Geospatial - GISGvSIGFirst impression

A look at gvSIG 1.10

After a few days of being Bypassing gvSIG 1.9, My impatience for bugs Of that version and Other gagesToday I return to the gvSIG issue. Not having touched this software for a long time has been productive for me, because opening this new version and comparing it with the photograph that I had from that occasion is extremely interesting.

Logo-gvSIG-945 The life of a technological poet is not easy, reviewing software out of obligation, necessity or passion requires patience; Using irony with proprietary software that sponsors the header has been acceptable, but understanding the promoters of an open source initiative has cost me more. Also being behind a keyboard can corrupt us with freedom in the art of questioning with the tonic of the moment, from an artistic sarcasm to the similarity of the three opinions that two Jews usually have when they argue in a normal way.

I must honestly admit that the progress I see with this version has left me quite satisfied. Running it on version 1.6 of the Java engine, compatible with Vista / Windows 7 and with the same project as last time… the progress is definitely noticeable. From the outset, the interaction seems faster, cleaner; a great job on usability even though it's Java and I'm not going to move to Linux yet. Surely behind these 15 minutes of my admiration there are thousands of hours converted into code, not just from programmers in fetal position, but a complete community that has bet on testing, to answer the lists, to promote the conference and ultimately to take this tool along one of the most sustainable and systematized paths I have seen.

At the end of this chapter, with gvSIG what we all hope for is a tool that can be sustainable over time, as a result of our initiative with the letter ñ, that we can offer to any municipality with the guarantee that it will not die when the money runs out. now he has sustained it. Especially for the strategic fight it can undertake ESRI, AutoDesk, Intergraph and Bentley once it is visible competition (That in a lot already is) Or by the generalization we saw in the beginning (And that has cost to reverse) For considering free software less competitive and uncertain in its sustainability.

But hey, with half a foot in Holland, I don't have that much time left to be romance and my nostalgia won't always be productive. Let's see what caught my attention in the first lines.

Clean installation

Contrary to previous times, in the process I have only had to choose the Java virtual machine and the language, which should be like this. The rest, a continuous step.

It has been installed in:

“C:Program FilesgvSIG_1.10_RC1bingvSIG.exe”

Gvsig 1.1I do not see incompatibility with previous versions. But after seeing this, even knowing that it is an RC, I find no reason to keep old versions.

Also one more icon on the desktop with the gvSIG figurine will only confuse us.

For that, you have to go to the program files folder and uninstall from there. There is always a folder named Uninstaller which contains a routine to remove the installation. I recommend doing it from here, as the control panel may not be the fastest way or it may not be possible to see all the installed versions if we have been naughty with the registry.

Interesting features.

I don't have much time right now to do a thorough review. But you can see the new features of the version in the Discharge zone; For now I will focus on three news that I find interesting.

The location map.  This has had a great advance, being interactive with different routines of visualization and less bugs. I even see it more robust than uDig and QGis do for days or had.

It is possible to interact with it by zooming in with the left mouse button. What is selected in the box will be displayed on the screen. Then with the right button, you can drag the box, preserving the size, and also if you click it will place the window of the same size right there.

Gvsig 1.1

With the wheel of the button it supports zoom, although I have not found a way to return to the extent original. Sure there must be something in the manual, which is the point where it should start.

The configuration of layers in this location map is done in "View> configure locator".

Quick information.  This is a routine of type tooltip, which displays the fields that are chosen, when placing the pointer on the layer. Allows you to choose the layer, and fields, including calculated data (not stored) such as area, perimeter and length.

Gvsig 1.1

I have not seen how to change that whole pink but surely you can, and it seems a bit slow at first if you choose several fields. I have no complexes with that color but I do not like being bothered by Chiapanecos 🙂 and, it is also likely that a AcerAspireOne It is not the fastest machine to do GIS.

Navigation Table.  The most attractive I've ever seen. He had been half-acquainted with the bugs that they mention in the distribution lists, but seeing it has left me satisfied. It consists of a functionality similar to that used by Geographics with the Locate, raises a table of attributes of the object, with buttons to go to the next and options so that the zoom or selection of the object is dynamic. Here the location map becomes attractive.

Gvsig 1.1

Take great care with the lower buttons, as you can delete records, copy data from one item to another and save. It would also be necessary to see if this window could not be of fixed height, since it is a waste of space when there is little data; I did not try but if you had more than what fits I suppose a bar of scroll. I selected a municipality to test and loaded it, then the window was half hung with a Null.point.error.

Already later we will try other pints that brings this version.

Conclusion.

In short, it seems like a fairly robust version, with many changes that the community has been asking for. I also see that there is a lot of testing, the couple of bugs that I have seen I had already heard in the distribution lists and surely they are due to my little patience for processes running in the background.

Strong challenges remain with this
rsion, mostly for good. Already the days in the American continent They seem to be sounding strong, but we will have to put more into it, mainly with external cooperation projects. For Europe other strategies work, but for this side of the pond it can be a valuable seed that can germinate explosively. In many Latin American countries there are cooperation projects that work with funds from the European Union or bilateral funds from Germany, Holland, Finland, Spain, to mention the strongest. Besides, there are the cooperation projects managed directly with councils, autonomous communities or town councils by European companies, NGOs or municipalities with a good nose. In most of these projects there are cross-cutting components such as the environment, heritage, vulnerability, climate change, transparency portals, etc. which include desktop and web mapping products.

It would not be bad if you could socialize more towards that niche, since the beneficiaries will accept the software that is provided and will keep it as long as they are left with manuals and training. Resources can also be stretched further if licensing costs are minimized and, in the long run, the sustainability of the human capital trained will influence the dissemination of gvSIG, an action that should be taken over by academia and the private sector that offers services on land use planning. If you can influence policies for migration to free software ... so much the better.

There was an interesting initiative called GvSIG and cooperation, perhaps you can insist on reliving it. Invest in the systematization of experiences and dissemination is one of the best that the association seems to be doing in the right way. Good, and it should insist on the sustainability that comes from the collective lawsuit, since the reply of third parties would reinforce the progress already made.

Needless to say, support for recent CAD formats is included, that will be a weapon that proprietary software will keep. But it would be worth supporting the boys of Portable GIS to include this version soon because they have fallen short with 1.1. We will look forward to this year's conference, we will surely know more news there.

From here you can download gvSIG 1.10

Golgi Alvarez

Writer, researcher, specialist in Land Management Models. He has participated in the conceptualization and implementation of models such as: National Property Administration System SINAP in Honduras, Management Model of Joint Municipalities in Honduras, Integrated Cadastre-Registry Management Model in Nicaragua, Territory Administration System SAT in Colombia . Editor of the Geofumadas knowledge blog since 2007 and creator of the AulaGEO Academy that includes more than 100 courses on GIS - CAD - BIM - Digital Twins topics.

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3 Comments

  1. Thanks g!

    Effectively from the CartoLab we are collaborating in a water project that the NGO Ingeniería Sin Fronteras has in Honduras. We have a website where the gvSIG Fonsagua application is explained better, on which we hope to continue working in the future.

  2. Thanks for the contribution Francisco, interesting to know that they have done a job for the south of Honduras. Let's see if we ever met the group and had a cappuccino in Tegucigalpa.

    And indeed, the error happened to me when I deleted a selected record.

    I greet from a distance.

  3. I agree with your analysis, gvSIG is a program that is progressing at a good pace and in which the community is considered one of the legs of sustainability of the project.

    In fact the Navigation Table, is an extension from the community, developed by my colleagues of CartoLab.

    The error that gives you we think it is related to delete when you have made selections or have something selected. We believe that in the versions in development of the extension is solved anyway if you dare you can send us a description of the bug and the gvSIG log file, through the bugtracker osor, mailing lists, or my own mail.

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