Portable GIS

GIS on a USB stick.

UPDATE: You can now download the package here!

UPDATE: Go here for some information on the postgresql connection details

The philosophy behind this idea was to provide beginners with a ready-installed and configured stack of open source GIS tools that would run in windows without the need for emulation or a live cd. By taking out the often difficult installation and configuration, I hope to make it easier for beginners to get started with open source GIS, so they are not put off before it gets interesting and fun. Not only that, but having a fully self-contained GIS system may prove useful in a number of real-life situations.

The current set of software includes:

  • Desktop GIS packages GRASS (windows native version 6.3: does not need cygwin), QGIS (version 0.10 with GRASS plugin) and gvSIG (version 1.1),
  • FWTools (GDAL and OGR toolkit, version 2.10)
  • XAMPPlite (Apache2/MySQL5/Php5),
  • PostgreSQL (version 8.2)/Postgis (version 1.1),
  • Mapserver, OpenLayers, Tilecache, Featureserver, and Geoserver web applications.

The packages and menu system are all open source, but each component has a separate license. Some of the components have been altered in order to make them drive-letter independent.

Provisoes:

  • This is not for production use. In order to keep end user configuration to a minimum there are a number of security holes and as such it should be used for demonstration and home use only.
  • It is also not “stealth GIS”- no attempt has been made to leave no trace on the host system.

The current level of development is that it is fully working, but still in development, so expect frequent updates (and bugs…)

Edit: The proceedings from FOSS4G are now available from OSGEO. Here’s the link to the pdf version, with my paper on portable GIS in it.

26 Comments so far

  1. [...] Portable GIS [...]

  2. Sarel on September 28th, 2007

    This is fantastic. I am very interested in this concept. What it means for us is that we can distribute GIS and database packages to poor African countries in portable formats.
    Please add my to your mailing list, for updates.

    Medical Research Council, South Africa. Malaria Research Lead Program for Africa.

  3. admin on September 28th, 2007

    Thanks for the support Sarel- I don’t actually have a mailing list yet but it looks like it will be a good idea and I will see what I can do. In the mean time I will keep posting here.

    Jo

  4. JC Riveros on October 2nd, 2007

    I have been running a Quantum GIS(0.74 with PostgreSQL support) from a USB stick since a while.
    It is fairly useful for a fast (and rough) map composition and printing but it has limited edition/analysis capabilities until now…
    I understand that version 0.8 is already available and it has a GRASS plugin so things are improving fast.

  5. admin on October 4th, 2007

    Hi JC, Thanks for stopping by. It’s the 0.8 version that I use currently- with GRASS and postgresql/postgis support. I guess I’ll have to move up to 0.9 now though!

  6. [...] is encouraging. There is now a dedicated page to portable GIS and with more community involvement, maybe we’ll start seeing some real progress here. As I wrote [...]

  7. Farley on October 17th, 2007

    Hey Jo,

    I see that you have modified Daily Cup of Tech’s usb drive menu to use Submenus. I have had a look at this, but I’m not quite there. I wanted to have it dynamically driven from the applist.ini file. Would you mind forwarding your modifications to me?

    Also, how are you doing on a release for your GIS on a stick?

  8. admin on October 19th, 2007

    Hey Farley,

    See your email! I think I will probably post my modifications to the menu to DCOT, and also host them here as well since a few people have asked about that.

    The portable GIS release is a bit up in the air as work pressures are making it hard for me to commit much time to it. However, something has come up which makes it more of a priority so watch this space…

    Jo

  9. Tyler Mitchell on December 21st, 2007

    Now Jo’s paper about this project is available in the OSGeo Journal:
    http://www.osgeo.org/files/journal/v3/en-us/final_pdfs/cook.pdf

    Enjoy.

    Tyler

    p.s. Was there a decision or method for having OSGeo host the files for you?

  10. admin on January 7th, 2008

    Thanks Tyler,

    I’ll edit the post to include the link to the journal. As for the hosting, we’re still trying to decide on the best approach for it.

    Jo

  11. David on January 8th, 2008

    Hi Jo
    I like the idea. Someone asked about mailing list for the project. I am looking at doing one for aerial imagery capture using small and mid format cameras. I thought about setting up Mailman myself but found that hosting is available… much easier. One site I liked is this https://www.emwd.com/mailmanorder.html Its just $10 to set up a list, and $4 per month for the hosting. All moderator managed by browser interface.
    Best wishes with the project
    David

  12. admin on January 10th, 2008

    Hi Dave,
    Many thanks for the heads up on mailing lists- we’re still looking into the various options for the project. I’m keen to keep the momentum going, but it’s hard amongst all the other things (real work and so on). I’ll check out the link you suggest. I’m interested in your project as well-do you have some more information about it?
    Jo

  13. [...] a job for FWTools. Luckily, I remembered a post or two from James as well as the fine work done by Jo Cook. I figured if it could run from a USB stick, then why not a [...]

  14. giles carey on June 9th, 2008

    hi there

    am interested in this. however, when i go to extract i get asked for a password? any clues? or am i missing something obvious?

    i am also interested in where to obtain data? as an independent researcher (ie not educationally affiliated) my research is into prehistoric features in an area, however HERs don’t have the license to share shape files etc. of os data. I know there’s no chance of obtaining OS data, but is there any basic basemap data out there for free or a small charge?

    cheers

  15. admin on June 9th, 2008

    Hi Giles,

    I didn’t zip it with a password, so you shouldn’t need one to unzip it. What are software are you using to unzip it?

    Regarding base map data- this is really difficult, and the only answer I have so far is openstreetmap, but that can be of limited use. You may want to investigate the ordnance survey print license, which allows you to scan paper ordnance survey maps and put them in cad or gis. It’s quite cheap- you could contact them and ask if it’s valid for what you want to do.

    Thanks for stopping by

    Jo

  16. Iwan Setiawan on June 11th, 2008

    Is there any link for download of those application. Fyi, ILWIS 3.4 Open is also a protable GIS which can be run directly on flashdisk without insalling it.

  17. admin on June 11th, 2008

    Hi Iwan,

    The download link is at the top of this page. I’m interested in your alternative portable gis- can you give me a link to it?

    All the best

    Jo

  18. Iwan Setiawan on June 11th, 2008

    Hi Jo,
    Yup.. i’ve missed that link! I realize when I already post my message.. ;) URL of ILWIS 3.4 OPEN is at http://www.itc.nl/ilwis/ and http://52north.org/index.php?option=com_projects&task=showProject&id=30&Itemid=127

    Btw, I link this page at my blog (in Indonesian language).
    Regards,
    Iwan

  19. [...] Portable GIS 1.2 ist freigeben. Es handelt sich hierbei um ein GIS-Software-Paket, das ohne Installation von einem USB-Stick genutzt werden kann. [...]

  20. [...] the GIS-in-my-pocket department, Portable GIS 1.2 has been [...]

  21. Postgres OnLine Journal on June 18th, 2008

    Portable GIS: PostgreSQL and PostGIS on a USB Stick…

    First this is a windows only package, but nevertheless sweet. In our article
    What can PostgreSQL learn from MySQL?
    we complained about the fact that there is nothing like Server2GO pre-packaged with PostgreSQL. Low and behold comes this thing
    cal…

  22. KSSPrasad on June 19th, 2008

    Its nice to know the Portable concept has come to GIS arena. Hope this will provide a good choice for learners and beginners. Congrats

  23. SEWilco on June 25th, 2008
  24. admin on June 25th, 2008

    Hey SEWilco,

    Thanks for creating the torrent, and for adding the bit about optional registration- it’s handy for me to have a list (and to know roughly how many downloads there have been). Not knowing a great deal about torrents- what will happen when I update it? Will I need to set up a new torrent?

    Thanks again

    Jo

  25. SEWilco on June 25th, 2008

    Yes, a new torrent will need to be created for a new release. Several BitTorrent tools can create a .torrent file (probably the Java-based Azureus/Vuze is best for a beginner). You need to know at least one tracker announce URL; I haven’t set up a tracker on my server yet, so I’m trying some public ones — if my torrent works you could just copy them. You also need to have at least one BitTorrent client running with the file available, so it can “seed” to other people. This is the first .torrent I’ve created in a while, but seems to be working.

  26. admin on June 27th, 2008

    Thanks! I’ll bear that in mind when I update the package.

    Jo

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