Open software and standards in the realm of laser scanning technology

Open geospatial data and tools are an increasingly important paradigm offering the opportunity to promote the democratization of geographical information, the transparency of governments and institutions, as well as social, economic and environmental opportunities. During the past decade, developments in the area of open geospatial data and open-source geospatial software have greatly improved. Many parts of the research community believe that combining free and open software, open data, as well as open standards, leads to the creation of a sustainable ecosystem to accelerate new discoveries to help solve global cross-disciplinary societal challenges, from climate change mitigation to sustainable cities. The consistent prevalence of open source GIS studies motivated this thematic collection. The contributions are divided into two main categories. In the first category, seven concrete studies on open-source tools and technologies for urban and environmental studies are briefly presented. Each one has been implemented for and applied to a certain use case, and at the same time it may be applied to other use cases due to the reproducibility nature of open source software. The second category presents and discusses the usability of open source geospatial solutions for laser scanning technology and its applications.

Open Source, Anarchy, and the Utopian Impulse

Open Content Communities

Abstract. Open source software could emerge thanks to the development of the Internet, development tools, and computer literacy in general. The most attractive parameter of open source GIS software is a free license. The rapid pace of development, attracting developers from all over the world and high modularity stimulate the innovative nature of open source software. Here, the introduction of new technologies does not meet with opposition, but rather welcomes. These circumstances, as well as elucidation of the functional capabilities of such GIS, become very important in the search for means of providing the educational process with modern GIS software, which is traditionally an expensive proprietary software. Goal: Analysis of up-to-date GIS software protection and visual accessibility of the QGIS system in the first place with studying geoinformation systems.Quantum GIS (QGIS) is an open source software (GIS) geographic information system (GIS). Open software is one of the most interesting technological phenomena of the present, owing to its rapid growth in the development of the Internet, development tools and computer literacy in general. The key role in the creation, development and support of open source software is played, as a rule, by the community of developers forming around individual software products: commercial companies, groups of enthusiasts or research organizations. The term open source was proposed by Bruce Perens, one of the key leaders in the Open Source and Free Software movement, cofounder with Eric Raymind in 1998 of the Open Source Initiative (OSI), an open source software development organization that promotes and provides technical open source support. This open source term is used by OSI to determine whether a software license complies with open source standards. The main features of open source software as defined include free distribution, accessible source code, permission to modify this source code. At the same time, even successful open source software products require companies on the market ready to provide technical support and advice on issues related to the selected products. However, the number of companies providing support services for open source GIS software is still relatively small.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the case of synchronized multimedia presentations.Design/methodology/approachThe proposal is based on SMIL as composition language. Particularly, the paper reuses and customizes the SMIL template used by INRIA on their technical presentations. It also proposes a set of free tools to produce presentation content and design focusing on RealPlayer as delivery client. The integration in this e‐learning platform of multimedia compositions developed following the proposed technique is also presented.FindingsTechnological support to learning and teaching has become widespread due to computers and internet ubiquity. Particularly e‐learning platforms permit the any‐time‐and‐any‐place distribution of interactive multimedia learning materials. There are commercial tools available to author this kind of content, usually based on proprietary formats. This option has some drawbacks like license cost and software company dependency. To use open data standards and free software is an alternative without these inconveniences but available authoring tools are commonly less productive. This shortcoming is certainly important to non‐technical authors and it could be solved by open source collaboration.Originality/valueThe paper presents multimedia learning material using open standards and free software.

A use case of integrating a variety of open-source geospatial tools is presented in this paper to process and openly redeliver open data in open standards. Through a software engineering approach, we have focused on the potential usability of OpenStreetMap in authoritative and professional contexts in Great Britain. Our system comprises open source components from OSGeo projects, the Open Street Map (OSM) community and proprietary components. We present how the open data flows among those components and is delivered to the Web with open standards. Apart from the cost issues, utilizing the opensource tools has offered some distinct advantages compared to the proprietary alternatives, if any was available. At the same time, some technical limitations of utilizing current open-source tools are described. Finally a case study is shown for the usability of the developed solution.

Abstract: Free and are not requirements for successful software development. The argument that and frequent are one indicator of successful software development does not imply the necessity of users updating the source code but the importance that they function as testers and debuggers. In the development of Japan's non-open source, non-free shareware Mail, the users perform the functions of testers and debuggers. It is evident from the case of Hidemaru Mail that early and frequent upgrades are neither result nor performance indicators, but rather the way to intrinsically motivate users so that they can function as testers and debuggers. In actuality, the developer of Hidemaru Mail motivates users to submit requests and reports more often by meticulously responding to almost all users' requests and reports and upgrading early and frequently. Existing studies are overly particular about whether the source code should be open, and lack the perspective of organizational theory about how developers should motivate users to function as testers and debuggers. While there is the definite possibility of motivating users through open source, this does not indicate that open source is a necessary condition. The necessary condition is to motivate as many users as possible to cooperate in the development. If this is accomplished, the development of software will succeed, regardless of it being free or open.Keywords: open source, software development, early and frequent releases, intrinsic motivation, Hidemaru MailIntroductionThere is little research disputing that the reason for the success of Linux was due to it being free and open source. DiBona, Stone, and Ockman (1999) in particular, emphasized the excellence of open source. The fact that subsequent open source research can be largely divided into the following two categories is proof of this. One set of research is related to the motivation of developers for open source software (OSS) and the open source community (Bitzer, Schrettl, & Schroder, 2007; David & Shapiro, 2008; Hertel, Niedner, & Herrmann, 2003; Oreg & Nov, 2008; von Krogh, Spaeth, & Lakhani, 2003). Another set deals with open source strategy of companies (Capra, Francalanci, Merlo, & Rossi-Lamastra, 2011; Dahlander & Magnusson, 2005, 2008; Grand, von Krogh, Leonard, & Swap, 2004; Sasaki & Kitayama, 2000; Stam, 2009; West, 2003). Both types of research assume that software, which is superior in terms of function and quality as well as stability and robustness, is created in a short period, provided it is developed as open source. Hence, interest is solely devoted to how to ensure the establishment and survival of open source projects and communities, and how companies utilize the results well.Open source does not automatically lead software development to success. For example, Takahashi and Takamatsu (2002, 2013) assert that the miraculous timing of the release of Linux and developer's motivation were the reasons behind its success, and it did not matter whether it was open source or closed source, or free or charged software.1 If early and frequent releases of a new version are an indicator of software development success, then there is no need to be particular about free and open source. It becomes important not to motivate users with high levels of development competence to modify the code through open source, but to motivate mere general users to function as testers and debuggers. If developers can entrust the testing and debugging to users, the developers can release new versions very quickly. A good example that illustrates this is the development case of Japan's representative mailer, Mail. Hidemaru Mail is non-free shareware. While the developer, Hideo Saito, did not publicize the source code, new versions have been released at a pace of approximately once every four days for twelve years from the initial version release. …

Embedded industries have invested a lot in the introduction of software product lines in their software development. In addition, using open source software appears to be a profitable way to obtain good software. This is also applicable for organizations doing product line engineering. On the other hand, because of the diverse use of open source software, product line development is an attractive way of working in open source communities. In fact, the configuration mechanisms used in open source communities may be applicable within software product lines as well. In addition, product line organisations are usually involved in distributed development, which works very efficiently within open source communities. However, at present, there is limited interaction between the open source and product line development communities. The aim for the workshop is to explore what the two communities can learn from each other and to develop a better understanding of how the two communities can benefit from each other. The workshop deals with the following issues: Community: Ownership, control and management of product line assets in an open source community Visibility of the code: when it is valuable to share proprietary code and how to take the right decision. Architecture Views: Creation of different levels of architecture visibility: proprietary, among closed consortium, public. Is this possible? Product line requirements roadmaps and planning in open source development Variability management: Using the open source community to evolve components and being explicit about variability Variability representation: in an open source community Deployment: Open source for the platform and in applications Heterogeneous processes: Cohabitation of product line management and agile processes Tools: Open source asset management tools in product line development Domain and application engineering and their meaning in an open source context Recovery and recognition of a product line in an open source asset base Legal: Aspects dealing with evolutionary, variability or distribution of development relating to legal risks involving: liability, warranties, patent infringements etc. KeywordsProduct LineOpen SourceOpen Source SoftwareSoftware Product LineOpen Source CommunityThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

LiDAR is an active remote sensing technique with a unique capability to capture three-dimensional information of the earth’s surface even in heavily vegetated areas, and it is proven to be useful in many research applications. Although it is becoming the remote sensing platform of choice for planning and natural resource agencies that require three-dimensional information, the enormous data that are generated and the lack of available software analysis packages make LiDAR still unavailable to a typical user of spatial data. LiDARHub is a free and open source platform for web-based management, visualization and analysis of LiDAR data that enables development of online tools for LiDAR data processing in a web browser. The framework provides a foundation to develop online tools for LiDAR data processing and tools can be shared. The framework is also flexible so that the developed tools can be easily ported to High Performance Computing (HPC) environments that speed up the computationally extensive LiDAR data processing. Two example LiDARHub tools are presented as case studies to demonstrate potential software development scenarios. The developed tools provide easy to use user interface and hide complex computation so that users can take advantage of the LiDAR technology with only a web browser. The LiDARHub allows not only the sharing of large volume of LiDAR data but also developing online LiDAR processing platform for a large audience.

Current laser scanning (Lidar, light detection and ranging) technologies span a wide range of survey extent and resolutions, from regional airborne Lidar mapping and terrestrial Lidar field surveys to laboratory systems utilizing indoor three-dimensional (3D) laser scanners. Proliferation in Lidar technology and data collection enables new approaches for monitoring and analysis of landscape evolution. For example, repeat Lidar surveys that generate a time series of point cloud data provide an opportunity to transition from traditional, static representations of topography to terrain abstraction as a 3D dynamic layer. Three case studies are presented to illustrate novel techniques for landscape evolution analysis based on time series of Lidar data: (1) application of multiyear airborne Lidar surveys to a study of a dynamic coastal region, where the change is driven by eolian sediment transport, wave-induced beach erosion, and human intervention; (2) monitoring of vegetation growth and the impact of landscape structure on overland flow in an agricultural field using terrestrial laser scanning; and (3) investigation of landscape design impacts on overland water flow and other physical processes using a tangible geospatial modeling system. The presented studies demonstrate new insights into landscape evolution in different environments that can be gained from Lidar scanning spanning 1.0–0.001 m resolutions with geographic information system analysis capabilities.

Sorted pulse data (SPD) library. Part I: A generic file format for LiDAR data from pulsed laser systems in terrestrial environments

The open source software movement has been going on for a few decades now. Today, an increasing number of open source solutions enter the market and become valid alternatives to proprietary and closed solutions. Examples include operating systems like Linux and OpenSolaris, back-end solutions (e.g. LAMP -Linux, Apache web server, MySQL database, and Perl/PHP/Python programming languages - are among the most well-known and widely used open source software on the Internet), office applications (e.g. Firefox web browser, Thunderbird email, GIMP graphics, OpenOffice office suite), and complete enterprise systems like Compiere (ERP and CRM) and Mambo content management system (CMS). In addition, a variety of devices increasingly include open source (e.g. cellular phones, network equipment like routers, and Asterisk -a complete IP PBX). The open source culture is about much more than software and includes open source hardware, views on intellectual properties rights, completely changes how products are developed and owned, and how business models are developed. To decide if open source is something for you, a good understanding of what open source really means is necessary. This includes legal aspects (different licenses), availability of support with (hopefully a thriving) user community and commercial for-pay support options, and security. Intellectual properties rights, and the vast number of many types of open source licenses (e.g. GNU General Public License (GPL) and BSD License), is one of the more complex areas when using open source. What can and not can be done, what must be done, and so on, vary between licenses. One effort to bring some order in all this is the Open Source Definition (OSD) from Open Source Initiative (OSI) which lists ten conditions that must be met for an OSI Certified open source license. Today, many companies have already been forced to either remove or release as open source borrowed by developers without properly complying with licenses. Such code is increasingly easy to detect via compliance tools used by companies doing this as business. (Not to mention whistle-blowing employees tipping of property owners.) Searching for dirty is also increasingly part of due diligence in mergers and acquisitions and can add costly delays and lawsuits. The perceived low cost is often a reason for considering open source solutions but the total costs of development (TCD) - including for example licenses, tools, labor, and support - must be considered from initial design, to maintenance, all through the end of life of the product. This paper reviews critical aspects for going open source, including software and hardware, use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) alternatives, system design going from a monolithic, single-binary, firmware to a layered design with operating system, middleware, and user applications.

As a sub-category of open innovation community, open source community（OSC）has spearheaded the practical frontier of open innovation and digital innovation for more than 20 years. Bonded by shared ideology characterized by emphasis on freedom, openness and collaboration, advocates of open source movement have initiated tens of thousands of communities operating around open source software, of which Apache, Debian, Linux, Mozilla and SourceForge are successful examples at the global level. So far, the related spin-offs of these communities, such as Apache Web server, MySQL database system, Firefox browser, and etc., have accumulated a large number of loyal users worldwide. However, it is noted that both the practice and the theory relevant to OSC in China are far behind the West. Thus, the authors feel a grave necessity for combing and perfecting extant research findings regarding OSC, thereby shedding light on the future development of OSC and firms engaging in open source businesses in China.In this context, this paper first explores the origin of “open source” from the very beginning and defines the concept of OSC. To make the research boundary between OSC and other forms of online community much clearer, in case of experimental bias incurred by confusing these two types of community, this paper also portrays the uniqueness of OSC by comparing it with other communities from three perspectives: IPR, innovation chain, value proposition. Then, based on 188 OSC-related literatures indexed by SSCI from 2001 to 2019, this paper conducts a bibliometric analysis via CiteSpace, which is already a mature scientific measurement tool in academia, to extensively and systematically profile and comb the status as well as the veins of extant researches. After adding some other supplementary materials such as working documents on OSC, this paper makes a further refinement of the main contents of all the literatures retrieved, and puts forward a two-dimensional knowledge framework comprising “organizational dimension” and “individual dimension”.Through the bibliometric analysis on 188 OSC-related literatures, this paper finds that: The research topics of OSC densely burst out in the first eight years since the keyword of “open source community” first appeared in papers indexed by SSCI in 2001. After 2009, the emergence of novel research topics undergoes a steep downward curve and becomes increasingly sparse. By building up a knowledge framework, this paper finds that: In terms of internal governance, OSC has typical traits of self-organization and spontaneously develops a set of gradually maturing governance mechanisms, which shape the forms of OSC into semi-bureaucracy. Moreover, as offline interactive scenes are gradually enriched, the core basis for forming as well as distributing leadership or authority is changing from technical contributions to social networks. For OSC, the governance mechanisms of IPR are also unique because of the existence of Contributor License Agreement（CLA）, such as GPL, BSD, LGPL, etc. As for the participation of external subjects, firms join OSC mainly driven by economic motivators, while individual users mainly by ideological motivators. In spite of differences in motivations and forms of involvement, both firms and individuals encounter barriers to entry when joining OSC, and the extent to which they are blocked is influenced by the characteristics of their origins. For example, people from open source “pure player”（firms of which the business models are mainly configured around open source product or technology）are more welcomed than those from incumbents in software industry, such as Microsoft. Finally, extant researches prove that participating in OSC is beneficial to both firms’ and individuals’ performance.According to the results above, this paper brings up three managerial implications for firms with an intention to participate deeply in OSC, and then proposes several future research directions for academic reference mainly centering on the coordinating mechanisms between OSC and firms, in hope of attracting more Chinese scholars’ attention and contributing knowledge to the development of China’s OSC and the improvement of its governance mechanism.

An objective definition of open standards

Open Source Software and Standards Development: Competition Law Implications