So I’m not even sure how I’m going to wrap this post up quickly and efficiently. Here goes…..
We’ve a client that needs a “web map” – so it’s led us to a ton of digging and learning. Tonights fun was the OpenGeo suite. The best way to describe the OpenGeo suite from Boundless Geo is to describe it as ArcGIS Server with an open source accent. It runs on windows, linux, mac, and probably something else if you can find it.
With OpenGeo you get four pieces software:
- GeoServer – serves the data
- Postgresql/PostGIS – stores the data
- Geowebcache – tile your raster data
- GeoExplorer – display your data
It took me about an hour to create my first map published out of the suite – most of that time was spent reading the documentation. I uploaded a shapefile and here is what I ended up with.
Earlier in 2013 Boundless had announced support for QGIS. From all of the blog posts and classes you can guess we’re fans. There’s also a plugin for the OpenGeo Suite called OpenGeo explorer
With this plugin you you can publish data directly from QGIS into the OpenGeo suite. Actually – if I read the docs correctly you can publish into any Geoserver install (so you have some flexibility).
Just to wrap all this up:
- Create data in QGIS
- Publish data with symbology into Postgis/GeoServer
- Data can then be viewed using GeoExplorer and shared with others.
- Data can be pushed out into other application from GeoServer.
- Any software supporting Postgresql/PostGIS can access any stored data
There are a lot of GIS solutions currently and there are more appearing everyday. OpenGeo wraps 4 packages up into an interconnected server product that give you some powerful options for a GIS program. Plus you’ve got a desktop hook
Overall – it’s worth your time to read up on their offerings.
