OpenSource GIS surveying - water application
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| Number of Parts | 188 | |
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| License | CC Attribution 3.0 Germany: You are free to use, adapt and copy, distribute and transmit the work or content in adapted or unchanged form for any legal purpose as long as the work is attributed to the author in the manner specified by the author or licensor. | |
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| Production Place | Portland, Oregon, United States of America |
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00:00
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Computer hardwareGraphics tabletCondition numberTablet computerComputer animation
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InternetworkingMereologyComputer hardwareWindowStylus (computing)Constraint (mathematics)WordSign (mathematics)SoftwareField (computer science)Connected spaceGoodness of fitTablet computerDigital rights managementSlide ruleoutputRight angleBitComputer architectureMiniDiscGraphics tabletTouch typingWater vaporComputer animation
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Constraint (mathematics)Data managementCartesian coordinate systemObject (grammar)Field (computer science)ResultantTrailType theoryComputer simulationDigital rights managementClient (computing)Posterior probabilityElectronic mailing listConfiguration spaceBridging (networking)Connected spaceService (economics)Revision controlTablet computerInterface (computing)Extension (kinesiology)DatabaseStack (abstract data type)Table (information)Distribution (mathematics)Point (geometry)Multiplication signPressurePresentation of a groupExecution unitCodeGraphics tabletRepository (publishing)Network topologySoftwareInternetworkingOrder (biology)ComputerWater vaporElement (mathematics)Open sourceInformationLevel (video gaming)Latent heatDataflowSimulationGoodness of fitTemplate (C++)Attribute grammarTouch typingStylus (computing)Ring (mathematics)Price indexLine (geometry)Document management systemLibrary (computing)Term (mathematics)Arithmetic meanComputer configurationDescriptive statisticsWeb serviceVector spaceDifferent (Kate Ryan album)Menu (computing)Social classMobile appCovering spacePublic domainDigitizingVideoconferencingSampling (statistics)Artistic renderingBranch (computer science)Wechselseitige InformationTranslation (relic)MappingComputer hardwareMotion captureOpen setRaster graphicsPlug-in (computing)Remote procedure callClassical physicsGeometryDistributed computingMessage passingPlotterKeyboard shortcutMeta elementGraphical user interface
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Digital rights managementSet (mathematics)SynchronizationSpacetimeCartesian coordinate systemDegree (graph theory)MereologyReal numberGreen's functionSoftwareLecture/Conference
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SequelSynchronizationPersonal digital assistantLecture/ConferenceMeeting/Interview
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Computer fileHypermediaVector spaceAsynchronous Transfer ModeGoodness of fitMathematical singularityStructural loadOperator (mathematics)Personal digital assistantRaster graphicsMappingReal numberLecture/Conference
Transcript: English(auto-generated)
00:00
from Icelandia and I'm going to talk to you about the open source tool for surveying applications, especially in the field of water management. So yeah, if you don't know Icelandia, we are a GIS company, open source GIS company, you can go on our website to know more. That's not the subject of today. Today I'm going to talk to you about
00:22
first the context of the project we realized, then the exact needs, then all about the GIS part we have developed for this project. I talk about data as well and then more specifically about surveying. So the hardware part and then the software parts for surveying application we developed.
00:45
I'll have a word about versioning too and then I'll extend to a simulation and the future of the project. So but the main part will be about surveying hardware and software. The context of this project is a place in Romania which is called the Valciad Cunti.
01:02
That's about 300,000 people and actually it's well known because it's called the capital of the hackers. It's a place where all the people trying to do phishing to your email accounts live. And they have big BMW cars and sunglasses and all it's pretty wet.
01:22
But they also do some like normal stuff and there is a European project for the water network development in this country. And so they got money to improve all the water distribution and wastewater. So that's more or less 29 pumping stations, 19 wastewater stations,
01:45
1000 kilometers of distribution pipes and 350 kilometers of wastewater area. So there was a strong need for GIS setup. They had quite nothing to organize this project.
02:00
So the project is very global one. It goes from planning to IT to buying land and to buying pipes and actually building the water network distribution. I'll be talking about GIS only. So we worked with the Apaville company which is the company in charge of water
02:20
distribution. So the need was a desktop GIS first. They needed an employee to be able to do GIS on a classic desktop machine. They needed a field data model as well for water distribution. We wanted to build the model for that. They needed a centralized data repository as well.
02:46
Surveying tools which is the main focus here. And they had some very specific needs given the constraint of the countries. They had to do offline because there is no internet everywhere. So they had to be able to do surveying with offline management. And they wanted also to
03:05
have version management of the data. So they wanted to be able to do scenarios, and to say okay if we develop this part what's gonna happen. So from one version of the data being able to have different branches. I'll talk about that later.
03:22
Simulation coupling was important as well. So being able to run a simulation for water distribution. And then on the further needs there was map and web rendering. So we provided them with expertise. They had to buy hardware as for the GIS desktop
03:41
and for the surveying tools. And of course they had to find some software. And they were very keen to open source. So they wanted open source software for all of their applications be it for desktop GIS surveying or map and web rendering as well. So let's present that a bit further. As for the desktop GIS, the choice was quite evident now.
04:05
You all know QGIS. So that's a project we chose to deploy for a desktop application. And we did a lot of project development. I mean QGIS project development in this global project. So as determining what object we were going to use, what the symbology would be
04:26
for the different objects. Defining composer to be able to print maps and edit some specific forms as well for the user for the desktop GIS user to be able to enter the data with good
04:41
ergonomics. We provided some plugin training. You probably know that QGIS is very extensible. So there was a lot of plugin development to adapt QGIS interface to their specific needs. We provided training as well so that they would be able to develop their own plugin for their very specific needs. So that's for the desktop GIS. Also the data repository
05:06
while PostGIS was a good choice as well. Probably the best one. We used version 9.3 and we have a data model designed to do so. I'll talk about that just after. We provided training
05:21
as well on PostGIS. So that was everything new for them. And we also used a specialized for embedded data as an embedded database and especially for offline management. That's globally the GIS architecture we are using. So QGIS as a client, desktop client
05:42
for data management, database management with pgAdmin as well a bit for the database. Then a central data repository on a server with a special database. So PostgreSQL and PostGIS and some additional files as well for raster for example. So that runs on the PC. That runs on
06:01
the server. And the surveying part here is the one we paid attention to for this project because of the specific constraints that offline was for example. So we had tablets. I'll talk about that. So that's a mobile client. That's a PC tablet. And the data had to be embedded as well
06:25
inside the surveying material and software. So we used a specialized and raster light to embed the data on the hardware. And between the central repository and the specialized embedded database we developed a specific synchronization tool for offline management
06:45
and versioning. That's a global picture. So I'll talk about this and this part more specifically. First of all the data model. So we needed a distribution, water distribution data model as well as a wastewater data model. There is no standard, no global standard for
07:05
water distribution models. So we talked with SEG which is a Swiss public organization in charge of water distribution. And they have like a project which is named QWAT which concentrates
07:22
on focus on water as well. So we tried to mutualize efforts to get the same data model so our development we could make on our own could also be interesting for them and opposite what they were developing could be used on our data. So the model is pretty complex because you got nodes, pumps, valves, leaks, pipes, stations, pressures and etc. So lots of different
07:46
objects and relations. But it's a pretty mature data model for water distribution and we are to be able to use it and discuss with them on some modification we have to make. As for wastewater that's still a work in progress. There is a Swiss standard as well so maybe we're
08:04
gonna use that but not for sure yet. So that's the model. As for surveying specifically, so first part was getting good hardware for surveying. So we needed a GPS antenna. We used the
08:20
Leica Zenos GG03. I'm not a hardware expert so that's not me who chose that but apparently that's top of the top antenna GPS antenna. Pretty expensive too. And they didn't want to use the embedded device which was delivered with the antenna so they chose to buy some PC tablets
08:44
or PC-oriented tablets. So that's a rough tablet. You can use it under any condition. That's a Panasonic FZG1. So very good hardware and you can see they are happy to use it.
09:00
So that's a hardware setup. So Panasonic FZG1. It's got Windows 8 and we needed to stay with Windows because drivers for the antenna are only available for Windows so we couldn't switch to Linux. But hopefully we could use Windows 7 which was much better on the tablet. So it's
09:21
high-end tablet so that's 64 gigabytes of 64 bytes architecture, 4 gigabytes RAM, 120 gigabytes SSD disk, it's got Wi-Fi, it's got Bluetooth, it's got 4G connection, a 10-inch HD screen, it's got touch and stylus on its right and it costs quite a lot of money. So
09:45
2500 euros which is in dollars I don't know three thousand dollars or something. So high-end hardware, the most important part is that it's the PC architecture. So it's not
10:01
Android, it's not iOS, it's a Windows tablet so it works exactly like a PC. So the software, we could have used QG just like it is, just raw on this tablet because this is a Windows one but since it's oriented towards touch and using a stylus, QG is
10:24
really not adapted to that. I don't know if you've ever tried QG and touching QG menus with your fingers, it doesn't work. So we had to find something else which would be more adapted to surveying and more adapted to our specific constraint and our specific field which is water
10:41
management. So that's someone working on the tablet and that's the constraint we had for the tablet software. So we wanted NMEA GPS support which is the antenna we have. We wanted domain specific objects as well so not like a generic GIS but very specific objects like pipes and
11:04
valves and all. We wanted to be able to digitize directly on the tablet, we wanted to be able to take notes, to use a camera to take pictures, we wanted a good GUI and good agronomy especially for touch and stylus and we wanted that to be open source, configurable,
11:23
translatable into Romanian and we wanted like a QG compatibility. What does that mean? That means we wanted all the work done on the desktop to be also usable on the surveying hardware and software. So let's present you R.O.R.M. So R.O.R.M. is a tool made by
11:43
Nathan Woodrow who works for DMS in Australia. That's an open source application, that's a specific application but it's QGIS powered so it's based on QGIS libraries and but it's very different applications, completely separated project but you can use the same
12:02
rendering and you can use the same project. So every project you do in QGIS you can use it with R.O.R.M. That was a very good point in terms of mutualization of effort, you don't have to redo the work you did on your desktop, you can directly use the work you did on your desktop on your surveying software. It's got raster, vector, raster, so same project and same
12:26
rendering as well, I mean the maps are exactly the same. You have vector, raster and you can do online or offline data management. So that's a pretty good project, it's got data in specialized
12:40
or you can use whatever data you want and a very important point it's got a project management guy so I'll show you some screenshot just after so that developing a new project for mobile application is really easy. So it looked like that, as you can see it's a very simple interface, it's very oriented towards surveying because you don't have any menu, you don't have
13:03
any small elements, it's at big buttons, very simple features but important features so that's exactly the rendering like we could see it in QGIS. So we did a QGIS project and then used it with Rome and you can see the main features which are classic GIS features. You have
13:24
camera use as well, capture for digitizing with a GPS, capture point for example, and you have access to attributes as well so you can select any elements and access to the information which are specific here to pipes, that's in Romanian. Can any of you read Romanian?
13:46
No I can't either but that's a pipe. So you can enter new data, you have specific forms for the data you want to enter in so it's very clear, it's very big, you don't have any problem to enter your data. You can completely configure the forms so you can have some
14:07
predefined data so that you know exactly what you're typing. We have a virtual keyboard to help for typing, not for a normal keyboard or whatever.
14:20
You can select the objects here, we created a new object, you can have some different raster layers as a background and you can capture the data so you can record the GPS and then it will add new elements as soon as you move or you can capture as well points if you want. So that's the application, final application. So you can see it's very simple but it's very
14:45
efficient in terms of surveying tool. What is good with ROM is that it's not only an application, it's a meta application. You can build application with it and you got a project management guy with it so that you can define all your application inside a guy. So I would say
15:04
I got a new project, for example a tree inspection project, that's a sample project from ROM and you can select a few different configuration options, for example the title, the description, you can select, so you take a QGIS project and then you can select the layers you want
15:22
to display. You can display logo, all kind of configuration and then you can see the map as the final application will render it. You can as well completely configure the forms you're gonna have available for your user. So you can say I want a field which is of type list for example,
15:45
I want specific values for this field etc etc. So every kind of form is configurable and you have a preview and you generate actually the project which I'll show you earlier. So it's very easy, we actually set up first project for the client, showing him how you do that
16:03
and then we said okay you got the project management tool and they built their own project, their own application within a few weeks without problem so it was very good. So one point was versioning as well, so we had strong project requirements, we wanted data history, we wanted offline work and we wanted scenario management. So that's all together makes
16:27
like data management, data versioning needs and we actually built a new project called QGIS versioning which is based on PostGIS and Specialite and which is kind of a subversion for
16:44
for the database. So with the concept of commits, branches and with a conflict management tool. So the principle is you get a working copy, you get an offline copy of your data, you get it on your tablet hardware and you can work on it and then get it back to the central database
17:03
and you can as well do working copy inside the database without having to put it on your tablet so you can work directly everything inside the database. That's a workflow to update the data, so you got the reference repository which is the main repository for data.
17:22
First of all to create a working copy for your user here so you got a local database then you do modification offline and third step is to do a working copy update whenever there is conflict you have to deal with conflict and merge your modifications with
17:41
the modification which have been done meanwhile by the user B and then once everything is right you can commit the modification to the reference repository and the user B can do exactly the same in between. So we got versioning and we got offline and we got some conflict management tool. So every time you commit your data you're gonna say commit message and then it
18:04
say okay it's you successfully committed your your modification to the database or it says you have some updates to do before. We got conflict management typically we got here data which has been modified on both sides so inside QGIS you have an interface say where you can choose which
18:25
data you want to keep or you can do modification of data. Last point was about simulation that's not exactly surveying that's an extension of the water project globally. We integrated Epanet which is a hydraulics simulation where you can do simulation on the water networks
18:50
into to know what pressure will be at on what pipes etc and we integrated that into the geoprocessing interface that QGIS has so it's a plug-in and you can do time plots for example
19:06
of the water level of tank you get map of results with specific pressure points with with indication on the pressure level for different pipes and all. So we're gonna do the same with SWMM which is a code for simulation for wastewater. So for the future of
19:27
the project so that was what was developed the future of the project is to have better domain specific objects so there is a lot of QGIS mainly to do to better integrate some
19:41
water management tools. We want to improve the surveying software as well so GPS tracking has been done capture data and done on canvas has been done already as well but the ROM application can be now extended with plugins so you can add some new features to the surveying application and then there is some global more global improvement for SCADA connection
20:04
for example to control the valves remote geo web services sensor-oriented services and globally to have an integrated software stack for water management water distribution and try to build a community as well so every people interested in water distribution software
20:24
open source based on QGIS, PODGIS are invited to contribute to use it and to fund it if you can. So that's mostly it for this presentation if you have any question do not hesitate I think we have some time for questions. Thank you. Questions? No question or that's yeah.
20:52
Do you know if there are some applications for parking green space management parks and the green space management in the same way?
21:05
So I don't know if there is any actually live at least not publicly probably there are some people who develop some application for parks management in QGIS but they didn't publish it or didn't try to get other to use it but if you already got QGIS and QGIS project and all
21:24
if you want to do some surveying this ROM tool is really easy to set up I mean within a few days you can have your application running and if you don't need any real complicated synchronization it's pretty easy to set up so yeah. I was wondering if the software
21:51
for doing the synchronization between QGIS and SQLite is available? Yeah it's available it's on GitHub if you go to Slandia's GitHub it's still a bit rough so it works in this case
22:05
we haven't deployed it in other projects than this one but you can download it use it and should work so it's open source as well. I have another question too about composers in QGIS it seems like when I've used them that produces very large PDF files. Did you get into that problem?
22:27
Well it depends also you have two modes for exporting composers you have a vector mode or you have a raster mode so you have to check that you are in vector mode for exporting and
22:40
sometimes some layers cannot be exported as a vector so the whole composer export is converted to raster so that may be the case and we are actually working as well on improving the SVG exports so that we can have some like real good SVG export from QGIS if you want to
23:00
go to Illustrator or something else and to have better editing for vector big vector maps. One more question, last one, no more question? Perfect, thank you then.