Research on developing portable plug-and-play open source desktop GIS environment based on Flash Disk.
Jun Fu · Journal of Zhejiang University(Science Edition) · 2010
To meet the demand for mobility required by GIS(Geographic Information Systems),a technical framework to integrate an operating system,software and data which is suitable for portable plug-and-play computing is presented.The feasibility of making a portable plug-and-play desktop GIS environment based on Linux and Flash Disk is reasoned.To overcome the limitations of Flash Disk,such as the writing and erasing cycles,access speed and storage capacity,a solution is offered.The work principle and key technologies of this solution are explained.Taking QGIS as an example,the implementation of a portable plug-and-play open source desktop GIS environment is detailed.The operation test of the environment indicates that the solution is effective.The technical framework can be used not only in GIS,but also in the other situations in which a portable plug-and-play computing environment is required.According to this application mode,computers become components of information infrastructures,driven by the operating system,application and data which reside on the Flash Disk through USB interface,all kinds of tasks can be achieved.The universal of this application mode is expected to open a whole new domain in the future of computing.