Canadian companies, organizations, and governments use a wide variety of GIS software for field data collection, desktop analysis, cartography, remote sensing, multiuser editing, and longterm storage. Increasingly, many are migrating to free and open source (FOSS) GIS software as a viable alternative to proprietary software. To assist those considering FOSS GIS, this coasttocoasttocoast webinar tour of Canada will present a complete open source solution that includes:

LunaMap, a public and private webmap application;
GeoNode, an open data portal;
PostgreSQL/PostGIS, a spatial relational database management system;
Geoserver, a GIS server;
QGIS, a Desktop GIS;
MerginMaps, a mobile data collection platform.

For those ready to make the leap into FOSS GIS, several migration strategies will be proposed, from “lift and shift” to a gradual, hybrid deployment. Lastly, the fundamental key to a successful migration is always quality training and ongoing support for staff, so the webinar will review some of the options available, including documentation, recent publications, and paid professional training and support.