An open source GIS platform: how the LizPack solutions work together

One open source GIS platform, several free software projects

Each LizPack solution is built on a free and open source software project developed by its own community: Lizmap Web Client and QGIS Server for web maps, PostgreSQL and PostGIS for data, QField for fieldwork, GeoServer for OGC services, and GeoNode for the catalog. LizPack is not the author of any of them. It hosts them, connects them to one another, keeps them up to date and monitors them, as explained in the guide What LizPack does.

LizPack is an open source geospatial infrastructure: it deploys, connects, updates and monitors this free software, without replacing it. The value of a platform lies in the connections between its parts. Taken separately, each of these software projects requires its own server, its own configuration and its own maintenance. Brought together by LizPack, they share a single account and are delivered already connected to one another: a PostGIS database can feed a Lizmap map, a field data collection project and a GeoServer workspace at the same time, without any export and without copying files from one place to another.

The LizPack account is the common entry point to all of this. It opens the customer area, where you manage your instances, your databases and GeoServer Cloud, and it also opens LizPack Field: a single sign-in covers both Lizmap hosting and field data collection.

The big picture: what feeds what

The platform can be summed up as one main chain and several branches. The main chain runs from the desktop workstation to the published map; the branches add field data collection, standard web services, freely composed maps and the distribution of data to others.

QGIS Desktop + LizPack Publisher
        |
        v
Lizmap instance (LizPack Map) <---- PostGIS ----> LizPack Field (QField)
        |                              |
        v                              v
  Lizmap web map                 GeoServer Cloud (WMS, WFS, WCS, WMTS)

LizPack Viewer: maps composed from LizPack Field projects
LizPack Catalogue: data catalog and data sales (GeoNode, GeoServer)
LizPack Entreprise: the same platform on your own servers

From the desktop to the map: Publisher and LizPack Map

The starting point is still QGIS Desktop. You prepare your project there as you usually do, and then you configure it with the Lizmap plugin. The LizPack Publisher plugin then connects QGIS to your instances: you can browse their files, open a remote project, publish the project that is currently open and upload an entire folder from your computer, with its folder structure preserved.

The LizPack Map instance receives the project. It brings together Lizmap Web Client, QGIS Server, a PostGIS database and a tile cache, on a subdomain served over HTTPS. It is ready in about four minutes. The guide Anatomy of a Lizmap instance explains in detail what happens inside it.

Along this main chain, additional features can be added without switching tools: the Lizmap modules provide dashboards designed in QGIS, as well as MapBuilder, which lets your users compose a map on demand from the published layers. They are enabled from the Modules tab of the instance in less than a minute.

PostGIS, the meeting point

In the diagram, PostGIS sits at the center because it is what moves the data around without any export. A PostGIS database connected to a Lizmap instance and to LizPack Field carries the data from one tool to the next. There are two ways to have one.

• The instance database. The Basic and Pro plans include PostgreSQL/PostGIS database storage linked to the instance. Starting with the Pro plan, you can connect to it from QGIS Desktop or pgAdmin over an encrypted connection, and LizPack Publisher can add or import layers into it.
• A dedicated database. PostgreSQL 17 and PostGIS 3.5 databases from 1 to 10 GB, billed per GB and per month, and sized independently of any instance. They can be reached over SSL from QGIS, pgAdmin, DBeaver or any PostgreSQL client, and they can be connected to a Lizmap instance.

On the GeoServer side, the PostGIS database of a LizPack instance can be connected to your GeoServer Cloud workspace in a single click, without filling in any connection form. The same tables can therefore feed a Lizmap map and OGC services intended for other client applications.

This central position has a practical consequence: the quality of the database matters more than the choice of the display tool. A well-structured table, with a primary key and a clean geometry, is read in exactly the same way in QGIS Desktop, in Lizmap, in a QField project and in GeoServer. There is only one place to keep up to date, and several ways to show it. The database is also protected against unpleasant surprises: email alerts warn you when it is filling up, and a database that exceeds its quota is stopped after a 24-hour grace period, but it is never emptied.

In the field: LizPack Field and the way back to the map

LizPack Field extends the platform all the way to your teams' phones. It works with the official QField app, on Android and iOS. The data collection project is prepared in QGIS (layers, forms, symbology), then it is uploaded to LizPack Field and becomes available to your colleagues.

Field workers can work online or offline: the project is stored on the device and the records are synchronized when the network comes back. With the Pro plan, the PostGIS layers of the project receive the records directly. If those layers are stored in a PostGIS database hosted by LizPack, the Lizmap map that displays them is updated at every synchronization, with no manual step.

This is the complete loop: a project prepared at the office, records entered in the field, and a public or internal map that reflects the progress of the work. The guide Synchronize QField, PostGIS and Lizmap describes it step by step, and Collect data offline with QField focuses on working without a network connection.

The branches: GeoServer Cloud, Viewer, Catalogue

Three solutions are not part of the main chain, but they meet needs that come up again and again.

• [GeoServer Cloud](/geoserver-cloud) serves layers that are independent of any QGIS project, as WMS, WFS, WCS and WMTS. It is designed for client applications that expect classic OGC services: QGIS, Lizmap, ArcGIS, Leaflet or OpenLayers. QGIS Server serves a project exactly as it is and feeds Lizmap; GeoServer publishes layers with its own styles. The two complement each other. A GeoServer feed can also be added to a QGIS project and then published in Lizmap.
• [LizPack Viewer](/lizpack-viewer) starts from an empty map and brings together layers from several LizPack Field projects and from online services. You can analyze data there (identify features, measure, statistics, buffer zones, swipe comparison), save the map in Mes cartes and share it with a link or an embed code. It is included with the LizPack Field account.
• [LizPack Catalogue](/lizpack-catalogue) is built on GeoNode and GeoServer. It catalogs datasets, maps and documents together with their metadata, and adds an online store: a complete dataset to download, an extract over a given area, WMS and WFS access for a set period, or a map to print as a PDF, with payment by credit card or Mobile Money.

Typical journey: an engineering consultancy

Let us take the example of an engineering consultancy that carries out an inventory for a client and must deliver a map the client can view online. Here is how it can use the platform, without any server to administer.

1. Create a LizPack Map instance named after the project or the client. The subdomain and the HTTPS certificate are in place in about four minutes.
2. Prepare the data collection project in QGIS, with a layer of field records stored in the PostGIS database of the instance, and upload it to LizPack Field.
3. Collect data with QField. The technicians record data in the field, offline if necessary. With the Pro plan of LizPack Field, the records arrive in PostGIS at every synchronization.
4. Publish the results map with LizPack Publisher. The PostGIS layers of the Lizmap map are updated as the data collection progresses: the client follows the progress of the work without receiving a single file.
5. Deliver standard web services. If the client wants to integrate the layers into its own tool, the PostGIS tables are connected to GeoServer Cloud and published as WMS or WFS.
6. Set up access rights. Viewing rights for the map are configured in the Lizmap administration; the consultancy's internal team is invited to the account (up to five collaborators on the Pro plan).

At the end of the assignment, everything is in standard formats: a QGIS project, a PostgreSQL database and OGC services. The consultancy can hand the data over to the client, who can then run it wherever it wants.

Typical journey: a local government

A local government has different needs: a long-lasting portal for residents, internal maps for its departments, staff who keep an inventory of public assets up to date in the field, and sometimes data to share or to sell.

• A public portal and internal maps. Two LizPack Map instances on the Pro plan: one open to the public, the other reserved for the departments. Updates to Lizmap and QGIS Server are included.
• A shared reference dataset. A dedicated PostGIS database, sized according to the volume of data, connected to both instances and open to the GIS specialists from QGIS Desktop.
• Monitoring public assets in the field. Staff use QField with LizPack Field; their records feed the reference dataset and the maps.
• Dashboards. The dashboard module displays indicators and charts designed in QGIS, recalculated every time they are displayed.
• Services for partners. GeoServer Cloud publishes layers as WMS and WFS for partners who use other software.
• Distributing the data. If the local government wants to publish a catalog, with free, restricted or paid data, LizPack Catalogue is set up on a quote basis.

If its data must remain on its own infrastructure, the local government can have this same set of solutions on its own servers with LizPack Entreprise, presented in the next section.

LizPack Entreprise: the same platform, on your premises

LizPack Entreprise is not a separate product: it is the same LizPack, installed on a server that you control. An administration portal lets you create Lizmap instances, each with QGIS Server and its own PostGIS database, manage accounts and permissions, run backups and apply updates.

Depending on the license, it includes LizPack Field on the same server, an integrated GeoServer and an inventory of the data held in the instances. Sign-in goes through your own directory (Active Directory, LDAP or OpenID Connect), and the portal carries your name and your logo. The guide Hosted or on your servers helps you choose between the two options, and On-premises GIS and data sovereignty looks more closely at the question of where data is located.

Where to start

There is no need to adopt the whole platform at once. Each solution works on its own and can be connected to the others when the need arises.

• You want to publish a QGIS project online: a LizPack Map instance and the LizPack Publisher plugin.
• You want to collect data in the field: LizPack Field, free up to 200 MB and one project.
• You want WMS and WFS services: GeoServer Cloud, free up to 200 MB and 10 layers.
• You want to centralize your data: a dedicated PostGIS database, billed per GB.
• Your data must stay on your premises: LizPack Entreprise, on a quote basis.

The prices and quotas of each solution are detailed in the guide Understanding LizPack plans and quotas and, always up to date, on the Pricing page. To compare with the cost of an installation you run yourself, see The cost of an open source web GIS.

Frequently asked questions