Organisation terrestris GmbH & Co kg

Topic type		Target Type
Case Studies: Relate your experiences. Visualization: effective presentation of information. Disaster Response: software, case studies, outcomes.		End User Technical / Developer

Additional Presenters
Name	Antonello Navarretta
Organisation	CSI Piemonte
Email	[e-mail]

ID Number

118

Name	Ji_’ Kadlec
Organisation	Aalto University
Email	[e-mail]

Paper Title	Backyard to Beach: Capturing Urban Stormwater Runoff with WebGIS
I can give a practical demo	yes

Paper Abstract (short)

We demonstrate a new web based GIS application built with open source tools and specially designed for monitoring sources of stormwater in an urban environment.

Paper Abstract (long)

Urban runoff or stormwater is surface runoff of rainwater or snowmelt water created by urbanization. Unlike regular wastewater, urban runoff is not treated at wastewater treatment plants. Excessive urban is a threat to water quality in receiving lakes. In Finland lakes provide unique services for water supply, tourism and recreation. Maintaining water quality of the lakes is of high interest for all citizens and visitors. The volume and water quality of urban runoff from each parcel depends on the land use, slope and drainage of source areas. Everybody from urban planner to parcel owner can contribute to reducing stormwater runoff from public properties and private parcels by smart management practices. In our presentation we demonstrate a prototype of a geospatial web services infrastructure and an interactive map website for for tracking urban land cover changes and stormwater runoff city of Lahti in southern Finland. The main function of the website is to help urban planners and public to evaluate the current urban runoff situation and estimate the impact of past, present and future land cover changes on health of the lake ecosystem. Users can compare how land cover changed in the past as forest was replaced by built up areas and identify if their neighborhood is likely contributing to lake pollution through stormwater runoff. Users can also observe what is happening real-time in selected urbanized stream catchments in the course of actual rainfall or snowmelt events. In addition, the standard-compliant web service interface empowers expert users to develop custom analyses in a growing number of desktop GIS and statistical software tools such as QGIS or R. Main challenge in developing the application were large volumes of high-detail survey-level data: aerial photographs and large scale technical cadastral maps that were initially designed for technical GIS professionals but were unsuitable for efficient display on the Internet or as hydrological transport model input. The original data were provided by city utilities departments in various file formats and coordinate systems. Initially we imported all spatial objects to a PostGIS database and tried publishing the information only as a web feature service (WFS) or web map service (WMS) using the Geoinformatica and MapServer software tools. However this approach was unsuitable for a web map application due to high volume of transferred data resulting in network timeout errors. Therefore a combined approach using WFS only for high detail view and using web map tile service (WMTS) with pre-calculated cached ÒtilesÓ for predefined scale levels was selected. For designing the WMTS we compared two open-source solutions: MapTiler and MapProxy. MapTiler was more suitable for air raster data such as air photographs and MapProxy was more suitable for vector-type maps such as buildings and road network as well as for dynamic sources that change frequently because it enabled the passing attribute information about selected map objects (individual buildings, stream catchments, trees or green areas) when the users examine high-detail situation at a selected location. The prototype of the map application is designed using the GeoExt javascript toolkit. Modular design, use of standards and reliance on open source solutions simplifies future changes of the WebGIS as a more detailed on stormwater management strategies in the city becomes available.

Topic type		Target Type
Case Studies: Relate your experiences. Visualization: effective presentation of information. New data: handling new data models, for example 3D & temporal data, or big data.		Manager End User Technical / Developer

Additional Presenters
Name	Ari Jolma
Organisation	Aalto University
Email	[e-mail]

ID Number

316

Name	Seven
Organisation	Borg Inc.
Email	[e-mail]

Paper Title	Benchmarking Session at FOSS4G
I can give a practical demo	yes

Paper Abstract (short)

This is submitted as a regular presentation just ot have a foot in the door. Probably it would make sense to have it in the plenary at the end of the conference.

Paper Abstract (long)

In the last years FOSS4G set the scene for performance shootouts between the most powerful and renowned mapping software around - both open source and proprietary. Each year the teams gave the best they could and unanimously agreed that they learned a lot and were able to considerably improve the software. So far the goal was to accelerate the process of grabbing a geometry, rendering it and pushing it out. This has been optimized to a degree that makes differences hard to distinguish, we can honestly say that the contestants are really, really dead fast. The next level of speed can only be achieved by fine tuning data stores, kernels and twisting virtual arms at a very low level. But this will at the same time defeat the point of comparability. So what to do? The Benchmarking team will find an answer until FOSS4G starts - or rather: ends, so we have three days more to excel at speeding up. But like everything in this world we do not want to stagnate, wither and die but evolve. Therefore the 2013 edition of the benchmark proposes to look into evaluating three aspects: 1. The well known dedicated map server contest * As known on comparable platforms * plus (potentially) a session where experts tune kernel parameters and everything they put their heads around to hihgest level the team is capable of or interested in - including a readable documentation of what they did 2. Ease of use / Flexibility * how easy is it to set up a web map service (tile rendering engine), again including a documentation * How easy is it to create a map with a Desktop GIS package using the Open Data published by the Ordnance Survey plus an OSM overlay (probably the pubs) and a randomly chosen CSV file with some coordinates and attributes. In 2006 the TU Delft inplemented a GML relay contest in which software development teams / vendors received a GML and had to load, modify, save and then pass it on to the next contestant - again reporting on what worked and what didn't. This excercise could follow similar patterns. 3. Cartography * using the OGC SLD SE as published by the Ordnance Survey as a starter * plus then going into nitty gritty details and enhancements and maybe some interested cartographers from ICA We will probably not be able to do all of this but it will at least hihglight the complexity of the excercise and give some hints as to the parameters which are relevant when chosing a mapping platform on the green field or as replacment for an existing solution.

Topic type		Target Type
Case Studies: Relate your experiences. Benchmarks: Comparisons between packages. Visualization: effective presentation of information.		People new to open source geospatial Manager End User Technical / Developer

Additional Presenters
Name	Seven of Nine
Organisation	Borg Inc.
Email	[e-mail]
Name	Arnulf Christl
Organisation	metaspatial
Email	[e-mail]

ID Number

240

Name	Peter Baumann
Organisation	Jacobs University
Email	[e-mail]

Paper Title	Big Data in Standardization: Can This Fly?
I can give a practical demo	yes

Paper Abstract (short)

We discuss standards in OGC, ISO, and INSPIRE to find out whether they support or inhibit scalable spatio-temporal services.

Paper Abstract (long)

In geo data, a main footprint coming from Big Data stems from remote sensing, atmospheric and ocean models, and statistics data. In the strive for interoperability, standardizaiton bodies establish interface specifications for large-scale geo services. Are these standards really helpful, or do they inhibit performance? We investigate this and show both positive and negative examples, based on OGC, INSPIRE, and ISO standards relevant for scalable geo services.

Topic type		Target Type
Case Studies: Relate your experiences. Visualization: effective presentation of information. Development: new developments in products. Collaboration: data collection, data sharing, open standards. New data: handling new data models, for example 3D & temporal data, or big data.		People new to open source geospatial Manager End User Technical / Developer

ID Number

27

Name	Barend Gehrels
Organisation	Self-employed
Email	[e-mail]

Paper Title	Boost.Geometry, introduction and examples
I can give a practical demo	yes

Paper Abstract (short)

The first part of the presentation gives an accessible introduction to Boost Geometry. The second part focuses on some algorithms in detail.

Paper Abstract (long)

Boost.Geometry is a generic library written in C++ providing concepts, geometry types and algorithms developed for solving problems in computational geometry. Boost.Geometry is using modern and portable C++ generic programming techniques and is built upon the foundation of the C++ Standard Library and Boost C++ Libraries. Boost.Geometry follows the OGC Simple Features standard. The Boost Geometry library kernel is designed as agnostic with respect to dimensions, coordinate systems, and types, which makes it generally applicable. A set of geometry models is delivered already by Boost Geometry. This set can be complemented through adaptation of user-defined geometry types, following the concepts defined by Boost Geometry. Boost.Geometry is developed since 2008 by Barend Gehrels and Bruno Lalande, and Mateusz Loskot. The library is peer reviewed by the Boost Community, and accepted into the well-known Boost collection in November 2009. Since 2011 it is released as a standard part of Boost, and immediately available for the majority of C++ programmers. The library is licensed under the (non restrictive) Boost Software License. A Spatial Index, developed by Adam Wulkiewicz, will be released as a standard part of the library in the next release of Boost. The Boost.Geometry library can, because it is a concept based library, following OGC Simple Features, easily be fit into for example Spatial Databases or existing projects using (probably legacy) Object Models. The presentation is dedicated to developers who are interested in receiving practical overview to the Boost Geometry library. The first part of the presentation gives an accessible introduction to Boost Geometry. The second part focuses on some algorithms in detail.

Topic type		Target Type
Visualization: effective presentation of information. Development: new developments in products. Hacks and Mashes: novel solutions to our problems. Collaboration: data collection, data sharing, open standards.		Technical / Developer

Additional Presenters
Name	Mateusz Loskot
Organisation	Cadcorp
Email	[e-mail]

ID Number

41

Name	Chris Ewing
Organisation	Aon Benfield
Email	[e-mail]

Paper Title	Building Catastrophe Models with Open Data and Open Software
I can give a practical demo	yes

Paper Abstract (short)

A catastrophe model estimates the potential loss of property and life following a major catastrophic event and can be built using Open Source software and improved with Open Data

Paper Abstract (long)

A catastrophe model is a tool/technique which estimates the potential loss of property and life following a major catastrophic event. Different types of events or perils are modelled including; windstorm, earthquake, flood, and storm surge. ELEMENTS is the in-house catastrophe modelling software which is developed by Impact Forecasting, part of Aon Benfield Analytics. Behind the software are models for a wide range of different event and peril types across many countries and regions of the world. To develop the different components of the catastrophe model, Impact Forecasting use a variety of proprietary and open solutions. Open Data sources such as OpenStreetMap, SRTM, CORINE land cover datasets are used, amongst others. The open-source programming language, Python, is also used extensively to create hazard footprints and files needed for the catastrophe model. The use of Open Source software and Open Data supplemented with other available proprietary data sources allow Impact Forecasting to build more flexible and transparent catastrophe models.