The city of São Paulo (Brazil) stands out as the largest metropolis in Latin America, with approximately 12 million inhabitants across a territory of about 1,500 km², presenting significant complexity in terms of urban planning and the implementation of smart city solutions. Given its strategic relevance, the municipal public administration is frequently exposed to pressure to adopt proprietary web mapping solutions offered by major technology companies. In response, São Paulo has deliberately maintained and evolved an open-source geospatial strategy, prioritizing interoperability, cost sustainability, and control over data and technical knowledge.

GeoSampa, the official geospatial information system of the city of São Paulo, was developed in 2014 based on an open-source spatial data infrastructure, using PostGIS as the spatial database, GeoServer for service publication, and OpenLayers 2.2 as the web visualization library. Over the years, the data infrastructure has been consolidated and new integrations with corporate systems have been established, forming a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) that is considered a reference in the Brazilian context. However, the evolution of the web interface and user experience remained limited, becoming a constraint for expanding the platform’s use.

Starting in 2024, a modernization process was initiated, including updates to the backend environment and restructuring of services on Linux servers. In 2025, based on recommendations from the OSGeo community, GIFramework Maps was adopted as the solution for the visualization layer. This approach allowed the preservation of the existing database and OGC services architecture, while introducing a more modern, responsive, and configurable interface.

The GeoSampa 2.0 project was structured through technical exchange between teams from the São Paulo municipality and Dorset County (UK), with GIFramework as the main component of the interface modernization. The solution was deployed on on-premises infrastructure managed by PRODAM, the municipal IT company, with content management handled by the Municipal Secretariat of Urbanism and Licensing (SMUL).

The adoption of GIFramework reinforced the existing open architecture, enabling greater autonomy in configuring layers and content, previously concentrated in the backend, and reducing operational complexity in geospatial information management. The new version also expanded functionalities for data access, visualization, download, and service consumption, which were previously limited or unavailable. As a result, improvements were observed in usability, performance, and the platform’s ability to support different user profiles, particularly in processes related to zoning, licensing, and environmental management. These results demonstrate that an open-source geospatial strategy can achieve robust performance at scale while consistently addressing external pressure toward proprietary solutions.