Open Source Geospatial Software Research Articles

Geo-visualization of Sarawak COVID-19 Publicly Available Data Employing Open-source Geospatial Software

The state government of Sarawak with the help of the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) has continuously made the updated information on the state COVID-19 situation and its ensuing control measures available to general public in the form of daily press statements. However, these statements are merely providing textual information on daily basis though the data are in fact rich in temporal and spatial properties. Since the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, spatiotemporal analysis becomes the key element to better understand the spread of COVID-19 in various spatial levels worldwide. Hence, there is an urgent need to convert this textual information into more valuable insights by applying geo-visualization techniques and geospatial statistics. The paper demonstrates the prospect of retrieving geospatial data from publicly available document to locate, map and analyze the spread of COVID-19 up to division level of Sarawak. Specifically, map visualization and geospatial statistical analysis are performed for the list of exposed locations, which are indeed locations visited by COVID-19 patients prior to being tested positive in Kuching division, using open-source geospatial software QGIS. It is found that these exposed locations concentrate on the build-up areas in the division and are in south-west to north-east direction of the center of Kuching in September and October 2021. Despite the number of exposed locations published is relatively small compared to the number of confirmed cases reported, both are nearly strongly correlated. The insights gained from such geospatial analysis may assist the local public health authorities to impose applicable disease control interventions at division level.

OSGEO, PERSISTENT IDENTIFIERS AND THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME

Abstract. The Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) is an international community, which maintains and develops a growing number of quality-assured open source geospatial software tools. OSGeo supports Open Science and the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles. The open source software projects of OSGeo are drivers for innovation, but also benefit from technical advances made in other fields to foster FAIR. We report on the of adoption of persistent identifiers (PID) by OSGeo communities, which is accelerating and diversifying. Persistent referencing by PID was introduced to OSGeo for scientific video in 2014. Since 2017 it is being adopted by a growing number of OSGeo software projects to enable scientific citation of software repositories, individuals software releases and involved persons. This enables tangible scientific credit for OSGeo volunteer work and is expected to affect OSGeo workflows, such as the incubation and graduation process. For illustration, examples from the OSGeo projects GRASS GIS and actinia are provided.

SATELLITE IMAGE PROCESSING AND HEADS-UP DIGITIZATION METHOD FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF WATERBODY ENCROACHMENT USING GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY

Water bodies like lakes or tanks or ponds play a significant role in preserving and restoring the ecological stability. They are in existence for several centuries, serving the water needs of communities. Encroachment of water bodies for development human settlements and farming has been increased due to population growth and public attitude. This research focused on the water bodies encroachment in Manapparai Taluk, which covers an area of 1090 sq.km that encompasses 108 revenue villages and located in the central part of Tamil Nadu, India. The remote sensing techniques were used to assess the land-use land cover (LULC) changes, The visual interpretation techniques were used to prepare the LULC map and investigated the changes between topographic sheets of 1976 and Quick Bird satellite imagery of 2019. The vector layers of LULC were created by using heads-up digitization method in open-source geospatial software environment i.e. QGIS and GRASS. The LULC changes were assessed according to revenue villages, also predicted the total number of water bodies encroached by the public. The results of LULC layers between 1976 and 2019 confirm that the extent of human settlement increased from 3.52% to 5.98% of the total area, while vegetation cover also increases from 1.38% to 2.12%. Besides, the lakes and ponds decreased from 4.11% (44.94 sq.km) to 3.82 % (39.14 sq.km). The research has demonstrated the advantages of QuickBird satellite imagery to provide an exact, cost-effective contribution to prepare a map and investigate LULC changes over an interval.

QGIS a constantly growing free and open-source geospatial software contributing to scientific development

QGIS is the most popular free geospatial software in the world. QGIS belongs to the Open-Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). Among the main strengths of this Geographic Information Systems are: the incorporation of tools via plugins, and a community of users and developers in constant growth. Despite the importance on the use of QGIS on the scientific community, to date there are no systematic studies indicating how the acceptance of this software has evolved through time. Therefore, the objective of this research was to characterize the scientific production and extent where QGIS has been used as their main geospatial tool. We conducted a bibliometric analysis of documents published in Scopus from 2005 to 2020 (931 manuscripts). The annual rate of publications increase was 40.3%. We found strong and positive correlations regarding the number of contributing code programmers (r=0.66, p<0.005); and the total income of the QGIS project (r=0.88, p<0.001). Seventy-two percent of the publications were included in six fields of study, being Earth and Planetary Sciences the most representative. Italy was the country with larger scientific production, while the USA was the most influential country (being the first, regarding the number of citations). In terms of the countries, the larger number of papers found were from Portugal, Italy, Brazil, and France. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences - ISPRS Archives stands among journals with the largest number of publications (47). In terms of collaborative networks among countries, we found strong links between authors from Germany, Switzerland, Greece, and Spain. Author network analysis showed three solid networks in different fields of study. We observed a favorable trend in the acceptance of QGIS across the world and a widespread development of collaborative networks. The present paper allowed increase the knowledge of geographic information systems, especially the development of scientific production using QGIS.

Extension of an Open GEOBIA Framework for Spatially Explicit Forest Stratification with Sentinel-2

Spatially explicit information about forest cover is fundamental for operational forest management and forest monitoring. Although open-satellite-based earth observation data in a spatially high resolution (i.e., Sentinel-2, ≤10 m) can cover some information needs, spatially very high-resolution imagery (i.e., aerial imagery, ≤2 m) is needed to generate maps at a scale suitable for regional and local applications. In this study, we present the development, implementation, and evaluation of a Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) framework to stratify forests (needleleaved, broadleaved, non-forest) in Luxembourg. The framework is exclusively based on open data and free and open-source geospatial software. Although aerial imagery is used to derive image objects with a 0.05 ha minimum size, Sentinel-2 scenes of 2020 are the basis for random forest classifications in different single-date and multi-temporal feature setups. These setups are compared with each other and used to evaluate the framework against classifications based on features derived from aerial imagery. The highest overall accuracies (89.3%) have been achieved with classification on a Sentinel-2-based vegetation index time series (n = 8). Similar accuracies have been achieved with classification based on two (88.9%) or three (89.1%) Sentinel-2 scenes in the greening phase of broadleaved forests. A classification based on color infrared aerial imagery and derived texture measures only achieved an accuracy of 74.5%. The integration of the texture measures into the Sentinel-2-based classification did not improve its accuracy. Our results indicate that high resolution image objects can successfully be stratified based on lower spatial resolution Sentinel-2 single-date and multi-temporal features, and that those setups outperform classifications based on aerial imagery only. The conceptual framework of spatially high-resolution image objects enriched with features from lower resolution imagery facilitates the delivery of frequent and reliable updates due to higher spectral and temporal resolution. The framework additionally holds the potential to derive additional information layers (i.e., forest disturbance) as derivatives of the features attached to the image objects, thus providing up-to-date information on the state of observed forests.

Network Analysis to Determine the Optimal Route for Firefighters in Makassar City

Makassar city experiences many residential fire disasters during the last years. One of the causes of fires is difficult to overcome due to the firefighters’ late response. The number of fires occurred due to the ineffectiveness of the fire fighting road, obstructed by traffic conditions, in its operation. Developing a geospatial route analysis can help firefighters quickly find the best route to a fire point to overcome this problem. Geospatial route analysis is currently a key role in emergency responses for urban fire disasters. A routing system can provide network analysis that allows users to navigate between source and destination points. In this case, the system can help firefighters to arrive as quickly as possible. On complicated road networks, some impedance factors would slow down drivers on a particular road. This study aims to provide firefighters from the base stations to residential fire disaster locations. The method used in the studies is Dijkstra’s algorithms to calculate weights of the impedance factors to optimal routing based on length of the road, speed drive, and traffic conditions. Implementation of routing analysis using open source geospatial software, PostgreSQL as database management system with PostGIS, and pgrouting as extensions. The modeling results show that the optimal route selection with speed parameters based on road classification has a low weight value. Therefore, it can be used as a reference for selecting a firefighter’s routing.

Urban Flood Modeling Application: Assess the Effectiveness of Building Regulation in Coping with Urban Flooding Under Precipitation Uncertainty

This research evaluates the effectiveness of planning and building regulations in coping with urban flooding under different precipitation scenarios. Accordingly, the study simulated seven alternative scenarios considering the variations of precipitation, plot coverage regulations, and Low Impact Development (LID) options. The study utilized open-source geospatial software to model different surface runoff scenarios. Then the effectiveness of those seven alternatives was assessed by utilizing the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique to evaluate their sustainability in urban design. The results revealed that the plot coverage regulations are effective in managing floods during average rainfall events, and LID-based infrastructure solutions are effective during moderate rainfall events. Nevertheless, none of these solutions were solely adequate during extreme rainfall events. Regardless of the response to extreme rainfall occurrences, the practitioners’ opinion was in favour of green roof adoption and plot coverage regulation considering their effectiveness in managing more frequent average rainfall events, and the overall sustainability in maintaining the balance of urban hydrological pathways. Accordingly, the findings of the study can be utilized as a guide to the decision-making process in urban planning and design, and to formulate sustainable planning regulations and guidelines to cope with urban flooding under the precipitation uncertainty.

GeoClimate: a Geospatial processing toolbox for environmental and climate studies

Human activities induce changes on land use and land cover. These changes are most significant in urban areas where topographic features (e.g., building, road) affect the density of impervious surface areas and introduce a range of urban morphological patterns. Those characteristics impact the energy balance and modify the climate locally (e.g., inducing the so-called Urban Heat Island phenomenon). Therefore, there is a need for georeferenced morphological indicators as well as urban classifications (such as Local Climate Zones) that can be directly used for planning or as inputs of climate models. GeoClimate is dedicated to this purpose: it converts raw geographical data (OpenStreetMap and French BDTopo) into indicators useful for climate applications (sky view factor, vegetation fraction, etc.) However, its application is not limited to the climate field. The indicators calculated in GeoClimate can also be used for other diagnostic or planning purposes: studying the territory fragmentation, the influence of the urban fabric on pollution (noise or air chemical transport), the energy consumption, etc. GeoClimate is available as free and open source geospatial software.

GIS Open-Source Plugins Development: A 10-Year Bibliometric Analysis on Scientific Literature

The advent of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) has changed the way people think and interact with the world. The main objectives of this paper are: (i) to provide an overview of 10 years (2010–2020) regarding the creation/development of GIS open-source applications; and (ii) to evaluate the GIS open-source plugins for environmental science. In the first objective, we evaluate the publications regarding the development of GIS open-source geospatial software in the last 10 years, considering desktop, web GIS and mobile applications, so that we can analyze the impact of this type of application for different research areas. In the second objective, we analyze the development of GIS open-source applications in the field of environmental sciences (with more focus on QGIS plugins) in the last 10 years and discuss the applicability and usability of these GIS solutions in different environmental domains. A bibliometric analysis was performed using Web of Science database and VOSViewer software. We concluded that, in general, the development of GIS open-source applications has increased in the last 10 years, especially GIS mobile applications, since the big data and Internet of Things (IoT) era, which was expected given the new advanced technologies available in every area, especially in GIS.

Progress in the R ecosystem for representing and handling spatial data

Twenty years have passed since Bivand and Gebhardt (J Geogr Syst 2(3):307–317, 2000. https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00011460) indicated that there was a good match between the then nascent open-source R programming language and environment and the needs of researchers analysing spatial data. Recalling the development of classes for spatial data presented in book form in Bivand et al. (Applied spatial data analysis with R. Springer, New York, 2008, Applied spatial data analysis with R, 2nd edn. Springer, New York, 2013), it is important to present the progress now occurring in representation of spatial data, and possible consequences for spatial data handling and the statistical analysis of spatial data. Beyond this, it is imperative to discuss the relationships between R-spatial software and the larger open-source geospatial software community on whose work R packages crucially depend.

Acceptance of open source geospatial software: Assessing QGIS in South Africa with the UTAUT2 model

AbstractGeospatial information and technologies are widely used in South Africa, initially mostly with proprietary software but today, mature, open source alternatives such as QGIS are available. We wanted to find out if and why South African users accepted QGIS, globally the most widely used free and open source GIS. We adapted the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model to test several hypotheses regarding the acceptance and use of QGIS in South Africa. 205 registered members of the Geo‐Information Society of South Africa completed a structured questionnaire. Results show that habit has the most significant influence on behavioural intention to use QGIS, followed by facilitating conditions, price value and social influence. Performance expectancy, effort expectancy, hedonic motivation and access to source code played no significant role. The findings show that adoption of QGIS in South Africa is not primarily influenced by benefits attributed to open source software, such as cost benefits, customizability, improved reliability, quality and security. The results are useful for developers of any GIS product and for choosing a GIS product for an organization, because they provide insight into the behavioural intentions of users.

EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT ON MOBILE SPATIAL DATA COLLECTION USING OPEN SOURCE GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGIES

Abstract. Mobile spatial data collection is one of the major tasks carried out under the United Nations (UN) to quantify targets of various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Even though there are readily available proprietary solutions to ease mobile spatial data collection, there is often limited educational resources that rely on Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G). The ongoing efforts of UN OSGeo Committee are to satisfy the requirements of UN operations in terms of identifying and developing open source geospatial software and services. The aim of this paper is to describe and discuss the educational material (tutorial) that is prepared to address the 2019 UN OSGeo Committee Educational Challenge entitled ‘Open geospatial data and software for UN SDG 16, Peace justice and open institution’. The educational material utilised various technologies, including QGIS, QField, PostgreSQL/PostGIS and NodeJS, by relying on a simple mobile spatial data collection scenario, which is collecting information about trees. The scenario serves as an analogy for many different UN operations that might fall under SDG 16, such as interviews with a victim or a vulnerable person or estimating to what extent decision-making is inclusive and responsive. The developed educational material addresses some of the practical requirements of mobile spatial data collection, including handling multiple users, offline data collection, attaching photos to recorded events, editing of spatial features in the field and displaying the collected data on the internet using Heroku. Even though the educational material intends to be self-explanatory, quantitative and qualitative measures are needed to evaluate its efficacy. Therefore, a group of geomatics engineering students were trained with the educational material and their feedbacks were collected through a satisfaction questionnaire as well as the completion time of the tutorial. The outcomes of this paper will be useful in terms of guiding researchers and practitioners who develop online educational material, especially in the geospatial domain.

A classification technique for local multivariate clusters and outliers of spatial association

AbstractThe detection of spatial clusters and outliers is critical to a number of spatial data analysis techniques. Many techniques embed spatial clustering components with the aim of exploring spatial variability and patterns in a data set, caused by the spatial association that generally affects most spatial data. A frontier challenge in spatial data analysis is to extend techniques—originally designed for univariate analysis—to a multivariate context, in order to be able to cope with the increasing complexity and variety of modern spatial data. This article proposes an exploratory procedure to detect and classify clusters and outliers in a multivariate spatial data set. Cluster and outlier detection relies on recently introduced multivariate extensions of the well‐established local indicators of spatial association statistics. Two new indicators are proposed enabling the classification of multivariate clusters and outliers, not directly achievable with any already established technique. The procedure is fully implemented using free and open source geospatial software and libraries. The raw source code is made available for future reviews and replications. Empirical results from early applications on both synthetic and real spatial data are discussed. Advantages and limitations of the introduced procedure are outlined according to the empirical results.

Open Geospatial Software and Data: A Review of the Current State and A Perspective into the Future

All over the world, organizations are increasingly considering the adoption of open source software and open data. In the geospatial domain, this is no different, and the last few decades have seen significant advances in this regard. We review the current state of open source geospatial software, focusing on the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) software ecosystem and its communities, as well as three kinds of open geospatial data (collaboratively contributed, authoritative and scientific). The current state confirms that openness has changed the way in which geospatial data are collected, processed, analyzed, and visualized. A perspective on future developments, informed by responses from professionals in key organizations in the global geospatial community, suggests that open source geospatial software and open geospatial data are likely to have an even more profound impact in the future.

ACADEMIC TRACK OF FOSS4G 2019 BUCHAREST – THE ASYMPTOTIC CONNECTION BETWEEN SOFTWARE AND DATA: PREFACE

Abstract. FOSS4G stands for Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial. It is the flagship event of OSGeo. Each FOSS4G has its special aura, kindly designed by each Local Organising Committe, sharing the local culture and spirit with the greater community. In 2019, geo-spatial.org, the OSGeo Local Chapter of Romania, won the honour of organising the geospatial event of the year. FOSS4G 2019 was held in Bucharest (Romania), in three of the most important buildings of this city: National Theatre of Bucharest, InterContinental Hotel and Faculty of Geography from the University of Bucharest.Following the established tradition of FOSS4G conferences, at the 2019 edition, an Academic Track ran in parallel with the General Track. The main purpose of this track was to bring together researchers, teachers, developers, users and practitioners carrying out research activities in geospatial domains, with an emphasis on the open source solutions. All types of topics such as results achieved, case studies, work in progress, academic endeavours to conceptualize, assess or teach open source geospatial software and data, were welcomed. The Academic Committee discouraged prevalent presentations of technologies or use cases without properly justifying originality to the scientific state of the art, emphasizing on particular novelty.At this edition, 53 papers were submitted to the Academic Track. These were blind reviewed by 3 reviewers. Finally 38 scientific papers were selected for publication in this volume of the ISPRS Archives. The editors would like to thank all the authors, the members from the Scientific Committee and the Organizing Committee for their valuable contributions. We hope you enjoy reading the proceedings.

Open Source Geospatial Solution for Disseminating Green Park Information

Green parks and open spaces are indispensable parts of an urban environment as they play important roles in promoting public health, protecting natural ecosystems and improving socioeconomic conditions of the city dwellers. Hence, the information of green and open spaces in a city needs to be provided to its governing authority and people for better management and utilisation. WebGIS technology is capable of maintaining and disseminating green park information among its users over the web. The availability of open source geospatial software and tools made this technology more cost effective and acceptable to the user community. In present study an interactive and user friendly WebGIS enabled solution is developed for green parks of Kolkata city that facilitates city dwellers and decision makers to search and visualise green parks both on map and satellite image along with park information and ground photo. It is an easy deployable solution that helps in urban planning for creating new as well as preserving the existing green spaces.

An open source solution to a common collection problem: the Africa image and map portal

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the Africa image and map portal (AIMP) project’s origins and development, along with its applications to date. This paper includes methods and a step-by-step appendix so that the project can be reproduced at other institutions. Design/methodology/approach AIMP was created with a suite of free and open source software, including QGIS, Mapbox.js and GitHub. Built around the concept of an interactive index map, AIMP allows for geographic searching of maps, posters and images from Indiana University’s (IU) African Studies collections. This paper presents a case study for the use of this geographic discovery tool at an academic library. Findings AIMP has allowed comparison of collection strengths with research interests of IU African Studies affiliates and to make strategic collection development decisions that will best serve the authors’ patrons. The instruction applications of AIMP are also full of potential. To date, the Librarian for African Studies has used the portal to familiarize faculty, as well as undergraduate and graduate students, with the range of image and map resources available to them, in a variety of settings. Social implications AIMP allows researchers around the world to discover materials through a geographic search, dramatically connecting and increasing access to and discoverability of these important collections. The use of free and open source geospatial software (foss4g) means that the interface does not rely on an institution’s proprietary software-licensing agreements, making it replicable for other institutions. This use of foss4g widens access to maps, spatial data, images and posters of Africa held by IUL to a global audience. Originality/value While interactive index maps are popular among map libraries, AIMP uniquely acts as a discovery portal for a variety of media, including images and posters. In this way, AIMP works to overcome institutional silos and increase discoverability of these important collections to a global audience.

Cartoforum – A Map-Based Discussion Forum with Applications in the Planning of Cycle Lanes, Community Food Gardens and Campus Sustainability

Map-based discussion forums can be used for crowdsourcing people’s ideas and opinions with respect to public planning processes. Their volunteered geographic information consists of text and other media that are linked to geographic features. Building on the concept of argumentation mapping, Cartoforum was developed using the Boundless geostack, an open-source geospatial software package. We present the software architecture and functionality along with three pilot studies covering cycle lane planning in Toronto, Canada; community garden site-selection in the Toronto region; and campus sustainability at the University of Kerala, India. Together, the pilot studies demonstrate the utility of argumentation mapping and illustrate the range of its potential applications in citizen participation.

Application of Open-Source Software in Community Heritage Resources Management

In this paper, we present a case study of community heritage resources investigation and management, which was a collaborative project conducted by researchers and participants from rural communities. Geotagged photos were obtained using smart phones, and 360-degree panoramas were acquired using a robotic camera system. These images were then uploaded to a web-based GIS (WebGIS) developed using Arches-Heritage Inventory Package (HIP), an open-source geospatial software system for cultural heritage inventory and management. By providing various tools for resources annotation, data exploration, mapping, geovisualization, and spatial analysis, the WebGIS not only serves as a platform for heritage resources database management, but also empowers the community residents to acquire, share, interpret, and analyze the data. The results show that this type of collaborative working model between researcher and community can promote public awareness of the importance of heritage conservation and achieve the research goal more effectively and efficiently.

UN OPEN GIS CAPACITY BUILDING

Abstract. The UN Open GIS Initiative is to identify and develop, under UN guidance, an Open Source GIS bundle that meets the requirements of UN operations, taking full advantage of the expertise of mission partners (partner nations, technology contributing countries, international organizations, academia, NGO’s, private sector). The project, started in 2016, is composed by 4 working groups. One of the working group is specifically related to Capacity Building, given its importance for the success of the project. UN Open GIS will be based on some existing open source geospatial software (packages and libraries) with many extensions specifically developed. The users of the platform will be the UN staff supporting with mapping and GIS the peacekeeping missions. Therefore, they are generally expert of this specific domain, even if they are currently using proprietary software. UN Open GIS Capacity Building is specifically thought for covering this gap, providing them the suitable background about open source geospatial software in general and the education tailored to the solution that has been being developed within the project itself.