FOSS4G North America Conference 2013 Preliminary Program

Transportation and Utilities
Open Source web and mobile mapping applications in utilities and telcos
Peter Batty and Mike Tafel, Ubisense
This presentation will discuss enterprise web mapping applications that we've been developing
for large utilities and communications companies, based on a number of open source geospatial
components. At this time last year the main elements of our solution were PostGIS, MapFish and
Google Maps. Since then we've added GeoServer into the mix, and we're just finishing a
migration from Google Maps to Leaflet on the front end (but still able to pull in data from Google
as well as OpenStreetMap, Bing and other sources).
We'll talk about examples of what our customers have been doing, including how we helped one
of them with recovery from Hurricane Sandy, and how we're handling some very large volumes
of near real time data from cable networks using PostGIS and GeoServer. And we'll talk about
various technical architecture issues including our approach to offline mobile web applications
on various platforms, our experience of moving to Leaflet, and best practices on updating
PostGIS with large volumes of near real time data.
A Rail Runs Through It
Spencer Gardner, HNTB
Many cities are turning to improvement of their public transportation infrastructure as a means of
mitigating transportation gridlock. The introduction or expansion of a transit line requires years
and sometimes decades of analysis, planning and design. Given the significant investment
required to build and operate transit service coupled with shrinking transit budgets, it is more
important than ever to make sure that an agency invests in those projects which offer the
greatest degree of access to the people, places and jobs that fuel demand for transportation.
In the United States, most transportation funding is funneled through Metropolitan Planning
Organizations (MPO), a regional body that coordinates planning and construction of major
transportation investments. MPOs maintain travel models which are intended to approximate the
actual usage of the transportation system. These datasets often provide the most reliable basis
for studying travel demand throughout a metropolitan area.
Using PostGIS and Quantum GIS, we have developed a unique spatial methodology for
analyzing travel demand datasets. Our techniques allow us to visualize the flow of trips along
pre­defined corridors through a metropolitan area and quantify the level of travel demand at
different locations. The results allow us to better understand the position and importance of
major nodes of activity along a given corridor.
FOSS Experiences in Transportation and Land Use Research
Andrew Owen, University of Minnesota ­­ Nexus Research Group