Google Summer of Code 2010 – Quantum GIS
The application deadline for the Google Summer of Code is nearing (April 9).
If you are interested in working on QGIS as part of GSOC and need ideas, please see Quantum GIS Wiki.
We are waiting for your proposal!
Vim and CMake Out-of-Source Builds
If you use Vim you probably know you can use the make command to build your project. The make command looks for a Makefile in your current directory. If you are editing a file that is not in the current directory (meaning you use some Vim magic to change to the directory containing your edit buffer), make will start below the top-level of your build directory. This is often the case when doing an out-of-source build with CMake.
To get around this, you can use the makeprg command:
:set makeprg=make\ -C\ ~/development/qgis/build
The -C switch tells make to change to development/qgis/build in your HOME directory. Once makeprg is set, start the build using:
:make
As errors are encountered they are added to the Quickfix window. This allows you to easily navigate to the problem lines and make corrections, all within Vim.
If you want the build to continue even if it encounters errors, add the -k switch to the makeprg command. Remember to escape all spaces in the makeprg command with a backslash.
If you aren’t familar with Quickfix, get started by checking out the following in the Vim help system:
:h quickfix
:h cope
:h ccl
:h cn
Caveat: This requires GNU make (gmake) and is known to work on Linux and OS X. Your mileage on Windows may vary depending on your compiler…
Speculations on the File Geodatabase API
At the ESRI Developer Summit there was news of the File Geodatabase (FGDB) API. Based on the tweets from the summit it appears:
- The API will be C++ only
- API works on Windows and Unix/Linux (specifically RedHat, Solaris, SuSE) operating systems
- Rudimentary support only—features such as annotation, relationships, topologies, etc. are lacking
Since ESRI is releasing a targeted API and a not a specification, support for Mac OS X is out of the question.
How well open source GIS applications will be able to support the FGDB (if at all) remains to be seen.
The other question is: Will the API be made freely available or will it require an ArcGIS license?
Will the release of the FGDB API be the “Shapefile-killer”? I have my doubts…
Everything You Have Done is Wrong
It’s true—everything you have ever done is wrong. If you are a developer, look at the code you wrote five years ago—it’s wrong. If you collect and store data—it’s wrong.
This is the nature of human endeavor. The world used to be flat. The earth used to be the center of the universe.
Discovery and development is an iterative process. What we do today will likely be replaced tomorrow. Just because we can’t be perfect at the outset doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.
Just because our data doesn’t represent the “truth” doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use it. We take our best shot at it and refine it as we better understand the problem. Otherwise we sit in an empty room holding a blank slate…
GIS for the UN*X World
In a recent post on VerySpatial.com, Jesse was discussing the apparent dominance of U*nix and observed:
‘…the geospatial industry almost completely left behind support for UNIX-like OSes’
It is true that the proprietary GIS vendors have largely abandoned Unix and Unix-like operating systems and continue to do so. However the open source GIS community has embraced all major operating systems with software that runs on Linux, *BSD, Mac OS X, and yes, Windows. This support includes everything from the desktop to the server.
For those of us that prefer to operate in a Un*x environment, that’s good news.
The Shapefile – Reports of My Deprecation have been Greatly Exaggerated
The death of the shapefile has again been predicted—this time for 2010.
The technical description of the format has been around for going on 12 years. In that time it has become a sort of lowest common denominator for data exchange. They’re everywhere. Making them go away is going to require a revolution of sorts.
ESRI has been sounding the death knell for the shapefile for a while now. I agree that it isn’t a perfect format but it is nearly perfectly supported.
If ESRI really wants the shapefile to go away, they will produce a fully open API for the File Geodatabase—one that can be used outside the Arc* realm. One that can be obtained and used at no cost or license fee.
There is a raft of open source programmers waiting in the wings to code against it and provide support and interoperability for the open source GIS world.
We’re waiting…
What’s Holding Back the Adoption of Open Source GIS on the Desktop?
In my last post I created a poll to get an idea of the extent of migration to open source GIS on the desktop. The results indicated that nearly 50% of the people using open source GIS were still using their proprietary software as well. You can view the results of the poll using the Polls Archive link below the current poll.
This leads one to wonder if it is the state of the open source software or other reasons that prevent a full migration. Take a look at the poll (right margin) and if you are a partial adopter, please vote or post a comment on what’s holding you back.