Mad Skills?
A few items of interest related to open source GIS in local government crossed my proverbial desk recently.
From Government Technology, March 15, 2011:
http://www.govtech.com/e-government/Open-Source-Software-Oregon-Transportation.html
Open source software is providing functions for the district that McHugh previously doubted it could handle — most notably, GIS
Farther down the page in the Government Technology article:
Beginning in 2007, the department took a larger bite, switching out several major Esri GIS products with open source alternatives. McHugh replaced Esri ArcSDE, ArcIMS and MapObjects with open source products GeoServer, OpenLayers and PostGIS. At the time of the switch, the agency was considering whether or not to add Esri’s ArcServer.
“ArcServer was going to be a big investment for us, and it didn’t really align with our standards. The existing platform, ArcIMS, wasn’t really meeting our needs,” Bibiana McHugh said. “After laying everything out, GeoServer immediately popped to the top. It was clear this was an option that could meet all of our needs, save a lot of money — and it aligned with all of our Internet software standards.”
From Regina Obe:
One thing that really stroke me was how deeply PostGIS had penetrated into government. I guess I don't get out enough. In one of the talks we were in -- the basic message was We chose PostGIS, not because it was cheaper, but because it was better. and this statement was made after having failed getting ArcSDE to perform to the level required by end-users. That seems to be a new milestone that open source has achieved that it's no longer just competing on price, but it can outperform on performance and functionality as well. I think for us we originally chose PostGIS because it was all we could afford, but even when we could afford the others, we settled on PostGIS, because it was just better even when comparing on features, performance, ease of maintainability, cross platform. Price is just icing on the cake.
A job listing for a GIS Programmer with the City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa:
http://www.gjc.org/gjc-cgi/showjob.pl?id=1300293489
Interest in Open Source products and Open Standards, specifically those relating to geospatial Mapserver, OpenLayers, GML, WCS, WFS, WMS.
Particularly noteworthy to me is that there is a clear undercurrent in the TriMet article and Regina Obe's blog post that open source tools are sometimes just simply better fits for an agency's mission and tasks. Although the usual financial arguments are mentioned, they are somewhat secondary in both of these pieces. While open source tools are certainly no panacea and have their own shortcomings, arguments that they are at times better options are very much in line with what I find in my work. It's all about selecting the right tool for the mission or job.
Granted, three items that refer to use of open source GIS in local government are certainly not a definitive sign of a wholesale movement, but they're still very interesting. Since so many agencies are heavily invested in Esri and other proprietary stacks, I don't think we're at the point where those of us in local government need to acquire absolutely mad skills in many facets of GIS to stay relevant. But, it is becoming clearer that at the very least, exposure to and willingness to experiment with tools outside of a traditional proprietary stack are good notches to have on your belt. Never-ending budgetary pressures pushing against agencies from all sides will probably only serve to bolster this.
That proprietary stack your agency invested in may not be going away tomorrow, six months from now, two years from now, or even ever, but having increasingly viable alternatives available is a very reassuring thing in tough times.
