Live GIS Testimonials
See also Live GIS History.
SIGTE - University of Girona (2014 Testimonial)
As a global assessment, we must admit that we are pretty happy about the overall behaviour of the OSGeo-Live. We have been using it in most of the Spanish FOSS4G workshops, covering a broad range of issues and themes such as GIS Desktop Workshops (QGIS, gvSIG, GRASS, PostGIS and pgRouting, ... even JASPA), Programming workshops (Integration of geospatial free technologies, Introduction to python for geospatial applications, programming new applications for Sextante, ...), Web Applications Workshops (Introduction to MapProxy, Developing Web Applications with AngularJS and Leaflet, OpenLayers and GeoServer, ...), and other specific workshops such as the integration of OSM data + imposm + TileMill, ...
We generally don't need to install extra packages and libraries but, if need it, we can do it without arising too many problems. So, in general terms, there are no remarkable problems installing new pieces of software.
Sometimes the tricky issue is that the host pc has low RAM memory, so we can't assign more than 2Gb, to the virtual machine. But, I suppose that this has nothing to do with the OSGeo-Live.
We have intensively used the OSGeo-Live to conduct the whole Summer School each July, with a pretty good performance. Sometimes, we had some troubles with few machines (slow performance, some crashes, etc...) but without a clear and concrete reason. Just happens. :)
However, during this edition we encountered a problem with OpenJump and PostGIS. Each time we tried to configure a new connection to a PostGIS database, OpenJump started to freeze...
Regarding to the datasets, we have been using Natural Earth data and OSM data included on the distro, as well as some external datasets. Nothing to mention in here. Good performance in every sense.
Last but not least, within the UNIGIS MSc framework, we really encourage students to make use of the OSGeo-Live DVD for their assignments and practical work. UNIGIS is a online MSc so sometimes, it's a little bit difficult to help students to properly install and make use of the OSGeo-Live virtual disk. This could take some time but nothing specially relevant. The big issue, for those who are not familiar with a new OS, is to not enter in a state of panic the first time they see a linux environment in front of their eyes... alone :) In a face-to-face courses, this is more easy to handle than in an online course but with a little bit of patience and positive attitude, this is not a barrier.
In summary, using OSGeo-Live virtual disk has a double positive result: discovering and working with foss4g, as well as discovering a new OS.
Thanks to all the OSGeo-Live crew for their work and passion. Good job!
All the best,
Lluís Vicens
SIGTE - University of Girona