The Business of Open: Geospatial data, Open Source and OpenGeo

–Chris Holmes

Overview

• The Business of Open Source• Geospatial and Open• OpenGeo’s approach• Ideas for IGN

Open Source background

• Basis is licensing• All successful Open Source is because

of community• An asynchronous cooperative of code• Organizations that want the same thing can

pool their resources• Cost is not 0, OS can be sold.

• Real value comes when companies form mutually beneficial relationships with communities

Software Business before Open Source

• Proprietary Software sold boxes of ‘software’

• Customer thought they were just buying the code, but there is far more to software:• Manuals, Support• Bug fixes, new features• Training, integration, custom solutions

• Software companies made huge profit margins

Software Business after Open Source

• High quality code is now free• A new class of Open Source companies

has emerged• There is a market for everything around

the code• Support, manuals, training, integration,

additional development, services• Profit margins on code are lower and

lower• Smart companies move up the value

chain

Open Source Business Models

• Collaborate on the pieces that everyone is needs (and might build themselves)

• Sell the ‘whole package’, your special sauce with all the open parts

• Can be hosted services, integration with others, special plugins, trainings, support, feature development

• Some will just use code directly (and may contribute back). Others want a ‘solution’, and will pay to not worry

Opening of Geospatial Data

• Everyone now sees the value of geospatial data• Navtec, Teleatlas sales, Google maps

• But ability to sell base layer data is decreasing• Google is practically giving it away• OpenStreetMap is a pressure like

Open Source Software• Segmenting of market - many don’t

need high accuracy for their base.

Moving up the value chain

• Towards services• IGN ‘special sauce’ is the data• Can get in to the services game

before data is more open• While experimenting with crowd

sourcing so your data acquisition cost is lower

• There is still lots of space for innovative services

OpenGeo and Open Source

• OpenGeo is hybrid social enterprise• Goal is to build the Open

Geospatial Web• Work by building Open Source

Software• Providing core feature improvement

and Enterprise contracts

OpenGeo

Enterprise

Towards a product

IGN and Data business models

• IGN is similar, needs business model to support itself• To make data, not software

• Can start to provide services while data still has value

• Services are the ‘full solution’ clients want, or at least are closer

• Other value is being ‘authoritative’, guarantees of accuracy

Business models in a collaborative Geoportail

• Custom Tiles• Hosting of Layers• Collaborative editing• ‘Authoritative’ layers• Bundled Software and data

package• Subscriptions to updates• GIS-based applications

Custom Tiles

• Let anyone customize base layers• Use an online styler• They can match the look and feel of

their website• Google can’t offer this, always looks

the same

• Use EC2 or other burst hosting so they can pay to create tiles quickly

Collaborative editing

• Let anyone crowdsource their data• Pay for advance workflows on hosted

version• A sort of ‘sourceforge’ for the geo web in

france• Free for people who release their data• Charge for those who make it private• Eventually a marketplace for private

ones to sell to one another.

Hosting of Layers

• Free for everyone to add some points or upload a small shapefile

• Costs money for large information• Charge for secure access, when they

want hosted data not open to the world• All available with online styling, with

exporting maps• All exports have your logo and link back,

unless people pay to have it be ‘theirs’

Authoritative and Subscriptions

• IGN provides the stamp that ‘this is accurate’• People want that so they can sue

someone if it goes wrong• Free users can use a six month old

dataset• Perhaps they can get new one if they

help improve it, submit edits• Various services to get updates

when they are marked official

Bundling Software

• Combined software and data package

• Built on Open Source Software, packaged nice for your data

• Let anyone get set up quickly• (can partner with OpenGeo

Enterprise packages)

GIS-based applications

• Area that Google etc won’t touch directly• Create tools to let developers make rich

GUI desktop-like applications that leverage GIS operations

• But designed for their users who may not know ‘GIS’

• This is direction of GeoExt• Could do a hosted developer toolkit for

apps based on IGN data• Wizard map app creation and developer

focused components

Business Model warning

• Be sure to not optimize for money making too early

• If you have people pay for a service that is not that great they won’t come back

• Get them hooked on a great service, spend time figuring out what that is.

• Then start charging, after they’ve committed.

Towards user collaboration on GeoPortail

• ‘Export’ - after composing a view let a user embed in a webpage or blog• Be sure to show logo and ‘created with IGN

GeoPortail, make your own map!’• Track stats on layers and exported maps,

show page of most popular• Have search results of catalog based on

those stats, and prioritize catalog results with layers you can add

• Rating, tags and comments on ‘maps’ that people create

• Let people remix other maps

The first project

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Towards OpenGeo

• From a side project of TOPP• To sustaining contract work• And the push to grow

Grow!

Building a stack

The Client

OpenLayers

The Cache

The Database

The Rich Client

The OpenGeo Suite

Funding

OpenGeo.org

Enterprise

Towards a Product

Building the Open Geospatial Web

• Making Geospatial Information Open and Accessible

• By bringing Open Source Principles to Geo

• Working by building OS software that gets used by all

• In the context of a hybrid organization

OpenGeo

Enterprise

The full solution

Towards the ‘dot-org’

• Full Cost Recovery for OpenGeo• Spin off like Mozilla Corporation• Reinvest profit in similar ‘dot-orgs’

– Make Capital viral like the GPL• Require complete transparency• Business built on Open Source

principles