Spatial Galaxy

I remember growing up and reading predictions for the new year developed by some prognosticator, supposedly in the know. Of course most of the time it was all wrong, but often made for interesting reading. With that in mind, here are my top 10 predictions for Open Source GIS (OS GIS) for 2007.

Top Ten OS GIS Predictions (in no particular order)

1. OSGeo will be a synergetic force, fostering new cooperation and collaboration between projects.
2. OSGeo will struggle with being “all things to all people” but will settle into its niche by year-end.
3. Quantum GIS will release version 1.0, five years after its conception.
4. The FOSS4G 2007 conference in Victoria will be the biggest ever, bringing together all facets of the OS GIS community. Commercial GIS vendors will be lurking about the conference floor in significant numbers.
5. The Big Commercial GIS vendors will continue to take notice of OS GIS although by year-end its likely they “still won’t get it”.
6. A “killer” web mapping interface will be developed and cause a mini-revolution across the geospatial web space.
7. An odd alliance will develop between an OS GIS project and a big commercial GIS vendor.
8. Paul Ramsey will finally throw up his hands and implement raster support in PostGIS.
9. GRASS GUI debate/discussion/development will heat up again, the result being a new improved interface.
10. I will be exposed as a charlatan and unable to predict anything in the future.

There you have it. Maybe your crystal ball is better than mine. If so, here’s your chance to go on record.

I was interested to read that ArcGIS Image Server is now available. Now I admit that I haven’t had any advanced information about the product (has anybody?) but was disappointed to find that its only supported on Windows servers.

Disappointed but not surprised. I was hoping for a more open API (specifically something other than ArcObjects and/or .Net) and the ability to use image server on Linux/Unix.