Cybersite Consulting has been working with NSW Maritime Authority to produce a web mapping application that will benefit the public in finding resources around Sydney harbour. The GIS web application was developed using data supplied by NSW Maritime and laid out in a simple, elegant and usable manner for people to access. The underlying framework is a PHP-based framework which sits on top of the open source Mapserver software. A screenshot is shown below, and a link will be provided as soon as it becomes available.

This application is different from ones developed in the past for a couple of reasons. The first feature with a difference was the quick zoom into a particular wharf or feature point. This can be changed in a matter of seconds to allow the drop down to work for other feature points, or even to add a number of dropdown lists for each type of feature point.

The second advancement was the need to integrate external data in a CSV document into one of the layers. The boat ramps data that was provided only relates to the position and name of the boat ramp, but the CSV file contains detailed information about conditions, amenities, picnic areas, access methods etc. The issue was that this needed to be updatable over time and would not suit well in the GIS data.

Instead, the CSV is now read directly in to the application when any of the boat ramps are queried. This will display the information that relates only to that ramp, and it does it in real time, rather than scanning through the whole CSV data file. This means that it presents cleanly as though it was a single data query for the user.

Along with the query modifications we added a feature to display a photo of the boat ramps so that the public user could see what the ramp looked like and whether it would be suitable to take a boat or vehicle their size onto the ramp.

Cybersite Consulting is happy to be working with NSW Maritime in providing access to the public to such useful information and while doing so using open source software.

Cybersite Consulting has been working with De Bortoli Wines for around 15 months to help implement a viable solution for their particular needs, based around open source software. The project has been composed of two main sections currently.

De Bortoli has gone ahead and implemented a rollout of thin clients based around the Linux live boot cdroms. The hardware is a standard Dell desktop client with LCD screen. The difference here is that the machines are booted from a Morphix dvd system. The Morphix system is based on a similar concept to Knoppix, but is Gnome-based rather than KDE-centric. The work area for the client is either on network based shares, or on a USB flash stick.

Implementing this system caused some issues in the first part of the rollout phase. One of the main issues was that of printing. The CUPS system was implemented to manage printing and had been assumed to work without issue. However, some of the older style programs had printer specific settings and did not automatically recognise CUPS-enabled printing. One example was the earlier firefox and Mozilla projects.

To overcome this problem, it was simply a matter of changing the default "lpr" to something more useful. They had found "kdeprint", but it was designed for KDE and "contaminated" their Gnome-centric system. Cybersite Consulting ended up solving the issue by suggesting the "xpp" printer selector application that is Gnome friendly.

De Bortoli was interested in getting OpenOffice.org rolled out throughout their organisation, but were not sure of the approach. Having had some setbacks with earlier versions, they enlisted Cybersite's help to try and solve the change management issue they faced.

Cybersite Consulting's training division - Training4Linux - put together some customised courses that would suit the requirements of De Bortoli staff and their migration. Courses ranging from simple introduction to different modules, through to specialist areas in spreadsheets, all helped to bring about a change in attitude to OpenOffice's capabilities and their expectations.

De Bortoli have since gone on to start implementing are parts of their overall upgrade and have now implemented a content management system that allows OpenOffice.org documents. This means all their documents both internal and external, can be grouped, sorted and managed through this CMS software.
Cybersite Consulting is proud to have been able to help in moving this company forward into open source technologies.