What is FOSSGIS?#
The Free Software Definition#
According to the Free Software Foundation Free Software has the freedom to …
run the program, for any purpose.
study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs.
redistribute copies.
improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits.
→ Free as in free speech, not as in free beer.
Free Software vs. Open-Source Software#
Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation, explains:
“The two terms describe almost the same category of software, but they stand for views based on fundamentally different values. Open source is a development methodology; free software is a social movement.” [1]
→ Still the requirements are very similar, so it is usually combined to Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)
FOSSGIS: Free and Open Source Software in GIS#
There are uncountable FOSS projects in the GIS domain. The main ones are collected within the Open Source Geosaptial Foundation (OSGeo), which is promoting the use of FOSS in GIS. Here are some OSGeo projects:
FOSSGIS made in Heidelberg#
FOSSGIS projects are also made in Heidelberg by the GIScience Research Group and HeiGIT. Take a look at them on GitHub. Here are two examples:
openrouteservice: Route planning and accessibility analyses
ohsome API: Download and analysis of OpenStreetMap data