Integrating Free and Open Source Solutions into Geospatial Science Education

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information

Vaclav Petras²  Anna Petrasova²  Brendan Harmon³  Ross K. Meentemeyer³  Helena Mitasova²  Barend Kobben¹  Serena Coetzee¹ 

[1] Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, 2800 Faucette Drive, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA;;Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, 2800 Faucette Drive, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA; E-Mails:;Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University, 2800 Faucette Drive, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA; E-Mails:

关键词: online course;    GRASS GIS;    ArcGIS;    FOSS;    geospatial modeling;    visualization;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijgi4020942

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

While free and open source software becomes increasingly important in geospatial research and industry, open science perspectives are generally less reflected in universities’ educational programs. We present an example of how free and open source software can be incorporated into geospatial education to promote open and reproducible science. Since 2008 graduate students at North Carolina State University have the opportunity to take a course on geospatial modeling and analysis that is taught with both proprietary and free and open source software. In this course, students perform geospatial tasks simultaneously in the proprietary package ArcGIS and the free and open source package GRASS GIS. By ensuring that students learn to distinguish between geospatial concepts and software specifics, students become more flexible and stronger spatial thinkers when choosing solutions for their independent work in the future. We also discuss ways to continually update and improve our publicly available teaching materials for reuse by teachers, self-learners and other members of the GIS community. Only when free and open source software is fully integrated into geospatial education, we will be able to encourage a culture of openness and, thus, enable greater reproducibility in research and development applications.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland