Open Source Computing and GIS in the UK

So, it’s 5 years since OSGeo was formed- that’s pretty cool! Spurred on by this post, I thought I would say a little bit about my involvement with OSGeo, and also rather clumsily segue this into an announcement about my impending change of job. It’s true- after years of not really thinking of myself as an archaeologist any longer, but rather ‘someone who works in an archaeological unit”, I’ve finally gone and got myself a real job. Anyhow, more on that later.

5 years ago, I was playing around with mapserver, because I wanted a way of serving data and some shiny web maps and we had no money to do it with. I sucked at it big time, with no programming experience, and barely any command line experience. My only linux knowledge consisted of messing around with a Sharp Zaurus (the best pda I’ve ever had), and I only really equated open source with “free as in beer”. I remember the excitement on the mapserver mailing list when OSGeo was announced, along with the open sourcing of MapGuide, and I also remember quite fancying the idea of a whole conference about this cool new stuff when FOSS4G was announced.

Since then, there have been so many lightbulb moments for me, such as getting the real “point” of open source, getting more involved with OSGeo via starting the UK chapter, breakthrough moments when I have really started to understand a particular program or language, getting over my fear of public speaking by talking about open source at conferences, teaching colleagues and strangers how to use this software, and getting consultancy jobs designing applications that use it.

Through that time, I’ve seen (heck, we’ve all seen) OSGeo go from strength to strength, and become a truly global organisation. More importantly though, it’s a great global community.

I should also say that my new job, as Web GIS Specialist/Lead Consultant at Astun Technology, could only have happened through the experience I’ve gained over the last five years, so thanks to everyone that’s helped with that. I’m sad to be leaving Oxford Archaeology, but massively looking forward to my new role, which I hope will allow me to keep up my involvement with OSGeo, and in particular the UK chapter.

Will I keep blogging? Yes, and hopefully more often as I learn lots of new and exciting stuff (new to me- I’m a recent very enthusiastic convert to Python-years after everyone else). Will I still be doing open source stuff? Hell, yes! Will I change the name of the blog? Pehaps…

I don’t often (ever?) ask for help on my blog but I’ve hit a snag with my continuing investigations into installing mapguide open source on ubuntu. My questions on the mailing list haven’t been answered, so I’m hoping that some kind blog reader will help me out.

The problem:

I can only use arbitrary x-y coordinate systems. This is officially recognised as bug 582, where categories.txt is in the wrong place, and a fix has been suggested.

The fix:

Move/copy (not sure which) categories.txt into the correct folder, and you should see all the coordinate system options.

But, there’s the rub- I can’t. I have moved, copied, reinstalled, changed makefiles, restarted, ran as root or non-root, checked environmental variables, and nothing changes. I still can’t see any other coordinate systems.

I think one of two things has happened:

1: Something went awry in my install that I didn’t notice.

2: The fix is actually more complex but no one will tell me what it is.

If the answer is 1) I would love it if someone could show me how to debug it, and where it might have gone wrong so I can try and fix it. If 2) I would be equally grateful if someone could tell me in very simple but precise terms how they fixed the problem.

Either way, I can offer eternal gratitude, good karma, complimentary blog-posting, and if I’m anywhere near your area I’ll buy you a pint/bar of chocolate/reasonably-priced indulgence of your choice.

Seriously guys, this is my last ditch attempt to persevere with what I think is the best web mapping application around at the moment, and I really, really want to make it work…

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Edit (Jan 2008): Since Mapguide is being continually developed, these instructions are now a little out of date. For the most up to date instructions you should see the wiki pages on the osgeo site that I and others have been working on.

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As promised, here are my instructions for installing the svn version of mapguide open source on Ubuntu 6.06 server. Standard disclaimer- I did this with a lot of help from the Autodesk team (thanks Trevor). Any improvements, or problems, let me know in the comments. Now, buckle up and get comfy because it’s a long ride…
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Whew, it’s been a busy and eventful week or so. More detailed posts to follow, but here’s a brief roundup of all that’s new in the world of Archaeogeek.

• Finally got Mapguide Open Source compiled and working on Ubuntu
• My presentation on Portable GIS has been accepted for FOSS4G 2007
• My southern counterpart is off to do his PhD

On that last point, we will be advertising soon to fill Leif’s post (more about it on his blog) and are always on the lookout for archaeological computing types at both offices, so if you’re interested then get in touch and let’s talk!