Open Source GiS

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For the open source GIS lab we took the same task from a previous assignment and did it in QGIS instead of ArcMap or Pix4D.

It was determined that, since Esri is so expensive, it would be prudent to learn the basics of open source GIS, which can be found for free. To facilitate this lesson, Dr. Christina Hupy was brought in to teach a lesson on QGIS.

Figure 1 can explain the gist of the lesson.

Figure 1: Open source volumetrics
We used open source tools in QGIS to measure the volumes of piles in a quarry. An important distinction between Esri and QGIS is that in QGIS every tool is created in open source and even tools that already exist can be recreated and improved upon. This creates a bit of redundancy depending on the task you are performing but it also gives a lot of options.

It seems to me that the QGIS is a very good tool to use and doesn't seem inherently inferior to Esri with the exception of Esri being more user friendly. Once someone is able to adequately navigate QGIS and is familar with the tools it provides, it will be able to perform most of the same tasks that Esri can.

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