For users

Your Ubuntu Dapper is ready for daily, professional GIS work. Getting started it's just a matter of minutes. You easily install on your machine all the GIS applications listed below (in brackets the package name), through the Synaptic Package Manager or typing sudo apt-get install program-name from the command line, just like any other package.

UbuntuGIS on your desktop

• GRASS (grass) is a Geographic Information System (GIS) used for geospatial data management and analysis, image processing, graphics/maps production, spatial modeling, and visualization. GRASS is currently used in academic and commercial settings around the world, as well as by many governmental agencies and environmental consulting companies.

• QuantumGIS (qgis, qgis-plugin-grass) is a user friendly Open Source Geographic Information System (GIS) that supports vector, raster, and database formats. Some of the major features include:

  • Support for spatially enabled PostGIS tables
  • Support for shapefiles, Arc/Info coverages, Mapinfo, and other formats supported by OGR
  • Raster support for a large number of formats
  • Identify features
  • Display attribute tables
  • Select features

  • GRASS Digitizing (through qgis-plugin-grass)

  • Feature labeling

• Thuban (thuban) can read geographic data in the shapefile format. Main features of Thuban are the layer management and the possibility to navigate on the map, to control the visual appearance of objects, to identify and edit attributes by object selection and to print and export the resulting maps for further processing.

• GMT (gmt). GMT is a free, public-domain collection of ~60 UNIX tools that allow users to manipulate (x,y) and (x,y,z) data sets (including filtering, trend fitting, gridding, projecting, etc.) and produce Encapsulated PostScript File (EPS) illustrations ranging from simple x-y plots through contour maps to artificially illuminated surfaces and 3-D perspective views in black and white, gray tone, hachure patterns, and 24-bit color.

GPS tools

There are various tools for handlign GPS data and communicating with your GPS device. They have different purposes and you may need one or more of them to get your work done. You might want to try some of them before choosing the one's right for you.

• GPSBabel (gpsbabel) converts waypoints, tracks, and routes from one format to another, whether that format is a common mapping format like Delorme, Streets and Trips, or even a serial upload or download to a GPS unit such as those from Garmin and Magellan. GPSBabel supports dozens of data formats and will be useful for tasks such as geocaching, mapping, and converting from one GPS unit to another. Among the interesting formats it supports are several GPS devices via a serial link, various PDA-based mapping programs, and various Geocaching data formats.

• gpx2shp (gpx2shp) converts GPS or GPX file to ESRI/Shape file. Includes the tools gps2shp and gpx2shp. These are very useful when using collected GPS points with existing GIS tools like qgis and GRASS. Please note that recent versions os QGIS handle nicely GPX files.

• gpsd (gpsd, gpsd-clients) is a userland daemon acting as a liaison between a GPS or Loran-C receiver and clients. The receiver is expected to generate position information as NMEA-0183 sentences, or Rockwell binary format, although that can be changed. gpsd listens on port 2947 for clients requesting position, time, velocity or altitude information. gpsd can take information from the GPS and translate it into something easier to understand for clients.

• Gps Drive (gpsdrive) is a car (bike, ship, plane) navigation system. Gps Drive displays your position provided from your NMEA capable GPS receiver on a zoomable map, the map file is autoselected depending of the position and preferred scale. Speech output is supported if the "festival" software is running. The maps are autoselected for best resolution depending of your position. All Garmin GPS reveiver with a serial output should be usable, also other GPS receiver which supports NMEA protocol.

• GPS Manager (gpsman) is a graphical manager of GPS data that makes possible the preparation, inspection and edition of GPS data in a friendly environment. GPSMan supports communication and real-time logging with both Garmin and Lowrance receivers and accepts real-time logging information in NMEA 0183 from any GPS receiver.

Other tools

• AVCE00 (avce00) is a C library and group of tools that makes Arcinfo (binary) Vector Coverages appear as E00. It allows you to read and write binary coverages just as if they were E00 files.

• E00compr (e00compr) is an ANSI C library that reads and writes Arc/Info compressed E00 files. Both "PARTIAL" and "FULL" compression levels are supported. E00 files are the vector import/export format for Arc/Info. It is plain ASCII and is meant as an interchange format. ESRI considers the format to be proprietary, so this package may not read all E00 files as ESRI may change the format. This package is useful for importing E00 files into the GRASS GIS system.

Web GIS

• Mapserver (cgi-mapserver, mapserver-bin, perl-mapscript, php4-mapscript, php5-mapscript, python-mapscript) is an Open Source development environment for building spatially-enabled internet applications. Mapserver is not a full-featured GIS system, nor does it aspire to be. Instead, Mapserver excels at rendering spatial data (maps, images, and vector data) for the web. The Mapserver system includes Mapscript that allows popular scripting languages such as :

  • PHP provided by php4-mapscript and php5-mapscript
  • Python provided by python-mapscript.
  • Perl provided by perl-mapscript.
  • Java not provided actualy by those packages.

Under the hood : libraries

• GDAL/OGR (libgdal1c2a, python-gdal) is a translator library for raster geospatial data formats. As a library, it presents a single abstract data model to the calling application for all supported formats. It also comes with a variety of useful commandline utilities for data translation and processing. It is used by most of the applications above

• GEOS (libgeos2c2a) (Geometry Engine - Open Source) is a C++ port of the Java Topology Suite (JTS). As such, it aims to contain the complete functionality of JTS in C++. This includes all the OpenGIS "Simple Features for SQL" spatial predicate functions and spatial operators, as well as specific JTS topology functions such as Isvalid().

• PROJ.4 (proj) Cartographic Projections Library, originally written by Gerald Evenden then of the USGS.

• Terralib (libterralib1c2a) enables quick development of custom-built geographical applications using spatial databases. As a research tool, Terralib is aimed at providing a rich and powerful environment for the development of GIS research, enabling the development of GIS prototypes that include new concepts such as spatio-temporal data models, geographical ontologies and advanced spatial analysis techniques. Terralib defines a geographical data model and provides support for this model over a range of different DBMS (MySQL, PostgreSQL, ORACLE and ACCESS), and is implemented as a library of C++ classes and functions, written in ANSI-C++.

Current software versions

For developers and packagers

Here suggestions and software lists for making Ubuntu a professional first-choice GIS environment should be collected. Don't forget OGC compliance ([http://www.opengis.org Open Geospatial Consortium]) as it is the most important point for FLOSS in the geospatial field.

GIS software is used in a wide variety of businesses, ranging from waterworks over dispatch centers to archeologists, the target is, to build a nice platform for these people and to make ubuntu attractive to GIS ISVs.

There exists a [http://pkg-grass.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl Debian-GIS project]. Most packages shouldn't be hard to build from their sources. Packaging new software or updating existing packages should be coordinated with this project to not duplicate efforts.

Please add software suggestions here or express your will to participate.

Launchpad UbuntuGIS team

If you want to help and contribute, check out the Launchpad UbuntuGIS team page [https://launchpad.net/people/ubuntugis] where users can get in touch in a collaborative way, share ideas, make proposals.

Debian packages

Here are packages that are already in Debian repositories, or are being worked by the DebianGIS project.

Currently in Debian

• [http://xml.apache.org/batik/ Batik] - SVG toolkit. Possibly more for development

• [http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/mapserver-bin Mapserver]

Packaged but currently only in Debian-GIS repository

• [http://www.vividsolutions.com/jts/jtshome.htm jts] - Java Topology Suite is a Java API of 2D spatial predicates and functions -

• [http://www.jump-project.org/ jump] - Java Unified Mapping Platform (JUMP) is a GUI-based application for viewing and processing spatial data -

• [http://postgis.refractions.net/ postgis] - GIS extension for PostgreSQL

Packages been worked on in the Debian-GIS project

If you wanna help please write to the Debian-GIS mailing list.

• [http://deegree.sourceforge.net/ Deegree] - Java framework for OGC Services

• [http://deegree.sourceforge.net/ iGeoPortal] - needs deegree

• [http://www.hydrologis.com/html/jgrass/jgrass_en.html JGrass] - Java based framework for the GRASS Geographic Information System

Packaged but not in official Debian

• [http://www.terrainengine.com/ Demeter] - C++ library that renders 3D terrains using OpenGL. Debian packages [http://lpnotfr.free.fr/debianpkgs.shtml here].

• [http://www.arq.net/%7Ekasten/demtools/ Demtools] - 3d landscapes to VRML

• [http://gpspoint.dnsalias.net/gpspoint2/download/debian/ gpspoint] - program to get position, down and up-load Waypoints, Routes and Tracks from your GPs to your Computer. -

Currently not packaged

These are wanted pieces of software that have not been packaged. Please try to provide some "score" to them so that it's easier to understand which ones are most important.

• [http://www.ping.com.au/ 3map] - Free geospatial virtual reality engine

• [http://www.zalf.de/home_samt-lsa/parser/parser.html APR Parser] - Arcview 3.x project file parser

• [http://avce00.maptools.org/avce00/ AVCE00]

• [http://kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/buddyspace/ Buddyspace] - IM with GIS stuff

• [http://www.cgal.org/ CGAL] - Computational Geometry Algorithms Library. [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=251885 Debian bug].

• [http://www.dmsolutions.ca/technology/chameleon.html Chameleon] - mapping of some kind. looks good. BSD style licence

• [http://mapbuilder.sourceforge.net/ Community mapbuilder] - allows communities to build maps

• [http://dcmms.sourceforge.net/ DCMMS] - water managerment app

• [http://www.cs.arizona.edu/icon/oddsends/dlgvu/ dlgvu] - dlg map viewer -

• [http://www.rinners.de/edbs/ atkis/edbs] - data and viewer. German only

• [http://e-foto.sourceforge.net/index-e.html efoto] - Educational Digital Photogrammetric Workstation

• [http://sourceforge.net/projects/fmaps/ fmaps] - mapping app

• [http://fulcrum.traversetechnologies.com/ fulcrum] - Java network mapping library

• [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/anton.helm/garnix.html garnix] - interface with garmin gps

• [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/anton.helm/garnix.html geo] - coordinate conversion tool

• [http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/gdas/gx_announce.Html geodas] - NOAA app (license? source?)

• [http://geoserver.sourceforge.net/html/index.php geoserver] - java gis server - [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=283409]

• [http://www.geotools.org/ geotools] - Java GIS toolkit

• [http://gistoolkit.sourceforge.net/ gistoolkit] - Java Gis toolkit

• [http://gml4j.sourceforge.net/ gml4j] - the Java API for facilitating work with Geography Markup Language (GML)

• [http://www.mgix.com/gps3d/ gps3d] - Opengl visualization - [http://lists.debian.org/debian-wnpp/2005/01/msg00097.html]

• [http://grads.iges.org/grads/ grads] - matlab-style scientific analysis tool for geographical data

• [http://www.gstat.org/ gstat] - multivariable geostatistical modelling, prediction and simulation

• [http://cancerbero.unalmed.edu.co/~hidrosig/ingles/ hidrosig]

• [http://www.seismology.harvard.edu/%7Ebecker/igmt/ igmt]

• [http://www.crseo.ucsb.edu/%7Eipw2/ ipw] - image processing workbench

• [http://www.nsstc.uah.edu/ivics/ ivics] - visualization tool to facilitate selection of training samples from satellite images

• [http://jgridshift.sourceforge.net/index.html jgridshift] - software for NTv2 transformation

• [http://www.mindspring.com/%7Ejamoyers/kdem/ kdem] - United States Geological Survey (USGS) Digital Elevation Models (DEMs)

• [http://www.mapbender.org/ mapbender] - WebGIS

• [http://mapyrus.sourceforge.net/ mapryus] - line drawing program

• [http://www.mobilemaps.com/download/download.html mobilemaps] - "local" search engine

• [http://www.nrdb.co.uk/ nrdb] - Natural resources database

• [http://ogdi.sourceforge.net/ ogdi] - Open Geographic Datastore Interface

• [http://openev.sourceforge.net/ openEV] - library and reference app for viewing data

• [http://www.ossim.org/tiki-index.php OSSIM] - System for remote sensing, image processing , geographical information systems and photogrammetry

• [http://plonemap.makina-corpus.org/ plonemap] - mapping for plone

• [http://www.primagis.fi/ primagis] - Collaborative web mapping application for Plone. PrimaGIS builds on top of Mapserver, Python Cartographic Library (PCL) and Cartographic Objects for Zope (ZCO).

• [http://www.saga-gis.org/ saga-gis] - System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses - both an extensive GIS API (C++) and a userfriendly GUI especially useful for raster-analyses

To support mapserver

• Mapserver workbench - [http://msworkbench.sourceforge.net/]

• Mapsools (who actually put out mapserver) [http://www.maptools.org/]

• ka-Map - maps.google style - [http://ka-map.maptools.org/]

Spatial MySQL extension

• [http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/spatial-extensions-in-mysql.html]

Need commercial app

• Avpython - for Arcgis - [http://gisdeveloper.tripod.com/avpython.html]

• gen2shp - for arcinfo - [http://intevation.de/%7Ejan/gen2shp/]

HOWTOs on building development versions

Here you find various links to other websites, repositories and wiki pages with details on the package-building or source-compiling for some of the most popular GIS applications. This is mainly of interest for those who want to try development (unstable) versions of software. Try at you risk.

Repositories

At the repository [http://www.orcaware.com/packages/ubuntu/] many GIS packages can be found, that work on Dapper and Breezy. Just ad the following lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://www.orcaware.com/packages/ubuntu/ breezy/
deb-src http://www.orcaware.com/packages/ubuntu/ breezy/

Note these are i386 only. Also try using the Dapper repositories first as several of these packages are now available there.

The DebianGIS project also builds from time to time some packages of useful CVS applications. GRASS 6.1cvs is one of them, and it's important because it differs slightly from the 6.0.2 version, though being as stable as it.

Other useful reference

http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/drupal/node/96

Here are detailed instructions on how to build a complete GIS working environment on a Debian-based GNU/Linux system. Works well on Ubuntu, too.

PostGIS tutorials

• http://postgis.refractions.net/support/wiki/index.php?PostgisOnUbuntu · John Taber wrote this good howto recently, so it should be quite easy to install from source the very latest version of PostGIS (even CVS!).

• http://www.stambouliote.de/projects/howto_postgis.html

• http://fsiu.uwc.ac.za/gis/index.php?module=wiki&action=wikilink&pagename=PostGisInstallUbuntu

Quantum GIS (QGIS) tutorials and packages

["BuildingQuantumGisFromSource"] · This good and detailed HOWTO deals with compiling QuantumGIS on Ubuntu making the very best use of packages for all dependancies. Works for the SVN version, too!

Trial Ubuntu packages from current SVN version ( tested only with Dapper):

• http://qgis.org/uploadfiles/

Packages in the above directory are date marked so just pick the most recent one.

Useful links

• [http://opensourcegis.org/] this seems to be an exhaustive list of apps. But I am not a GIS person

• [http://pkg-grass.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?DebianGis] - Debian GIS group

• [http://software.geocomm.com/translators/] file format translators

• GISKnoppix - [http://www.sourcepole.com/sources/software/gis-knoppix/]

• OReilly Net article [http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2005/06/10/osgeospatial.html]

• UbuntuGIS Project on AVOIR [http://avoir.uwc.ac.za/projects/ubuntugis/]

• [http://www.freegis.org/] is a complete database of free gis/cartography/gps projects

Questions / FAQ

Since I don't wanna contact the developers directly I put some questions here:

• Do you just repackage the DebianGIS packages?
• When will the packages that are in the DebianGIS repository be available in Ubuntu?
• Can I install DebianGIS packages on Ubuntu?

["CategoryMOTU"]