Henrico, SJCoetzee, SCooper, Antony K2018-04-122018-04-122018Henrico, S.J., Coetzee, S. and Cooper, A.K. 2016. Analysing the practical feasibility of FOSSGIS in military operations - A cholera outbreak use case. International Conference for Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G 2016 Bonn), Bonn, Germany, 24-26 August 2016978-3-943321-16-6https://scholarworks.umass.edu/foss4g/vol16/iss1/2/https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1050&context=foss4ghttp://2016.foss4g.org/programme.htmlhttp://hdl.handle.net/10204/10182Paper presented at the International Conference for Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G 2016 Bonn), Bonn, Germany, 24-26 August 2016Remaining ahead of the enemy in all circumstances is crucial to any military power. Geographic information systems (GIS) can provide the military commander with geospatial information about the theatre of war to assist with the planning and execution of a mission. Unfortunately, technology usually comes at a price. GIS is no exception. The cost of acquiring and maintaining GIS software licenses, as well as training staff in the use of the software, needs to be considered. The question arises whether open source software, which can be used without any software license expenses, is a feasible alternative in military operations. The problem is that the perception exists that open source GIS software is neither user-friendly nor mature enough to be used in military operations. This study evaluates the functionality of an open source desktop GIS product in a military operation use case. A list of specific GIS functionalities was compiled based on the literature study and by developing a use case. The functionalities were executed in QGIS. Results were compared against results of the same functionalities in ArcGIS, which is widely used in military operations. Results show that all GIS functions tested by this study could be performed by both software products. These results are interesting because it means that FOSSGIS can be successfully deployed by units or directorates that has limited funds available to expand the existing GIS capabilities for military operations.enOpen source softwareMilitary operationGeographic information systemQGISHot spot analysisKernel density estimationBufferingViewshed analysisConference PresentationHenrico, S., Coetzee, S., & Cooper, A. K. (2018). Analysing the practical feasibility of FOSSGIS in military operations - A cholera outbreak use case. AGSE Publishing. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10182Henrico, SJ, S Coetzee, and Antony K Cooper. "Analysing the practical feasibility of FOSSGIS in military operations - A cholera outbreak use case." (2018): http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10182Henrico S, Coetzee S, Cooper AK, Analysing the practical feasibility of FOSSGIS in military operations - A cholera outbreak use case; AGSE Publishing; 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10182 .TY - Conference Presentation AU - Henrico, SJ AU - Coetzee, S AU - Cooper, Antony K AB - Remaining ahead of the enemy in all circumstances is crucial to any military power. Geographic information systems (GIS) can provide the military commander with geospatial information about the theatre of war to assist with the planning and execution of a mission. Unfortunately, technology usually comes at a price. GIS is no exception. The cost of acquiring and maintaining GIS software licenses, as well as training staff in the use of the software, needs to be considered. The question arises whether open source software, which can be used without any software license expenses, is a feasible alternative in military operations. The problem is that the perception exists that open source GIS software is neither user-friendly nor mature enough to be used in military operations. This study evaluates the functionality of an open source desktop GIS product in a military operation use case. A list of specific GIS functionalities was compiled based on the literature study and by developing a use case. The functionalities were executed in QGIS. Results were compared against results of the same functionalities in ArcGIS, which is widely used in military operations. Results show that all GIS functions tested by this study could be performed by both software products. These results are interesting because it means that FOSSGIS can be successfully deployed by units or directorates that has limited funds available to expand the existing GIS capabilities for military operations. DA - 2018 DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR KW - Open source software KW - Military operation KW - Geographic information system KW - QGIS KW - Hot spot analysis KW - Kernel density estimation KW - Buffering KW - Viewshed analysis LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2018 SM - 978-3-943321-16-6 T1 - Analysing the practical feasibility of FOSSGIS in military operations - A cholera outbreak use case TI - Analysing the practical feasibility of FOSSGIS in military operations - A cholera outbreak use case UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10182 ER -