing this article, it's great you're spreading the word. |
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| Thanks for the article Kevin; it’s nice to see Canada get some recognition for its contributions to GIS. We may like to talk about it once someone asks, but we are generally quiet up till then. Forestry has been the biggest pusher of GIS innovation within the government (federal and provincial). One of the latest is the Ontario Governments Natural Resource Values Information System (NRVIS). You may want to write an article on that. |
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| Unfortunately in Canada, funding for Open Source projects (primarily through GeoConnections) springs from the deep seeded socialistic, 'stick it to the man' philosophy of so many within the Canadian federal government. The first round of GeoConnections funding yielded multiple boondoggle projects with no 'legs' after the funding was exhausted. It distracted many organizations from their real work of using geospatial technology to solve real world problems. I had the pleasure of being at a meeting where the head of the GeoConnections program was asked for a list of 'successful products' developed during phase one of geoconnections. Not one could be identified. Without the ability to suckle for government handouts, most of the companies identified in the article would not exist as they fill no real market need. Let's see where they are when the 'funding' finally dries up. My guess is that most of them will as well. |
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| Interesting how Mike Sinclair characterizes governments funding publicly licensed work as being "socialistic". One of the problems in Canada is crown copyright where the Canadian government owns and often charges royalties for information generated with taxpeyer money. The apparently more socialistic government just south of us recognized long ago that it would be better if the government didn't try to "own" information in a copyright sense, with all US government information automatically entering the public domain. I consider governments paying money to pay for proprietary knowledge to be an unfair government subsidization/handout. Knowledge development that is publicly funded should be publicly licensed (or entered into the public domain), such that the entire economy can build upon that knowledge rather than only benefiting those few subsidized by lucrative sole-source proprietary contracts. I note that the medical community worldwide is recognizing this problem and demanding Open Access journals, and I suspect that legacy government handouts will eventually give way entirely to public licensing for all government funded knowledge. |
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| GeoConnections, as well as other departments, Environment Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food, Canada were quite visionary in their use and evangelism of standards. I was impressed by their willingness to implement things early on, show the usefulness of the standards, identify holes where they needed more, and then funded the development of standards to fill that hole. CubeWerx, Galdos, Compusult, ... the Canadian companies were big drivers of OGC specs, largely with GeoConnections funding, I believe. CCRS also played a big role within the Earth Observation community, helping to foster the use of standards for catalogs and web mapping at CEOS WGISS meetings. Overall, from an "outsider's" point of view, I give Canada high marks. |
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| I want to thank Mr. Flanders for his article, and respond to the comments made by Mr. Sinclair. I believe if Mr. Sinclair would do a little homework he would find that a thriving developer and user community has developed around JUMP, one of the open source GIS programs that was funded by the Canadian government. In fact, the support and interest in the program was so great that I joined another developer, Steve Tanner, to found the JUMP Pilot Project. The JPP coordinates development between the many organizations that are now using JUMP or one of its sucessors. We have users and developers in many parts of the globe. I am personally working on improvements to one open source successor of JUMP maintained by the JPP, called OpenJUMP. These projects are embodied in the OpenJUMP-Ex project and will be using technology first pioneered in JUMP to explore open source implementations of 3D Geometries and client-server architecture. I welcome Mr. Sinclair and others to consider what is being accomplished by a small group of volunteer developers. Freedom from the financial concerns of companies that develop GIS software allow us to explore ideas and concepts that might not otherwise be considered. I wish there was more support for these types of open source GIS projects in the US, and I commend Canadians for there support in this area so far. I hope it will continue. The Sunburned Surveyor |
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| Geoconnections, like the majority of governmentally run programs does have its both good and bad points. One of the offshoots from government programs and from open source technologies is the benefit it provides to smaller groups and organizations. For many smaller organizations such as Conservation Authorities or environmental groups, the purchase of GIS software is a very BIG line item. Programs such as Geoconnections or Ontario's Geosmart initiative does put some monies in the hands of those who will use it, more importantly; through open source initiatives like MapServer, the technology becomes more economically accessible. Something to think about – - the more people using GIS, all the better for the industry! Michael Micallef www.meridianwave.com |
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| I would like to thank Mr. Fletcher for his article. I would also like to respont to the comments by Mr. Sinclair. I would like to let Mr. Sinclair and the other readers know that the open source GIS projects Mr. Fletcher mentioned in his article were a significant contribution to the GIS community. This is in contrast to what Mr. Fletcher stated. As an example, a very active user and developer community has grown up around JUMP, one of the programs mentioned in the article. The interest in this program was so great that I founded the JUMP Pilot Project with Steve Tanner, another user of JUMP. The JPP coordinates and encourages the cooperative development of OpenJUMP, a successor of the original JUMP. OpenJUMP is supported by volunteer developers from around the globe. I am personally involved in the development of OpenJUMP-Ex, which serves as a testbed for development of experimental features we would like to incorporate into JUMP in the future. Our freedom from the financial concerns of commericial GIS software companies allows us to explore areas of geospatial software development that might not otherwise happen. This type of work currently includes open source implementations of 3D Geometries and client-server architecture. None of this work would have been possible without the support the Canadian government gave to the projects Mr. Fletcher mentioned in his article. I wish the United States was more supportive of these type of efforts, and I hope the support for open source GIS in Canada continues. These open source projects provide a viable alternative and development platform to to the traditiona heavyweights of commercial GIS. The Sunburned Surveyor Links The JUMP Pilot Project: http://jump-pilot.sourceforge.net/ OpenJUMP-Ex: http://surveyos.sourceforge.net/subProjectOpenJUMPEX.html |
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| Wow -- the truth couldn't *possibly* fall somewhere between Mr. Flander's article and Mr. Sinclair's response. Let's pick sides and argue instead (grin). I'm not a fact-checker, so I can only assume that everything presented by both parties is the truth. Kevin is not overstating the impact that the Canadian F/OSS GIS software has had on our industry. Similarly, I wasn't at the meetings that Mike mentions, but I don't doubt for a minute that the success-to-failure ratio of the GeoConnections projects are anything other than how he presents it. Conclusion: out of the ashes of the "boondoggles" sprang several indispensable mainstays of the F/OSS GIS world. I'd still consider it money well spent. Thanks to both of you for presenting both sides of the story. |
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| It is true that Canada has been putting a lot of efforts and funding in open source GIS. We can say it has produced lots good results, but not the ones expected: provide "Canadians with on-demand access to geographic information and related services and applications in support of sound decision making" (CGDI). From an end-user point of view, I spend more time trying to figure out what to do with open source GIS applications then actually using them. And I spend my whole day on GIS applications for decision making. I'm not surprised anymore that most people I meet that are new to GIS don't understand why we put so much effort on open source GIS. "Why not simply use Google Earth, it works !!!" I am really looking forward at open source GIS. But let's face it, Open source GIS in Canada is mostly developed with the money of canadians while producing limited results. This industry is driven by government fundings rather then on it's competitiveness and anybody understanding the market economy would know that this is not a good investment. Now don't get me wrong, I support the fact that Government of Canada funds open source GIS, but I don't think it should be done through it's regular operations by mostly funding the private sector. Canada should try to produce readily available and up to date data before funding any boondoggle projects, and I am talking from an end-user point of view of these projects. I really can't see how the Government of Canada can "distract so many organizations from their real work of using geospatial technology to solve real world problems" with such long term objectives as open source GIS. It's about time that government of Canada figures out that it is one thing to put a map on the Web and another to make it useful for decision making. It is one thing to innovate but it is another to make decisions. Sad but true, as a GIS specialist, open source GIS doesn't impress me anymore. The only thing left is hope... |
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| I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to another GIS pioneer who called Canada home - Dr. Ray Boyle. Ray is considered by many to be the father of modern digital cartography. In 1964, he invented the free "pencil" (cursor) digitizer. While a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, he put together a research lab for computer graphics and automated cartography that by the early '70s was providing truly innovative and creative approaches to interactive cartography, interactive digitizing, scanning and line following. All this on lowly PDP 8e mini-computers and programmed in assembly. I had the good fortune to work with Ray during the summer of 1974. His and his teams' enthusiasm for cartography and GIS had a major impact on the formative years of our industry. Kudo's to another Canadian geo pioneer! |
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| In fact, the batting average for GeoConnections is quite good, and includes some spectacular successes. British Columbia has been a partner with federal agencies and other provincial governments on a number of these developments. Our rationale for pursuing them as open source is threefold: - - By creating core geospatial capabilities as open source, we can tailor highly effective solutions to meet specific requirements. As well, we can more easily have different companies work on different parts of a problem. - - By promoting open source, we are also promoting open standards, as these standards help define the technical parameters that the new software must meet. - - In a number of cases the development of open source applications has lowered the overall cost, either because the software can be freely distributed or because the resulting applications are more efficient for the business needs being targeted. I should point out that while we make extensive use of open source software, we also have major applications implemented in commercial systems from a broad spectrum of vendors. So the central issue is not whether open source is better or worse than commercial offerings, but rather what is the best way to meet particular objectives. The developments partially funded by GeoConnections give us a much richer set of options. These views are strictly my own. They do not constitute an official position from the Province of British Columbia. |
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| Just to be precise about what GeoConnections has directly funded with us, all via the GeoInnovations sub-program (50% cost sharing of R&D): -- GeoServer validation module and web user interface. -- uDig initial development to 1.0 All the rest of our open source development (PostGIS, Mapserver, GeoTools, continuing uDig) we fund ourselves or are contracted to do by clients. Far from being a boondoggle, our open source work generates new business we would otherwise never see (http://geotips.blogspot.com/2005/10/open-source-company-oxymoron.html), which was the point of the GeoInnovations program, to give Canadian companies a leg up in the geospatial marketplace. And unlike the proprietary work GeoInnovations funded, our work will be available to Canadians and others forever, regardless if we "shrivel up", give up, go on vacation, or are bought by Microsoft. That's my kind of boondoggle! |
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| Not to repeat what Paul has said above, but I do want to point out that there have been a number of successes, directly and indirectly as a consequence of the GeoConnections program. Open source implementations of standards have significantly lowered the barrier to entry to participation in Canada in the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure - resulting in sustainable non-government applications that are actively used such as the Watersheds InfoeXchange or Trails Canada. In particular -- the addition of OGC standards support to mapServer with support from GeoConnections has contributed to incredible growth in adoption of MapServer by tens of thousands of users around the world. As a consequence, the majority of DM Solutions Group's revenues today come from outside of Canada, and mostly from commercial sources. Yes GeoConnections has helped get companies like DM Solutions Group up and running -- but it sure hasn't created dependency. |
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| Seems my opinion on Geoconnections has struck a chord with some of you. I suppose it takes a while to get over the shock that somebody actually revealed that the 'Emperor has No Clothes'. What the Wild Eyed Socialists forget is that aside from government, we still live in an open market society where the private sector will provide products where there is demand. The existence of a government program to fund unneeded development just doesn't make your pet projects any more viable. Sorry for the reality jolt boys. Government programs to build 'free' software is not the way to go....btw, anybody who thinks Open Source is 'free', should look at the TOC (total cost of ownership) before they start crowing about cost savings. What we have in Canada is an unhealthy symbiotic relationship between (unfortunately) well placed government officials and like minded private companies who are all too eager to suck up taxpayers dollars to deliver products that 1) Serve no real business need or 2) Have already been built by the private sector and therefore the redundant development process represents a bad 'investment' by gov't. The only saving grace with Geoconnections, if there is one, is they've obviously succumbed to pressure to aim this latest round of funding at some semi-practical applications... |
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| Nice article, and even more refreshing: much higher than average follow-up discussion. :) I have a couple of thoughts to throw into the mix in order to broaden our understanding. First of all, it is important to note that Canadian governments, both federal and regional, have heavily funded commercial software development as well as open source ones. I've not seen any numbers or studies on this, but from what I've seen in my decade and a half in this business I would say that overall closed source companies have benefited much more than open source ones. For a fairly recent example see the Internet Map Framework by Moxie Media (http://www.moximedia.com/) which was developed explicitly for the BC Provincial government and is now generally available and a standalone company. Going back in time, other companies like PCI Remote Sensing (http://www.pcigeomatics.com/) and CARIS (http://www.caris.com/) have benefited greatly from government projects for decades, albeit more from contracts than "funding" a la GeoConnections. Secondly when it comes to government funding healthy open source GIS communities, please don't forget about Germany and Italy who have been fielding the GRASS torch for several years. |
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| In response to Mike Sinclair, could you please tone down the anti-government rhetoric? Calling people names and flinging mud is not a particularly constructive way to discuss things, and your attitude is frankly insulting. |
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| It would seem that Mr. Sinclair reveals his deep seeded anger over systems he does not support by throwing at it meaningless euphemisms. Canada is a pluralistic society that embraces differences and supports institutions that provide cooperative interests and international, national, provincial and municipal goals. I would hold it up as a model of great integrity. The Geoconnections program follows a great Canadian history of support for mapping, photogrammetry and GIS. From 1896, the “father of modern photogrammetry” and the Surveyor General of Canada and Edouard Deville, invented the first stereoscopic-plotting instrument. With the second largest land mass in the world, Canada took an aggressive stance toward surveying and mapping and by the beginning of WWII had substantially mapped its entire dominion, securing it as a sovereign area and giving rise to a viable commercial mapping industry that went on to map much of the world. In 1957, Uuno Vilho Helava, a researcher at the National Research Council in Canada (NRC) developed the analytical plotter. In 1967 alone, G. H. Schut of NRC, was able to apply co-planarity concepts to analytical triangulation, Gilbert Hobrough from British Columbia developed automated ortho-photographic system called the Gestalt Photo Mapper and the first true operational Geographic Information System was developed by Roger Tomlinson for the Canada Land Inventory. (Someone might enlighten or confirm this as I have yet to find any other sources. I once had an official with the Canadian Center for Remote Sensing tell me that the Canadian government provided financial assistance to Canadian and founder of ESRI, Jack Dangermond, to purchase and align the two technologies Arc/Node topology developed by Peucker and Chrisman and a database application that was created by a company called Info, developing it into what we now know as ARC/INFO.) Further searching will reveal the success of many such government (read all the Canadian people) programs such as the early work of MDA Canadian founders John Macdonald and Vern Dettwiler who reportedly were dragged home from MIT in 1969 to build Canada’s first satellite ground station. At a May 2006 gathering of commercially successful location based services representatives in Boston put on by investment bankers Canaccord Adams (keen watchers of this space oops and Canadian) it was a complete surprise and coincidence when it was determined that the majority of speakers at the event were originally from Canada now leading primary US based geo-firms. I participated in the first rounds of GeoInnovation under an application called “PublicHealthWatch”. Although the project revealed a major need for a system to monitor geographically the changes within the public health of Canadian, the technology available commercially at the time was unable to provide the necessary pieces to make the idea work – the result a failure! Subsequent to that I dedicated my full resources to solving what I called the spatial data integration problem – our inability to resolve on-the-fly the close coupled integration of spatial data of all types. Through further support from the Canadian Forces/DRDC, we, now a 20 person company, were able to make a significant break-through in spatial data encoding. Building on earlier work completed in the US on image algebra for the military and global grids for studying biodiversity, we were able to complete the first truly “Digital” Earth Reference Model; a model that combines: • The optimization of hexagonal tiling with discrete square root three subdivisions, • Efficient non floating indexing that converges to all real numbers (lossless replacement of conventional coordinates providing geometric queries simply using Boolean logic and set theory), • Advanced image processing for value quantization, and • An advanced algebra for manipulation, transformations and operations on the fixed Earth grid. This work is immensely important to all of us. It never would have occurred had it not been for the outstanding support by the Canadian Federal Government. Notwithstanding Geoconnections, Canadian’s have by far the most progressive industrial research and development support system in the world, providing over 40% in Income Tax Credits on every dollar spent on R&D. I have had dozens of meetings with Canadian Government officials and I have left every meeting feeling proud of these very professional and competent folks determined to assist us in every way they could. PYXIS is now working toward a tightened cycle of observation to evidence based decisions needed to support reduced loss of biodiversity, conservation and human development for international groups such as IUCN, GBIF and UNEP-WCMC under the principles of the Conservation Commons. It is one of my goals to ensure that this tremendous gift from all Canadians will be renewed with ample value and dividends in the years to come. THANK YOU GOECONNECTIONS!!! |
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| The earliest mapping package I worked with was the "STAMPEDE" contouring package written by IBM in Calgary. That was in 1972, eh? The program was already "old" at that time. Probably ran on a 1601, eh? I do not know who they wrote it for, but I'm almost certain it was a company in the Oil Patch like Esso("Exxon" in the US). They were aboot ("about" in the US) the only industry that could afford the 1601, eh? Petroleum was mainly mapping the subsurface to generate geologic surfaces and compute isopach maps from well or seismic shotpoint data, eh? This was later expanded to include a "cultural layer" with surface features such as buildings and roads, eh? Underground they added regression analysis to create "trend surfaces". Up to the eighth order, eh? Because of strong financing of software development, this software was vastly superior to academic and government mapping endeavors. The Alberta Government was cash rich from petro-dollars, so they funded some great data capture projects, aerial surveying, and communications (cell phones) too, eh? Petroleum still maps more than any industry other than the Federal Government of the USofA, eh? And they still buy the biggest super-computers, eh? Reservoir simulation and such. Projects run for weeks, not days, eh? Hope this helps to look back to private industry for the "roots" for GIS. It's all about the funding, eh? My first employer, "GSI", needed electronics for seismic data capture in the 1930s. (Cecil Green - School of Mines) They could not buy them, so they designed and built their own, eh? They commercialized the transistor and started building computer chips. They built the earliest "ASC" super computers from low-yield chips. Better than throwing them away, eh? Later they spun off this research facility in Richardson, TX and called it Texas Intruments, eh? Well, I'm headed oot and aboot, have a good day, eh? PS: Edison purchased the light bulb patent from a Canadian inventor named Woodward in Ottawa about 1872 for $50,000 ($45,000 US). Most Yanks think Edison "invented the light bulb". Could be the education system, eh? Canucks RULE! (eh?) Ken ;o) |
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