1. Eileen O. Hokaasen / Ola Nordbeck
Geodata-infrastructure a battle between Open Source and Commercial software
Eileen O. Hokaasen / Ola Nordbeck /
EFGS October 2009

2. Today ssb.no F I R E W A L Statbank Statistics External WMS/WFS
providers
ssb.no F I R E W A L
ArcGIS
coverages,
shape files
etc.
Norway
Digital
Desktop GIS programme
Statistics Norway
SAS
Central register
of Establishments
and Enterprises
SN-Cadastre NE
Statistics
Statbank
Statistical base registers
Statistical
Population
Register

3. Planned geodata regime
External
WMS/WFS
providers
WMS
ssb.no F I R E W A L
ArcGIS
coverages
Geodatabase
Statistics Norway
Norwegian
Mapping
and
Cadastre
Authority
Desktop GIS programme
SAS
Local
Cadastre
Copy
Statbank
Statistical
base
registers
Statistics
Municipalities

4. Challenges IT resources – or rather the lack of these
Lack of knowledge
“Marriage” to ESRI products
Established Oracle environment
Connection/link to other databases

5. System specification: Geodata-infrastructure components
Geodatabase Components
Desktop GIS Components
PostgreSQL
QGIS
PostGIS
postgis.refractions.net/
uDig
udig.refractions.net
MS SqlServer
MapWindow
Oracle Spatial
Manifold
MySQL
ArcGIS
FME
ArcInfo Workstation
support.esri.com/index.cfm?fa=software.filteredGateway&PID=14
ArcGIS Server (SDE)
GRASS GIS
grass.osgeo.org
ZigGIS
gvSIG
FWTools
OSSIM
GeoTools
GDAL

6. Alternative 1. Open Source
ArcGIS
coverages
PostGIS
Geodatabase
Communication tools:
ZigGIS/OGC
Existing Desktop GIS programme:
ArcGIS
Communication tools:
FWTOOLS (OGR), GeoTools, FME
Existing
Oracle
Statistical
base
registers
Desktop GIS programme:
QGIS
uDig
MapWindow
Grass
Etc.

7. Alternative 2. Open Source and Commercial
ArcGIS
coverages
PostGIS
Geodatabase
Communication tools:
ArcGIS Server
Existing Desktop GIS programme:
ArcGIS
Communication tools:
FWTOOLS (OGR), GeoTools, FME
Existing
Oracle
Statistical
base
registers
Desktop GIS programme:
Manifold
QGIS
uDig
MapWindow
Grass
Etc.

8. Alternative 3. Commercial
ArcGIS
coverages
Geodatabase
Communication tools:
ArcGIS Server
Existing Desktop GIS programme:
ArcGIS
Existing
Oracle
Statistical
base
registers
Desktop GIS programme:
Manifold
QGIS
uDig
MapWindow
Grass
Etc.

9. Main factors for choosing alternative 3
Alternative 1 and 2 - +
Statistics Norway, not user of Postgresql (PostGIS) today
No or small license costs for PostGIS
No GIS administration unit within Statistics Norway
Limited group of full time GIS users
Trained ArcGIS users
No or small license costs for Manifold or Open Source Desktop GIS
Many infrastructure components
Many build-on possibilities of other Open Source components
Limited functions for GIS analysis on server and Desktop GIS
Alternative 3 - +
License costs, but less important due to existing licenses
Statistics Norway, An Oracle Environment
License costs
ArcGIS users
Not possible to make full and easy use of GIS analysis functions in Oracle Spatial using ArcGIS
Good functions for GIS analysis on server and Desktop GIS
Established routines for working with ArcGIS and SAS
Streamlined infrastructure, few components
Possible to connect Manifold or Open Desktop GIS to Oracle and make use of Oracle GIS analyses functions

10. Discussion Experience of geodata-infrastructure planning Geodatabase
Open source vs. Commercial alternatives
Desktop GIS
Experience of work with Open Desktop GIS
Manifold, not open source but low cost and better communication with geodatabase
Supermap?