The use of open source software has nowadays become well-established in our society. In the geospatial domain, the creation and evolution of open source software projects are typically based on a crowdsourcing mechanism counting on communities (project leaders, users, developers, translators, etc.) from all over the world. The importance of open source geospatial software, also termed FOSS4G (Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial), has become so high that the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) was created to support and promote its development and widespread adoption. In addition to being chosen for ethical reasons, nowadays open source geospatial software is exploited in science and research, as the transparency of code ensures reproducibility of analyses and results, and in education, as it allows sustainability by avoiding dependence on proprietary vendors. Open source geospatial software represents also an established business model for many companies worldwide.
Guest Editors
Marco Minghini, European Commission - Joint Research Centre, Italy (marco.minghini@ec.europa.eu)
Amin Mobasheri, Heidelberg University, Germany (a.mobasheri@uni-heidelberg.de)
Victoria Rautenbach, University of Pretoria, South Africa (victoria.rautenbach@up.ac.za)
Maria Antonia Brovelli, Politecnico di Milano - DICA, Italy (maria.brovelli@polimi.it)