GIS Sana Sini - Malaysia Geoportal

EstablishingQuantum GIS24BULETIN GEOSPATIAL Sektor Awam Edisi 2/2010BACKGROUNDThe Federal Department of Town and CountryPlanning, Peninsular Malaysia (JPBD) had longacknowledged the importance of capitalizing onthe benefits of Open Source Software (OSS) as faras 2002 and fully established its own server farmbased on OSS by 2004. The Malaysian PublicSector Open Source Master Plan came secondand was launched on 16.7.2004. It complimentsthe pioneer efforts made by JPBD.When JPBD migrated to a digitized environmentin the 80s, the use of proprietary software wasa norm as also with other public agencies. Inthe world of town and country planning, theGeographical Information System (GIS) is themost effective digital tool to transform hard copiesof geo-spatial work on town and country planninginto a digital format. In this respect, GIS withtown and country planning go hand-in-hand.Thus, it was common practice for JPBD to useproprietary GIS in the preparation of developmentplans for local planning authorities whomsubsequently also chose the similar GIS becauseit was convenient to retrieve or analyse that GISdata.As the majority of GIS applications throughoutthe world at the desktop level run on MicrosoftWindows, JPBD traditionally uses ESRI andMapInfo products. To compliment that, digitalinformation sourced from key agencies such aslocal planning agencies, state planningdepartments and the Survey and MappingDepartment (JUPEM) often came as shape ortab files. Although it would be ideal, JPBD did notset any policy when choosing a proprietary GISbecause that could be misconstrued as havingulterior motives. Thus, it was left to users todecide which they prefer. As GIS is a complextool to master, more often than not, GISprocurement was based on familiarity of use.Here, it was found that users usually preferredMapInfo when mapping was emphasized and themore established ESRI products when analysiswas concerned though from a cost point-ofview,MapInfo was more popular.In early 2009, the department was told theMinistry of Housing and Local Government(KPKT) in line with MAMPU’s Malaysian PublicSector Master Plan, was desirous of giving OSSpriority over proprietary software for alldepartments under its wing. KPKT’s seriousnessof adopting this policy saw OpenOffice.orginstalled as the office suite for new computersthroughout the Ministry beginning 2009. In theanticipation this move may eventually extendto the operating system, JPBD made a decisionto research on OSS GIS.OBJECTIVES1. To find a GIS application, if possible, that workson both Windows and the OSS platform. Thiswould help ease the transition from Windowsto the Open Source operating system;2. To find an OSS GIS that is user-friendly withfunctions and features similar to proprietaryGIS currently used by JPBD;3. To establish a de facto GIS for JPBD andhopefully extend it to relevant public agencies;and4. To reduce the spending of public funds for ICTinfrastructure in the Public Sector.QUANTUM GIS (QGIS)The Wikipedia list of GIS software found asmany as 14 OSS GIS. The best OSS GIS isarguably the Geographic Resources AnalysisSupport System (GRASS) developed by theU.S. Survey Department for the U.S. Military.While GRASS displays the real world situationthrough a 3-D GIS format, GIS applicationsused by JPBD use a 2 ½ D format. This meansintegration of JPBD’s GIS data with GRASSwould be messy and require a GRASS interfaceto synergize between the different formats. Tostart fresh JPBD’s GIS data with GRASS wouldbe tedious, time-consuming and expensive.Another minus point for GRASS is that it isheavy on script commands, therefore, not userfriendlyfor JPBD users whom are mainlynon-programmers.QGIS is a multi-platform application availableon different operating systems including Mac,Linux, Unix and Windows. It aims to be andusers will agree it is easy to install and use. Ithas a small file size, requires less RAM orprocessing power which makes it appropriateon older hardwares or running simultaneousother applications where CPUs power maybe limited. QGIS variety of analytical tools isgrowing with the development and enhancementof user-contributed plugins since QGIS is avolunteer driven project of the Open SourceGeo-spatial Foundation (OSGeo). QGIS wasestablished in 2002 and matured with the