Free and open source software for land adminsitration systems : a hidden treasure?
Pieper Espada, Gertrude
The open source movement has attracted world-wide attention, and open source software is increasingly used as an alternative to proprietary software products. Yet, there is little evidence of the use of open source software in digital land administration systems. During the last five years, there have been great advances in the development of open source software products. Database products PostgreSQL and MySQL have matured, and due to the development of spatial extensions, they can also be used as spatial data stores for cadastral datasets. For long time, open source GIS software (OSG) products were unable to match the capabilities of proprietary GIS products, especially when it comes to vector editing functions. However, during the last few years a whole range of new OSG initiatives has started, some of which are becoming real alternatives to proprietary GIS systems. In an attempt to raise awareness on the potential of OSG, this paper looks into the progress of Quantum GIS, uDIG, gvSIG and other OSG initiatives, and assesses the role that they could play in land administration systems.
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