Open Source

This two-part article about open source software looks at software licenses, risks related to intellectual property and governance. In part one, author Ignacio Guerrero, IT consultant and former software director at Intergraph and Rolta, examines software licenses and their impact and risk to intellectual property. Part two will look at the elements of open source governance and risk management, and will be published in mid August.

Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg contributed to and reports about the sixth annual New York State GeoSpatial Summit. She came away wondering if all the political, technical, economic and social challenges facing geospatial are uniting or dividing us.

In the past few years, free open source software (FOSS) adoption has enjoyed tremendous growth in the IT industry. In the geospatial arena, growth is evidenced by the popularity of many tools and applications, and the emergence of a vibrant community of developers and users. Ignacio Guerrero, an IT consultant and former software director at Intergraph and Rolta, takes a look at the decision to evaluate and choose FOSS versus proprietary software from the standpoint of a typical GIS program manager.

Here are some of the top Directions OnPoint Webcasts so far this year.

Here are some of the top All Points Blog posts so far this year.

Here are some of the top podcasts so far this year.

Couchbase is taking the next steps to bring NoSQL databases to developers of all stripes, including geospatial ones. The last few months have been a whirlwind for the company, which formed from a merger and recently launched Couchbase Server. Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg explains what this all means for the geospatial community exploring NoSQL solutions.

Mainstream technology companies and location-based services are currently using NoSQL databases. Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg suggests the geospatial community hasn’t heard much about these databases and offers an introduction.

The “Let’s Do It!” project started out in 2008 in Estonia. The idea was to mobilize an enormous volunteer workforce to go out and clean up an entire country’s illegally dumped litter in just one day. The movement is catching on, and has spread to several other countries. GIS has played an integral role in these efforts. Directions Magazine interviewed one of the organizers, Ahti Heinla, about the effort.