Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Trying Open Source GIS with a LiveCD
Another option for giving OSGIS a spin is one of the many
LiveCDs. These allow you to boot your computer from CD into
a Linux system that is preloaded with applications you can use
without having to install anything.
You can choose from a number of GIS LiveCDs, but you need
to make sure your choice contains fairly recent versions of soft-
ware. For a LiveCD that attempts to provide the latest versions,
check out the Ominiverdi offering.
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2.6
Integration of Tools
Rarely will you find one OSGIS application that meets all your needs.
In fact, if you do, you're in the minority. An OSGIS toolkit composed of
several applications will provide a much more powerful and complete
system. Now you're thinking, “Oh, great, I have to learn a whole bunch
of new programs to do anything with this stuff.” In reality, we'll show
you how to get started without a huge learning curve. For those of you
already up to speed on GIS and tools, we'll provide that deeper view
you're looking for to fill out a complete toolkit.
How Do We Integrate?
The plain fact is that integration is largely up to you. Typically you'll
end up with a loosely coupled set of tools, sometimes bound together
with scripts or other glue. This shouldn't be interpreted to mean that we
are creating a kludge, but rather putting our tools neatly in the toolkit
Kludge: A program or
system that has been
poorly (perhaps sloppily)
assembled)
and making them play nicely together.
Some tools integrate nicely, and the situation is improving all the time.
Consider Quantum GIS (QGIS) and GRASS integration. The GRASS
plugin allows you to access a large number of GRASS functions through
the QGIS interface.
Another form of integration is using programming language bindings so
that you can access the application functionality in Ruby, Python, Perl,
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