Experiences Teaching GIS with Open Source Software

Ian Turton,
John A. Dutton e-Education Institute
EES Building
Pennsylvania State University
University Park
PA !"#$
USA
E%ail&i't()su.edu
Introduction
This )a)er intends to )rovide a data )oint *or geogra)hic teaching +y recounting the e,)eriences o*
the author in teaching a %asters level courses in the Pennsylvania State University-s e-education
)rogra%. The author teaches ./E0/1"1& 0)en 2e+ 3a))ing4, the course has +een released as an
0)en Educational 5esource and can +e vie6ed *reely on the 222. The course teaches the
)rinci)als and )ractice o* 6e+ %a))ing using o)en source so*t6are 70SS8 and o)en standards. In
this )a)er 0SS is re*erenced o*ten it %eans 7in this )a)er8 so*t6are that is *reely distri+uta+le and
%odi*ia+le 76hich i%)lies the source code %ust +e availa+le8. The 0)en Source Initiative 70SI8
)rovides a list o* # key )ro)erties at htt)&99666. o)en source. org 9docs9osd .
2hile the use o* 0SS is 6idely kno6n in geogra)hic 7and %ost scienti*ic *ields8 the *ield o*
teaching 6ith 0SS is not 6ell docu%ented in the literature. The area 6ith %ost e,a%)les is
:o%)uter Science *or e,a%)le ;elson < ;g 7$###8 discuss the use o* 0SS *or net6orking,
:agiltay 7$##=82arren 7$##18 +oth sho6 ho6 the availa+ility o* 0SS hel) in the teaching o*
so*t6are develo)%ent. In other *ields :ataloglu 7$##!8 is one o* the *e6 e,a%)les 6here he
discusses the use o* 0SS in Physics.
The )a)er 6ill outline the so*t6are )ackages used in teaching the course, the ty)es
7stereoty)es8 o* the students taking the course and the )ro+le%s they e,)erience, 6e 6ill then look
at the )ros and cons o* using o)en source in teaching. >inally 6e 6ill conclude +y considering 6hat
a )ros)ective user o* 0SS in teaching should kno6 +e*ore starting.
GIS Software used in the course
The %ain re?uire%ents *or +uilding an o)en 6e+ %a) are a %a) server 7or 23S in 0/: s)eak8
and a %eans o* dra6ing the %a) 7a 23S :lient8. There are t6o %ain choices in %a) servers in the
o)en source 6orld, either a server 6ritten in Java or one 6ritten in :. >or the : language the sole
choice is 3a)Server, 6hile in the Java 6orld there are t6o choices /eoServer and Deegree. >or
thin clients 7those that run in a +ro6ser8 the language choice is +et6een AJA@ or >lash *or %odern
solutions, in ter%s o* tool kits there is 0)enAayers in the JavaScri)t s)ace, 6hile >lash has
2orldBit and 0)enScales. >or a thick client 7that is a client that runs directly on the co%)uter
deskto)8 +oth 6ell kno6n choices are Java +ased& uDig and 2orld2ind.
>or a nor%al 7*ace to *ace8 course teaching 6ith so*t6are usually involves letting the local
co%)uter service 6hat you 6ill re?uire on 6hich la+ co%)uters +y 6hen 7or installing the so*t6are
yoursel*8. >or a distance education course the )rocess is a little %ore di**icult C each student %ust
do6nload and install the so*t6are on the co%)uter they intend to use, as 6e 6ill see +elo6 this
leads to %ore e,cite%ent. As a result o* this consideration the author decided to only %ake use o*
Java *or it-s )orta+ility and cross o)erating syste% a+ilities. Thus students are re?uired to do6nload
and install /eoServer as the 23S, uDig as the thick client and 0)enAayers as the thin client 7thin
clients run in the +ro6ser so are i%)ertinently %ore )orta+le8. To %ake the installation o* /eo-
Server %ore *un *or the students they are re?uired to use To%cat 7a servlet container8 to host their
%a) server

.
Pros and cons of using open source software
The +ene*its o* using 0SS include that the so*t6are are all *ree 7in ter%s o* +eer and s)eech8 so
there are no co%)le, licence )ro+le%s to +e dealt 6ith, this %eans that i* the student 6ishes to kee)
and )u+lish their 6ork a*ter the course ends they can. It even %eans that students can take the
so*t6are to 6ork and sho6 their +oss. These are all good +ut o* course there are )ro+le%s tooD
Students are generally un*a%iliar 6ith the so*t6are. As alluded to a+ove students can run a variety
o* o)erating syste%s 72indo6s @P, 2indo6s Eista, 3ac 0S and Ainu, varieties are all
encountered8 on their %achines. So%e students are using a co%)uter )rovided +y their e%)loyers,
this leads to issues 6ith the student not having su**icient )rivileges to install so*t6are.
1 Range of Students Taking the Course
The course attracts a 6ide variety o* students 6ho-s skill level ranges *ro% hardcore hackers to
%anagerial ty)es 6ho have their e%ail )rinted out 76ell not ?uite8.
Knowledgeable Students
These are the students 6ho understand ho6 their %achine connects to the Internet. They
tend to ask ?uestions a+out their AA3P
$
+o, in +ase%ent that they )lan to start their ne6
consulting +usiness on. In general they 'ust get on 6ith it and hel) the less a+le students out
on the discussion *oru%s.
Less Knowledgeable Students
These are the students that kno6 ho6 to install so*t6are, they %ostly get on 6ith the
)ro'ects +ut can +eco%e co%)letely stu%)ed i* their %achine is not like the e,a%)le in any
6ay. The course is develo)ed on a 2indo6s @P %achine so the )ictures o* the install
)rocess are slightly di**erent *or a student using a di**erent o)erating syste%.
Clueless Students
These are the students 6ho are co%)letely stu%)ed at all ti%es, o*ten they have never
installed anything on %achine since it arrived ne6. In %any cases this .co%)uter illiteracy4
has +een trained in the to student +y their IT su))ort grou) and 6hen the )rocess is
e,)lained %ore slo6ly 7along 6ith lots o* .you can-t +reak it doing this4 su))ort8 they can
succeed on the course.
2 Range of Probe!s Encountered
There are *our %ain ste)s to the use o* o)en source )rogra%s in the course&
Install a program
>irst the students %ust do6nload the latest version o* the )rogra% and install it on their %achine.
As %entioned a+ove the latest version o* the )rogra% is a %ore *le,i+le conce)t *or 0SS than
)ro)rietary so*t6are. This could +e avoided +y do6nloading and hosting the .right4 version on a
university server, ho6ever 0SS )ro'ects usually issue ne6 versions to *i, )ro+le%s not .enhance4
*eatures so the latest version is a good thing to use. So 6hile you can 6ait until the start o* the ne,t
/eoServer co%es 6ith a )er*ectly good installer 6hich includes Jetty 7another servlet container8 that 6orks 6ith one
click in 6indo6s. Fo6ever i* they ever a))ly their kno6ledge in the real 6orld an understanding o* To%cat 7and
servlet containers in general8 6ill +e use*ul.
$ Ainu,, A)ache, 3ySGA and PFP C a standard set o* o)en source server so*t6are.
acade%ic year to install the latest version o* Arc3a) in the la+s, o)en source sites o*ten hide 7or
re%ove8 the older version you used to 6rite the course.
Use the )rogra%
0nce they are ha))y the server is installed and 6orking, they have to %ake use o* it. So%e
students co%)lain that /eoServer is .harder4 to use than, say, ArcEie6 and Arc/IS Server,
6hich have a co%%on interchange *or%at to hel) 6ith set u). Fo6ever students soon see%
to get the hang o* using uDig to style their data and then co)ying the style *ile to /eoServer.
They also like the 6ay you can drag data layers *ro% US/S-s site to uDig directly to +uild a
set o* 23S layers.
Write a program
The *inal and hardest ste) in the course is to develo) their o6n thin 6e+ %a) client using the
0)enAayers li+rary. The ai% o* this ste) is to encourage the students to go +eyond the
de*ault client )rovided +y /eoServer and tie together several layers o* data. The data can
either co%e co%)letely *ro% the local server or +e a co%+ination o* local and re%ote data.
In %any cases this is the *irst e,)erience o* )rogra%%ing 7+eyond drag and dro) Arc
0+'ects8 *or the students. Fo6ever once they have *ollo6ed a 6orked e,a%)le and over-
co%e their initial )anic all the students have co%)leted this )ortion o* the course
success*ully.
Concusions
As can +e seen there are +ene*its o* using 0SS in your teaching 6hich in the author-s o)inion easily
out6eigh the disadvantages o* using 0SS. Student *eed+ack indicates that 6hile the course is
considered one o* the hardest in the )rogra%%e, they all *eel they have learned so%ething +eyond
+utton )ushing and the .standard4 so*t6are )ackages.
References
:agiltay, ;.E., $##=. Teaching so*t6are engineering +y %eans o* co%)uter-ga%e develo)%ent& :hallenges and
o))ortunities. British Journal of Educational Technology, H"7H8, I#1-I1.
:ataloglu, E., $##!. 0)en Source So*t6are in Teaching Physics& A :ase Study on Eector Alge+ra and Eisual
5e)resentations. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 178.
;elson, D. < ;g, J.3., $###. Teaching co%)uter net6orking using o)en source so*t6are. SIGCSE Bull., H$7H8, H-!.
2arren, I., $##1. Teaching )atterns and so*t6are design. In Proceedings of the 7th Australasian conference on
Co!uting education " #olue $%. ;e6castle, ;e6 South 2ales, Australia& Australian :o%)uter Society,
Inc., )). HK-IK.