GIS Sana Sini - Malaysia Geoportal

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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
elease of the stable QGIS 1.0 Kore in January2009. Community support is vital for Open Sourceand to channel this support, QGIS has a blog,forum, user mailing list and Internet relay chat(IRC) channel to provide access to help andadvice. Being available in over 30 differentlanguages also led to its fast growth. The currentversion launched in Jan 2010 is QGIS 1.4Enceladus. The choice of OSS GIS eventuallycame down to QGIS because:1. QGIS is available in both Windows and OSSplatform. This makes it an excellent choice toencourage a gradual transition from Windowsto the OSS operating system;2. QGIS looks alike and operates similarly inboth Windows and OSS versions. This reducesthe need to re-learn the ropes when migratingQGIS from Windows to the OSS operatingsystem;JPBD research and development onQGIS showed that:1. The installation of QGIS 1.0.1 on an Ubuntu8.0.4 Pentium IV computer proved successfulinclusive of downloading plugins fromexternal repositories with the aid of theQGIS Python Package Installer. Theinstallation of QGIS 1.0.1 on a Windows XPPentium IV computer proved successfulbut faced problems in uploading the QGISPython Package Installer. That made itdifficult, if not impossible to downloadplugins.2. A change for the better came when QGIS1.0.2 was released on 13.5.2009. Theinstallation of both versions of QGIS 1.0.23. QGIS web site offers fast, reliable and easilyaccessible downloads;4. QGIS has an active and responsivecommunity support;5. QGIS actively updates to improve versionsand this is a promising sign;6. QGIS is available for the Linux Ubuntuoperating system already installed on anumber of office computers. This meansbetter integration between the two;7. GRASS modules are inter-changeable withQGIS. There are over 300 GRASS modulesavailable to choose from; and8. QGIS is easy, simple to use and user-friendly.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geographic_information_systems_softwareproved successfully on the Ubuntu 8.0.4Pentium IV computer and the Windows XPPentium IV computer. The QGIS PythonPackage Installer came as a default packageand now made possible the downloadingof plugins. On the Windows platform, theadditional installation of Microsoft C++Runtime Libraries 2005 and 2008 arerequired.3. As MIMOS Prisma computers and MIMOSCL-51 notebooks are used by the staff, testswere carried on spare units to determinewhether QGIS could run on these hardware.It was found that the MIMOS Prismacomputer was incompatible with both Ubuntu8.0.4 and Ubuntu 9.0.4. Nevertheless,QGIS ran smoothly on the MIMOS CL-51notebook installed with Ubuntu 8.0.4.EstablishingQuantum GIS25BULETIN GEOSPATIAL Sektor Awam Edisi 2/2010The buffering toolcan be a usefultool for landacquisition.
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