MapGuide Open Source

24 March 2006 Geoff Zeiss

March 7, 2006 was a big day for the geospatial community, because that was when Bob Bray, MapGuide Technical Architect at Autodesk, hit the switch that released MapGuide Open Source to the Open Source Geospatial Foundation ( http://mapguide.osgeo.org .)

There are several reasons why I see this as an important milestone for the geospatial IT community.  First it shows a serious commitment by a major geospatial vendor to the Open Source Geospatial Foundation and to the wider open source community.   The code that was released on that day represents many person years of development effort by Autodesk engineers.

Next generation web mapping

MapGuide OS introduces theNew_engineering_design_process_schematic_12

next generation of web mapping.  For those people whose vision of the future foresees field staff at utilities, telcos, and other organizations responsible for maintaining network infrastructure empowered to take responsibility for the facilities database, MapGuide OS represents the platform on which these solutions can be built.  I would go so far as to draw an analogy with Web 2.0.  Web 1.0 is about publishing, which is what MapGuide 6.x, MapServer, and web mapping products from other geospatial vendors are about.   The item in Tim O’Reilly’s list (What is Web 2.0 ? ) that really brought this home is

               Web 1.0        Web 2.0

           publishing –> participation

MapGuide Open Source is about enabling participation where the people in the field will be able not only to view and markup, but also to update spatial, attribute, and connectivity data from a handheld in the field.

If you want to see some early, but exciting,  MapGuide OS sample applications, go to MapGuide OS Sample Apps .  These examples include DWF and AJAX clients and how to link MapGuide to Google Earth.

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss has more than 20 years experience in the geospatial software industry and 15 years experience developing enterprise geospatial solutions for the utilities, communications, and public works industries. His particular interests include the convergence of BIM, CAD, geospatial, and 3D. In recognition of his efforts to evangelize geospatial in vertical industries such as utilities and construction, Geoff received the Geospatial Ambassador Award at Geospatial World Forum 2014. Currently Geoff is Principal at Between the Poles, a thought leadership consulting firm. From 2001 to 2012 Geoff was Director of Utility Industry Program at Autodesk Inc, where he was responsible for thought leadership for the utility industry program. From 1999 to 2001 he was Director of Enterprise Software Development at Autodesk. He received one of ten annual global technology awards in 2004 from Oracle Corporation for technical innovation and leadership in the use of Oracle. Prior to Autodesk Geoff was Director of Product Development at VISION* Solutions. VISION* Solutions is credited with pioneering relational spatial data management, CAD/GIS integration, and long transactions (data versioning) in the utility, communications, and public works industries. Geoff is a frequent speaker at geospatial and utility events around the world including Geospatial World Forum, Where 2.0, MundoGeo Connect (Brazil), Middle East Spatial Geospatial Forum, India Geospatial Forum, Location Intelligence, Asia Geospatial Forum, and GITA events in US, Japan and Australia. Geoff received Speaker Excellence Awards at GITA 2007-2009.

View article by Geoff Zeiss

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