Open Source GIS

This Thursday, April 22nd at 7PM in Dreese Labs 305, Jesse Amundsen, a student in the Physics and Geology department at Northern Kentucky University, will discuss the current state of open source geographic information systems (GIS). This will include a brief introduction to the components, functions, and uses of a GIS followed by an exploration of current open source offerings and how they compare to the current proprietary powerhouse that is ESRI’s ArcGIS. Some open source software projects such as GRASS, GDAL, libLAS, and the adoption of spatial database extensions will be covered in more depth. A research project that is using exclusively open source software to delineate landslides in the Cincinnati metropolitan area will be presented. The talk will conclude with a demonstration of how to access public LiDAR and aerial imagery data for the state of Ohio and how to load it into an open source GIS.