Rafael Moreno-Sanchez

Building Web-Based Spatial Information Solutions around Open Specifications and Open Source Software

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are moving from isolated, standalone, monolithic, proprietary systems working in a client-server architecture to smaller web-based applications and components offering specific geo-processing functionality and transparently exchanging data among them. Interoperability is at the core of this new web services model. Compliance with Open Specifications (OS) enables interoperability. Web-GIS softwares high costs, complexity and special requirements have prevented many organizations from deploying their data and geo-processing capabilities over the World Wide Web. There are no-cost Open Source Software (OSS) alternatives to proprietary software for operating systems, web servers, and Relational Database Management Systems. We tested the potential of the combined use of OS and OSS to create web-based spatial information solutions. We present in detail the steps taken in creating a prototype system to support land use planning in Mexico with web-based geo-processing capabilities currently not present in commercial web-GIS products. We show that the process is straightforward and accessible to a broad audience of geographic information scientists and developers. We conclude that OS and OSS allow the development of web-based spatial information solutions that are low-cost, simple to implement, compatible with existing information technology infrastructure, and have the potential of interoperating with other systems and applications in the future.

The potential for the use of Open Source Software and Open Specifications in creating Web-based cross-border health spatial information systems

Globalization is contributing to the blurring of borders making irrelevant the distinctions between domestic and international health problems. Cross‐border and global health spatial information systems (CBHSIS) are required to address the new global health challenges. There is a need to build and document alternatives for addressing the technological, economic, and sociocultural–political challenges encountered in the creation and deployment of these systems. This paper documents the building of a prototype Web‐based multimedia GIS system for use in a public health context using Open Source Software and Open Specifications and its deployment across the US–Mexico border. These technologies offer advantages in addressing several of the challenges previously mentioned. We highlight the technological and sociocultural–political issues important in successful collaboration across borders and cultures and in the creation of interoperable CBHSIS.

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial Applications (FOSS4G): A Mature Alternative in the Geospatial Technologies Arena

The creativity, dynamism and high-profile success stories of the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and FOSS for Geospatial applications (FOSS4G) movements are attracting increasing attention from end users, developers, businesses, governments, educators and researchers around the world (e.g. Weber 2004, Walli et al. 2005, CRM-Reviews 2006, Faber 2007). Free Software refers to liberty, not price. It means that the program’s users have the freedom to run the program for any purpose, access the code to study how it works and change it, redistribute copies, and redistribute copies of modified versions of the software (GNU Project; http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html). To be considered Open Source, software must offer more than just access to the source code, it must comply with 10 criteria listed in the Open Source Initiative (http://www.opensource.org/ docs/osd) (Appendix 1). FOSS spans these two concepts. Today there are mature FOSS4G projects and software stacks ready to support stakeholders in addressing the most pressing social, economic and environmental challenges of the twenty-first century. The FOSS movement has 20-40 years of history (DiBona et al. 1999, 2005; Raymond 2001; Lagesse 2002; Moody 2002; Williams 2002). There is a mature FOSS project for almost every software need and application. As of December 2011 Freecode (http://freecode.com) tracks 45,000 and Sourceforge (http://sourceforge.net) 326,613 FOSS projects varying in quality, completeness, and stability. Even if only 10% of these projects are active and stable as suggested by Daffara (2007), the numbers are staggering, as are the number of times they are downloaded. For example, Sourceforge reported more than 4 million downloads in one day (13 December, 2011), and the most requested project of all time (eMule, http://sourceforge.net/projects/emule/) has been downloaded over 600 million times. Currently there are 355 FOSS4G projects listed in FreeGIS.org (http://freegis.org) and Open Source GIS (http://opensourcegis.org). Some of these projects have a history that dates back to the early 1980s such as the GRASS Geographic Information System (http://grass.osgeo.org/; Mitasova and Neteler 2004). In recent years there has been an exponential growth in the number of studies in the fields of economics, psychology, anthropology, law, software development, and computer Transactions in GIS, 2012, 16(2): 81–88

Free and open source software for geospatial applications (FOSS4G) to support Future Earth

ABSTRACT The development, integration, and distribution of the information and spatial data infrastructure (i.e. Digital Earth; DE) necessary to support the vision and goals of Future Earth (FE) will occur in a distributed fashion, in very diverse technological, institutional, socio-cultural, and economic contexts around the world. This complex context and ambitious goals require bringing to bear not only the best minds, but also the best science and technologies available. Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial Applications (FOSS4G) offers mature, capable and reliable software to contribute to the creation of this infrastructure. In this paper we point to a selected set of some of the most mature and reliable FOSS4G solutions that can be used to develop the functionality required as part of DE and FE. We provide examples of large-scale, sophisticated, mission-critical applications of each software to illustrate their power and capabilities in systems where they perform roles or functionality similar to the ones they could perform as part of DE and FE. We provide information and resources to assist the readers in carrying out their own assessments to select the best FOSS4G solutions for their particular contexts and system development needs.

National assessment of the fragmentation, accessibility and anthropogenic pressure on the forests in Mexico

Forest managers and policy makers increasingly demand to have access to estimates of forest fragmentation, human accessibility to forest areas and levels of anthropogenic pressure on the remaining forests to integrate them into monitoring systems, management and conservation plans. Forest fragmentation is defined as the breaking up of a forest unit, where the number of patches and the amount of expose edge increase while the amount of core area decreases. Forest fragmentation studies in Mexico have been limited to local or regional levels and have concentrated only on specific forest types. This paper presents an assessment of the fragmentation of all forest types at the national level, their effective proximity to anthropogenic influences, and the development of an indicator of anthropogenic pressure on the forests areas. Broadleaf forests, tropical evergreen forests and tropical dry deciduous forests show the greatest fragmentation. Almost half (47%) of the tropical forests are in close effective proximity to anthropogenic influences and only 12% of their area can be considered isolated from anthropogenic influences. The values for the temperate forests are 23% and 29% respectively. Anthropogenic pressure in the immediate vicinity of anthropogenic activities is much higher in the tropical forests (75 in a scale 0–100) than in the temperate forests (30). When considering these results jointly, the tropical forests, and more specifically, the tropical evergreen forests and tropical dry deciduous forests are under the greatest pressure and risks of degradation.

Sustainable Forest Management in Mexico

Forest management in Mexico is immersed in diverse and complex ecological, socio-cultural, political, economic, and technological contexts. These contexts have led to the use of the forests for many purposes under diverse administration and management schemes. These schemes continue to evolve, both in the forest areas and in universities and forest research institutions throughout the country. Timber management has been part of this evolution and has given rise to several forest management approaches. Most of these approaches are adaptations of methods developed in other parts of the world for very different ecological, socio-cultural, and economic contexts. The majority of the timber management methods are based on sustainability principles and incorporate classical yield regulation and forest management concepts. However, the application of these methods in the complex and rapidly changing contexts in which the Mexican forests and forestry sector are immersed has resulted in unexpected and fortuitous results. There is a need for a new significant evolution of the forest and timber management methods in the country. New approaches must include greater emphasis on community-based forestry, consideration of markets for forest products and services, as well as the overall increase of resilience, learning capacity, and adaptation while reducing hazards, risks, and vulnerability of the forests and the communities that depend on them. These characteristics will allow better adaptation to the rapid changes, complexities, and ambiguities of the global environment and the Mexican ecological, social, political, and economic conditions.

Forest policies, management and conservation in Soviet (1920-1991) and post-Soviet (1991-2005) Armenia

SUMMARY The extent and condition of forest ecosystems in Armenia have decreased drastically since the disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). This decline is not only a consequence of the recent history of the area, but also the result of decades of forest policies, management and forestuse practices. To reverse the negative trends, it is important for stakeholders, scientists, resource managers and policy makers (in Armenia and abroad) to understand the influential factors in the decline, yet such information is scarce, highly fragmented, written in Armenian or Russian, and inaccessible to the international community. This paper aims to contribute to the knowledge base of the international community by presenting and contrasting the most important issues and processes that have affected forest cover in Armenia during the USSR (1920‐ 1991) and independence periods (1991‐to date). For each period, the legal framework, the forest inventory practices, forest use, management and conservation practices, the forestry education, and the perception of the forests by forest communities and society at large are presented and discussed. Except for the social perception of the forests, the most relevant aspects of these issues have scarcely changed from one period to the next. There is a need to address the most pressing problems and improve the current conditions of the forests and the forestry sector in Armenia.

National assessment of the evolution of forest fragmentation in Mexico

This paper presents assessments of the fragmentation of the temperate and tropical forests in Mexico at the national level for two dates 1993 and 2002. The study was based on land use and vegetation cover data sets scale 1:250,000. Two broad forest types (Temperate Forests and Tropical Forests) and five more specific forest types (Broadleaf Forests, and Coniferous Forests; Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests, Tropical Sub-evergreen Forests, and Tropical Evergreen Forests) were defined to conduct the analyses. FragStats 3.3 was used to estimate nine metrics of the spatial pattern of the forests for each forest type and date considered. The results indicate that the land cover transitions that have occurred between 1993 and 2002 have resulted in more isolated forest patches with simpler shapes in both the Temperate and Tropical Forests. The remaining Tropical Forest patches have become smaller and more numerous. In contrast, the remaining Temperate Forest patches are fewer and on average larger. Of the more specific forest types defined in this study, the Broadleaf Forests have the highest indicators of fragmentation. However these forests are usually embedded or adjacent to Coniferous Forests. Of more concern for conservation purposes are the high values of fragmentation metrics found for the Tropical Evergreen Forests and Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests, because these forest types are usually surrounded by non-forest land covers or anthropogenic land uses.