introduction.html

<section>
    <h2>Introduction to Free, Libre and Open Source Software</h2>
    <h3>for Geospatial Analysis and Modeling</h3>
    <p class="title-foot">
        Helena Mitasova and Vaclav Petras<br>
        <a href="http://www.ncsu.edu/" title="North Carolina State University">NCSU</a>
        <a href="https://geospatial.ncsu.edu/geoforall/" title="NCSU OSGeo Research and Education Laboratory">OSGeoREL</a>
        at
        <a href="https://geospatial.ncsu.edu/" title="Center for Geospatial Analytics">Center for Geospatial Analytics</a>
        <br>
    </p>
    <p>August, 2015</p>
</section>


<section>
<h2>Four freedoms</h2>

<ul>
<li>There are four freedoms that <em>user</em> should have:
<ul>
    <li>the freedom to use the software for any purpose,
    <li>the freedom to change the software to suit your needs,
    <li>the freedom to share the software,
    <li>the freedom to share the changes you make.
</ul>
</ul>
</section>


<section>
<h2>Four freedoms</h2>
<ul>
<li>the <em>free software</em> definition
<li>by Richard Stallman and Free Software Foundation
</ul>
<figure>
<img src="img/gnu_logo.svg" style="width: 30%">
<figcaption>GNU logo, a free operating system by FSF</figcaption>
</figure>
</section>


<section>
<h2>Gratis versus Libre</h2>

<ul>
<li><em>for free</em> (at no cost) is not enough
<li>free software is free to run, study, modify and distribute
<li>free is a matter of liberty not price
<ul>
    <li><em>free as in freedom</em> (as opposed to <em>free as in free beer</em>)</li>
    <li><em>libre</em> as opposed to <em>gratis</em></li>
</ul>
<li>also: free software != freeware
</ul>

</section>

<section>
<h2>More than Open Source Code</h2>

<ul>
<li><em>having source code</em> is not enough
<li>Stallman's four freedoms require having the source code
<ul>
    <li>but just having the source code doesn't imply the freedoms
</ul>
<li>open source means also open development, open community, open discussions, &hellip;
<ul>
    <li>not only the possibility to see the source code
    <li>however, source code is publicly and easily accessible
</ul>
</ul>

</section>

<section>
<h2>Free, Libre and Open Source</h2>

<ul>
<li>free software (FS), open source software (OSS), free and open source software (FOSS), free, libre and open source software (FLOSS)
<li>the term <em>open source</em> is often used for simplicity
<ul>
    <li>often used by developers as it refers to a development model
</ul>
<li>the term <em>FOSS</em> is often used in geospatial community
<ul>
    <li><em>free</em> refers to user's freedom
    <li><em>open source</em> refers to open development model
    <li><em>FOSS4G</em> (free and open source software for geospatial)
</ul>

</ul>

</section>

<section>
<h2>Commercial and FOSS</h2>

<ul>
<li>FOSS can be used commercially
<li>FOSS can be commercial but not proprietary
<li>Famous examples:
<ul>
    <li>Red Hat Enterprise Linux
    <li>Android
    <li><a href="https://code.facebook.com/projects/">Facebook</a>,
        <a href="https://www.linux.com/news/featured-blogs/200-libby-clark/787161-how-amazon-web-services-uses-linux-and-open-source">Amazon</a>,
        <a href="https://netflix.github.io/">Netflix</a>
</ul>
</ul>

</section>

<section>
<h2>Commercial and FOSS</h2>

<blockquote>
<p>
Microsoft loves Linux
<!--forcing display as block because otherwise it would be at the same line -->
<p style="display: block;">
&mdash;<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/20/microsoft_cloud_event/">Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, 2014</a>
<!--Neil McAllister, The Register, October 20, 2014-->
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
<p>
Apple uses software created by the Open Source community and returns its enhancements to the community.
<p>
&mdash;<a href="https://www.apple.com/opensource/">Apple Inc., 2015</a>
</blockquote>

</section>

<section>
<h2>Why industry uses open source</h2>
<ul>
    <li>vendor neutrality
    <ul>
        <li>proprietary software has a single vendor (vendor lock-in)
        <li>open source software is independent on particular companies
        <li>open source is not influenced by vendor's current business goals
    </ul>
    <li>flexibility <span class="small">(use where you want, when you want)</span>
    <li>interoperability
    <ul>
        <li>open source aims to support standards
        <li>proprietary software often uses propriety formats
    </ul>
    <li>cost <span class="small">(no license fees, no license management)</span>
    <ul>
        <li>low total cost of ownership
            <span class="small">(includes cost to upgrade or migrate)</span>
    </ul>
    <li>support <span class="small">(many free options available by default)</span>
    <ul>
        <li>money not spent on license fees used for support or features
    </ul>
    <li>influence in development <span class="small">(direct access to developers)</span>
</ul>
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http://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/5-reasons-open-source-software-good-business-01255099
http://readwrite.com/2015/01/28/open-source-code-5-reasons-to-open-up
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2486991/app-development-4-reasons-companies-say-yes-to-open-source.html
-->

</section>


<section>
<h2>Types of FOSS licenses</h2>
<ul>
<li>copyleft licenses
<ul>
    <li>GNU GPL
    <li>free software licenses <span class="small">(according to four freedoms by FSF)</span>
    <li>code cannot be combined with proprietary (and closed) code into one program
    <li>examples: Linux, R, GRASS GIS, QGIS
</ul>
</ul>
<figure>
<img src="img/gpl_logo.svg" style="width: 30%">
</figure>
</section>


<section>
<h2>Types of FOSS licenses</h2>
<ul>
<li>permissive licenses
<ul>
    <li>BSD, MIT
    <li>source code can be modified, closed and sold as proprietary
    <li>more options for the developer
    <ul>
        <li>can combine the source code and software more freely
        <li>can make the new software proprietary
    </ul>
    <li>less freedoms for the user <span class="small">(might not get the source code, thus freedoms)</span>
    <li>example: GDAL used in QGIS as well as in ArcGIS
</ul>
<!--
<li>specialized licenses
<ul>
    <li>GNU LGPL &ndash; allows mixing proprietary and free software
    <li>GNU AGPL &ndash; more freedoms for user using software "in cloud"
</ul>
<li>licenses usually not used for source code
<ul>
    <li>CC licenses &ndash; texts, images, documentation, artwork
    <li>public domain &ndash; often not used but some licenses are similar
</ul>
-->
</ul>

</section>


<section>
<h2>Users and FOSS licenses</h2>
<ul>
<li>licenses are mostly important for the developers
<li>users don't have to worry about the license
<ul>
    <li>as long as they know that the software is under some known license
    <li>lists of known licenses:
        <ul>
            <li><a href="http://opensource.org/licenses">Open Source Initiative list of licenses</a>
            <li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html">GNU (Free Software Foundation) list of licenses</a>
            <li><a href="http://choosealicense.com">ChooseALicense.com</a></li>
        </ul>
</ul>
<li>this is different from proprietary software
<ul>
    <li>user must read and agree to EULA or similar type of agreement
    <li>license is used in the meaning <em>license to use</em>
        <ul>
            <li>often paid or limited (or both) for proprietary software
        </ul>
    <li>applies to paid software, freeware, online services, &hellip;
</ul>

<p>

</ul>
</section>

<section>
<h2>FOSS development</h2>
<ul>
    <li>open community of developers and users
    <ul>
        <li>may include individuals and companies
    </ul>
    <li>flexible, interoperable and portable
    <li>extensive supporting software tools for code management, bug tracking, documentation, collaboration
    <li>browse the source code on-line
    <li>anybody can modify but only selected changes go to the original project
</ul>

</section>


<section>
<h2>Code sprints</h2>
<ul>
    <li>developers and users working together at one place
    <ul>
        <li>open participation
        <li>self organized through wiki
        <li>software development, documentation, data
        <li>often associated with conferences
    </ul>
    <li>code sprint, community sprint, developer meeting, hackfest, hack day, hackathon, codefest, meetup
</ul>
<p>

<p class="small">
Examples:
<a href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Bolsena_Code_Sprint_2010">OSGeo Bolsena 2010</a>,
<a href="http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/GRASS_Community_Sprint_Prague_2011">GRASS GIS Prague 2011</a>,
<a href="http://vienna2014.sprint.osgeo.org/">OSGeo Vienna 2014</a>,
<a href="https://hub.qgis.org/wiki/17/13_QGIS_Developer_Meeting_in_Copenhagen_2015">QGIS Copenhagen 2015</a>,
<a href="http://grasswiki.osgeo.org/wiki/GRASS_Community_Sprint_Como_2015">GRASS GIS Como 2015</a>

<figure>
<img src="img/code_sprint_1.jpg" style="height: 5em">
<img src="img/code_sprint_2.jpg" style="height: 5em">
</figure>

</section>


<section>
<h2>Google Summer of Code</h2>
<figure>
<img src="img/gsoc_2015.png" style="height: 3em">
</figure>

<p>
Google has provided funding (~$5500 per student) for open source projects.

<p>
8500 students (from 101 countries), 8300 mentors
<br>
since 2005 till 2015

<p>
<a href="https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/">Google official page</a>
<br>
<a href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code">OSGeo GSoC page</a>
<br>
<a href="https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/wiki/GSoC">GRASS GIS GSoC page</a>

<p class="small">
Examples:
<a href="http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/WxNviz_GSoC_2011">wxNVIZ</a>,
v.generalize,
WMS for GRASS
</section>


<section>
<h2>Standardization</h2>
<p>
Standardization and open source are different but often related.

<p>
OSGeo different from OGC - Open Geospatial Consortium
sets standards for interoperability (similar to OpenGL)
both proprietary and open source software follows these
standards where it is good for them
<p>
OSGeo and OGC coordinate their activities.
</section>


<section>
<h2>OSGeo</h2>
<p>
Open Source Geospatial Foundation

<p>
By 2005 there was more than 200 FOSS4G projects: need for selection and organization

<p>
Founding projects (February 2006):<br>
GDAL/OGR, GeoTools, GRASS, Mapbender, MapBuilder, MapGuide Open Source (Autodesk), MapServer, OSSIM

<p>
Mission: To support the development of open source
geospatial software and promote its widespread use.

<figure>
<img src="img/osgeo_logo.png" style="width: 30%">
</figure>
</section>


<section>
<h2>OSGeo projects</h2>
<dl>
<dt>Web Mapping</dt>
<dd>
<a href="http://www.deegree.org/">deegree</a>,
<a href="http://www.geomajas.org/">geomajas</a>,
<a href="http://geoserver.org/">GeoServer</a>,
<a href="http://www.mapserver.org/">MapServer</a>,
<a href="http://openlayers.org/">OpenLayers</a>,
<a href="http://pywps.wald.intevation.org/">PyWPS</a>,
<a href="http://zoo-project.org/">ZOO-Project</a>
</dd>
<dt>Desktop Applications</dt>
<dd>
<a href="http://grass.osgeo.org/">GRASS GIS</a>,
<a href="https://marble.kde.org/">Marble</a>,
<a href="http://qgis.osgeo.org">QGIS</a>,
<a href="http://gvsig.com">gvSIG</a>,
<a href="http://opticks.org">Optics</a>
</dd>
<dt>Geospatial Libraries and Databases</dt>
<dd>
<a href="http://fdo.osgeo.org">FDO</a>,
<a href="http://gdal.org/">GDAL</a>,
<a href="http://geos.osgeo.org">GEOS</a>,
<a href="http://geotools.org/">GeoTools</a>,
<a href="https://trac.osgeo.org/ossim/">OSSIM</a>,
<a href="http://postgis.net/">PostGIS</a>,
<a href="https://www.orfeo-toolbox.org/">Orfeo Toolbox</a>,
<a href="http://rasdaman.org/">rasdaman</a>
</dd>
<dt>Metadata Catalogs</dt>
<dd>
<a href="http://geonetwork-opensource.org/">GeoNetwork</a>,
<a href="http://pycsw.org/">pycsw</a>
</dd>
</dl>

<p class="small">
Some projects are in incubation (code and license cleanup, small community).
<!-- some projects omitted -->
<figure>
<img src="img/osgeo_project_logo.png" style="width: 15%">
</figure>

</section>


<section>
<h2>FOSS4G Landscape</h2>
<dl>
<dt><a href="http://osgeo.org/">OSGeo</a></dt>
<dd>
global organization, local chapters
and related projects like <a href="http://www.geoforall.org/">GeoForAll</a>
</dd>
<dt><a href="http://openstreetmap.org/">OpenStreetMap</a></dt>
<dd>
data, applications, services
</dd>
</dl>

<figure>
<img src="img/osgeo_logo.png" style="width: 50%">
<img src="img/osm_logo.svg" style="width: 30%">
</figure>
</section>


<section>
<h2>FOSS4G Landscape</h2>
<dl>
<dt><a href="https://locationtech.org/">LocationTech</a></dt>
<dd>
working group at Eclipse Foundation
</dd>
<dt><a href="http://foss4g.org/">FOSS4G conferences</a></dt>
<dd>
global and local conferences
</dd>
<dt>Individual projects and communities</dt>
<dd>
projects and communities exist on their own
</dd>
</dl>
<figure>
<img src="img/nottingham_2013.png" style="width: 30%">
<img src="img/portland_2014.png" style="width: 30%">
<img src="img/seoul_2015.png" style="width: 30%">
</figure>
</section>


<section>
<h2>Example Desktop System</h2>
<dl>
<dt>GIS</dt>
<dd>
QGIS, GRASS GIS
</dd>
<dt>statistics</dt>
<dd>
R (geostatistics, predictive modeling, &hellip;)
</dd>
<dt>database, attribute data</dt>
<dd>
SQLite, PostgreSQL with PostGIS, LibreOffice
</dd>
<dt>graphics</dt>
<dd>
Inkscape, Gimp, ImageMagic
</dd>
</dl>
<ul class="small">
    <li>Portability: works on Linux, Mac, Windows
    <li>Interoperability: programs designed to work with others
</ul>

<!--
View Interact Teach, Spatial Analysis Modeling, Visualize,
Database engine: Tables, attributes, External data
-->
</section>

<section>
<h2>Example WebGIS System</h2>

<dl>
<dt>backend</dt>
<dd>
GRASS GIS, R, SAGA GIS
</dd>
<dt>front end</dt>
<dd>
OpenLayers, Django
</dd>
<dt>database</dt>
<dd>
PostgreSQL with PostGIS
</dd>
<dt>server</dt>
<dd>
ZOO-Project or PyWPS <span class="small">(OGC WPS, native support for GRASS GIS)</span>
</dd>
</dl>

<ul class="small">
    <li>Flexibility: standards and open formats allows to switch different components
    <li>Scalability: can be copied to more machines at no cost
</ul>

</section>

<section>
<h2>GRASS GIS history</h2>
<ul>
<li>1983 started at US Army CERL
    <span class="small">
        as land management support system,
        see an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3Hf0qI4JLc">old promotional video</a>
    </span>
<li>evolved into general purpose GIS
<li>1999 GNU GPL, international team of developers
<li>30 years of GRASS GIS development in 2013
<li>check out <a href="https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/timeline">last change</a>
    <span class="small">(probably just few hours ago)</span>
<li>last release Dec 28, 2016 <span class="small">[last checked Feb 2017]</span>
</ul>
<figure>
<img src="img/grass_logo_ancient.png" style="width: 25%">
<img src="img/grass_logo_old.png" style="width: 14%">
<img src="img/grass_logo_old_x.jpg" style="width: 14%">
<img src="img/grass_logo_30.png" style="width: 17%">
<img src="img/grass_logo.png" style="width: 17%">
</figure>
</section>


<section>
<h2>GRASS GIS</h2>
<ul>
<li>portable: different OS, 32/64bit, code in C and Python
<li>web-based infrastructure
<ul>
    <li>Subversion code repository with online source code browser, feature requests, bug reports,
        users and programmers manual, wiki, IRC
</ul>
<li>support
<ul>
    <li>community
    <ul>
        <li>
            <a href="https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/grass-user">user mailing list</a>,
            <a href="http://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/grass">GIS Stack Exchange</a>,
            <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/111147786674687562495">Google+ community</a>,
            &hellip;
    </ul>
    <li>commercial
    <ul>
        <li>Faunalia, Tekmap Consulting, GDF Hannover, GIS Mentors, &hellip; freelancers
    </ul>
</ul>
<li>sponsors
<ul>
    <li>Municipality of Trento, Fondazione Edmund Mach, Google via OSGeo, &hellip; individuals
</ul>
</ul>
</section>


<section>
<h2>GRASS GIS spatial data types</h2>
<ul>
    <li>2D raster (imagery, DEMs, &hellip;)
    <li>2D/3D topological vector
    <li>3D raster (voxels, volumes, soil properties, &hellip;)
    <li>time series (of anything above)
</ul>
</section>

<section>
<h2>GRASS GIS functionality</h2>
<ul>
    <li>current version 7
    <li>almost 500 modules <!-- 7.0.1 -->
    <li>more modules in GRASS GIS Addons repository
    <li>wide range of functions
    <dl class="small">
        <dt>raster and 3D raster</dt>
        <dd>
            map algebra, DEM, interpolation, flow, neighborhood, solar, cost surfaces
        </dd>
        <dt>imagery</dt>
        <dd>
            rectification, multispectral, classification, segmentation, FFT
        </dd>
        <dt>vector and database</dt>
        <dd>
            buffers, overlays, conversions, networks, attribute management, SQL
        </dd>
        <dt>spatio-temporal</dt>
        <dd>
            temporal topology, algebra, sampling, statistics, aggregation
        </dd>
        <dt>visualization</dt>
        <dd>
            2D display, 3D visualization, temporal visualization, PS and PDF maps
        </dd>
        <dt>interoperability</dt>
        <dd>
            WMS support, export to different formats
        </dd>
    </dl>
</ul>
</section>

<section>
<h2>GRASS GIS Basics</h2>
<ul>
    <li>database structure
    <ul>
        <li>based on cartographic projections and user's need to organize data
        <li>example
        <ul>
            <li>north_carolina_state_plane_meters (location)
            <ul>
                <li>new_highway_project (mapset)
                <ul>
                    <li>elevation (raster)
                    <li>streets (vector)
                </ul>
                <li>wake_county (mapset)
            </ul>
            <li>usa_latlon (location)
        </ul>
    </ul>
    <li>interfaces
    <ul>
        <li>Graphical User Interface (now wxGUI, other GUIs in the past)
        <li>Command Line Interface (examples in manual)
        <li>Application Programming Interface (C for hard work, Python for scripting)
        <li>designed for easy transition between the interfaces
    </ul>
    <li>computational region
    <ul>
        <li>extent and resolution for raster computations
    </ul>
</ul>
</section>

<section>
<h2>GRASS GIS Learning Resources</h2>
<ul>
    <li>Tutorials:
    <ul>
        <li><a href="http://www4.ncsu.edu/~akratoc/GRASS_intro/">Short GRASS GIS intro</a>
            (one page of screenshots)
        <li><a href="http://ncsu-geoforall-lab.github.io/grass-intro-workshop/">Introduction to GRASS GIS</a>
            (material for workshop)
        <li><a href="http://ncsu-geoforall-lab.github.io/geospatial-modeling-course/grass/index.html">GIS/MEA582: GRASS GIS assignments</a>
        <li><a href="https://grass.osgeo.org/grass70/manuals/helptext.html">GRASS GIS manual intro</a>
            (official documentation)
    </ul>
</ul>
</section>

<section>
<h2>Summary</h2>
<ul>
    <li>FOSS, FOSS4G, open source
    <ul>
        <li>software that is free to run, study, modify and distribute
        <li>solutions that are not depended on a particular company
        <li>open development, code sprints, GSoC, &hellip;
        <li>driven by user needs, not vendor needs
    </ul>
    <li>OSGeo
    <ul>
        <li>umbrella organization
    </ul>
    <li>different combinations of software can be used
    <li>GRASS GIS
    <ul>
        <li>most established general purpose open source GIS
        <li>large portfolio of functions
    </ul>
</ul>
</section>