Session 4: Grab Bag 1

Taking the Enterprise to QGIS
Nancy Read, Casey Herrmann, John Lundquist, Carey LaMere, Metro. Mosquito Control District
MMCD full-time staff use desktop mapping almost every day. Printed maps are an important part of many processes. Our spatial data on wetlands and woodlots is maintained through desktop mapping and regional servers. Desktop mapping complements our enterprise-wide cloud PostgreSQL database and web-based system for field data entry. After 28 years as MapInfo users, we evaluated our options and decided to switch to QGIS starting last fall. QGIS offers a mature and stable set of tools and functionality, integrates well with our PG database, eliminates the need to track licenses, and fits our budget. There is also extensive training and support available on the web through an international user base. In this presentation we outline how we introduced QGIS to users with custom videos, webinars and a OneNote Notebook. We covered topics including using image services, editing, making templates for print layouts, thematic maps, labels, and queries. We created updatable projects, did quick analyses using add-on tools, and displayed data from the PG database. We are continuing the transition this fall and look forward to exploring more of what QGIS has to offer.
Full Stack Application Development
Caleb Mackey, WSB
Databases and the data inside them are the heart of most applications and making that data accessible in a secure manner can be challenging. There are many enterprise solutions available for hosting GIS data, but have you ever wondered how you can stand up your own web services? This session will explore some patterns for both backend and front-end development. On the backend, we will see how to take the complexity out of working relational databases using Python’s SQLAlchemy package. Next, we will see how to create a RESTful API with Flask to act as the broker between the database and client application and provide documentation using Swagger. Finally, we will look at building a front-end Single Page Application (SPA) using Vue.js to interact with our web services.