In recent years, a remarkable growth of Brazilian Governmental Institutions that adopted GeoNode to manage geospatial data, replacing proprietary platforms. This aims to present and discuss the use of GeoNode in Brazil, as a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI).

The Brazilian government has public policies promoting Free Software, in general. In 2007, a set of laws and regulations was created to establish the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (INDE).

The GeoNode Pioneers, in early 2010s, are the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), with GeoInfo, and the Federal Police (PF), using the InteliGeo system - with their own development - Important to emphasize that almost all FOSS4G specialists are government agents or academics.

The methodology involves a creation of a 38-question survey, which was made available between February and March 2026. The questions covered topics ranging from constructive aspects of the SDI, to the size and capabilities of IT teams, as well as general impressions of the platform. The form was sent to the platform managers.

As of March, 2026, 17 SDIs were catalogued, and almost all belong to the government itself, with more than half belonging to Federal’s. There is low participation at the municipal level. Most of the instances are in production and public.

Except for the pioneers, there has been significant growth in the use of GeoNode since 2023, still in the transition between versions 3 and 4, whose predominant. Recent installations are adopting version 5. The preferred installation method is via GeoNode Project, due to HTML templates customization and unsuccessful experiences with modifications to the original code.

Installations are predominantly Docker standalone. A few cases use Kubernetes-based platforms, such as the Geological Survey of Brazil and GEOBASES. This shows preference for containers, but impacts directly on horizontal scalability. Despite good support, GeoServer is the main obstacle to the full scalability of GeoNode.

Regarding GeoServer, it's crucial to modify the image, with splitted administration, REST, and GeoServices, or adapt GeoServer Cloud with the GeoNode configuration to resolve the issue.

Regarding the GIS analyst teams, except for cases of pioneers, data is published by a restricted team. As for the IT teams, they are usually small teams, but with considerable experience in the programming languages ​​used, and few with specific knowledge of the frameworks employed.

Despite this perceived growth, GeoNode doesn't have an official PT-BR translation since version 3. Furthermore, even with significant improvements to the installation process, difficulties are still reported.

Therefore, it's safe to say that there is a technical demand, especially regarding frontend customization, horizontal scalability with Docker Swarm and Kubernetes, as well as training in usage, administration, and template customization.

In terms of business opportunities in Brazil, there is a very scarce number of professionals with knowledge in GeoNode technology, not to mention the legislative barriers that practically prohibit the hiring of development and consulting services. A reasonable alternative would be to establish partnerships with Brazilian companies to participate in government tenders or appoint local representatives, provided they are not public officials.