Related link: http://www.dmsolutions.ca/solutions/tsunami.html
A great application built using Open Source GIS and mapping tools.
From http://www.dmsolutions.ca/solutions/tsunami.html
A few quotes from the intro page:
"Aid workers at ground zero and around the globe can have free access to this spatial data and the resulting mapping functionality via the Internet. In addition, these same workers can contribute their specialized data for use by other agencies."
"We encourage Data Providers to help us respond to Data User requirements by providing no-cost, high quality (geo-referenced) data that can be quickly and effectively integrated within this Website and used to generate meaningful and helpful maps."
"This application was made possible through the use of open-source mapping technologies developed and supported by DM Solutions Group. Many of the data services leveraged by this application were published to Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Standards through MapServer technology. OGC support within these technologies was made possible in part through funding from the GeoConnections program of Natural Resources Canada in support of the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI)."
Comments (5)
Read More Entries by Tyler Mitchell.
GIS
Maptishous,
I don't wish to dispute the usefulness of commercial software for many applications. However, I do take some issue with the statement that only Oracle Spatials raster support could handle 4TB of imagery.
There are a few people providing data on that scale with UMN MapServer (via GDAL) just from the file system. My vague understanding of the new ImageServer from ESRI also suggests that they see filesystem based imagery solutions to be ideal for some large imagery mapping applications.
I wish you luck on your MySQL Spatial application. I find the OGC Simple Features support in MySQL exciting - however, I don't have much direct experience with it's performance or flexibility. I would suggest you keep PostgreSQL+PostGIS in mind as proven fallback if there are issues with the newest MySQL Spatial support.
GIS
Spare yourself from disappointment and try out the PostgreSQL/PostGIS combo instead of MySQL.
scalability of F/OSS GIS tools
Indeed. Even ESRI seems to be heading away from rasters in RDBMS. Their new Image Server product appears to be based upon GDAL, the same raster engine that MapServer has been using for years, and touts filesystem sources.
scalability of F/OSS GIS tools
I'm going to assume that it's purely ignorance on your part that leads you to assert that the volume of imagery you describe could not be provided via Open Source GIS tools, because, of course, you are incorrect. MapServer, GDAL, PostGIS, et al. work together as well as your vaunted commercial tools, and scale at least as well. Suggesting otherwise without the facts is pure FUD, thank you.
GIS
There were several companies that came together to provide rich GIS content for the Indian Ocean Disaster. Earth Satellite Corporation, the company I work for, provided a 15-meter color balanced image base for the region. The entire globe represents 4 terabytes (TB) of imagery. The data was stored using Oracle/ArcSDE and delivered though ArcIMS. The service was made available both as an ArcIMS image service as well as an OGC WMS service. ESRI themselves also provided content and software to support the disaster.
As a GIS professional and tech junky, I am always trying to determine which software is best suited for the solution and what people want. I would hope the Open Source GIS community still realizes the benefit of commercial software. If we hadn’t had the support of ESRI we could never have databased 4 TB of imagery and made it available to the public. The only thing that could have handled this is Oracle Spatial’s raster format. Oracle, due to the enormous cost, is anything but open source, although they might support the standard.
I look forward to the developments in the Open Source GIS community. Currently I am investigating the GIS capabilities of MYSQL for a simple soap-based web service. At the same time I am developing ESRI based enterprise architectures for our clients because all the pieces work together and fit.
http://www.earthsat.com/ArcIMS/naturalvue