[Freegis-list] relationship between Open Source GIS and open standards

[James Macgill]

Bart van den Eijnden wrote:

> Hi list,
>
> I was wondering why there is such a strong link between Open Source 
> GIS  and open standards, such as the OGC standards. Some of the 
> reasons I could  think of are:
>
> -OGC often uses Open Source projects as their reference 
> implementation  (Deegree for WMS, Geoserver for WFS, Deegree for CS-W)

Thats not a driver as these projects were well established and using OGC
interfaces long before the Reference Implementation effort.

>
> -Open Source projects sometimes start without having a native 
> interface,  so when they are in search of an interface they are more 
> likely to end up  implementing open standard interfaces

Yes, that is a big part of it but I can also you another... It solves /
prevents arguments.

The GeoTools project (the library project behind GeoServer and uDIG) is
modeled very closely on the OGC specifications.  With a distributed
devlopment group with many different backgrounds havning an 'authority'
to point at can be very helpful.  There are often many different ways of
doing the same thing, and deciding which is the 'right' way can be very
very time consuming (arguments go round in circles) so having a
'standard' to code towards can keep a large group of developers together
and going in the same direction.  Less of an inssue in the closed source
world where a boss can say - we are going to do it 'this way' - and the
team will follow.

There are two other points I would add...

1 Completness.  The OGC standards are written with input from a large
number of individuals and companies with a wide range of requirements.
Whilst they won't cover EVERY situation they do tend to cover more than
indiviual developers will think of up front.

2 Migration.  an Open Source project can say to a potential client 'Use
our project and if dosn't work out, or if our tools are not
fast/stable/functional enough for you then you can switch, at any time,
to the products from comercial vendor X, Y or Z.  We all use the same
standards so try us out for free and feel safe that you can switch over
easily if things go wrong'.  i.e. it takes some of the fear out of using
an open source project if you know that it follows a standard and that
it can be replaced with other tools that follow the same standard.  Of
course the hope is that the client will never make the switch...

James