All, I’ve been having these same sorts of thoughts for a couple of years or so. The local gov infrastructure seems like the right customer base to insert a providers model into.
bobb > On Jun 11, 2015, at 3:43 PM, Randal Hale <rjh...@northrivergeographic.com> > wrote: > > I've contemplated the same thing. I've been working on an openforestry > template (which I'm failing to update on github) for that very reason (well > two - to see if I could do it and because I want to provide an alternative). > > It's doable - it's just finding a coalition of the willing to start piecing > it together. ESRI does have a lock with all those models: small government, > utilities, forestry. Everyone gets roped in and then they get stuck. My > current shaking my head moment is the ESRI Parcel Fabric model. You get so > deep into that one on just the conversion work you'll never get out of it > cleanly (I assume - I've never tried). > > QGIS is the desktop component to make that happen with a database backend > (right now for me it's postgresql/postgis). Support is the next biggie - > people want someone to call and yell at when it doesn't work. > > My .02 cents, > Randy > > On 06/11/2015 04:28 PM, Steve G wrote: >> I am not sure this is the correct forum for a start to this discussion, but >> I've been pondering this for a while and interested what others think. I >> work for local government in the U.S. and when people generally talk about >> GIS there is no doubt an automatic association with the ESRI ArcGIS >> platform. And beyond GIS itself, the dominance that ESRI has is even more >> pronounced given the fact that many cities have implemented other related >> systems (permitting, computer aided dispatch, etc) that are identified >> business partners with ESRI. Furthermore, the "GIS Local Government" track >> that ESRI developed has evolved to offer an "turnkey" approach for local >> government self-service to establish a robust geodatabase (Local Government >> Information Model), maps, apps, web services, etc. This extends a COTS >> approach for local governments to establish, develop, and maintain a fairly >> complete GIS. In my opinion, pure genius...because for a lot of small >> cities/governments with limited staff and budget, the turnkey approach is >> very appealing. For city bureaucrats thinking about implementing/extending >> GIS, what they might think as little $$$ and you get all of this? >> Awesome...here's my money. >> >> HOWEVER, this approach has its drawbacks. Long-term license/use costs, >> vendor lock-in, continuous waiting for someone at the company to fix >> something....well, the list goes on (just read any blog post supporting open >> source/FOSS). >> >> So, with the evolution of QGIS as a prevailing replacement/alternative for >> the other product, is anyone thinking about building more of a turnkey >> approach (database, maps, apps, web services, etc) geared to local >> governments? I like the direction of the OpenGeo platform (and others) >> trying to provide the whole software stack, but still if a small local >> government wants to have a full fledged interactive GIS, it might seem like >> a lot of work to develop and maintain. >> >> I am interested in other thoughts...perhaps this belongs on a blog post >> somewhere more independent, but perhaps this can be a place to begin. >> >> Steve G. >> >> >> >> -- >> View this message in context: >> http://osgeo-org.1560.x6.nabble.com/Local-Government-for-QGIS-tp5210489.html >> Sent from the Quantum GIS - User mailing list archive at Nabble.com. >> _______________________________________________ >> Qgis-user mailing list >> Qgis-user@lists.osgeo.org >> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-user > > -- > ----------------- > Randal Hale > North River Geographic Systems, Inc > http://www.northrivergeographic.com > 423.653.3611 rjh...@northrivergeographic.com > twitter:rjhale http://about.me/rjhale > http://www.northrivergeographic.com/introduction-to-quantum-gis > Southeast OSGEO: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Southeast_US > > _______________________________________________ > Qgis-user mailing list > Qgis-user@lists.osgeo.org > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-user _______________________________________________ Qgis-user mailing list Qgis-user@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-user
