Writer’s Block is a terrible thing. Between clients, life, and trying to figure a few things out I haven’t posted much over the last week and a half.
Saturdays have turned into “quiet time”. I’ve really stopped answering the phone except for a few people and I do what I like to do – explore software, go to the local grocery store and people watch, and eat burritos. Not in that order though. For the record I’ve had a one year love affair going with postgis. It’s been pretty abusive as I learn to be a “database person”. Â I’ve also been stalking geoserver. Sprinkle that with QGIS and my determination to do everything the slight hard way by using Linux on every computer and well – there’s never a lack of things to do.
About two months ago while driving back from some family functions I had a panicked email from a young lady (a student) and she was diving into the open source GIS side of life. She wanted to make a web map and CartoDB and the usual suspects were off limits. She wanted to do it from PostGIS, Geoserver, and either leaflet/openlayers. I cursed. We spent the next day Google chatting “why” and what I could do to help. She was left with a windows workstation and several installs of software.
- We installed PostGIS/Postgresql. Got an error and I think the error was some sort of Windows admin crap brought on by their IT department.
- We installed Geoserver. It ran for 15 minutes before something hosed it up and we couldn’t get to the admin interface. I have a windows machine and I followed along – mostly things worked on my end.
- We installed QGIS just for fun to see what that would break.
- I even got into installing Java thinking that had something broken in Geoserver. I no doubt made it worse.
Out of our frustration I ended up remotely logging into her computer and I did two things that in hind sight may not have been the best thing to do but it worked. I installed a Linux virtual machine. I installed OpenGeo Suite 4.5 (I think). In 20 minutes I had a fully functioning server. I walked her through loading data over email. Map made. She passed.
So – all of that brings me to OpenGeoSuite 4.6. It was released just a few weeks ago. I could go into a pile of explanation and overkill on SDKs and scripting and PostGIS and things. I won’t. I’ve been playing around with it and loading data and here’s my rambling take on it.
I’ve one client and I’m about to make it two where I’ve been slowly decreasing their ESRI footprint. This isn’t something I’m doing haphazardly or doing to “stick it to the man”. They are better off with this mixed environment. Actually they are getting more done than they were a year ago with regards to data and data maintenance and we’re still using ESRI Software. It can be a bit daunting for the client though to go “well everyone is saying arcserver and what can I do in it’s place”. By the time I say “Well postgis, geoserver, geowebcache, etc etc” I can say OpenGeoSuite and cut down on a lot of the technical jargon. My clients enjoy technical but I can lose them quick once I start tossing acronyms. Granted with one client we are tackling their issue with PostgreSQL/Postgis and QGIS and not OpenGeoSuite. I hope with client 2 it gets a bit more involved.
With OpenGeoSuite 4.6 you’re getting:
- PostGIS/PostGresql 2.1/9.3.6
- Geoserver 2.7 (snapshot release)
- Geowebcache
- OpenLayers 2 and 3
- GeoExplorer
- Boundless SDK for scripting
- Runs on Windows/OSX/and Linux
So you get an install that is comparable to ArcServer. In some ways it’s more complicated than an ArcServer install. In others it’s more “sound” (to me). I once had an arserver upgrade go south in a terrible way. By the time it was done crashing I had lost a database, most of the arcserver install, a bunch of extensions and what not. Â I’m a big fan of “not integrated”. In other words I can toss Geoserver and PostGIS is fine. I can lose PostGIS/PostgreSQL and if I’m not pulling data from there Geoserver is fine. The good thing with the OpenGeoSuite is it’s just one install. A lot of tweaks happen during that one install. For instance Java is installed on Linux. Ubuntu Server comes with Open Java but Geoserver really likes the Oracle Version. That’s done for you.
Boundless has a lot of tutorials on their website. I always believe desktop is the gateway drug. Install QGIS. Start formulating questions of “What if I….”. Maybe you find an underutilized server and get a project no one cares about. Load it into Postgis. Access it through QGIS. Serve it out through Geoserver. Learn.
I know this is probably not the best review of the technical of this software release. I’m running my copy in a Linux VM on my main workstation. I’m debating pushing some imagery into it as well as one project just to kick the release a bit. I never expect glamorous. I just want things to work. It works so far.
Download the community edition today. Play around with it. Read up on a few tutorials. At the absolute worst you’ll learn something and you might find some use for a new piece of software in your organization.
Boundless does offer support packages for OpenGeoSuite – I have no clue what they cost or how that works. Contact them and find out.