QGIS was founded by Gary Sherman, a Geologist in the first decade of this century. It is built on top of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and is the leading Free and Open Source Desktop GIS. It is not only free to use, but free develop as driven by its highly active community of individuals and organsations. Users can submit feature requests, QGIS Enhancement Proposals or sponsor changes through directly funding one of the many commercial support providers. The QGIS Project is governed by the Charter of the QGIS.ORG Association.

Curious to see how many users there are? Check out the analysis of users which shows that there have been over 7 million QGIS Daily opens in the last 30 days in Australia.

Interviews with Gary Sherman #

Check out one of the rare interviews he has given Godfather of GIS
If you want more, then you can check out Part 1 & Part 2 of Tim Sutton’s Interview on You Tube.

QGIS is managed by a Board who have overall governance of the project and deal with the bureaucratic aspects. The fun stuff of what make QGIS evolve so effectivel is directed by the Project Steering Committee who determine the priorites and steer the QGIS project. Additionally, community voting members vote on grant proposals, “extraordinary” decisions and vote on the board and PSC appointments at the AGM. QGIS is legally based in Switzerland. Read about their goverenace here.

Board Members #

Chair: Marco Berasocchi
Vice chair: Anita Graser
Treasurer: Andreas Neumann

Project Steering Committee Members #

The above members of the boards and:
Release Manager: Jürgen Fischer
PSC Member: Alessandro Pasotti
PSC Member: Régis Haubourg

QGIS Desktop: Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD and Android.

QGIS Server: Publish your QGIS projects and layers as OGC compatible WMS, WMTS, WFS and WCS services.

QGIS Web Client: Publish to the web with powerful symbology, labeling and blending features to impress with your maps.

Mobile Apps: Options for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux from third party apps include Qfield, Mergin Maps and IntraMaps Roam

A full list can be found here.