GIS Sana Sini - Malaysia Geoportal

local plan hilly, the sensitive areas aroundhilly areas and highlands which requirespecial attention. Currently, there is no suchfree module which the department cancapitalize on. JPBD is confident the customplugin can be developed and hopes todistribute it to local planning authorities inan effort to intensify inter-government agencycollaboration, share knowledge and help eachother to save cost.2. QGIS User ManualThe preparation of a User Manual is thestarting point to train users and get themto appreciate and understand how to useQGIS. Since the launch of QGIS 1.4 inJanuary 2010, JPBD had been experimentingon the new capabilities of this version.A sketch QGIS User Manual tailored for thepreparation of landuse plan was prepared inApril 2010.3. QGIS training courseWith the completion of the QGIS User Manual,it is expected in-house training will beconducted from the 3rd quarter of the yearto JPBD Project Offices whom are given thetask to prepare development plans, later,to state planning departments. In future,training course may be extended to othergovernment agencies.LOOKING AHEADThe department plans to simplify in thedistribution of that plugin or upgrades byuploading it at the QGIS User-ContributedRepository. Through this approach, JPBD hopesto attract other public agencies to followsuit, develop their own plugins then share withother public agencies where as a team, can helpothers reduce their spending on analyticalmodules based on the plugins they uploaded.JPBD would like to implement a QGIS planningcolour plugin so that landuse shape or tabfiles will automatically display colours accordingto the landuse planning colour code asspecified in JPBD’s GIS Manual. This will putQGIS ahead of proprietary GIS since they donot provide that feature. If the QGIS plugin forhilly areas and highlands materializes, theResearch and Development Division is alsokeen extending the development of new pluginsto other Planning Guidelines.CONCLUSIONThe path towards Open Source is the innovativeway to problem-solving issues that offers freedomover proprietary software. It also offers benefitsin cost saving. QGIS represents a fine examplewhere public agencies can capitalize on a basicGIS without having to spend a cent and whereit is easy for the public sector to break-evenoverheads for custom plugins. It may be arguedthat the current QGIS has limited functionsand features in comparison to proprietary GIS.This is true. Then again, QGIS is still in its youthand must be given due time to improve just asproprietary GIS had. Unlike volunteer drivenQGIS, proprietary GIS have the advantage of ahealthy bank account to finance themselves andin favour of QGIS, it can be counter-argued that itis really unethical to question something for oneacquired free. It was gracious enough of the GISdeveloper to provide it free in the first place. Manypeople are also reluctant to support a particularapplication when there is a substitute they arefamiliar with as exemplified in the reluctant useof OpenOffice.org among public agencies.Adoption is also psychological because somepeople perceive free items as second class orinferior quality. At the end of the day, the matterof want or want not QGIS depends on whetherpeople can change from an individualistic to asharing mind-set because there lies the strengthof an OSS GIS.REFERENCE1. Free GIShttp://www.freegis.org/database/iewobj?obj=12112. Open Source GIShttp://opensourcegis.org3. Quantum GIS web sitehttp://www.qgis.org4. Source Forge: Quantum GIShttp://sourceforge.net/projects/qgis5. Wikipedia: Quantum GIShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qgis6. List of Geographical Information Systemssoftwaresen.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geographic_information_systems_software7. Eva Dodsworth, Quantum GIS Software:Appliation User ReviewThe GeoCommunity:Quantum GIS Software-Application User ReviewEstablishingQuantum GIS29BULETIN GEOSPATIAL Sektor Awam Edisi 2/2010