QField: Software as Allmende
Born in Switzerland. Used by the world.
Same tool. Different disaster.
TONGA 2022
Vision
QField
Collect | collaborate | customise
- 📍 Collect data — fast, accurate, offline
- ☁️ Collaborate — sync seamlessly with QFieldCloud
- 🛠️ Customise — forms, tools, plugins, your way
- 🌍 Forests, cities, infrastructure, disaster zones, …
QGIS AND QFIELD ARE
DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS
- ✅ QField recognized by the Digital Public Goods Alliance since April 2024
- 🎯 Open source, privacy-respecting, no vendor lock-in
- 🌱 Aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals
- 🏋 Builds upon QGIS, another DPG
The DPG effect
Conservation at scale
ZIP, NEW ZEALAND
Eradicating invasive predators to protect native wildlife.
408,000 ha · 80 staff · 20,000 field devices · 5,000,000 possums → 2
European rail infrastructure
DEUTSCHE BAHN | SBB (CESM)
QField for infrastructure field operations
Routine public administration
GRÜNSTADT ZÜRICH
Biotops, Urban tree and green space management
Why this model works
Public money → public code
- 🔓 Free to use, inspect, and modify. Always.
- 🔁 Every public investment improves it for everyone
- 🇨🇭 Data stays yours. Code is auditable.
- ✅ EMBAG-compatible by design
- 🏢 Professional support and customisations available — OPENGIS.ch
NATIONAL LAND SURVEY
FINLAND
In 2025, Finland became
the first country in the world
to run national topographic data production
on fully open source GIS
The field software was created in Laax.
The question for Switzerland
The law is clear. EMBAG mandates it.
Finland made a strategic choice.
New Zealand made a strategic choice.
Switzerland hosts the foundation, the company and the talents behing the most widely deployed opensource GIS on the planet.
What’s still in the way?
QField maps everything
that matters to you
QField.org | OPENGIS.ch | @mbernasocchi
