Open Source Geospatial: An Option for Developing Nations

FOSS4G 2011 will be in Denver, Colorado!

Click on Presentations in the right sidebar or search for a title, author or keyword. You'll find Abstracts and links to the Presentations for all tracks and the Papers for the Academic track as well as notes from the Workshops and Labs.
CONGRATULATONS to the authors whose invited papers were published in a Special Issue (Vol 43) of the South African Computer Journal. (Download SACJ43 here):
A comparison of data file and storage configurations for efficient temporal access of satellite image data, Asheer Kasar Bachoo, Frans van den Bergh, Albert Gazendam.
An Extensible, Interface-Based, Open Source GIS Paradigm: MapWindow 6.0 Developer Tools for the Microsoft Windows Platform, Harold Atkinson Dunsford.
An open service network for geospatial data processing, Laura Díaz, Carlos Granell, Michael Gould, Victor Olaya.
A review of Spatial Data Infrastructure implementation in Africa, Prestige Tatenda Makanga, Julian Smit.
Assessment of Location Sensitivity of Voronoi-based Sensor Deployment and Reconfiguration using GIS, Gareth Michael Nicholls, Derrick Kourie, Tinus Strauss.
Factors Leading to Success or Abandonment of Open Source Commons: An Empirical Analysis of Sourceforge.net Projects, Charles M. Schweik, Robert English, Sandra Haire.
Integration of GRASS functionality in web based SDI service chains, Johannes Brauner, Bastian Schaeffer.
NAMGIS - A Context-Aware Mobile Web GIS, Maria Antonia Brovelli, Diego Magni, Maurizio Brioschi, Massimo Legnani, Francesco Corcoglioniti.
Semantically Enabled SOS with Topic Maps, Robert Barta, Thomas Bleier.
The Andean Information System for Disaster Prevention and Relief: a case study of multi-national open-source SDI, Martín Molina, Salvador Bayarri.
Using supply chain management to enable GIS units to improve their response to their customers' needs, Peter Schmitz.
Conference coverage: Help build a collection of links to news, reports, blogs, photos, etc. here.
View the final technical programme. Also see 'Conference Schedule' in the right panel.
See the workshop schedule here.
Download the Prospectus. Or contact foss at gissa dot org.za with any enquiries. Also see exhibitor information.
Outreach:Thank you to the Volunteers who helped plan and run our Outreach activities (OpenStreetMap mapping party in Hout Bay and two school events with teachers and pupils) and all the Volunteers who helped run the conference!. See here for more details.
You can view an online conference MAP. And for South African news you might want to track this site and for tourism information, this site and the Accommodation & Travel link in the right panel.

The 2008 Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) conference, incorporating GISSA 2008, gathers developers and users of open source geospatial software as well as managers and decision makers from around the world to discuss new directions, exciting implementations, and growing business opportunities in the field of open source geospatial software. FOSS4G is presented annually by the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). Focussed on the practical "make it work, get it done" world of open source application development, this annual conference boasts a very high concentration of geospatial technical opinion leaders. Attendance at this event has grown at over 50% a year since its inception in 2003, paralleling the rapid growth and adoption curve of open source geospatial tools in the marketplace. In 2008, FOSS4G comes to the Cape Town International Convention Centre, in the downtown heart of Cape Town, South Africa. The Conference Theme for 2008 is

"Open Source Geospatial: An Option for Developing Nations"

Topics that have a FOSS component or perspective are:

• New FOSS GIS developments
• Interoperability and standards - OGC, GEOSS
• Web processing services, Sensor Web enablement and the like
• Using FOSS with proprietary software
• Making the transition to FOSS GIS
• FOSS GIS support and training
• FOSS GIS business models
• FOSS GIS implementation and deployment
• Open data, open content, open architectures, open everything!
• Case studies of open source implementations
• Improving FOSS GIS cartography and map production
• Use Case driven FOSS GIS development and improving the user experience
• FOSS GIS Internationalisation and Localisation

Topics for applications, methodologies or theoretical geospatial work are not limited to a FOSS perspective:

• Sustainable development and the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals)
• Disaster management
• Health
• Energy
• Water
• Climate change
• Weather
• Ecosystem management
• Agriculture
• Biodiversity
• Land reform
• Education
• Government
• Local economic development, poverty alleviation
• Participatory GIS
• Semantic Web and ontologies in GIS
• Location based services, logistics, routing
• 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa
• NGOs, CBOs (Community-based organisations) and community development workers
• Mining, exploration, beneficiation
• Spatial economics
• Military

Other features

• Hands-on workshops and labs on using and developing open source geospatial tools
• Education-related outreach day
• Developers' code sprint
• Technical visits
• Full exhibition hall and demonstration theatre
• Virtual market for FOSS GIS opportunities
• Launch of integrated '1-click' FOSS GIS Linux and Windows distributions
• Competitions
• Launch of FreeGIS books
• Launch of online FOSS GIS courses
• Poster session
• 'Birds-of-a-feather' sessions
• Great social programme!,
  
  • Icebreaker dinner and drinks
  • Gala dinner at Moyo in Stellenbosch
  • Tour and travel opportunities before, during and after the conference

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