Recently I attended the 2nd National GIS Conference and Exhibition in Kuala Lumpur sponsored by MaCGDI (Malaysian Centre for Geospatial Data Infrastructure), where I gave a presentation on open source geospatial software. I think it is fair to say that the open source geospatial message is resonating among those who heard my presentations at MacGDI and previously at an Autodesk event at Pangkor Island. I found it significant that at this conference, which was attended by government, utilities, and a telco that the open source message was echoed by almost every speaker following my presentation, which was the first in the AM. However, Malaysia has been active in open source for a long time, so this is not as surprising at it may seem.
Background on Open Source in Malaysia
Like most other emerging nations, Malaysia has been very
positive on the open source movement. But Malaysia has been one of the real leaders in open source in Southeast Asia, probably because there is an active open source movement and the government has been very active in encouraging open source. For example, there is an open source competency centre Open Source Competency Centre sponsored by the government.
There are some interesting web sites if you are interested in finding out more about open source in Malaysia including MYOSS mailing list, the Malaysian National Computer Confederation Open Source Special Interest Group (OSSIG) runs the OSSIG mailing list, and there is the mypenguin99 mailing list. Other sources of information about open source in Malaysia include MyOSS Magazine and Red Hat on Malaysia.
Open Data
One of the most interesting sites I have seen recently is Malaysia Singapore Maps. This site was developed and is maintained by a non-profit group of GPS mapping enthusiasts, who build and maintain accurate and updated GPS maps of Malaysia and Singapore, totally voluntarily. The maps are distributed free of charge for personal use.
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Hi Geoff, I am a mapper/councillor of MalsingMaps, the "Malaysia Singapore Maps" site that you quoted in this blog.
Firstly, thank you for your comments on our site! Getting active member participation on our site has always been a challenge in our short 1.5 year history. Your comments of our site being an example of a "participative" site is most interesting as this gives us some form of "external recognition" of the success we have had in soliciting and sustaining active participation on our site.
Would appreciate your thoughts on the following:
1. Could you elaborate on what makes our site "interesting" from your perspective, geospatial or otherwise?
2. What are your thoughts with regards to the long-term sustainability of a site like ours vis-a-vis your observations of other "participative"-type websites? What should we do/not do to ensure site longevity?
3. Our underlying geo-data is currently not open sourced. Do you see any benefits which we can reap, as a "participative", not-for-profit site if we were to make our underlying data open source?
Looking forward to hearing from you soon, either in your blog or on our site (I will post the same questions in the currently active thread on the Geospatial conference).
Posted by: Jimmy Leng | August 27, 2006 at 06:50 AM
Hi Geoff
Do you accept article contributions on technology of 3D documentation?
I would like to spread news on such technology, how it has helped companies and researchers as shown here:
http://www.faroasia.com/epu/sg/Index.php?p=2071
Posted by: FARO ASIA | March 22, 2012 at 05:31 AM