Session Abstract

Enterprising Local Governments with Free GIS Tools

In many areas of the IT sector open source and free software tools are beginning to proliferate. This paper will explore how local governments use GIS tools and other associated IT tools in their daily activities. During this exploration, an analysis will be conducted to see how far one can take the current open source GIS tools to build a full functioning enterprise GIS (desktop and Internet based tools) catered to local governments.

Speaker Biography

Rod Schatz

Rod is a Spatial IT consultant and Manager for the UMA Group based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada specializing in Infrastructure Management and Spatial IT applications. Rod has a very diverse Spatial IT background ranging from spatial implementation studies, spatial application customization, spatial technical architecture, data conversion, spatial Internet technologies and strategic planning. Rod is very active in the spatial community having presented over a dozen papers and presentations on a variety of IT and spatial topics. Rod holds a Master of Science degree in Geographic Information Systems from the University of Alberta and a GIS Professional designation (GISP).