Free Open Source Software (FOSS) GIS tools are very useful but often overlooked. While one of the main purposes of GIS is to share information, this can be difficult and proprietary software can be costly. This presentation discusses two case studies where FOSS tools proved to be very useful as well as why they were chosen over proprietary software. In the first, the Trails Advisory Committee at F. Gilbert Hills State Forest, as well as town and DCR staff collaborated to create a map of the state forest and adjacent conservation lands, with the goal of being able to pull it up on a smartphone and find your location. Here the presenter discusses how the QGIS software and its QTiles plugin were used to accomplish these tasks. In the second, the Foxborough DPW was looking for a temporary solution for sharing GIS information throughout the department until the new town website went online and allow for a web-based solution. An additional goal was being able to access this information in the field either on a smartphone or tablet. Here the presenter discusses how QGIS, its QGIS2Web plugin, and Leaflet were used to create an intranet GIS for the DPW and visually share information throughout it.
