Abstract
The development of Free Software is a well established and successful phenomenon which could hardly exist without the Internet, where groups of programmers scattered all around the world are developing software. The idea of Free Software is highly attractive to talented creative students and can stimulate and support their profesional activities. The GNU GaMa [4] for adjusting of geodetic networks, with input data described in XML, is given here as a concrete example. Free Software [3] (or Open Source) projects need not be limited to software development but can generally cover any professional project based on free information exchange; a suggested example is the planned collection of model geodetic networks described in XML.
Highlights
The development of Free Software is a well established and successful phenomenon which could hardly exist without the Internet, where groups of programmers scattered all around the world are developing software
This paper reports on the GaMa Free Software project for adjusting of geodetic networks, which has been started at the department of mapping and cartography of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, CTU Prague
The GaMa project received the status of GNU software [3] in 2001, and in this paper we would like to talk about our positive experience of the attractiveness of the idea of Free Software for talented students, and how it can help to stimulate and support their creative work, international contacts and professional growth
Summary
Free Software has much in common with the spirit of university education (most of all, the tradition of free sharing of information) For this reason we start our introduction to the GaMa project with a description of its evolvement against the background of the activities of Commision 2 for Professional Education of FIG (International Federation of Surveyors) and its Virtual Academy working group. We are convinced that when thinking about the Virtual Academy and about education in general, more emphasis should be put on human communication and collaboration than on technical facilities In this sense the best inspiration for the Virtual Academy is provided by successful Free Software projects like GNU and many others
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