AfriSpatial

Education is undoubtedly the largest propaganda weapon in this consumerist-driven society. Having just completed matric, I realize that the first eighteen years of my life has been a period of unmitigated Windows brainwashing. It is a travesty to think how the capitalist greed of proprietary software has permeated my life for so long.

I recently began working at AfriSpatial with the intention of keeping myself busy during the holiday and earn some pocket money in the process. I was required to work in Linux which was a somewhat foreign OS to me and, afraid it would mysteriously hurt my fragile Windows PC, I installed Xubuntu OSGeo Live in a Virtual Box. At this stage life was treating me well…

One day, Windows decided to do an update which broke the harmony of my Virtual Machine by somehow preventing connection to the Internet. I wasted precious hours troubleshooting every conceivable error but this was to no avail. I had two choices: either forget about Linux and revert to the primitive ways of life before Linux or take a bold new step into a brighter future. So I actually had no choice and no more patience. I had to install Linux as a dual-boot. There was no other way.

This seemingly inconsequential event instigated a change; a purgation of conscience whose effects altered the kernel of my value system. I guess in hindsight this transmogrification was inevitable for an aspiring programmer.

Having joined the ranks of the converted Linux users, life has become so much brighter, so much more fulfilling, so much more. Gone are the days of tasteless architecture and graphics. The experience has been liberating. I blame schools for polluting their computer labs with expensive proprietary software when there are open source equivalents for just about everything (and often these ‘alternatives’ are better). Open source is undoubtedly the way forward. Anything Windows can do, Linux can do better. I am not trying to be antagonistic, just honest.

These are the confessions of an ex-Windows user.

The Council for Geoscience, South Africa’s parastatal Science Council responsible for geological research and mapping, made tentative enquiries about implementing some Open Source GIS and database solutions early in 2011. Till then, they had made their first foray into the FOSS and Open Standards world by serving the SA 1:million lithology map via a WMS server with MapServer as part of the OneGeology project.

So we were very pleased when the Bellville satellite office, in AfriSpatial’s neck of the woods, enquired about a course for web mapping and enterprise GIS using FOSS. They had data to manage and serve, particularly as part of the South African Geological Hazards Observation System, and did not have access to the expensive proprietary software at head office in Pretoria.

Introduction to Enterprise GIS with FOSS at CGSDec 14, 2011Photos: 4

Afrispatial presented an on-site course at the CGS in December 2011 for three days, with five CGS staff and an AfriSpatial intern. We covered Enterprise GIS architecture and system design, spatial databases with PostGIS, web map servers with GeoServer and QGIS Server and web client development with OpenLayers and GeoExt. PostGIS, Geoserver and GeoExt were presented as part of the OpenGeo Suite, for which Afrispatial is the southern African partner. We ran the course on Windows but also installed OSGeo Live Xubuntu on a virtual machine and explored QGIS Server and other software within that environment. We wish the CGS all the best for a Free 2012!

Keep an eye out for upcoming courses on all things FOSS GIS at our FOSS GIS Academy.