<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt">Hi Tim,<br><br>I agree with Hamish.<br><br>We already have an OSGEO chapter that encompasses NZ, we have the NZOSS, reasonably active NZ GIS & GPS online groups (incl OSM support & dvpt), a very active biodata group (Dataversity) all with some level of Open Source focus & support. The new ECO/WWF Moodle website for tutorial/training resources for environmental data management & analysis also has a strong Open Source GIS focus, but is not built around OSGEO.<br><br>More fragmentation I think would be divisive rather than productive.<br><br>I'd sooner see an existing NZ group strengthened by more activity & members instead. As a long time GMT user (as well as several OSGEO tools) & a novice R user, I also suggest that running such a group as an "OSGEO chapter" is unecessarily restrictive, and that if such a
group is established, it should be formed within and help grow existing NZ initiatives rather than compete with them for members, time & resources.<br><br>For this reason, I do not support & will not join the proposed group, as I think it would be detrimental to the overall progress of Open Source GIS in NZ, quite apart from not wanting to add yet another membership to my list, which is already long enough that I can't do most groups justice. I believe the NZ Open Source & GIS communities needs to pull together more, not fragment even further.<br><br>Just my opinion.... if there are enough interested people to form an active chapter, I still wish you well, & hope we can work together on shared goals in future.<br><div><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">Regards<br><span></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0,
0); font-size: 16px; font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br><span></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span> Brent Wood</span></div><div><br></div> <div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div dir="ltr"> <hr size="1"> <font size="2" face="Arial"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Hamish <hamish_b@yahoo.com><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> "heuert@landcareresearch.co.nz" <heuert@landcareresearch.co.nz>; Aust NZ Aus Geo List <aust-nz@lists.osgeo.org> <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Tuesday, August 13, 2013 5:22 PM<br> <b><span
style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Aust-NZ] Upcoming OSGeo Chapter in the Central North Island<br> </font> </div> <div class="y_msg_container"><br><div id="yiv1101828741"><div><div style="color:#000;background-color:#fff;font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt;"><div>Hi Tim,<br><br>why not just run it under the guise of the greater aust-nz chapter? <span id="yiv1101828741misspell-2" class="yiv1101828741">unneccessary </span><span id="yiv1101828741misspell-3" class="yiv1101828741"><span>bureaucratic</span></span> overhead takes time away from coding :)<br><br><br>regards,<br>Hamish<br><br></div> <div><span><br></span></div><div><br></div><blockquote style="border-left:2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255);margin-left:5px;margin-top:5px;padding-left:5px;"> <div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt;"> <div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt;"> <div
dir="ltr"> <hr size="1"> <font size="2" face="Arial"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Tim-<span id="yiv1101828741misspell-4" class="yiv1101828741mark">Hinnerk</span> <span id="yiv1101828741misspell-5" class="yiv1101828741mark">Heuer</span>
<heuert@landcareresearch.co.nz><br> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">To:</span></b> Aust NZ Aus Geo List <aust-nz@lists.osgeo.org> <br> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sent:</span></b> Tuesday, August 13, 2013 2:57 PM<br> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">Subject:</span></b> [Aust-NZ] Upcoming OSGeo Chapter in the Central North Island<br> </font> </div> <div class="yiv1101828741y_msg_container"><br>
<div id="yiv1101828741">
<div>
<div dir="ltr"><b id="yiv1101828741docs-internal-guid-1bf6b836-759b-2ee0-7f96-e605cecac905" style="font-weight:normal;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Hi,</span></div>
<br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I'm Tim-<span id="yiv1101828741misspell-10" class="yiv1101828741mark">Hinnerk</span> <span id="yiv1101828741misspell-11" class="yiv1101828741mark">Heuer</span>, a geo web developer
working at <span id="yiv1101828741misspell-13" class="yiv1101828741mark">Landcare</span> Research in Palmerston North. The Informatics group at <span id="yiv1101828741misspell-14" class="yiv1101828741mark">Landcare</span> Research has been using open source geo-software for quite a while and we know there are other people in the local region with an interest in such software.
</span></div>
<br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">We have come up with the idea of forming
an informal group in Palmerston North - or more specifically the lower North Island - to exchange ideas and encourage collaboration on <span id="yiv1101828741misspell-16" class="yiv1101828741mark">geospatial</span> data and <span id="yiv1101828741misspell-17" class="yiv1101828741mark">geospatial</span> open source software. One possibility is that this group becomes an OSGeo chapter (see
</span><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.osgeo.org/" style="text-decoration:none;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">http://www.osgeo.org/</span></a><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">).</span></div>
<br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">At the moment, this initiative is driven
by myself and my colleague Pierre <span id="yiv1101828741misspell-19" class="yiv1101828741mark">Roudier</span>, who is working on soil data using open source software (R, <span id="yiv1101828741misspell-20" class="yiv1101828741mark">GDAL</span>/<span id="yiv1101828741misspell-21" class="yiv1101828741mark">OGR</span>, <span id="yiv1101828741misspell-22" class="yiv1101828741mark">QGIS</span>, GRASS <span id="yiv1101828741misspell-23" class="yiv1101828741mark">GIS</span>). Anybody wanting to join the effort is obviously more than welcome!</span></div>
<br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">We are planning a meeting to <span id="yiv1101828741misspell-24" class="yiv1101828741mark">gauge</span> interest
in forming such a group. It is set to take place at the Village Inn Kitchen in <span id="yiv1101828741misspell-25" class="yiv1101828741mark">Hokowhitu</span>, Palmerston North, from 5.30pm onwards, on Wednesday 28st August. (We chose this venue because it has high-speed Internet access and one idea we have is to invite people
from around New <span id="yiv1101828741misspell-26" class="yiv1101828741mark">Zealand</span> or even the world to join us via video conference to talk about their software and/or how they are using open source <span id="yiv1101828741misspell-27" class="yiv1101828741mark">geospatial</span> software).</span></div>
<br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">A couple of us are attending FOSS4G 2013
in the UK in mid September and, if there is support for the idea of forming a chapter, we would raise it with the OSGeo Board then.
</span></div>
<br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">We are looking forward to seeing you at the
Village Inn Kitchen in <span id="yiv1101828741misspell-29" class="yiv1101828741mark">Hokowhitu</span>, Palmerston North on the 28<span id="yiv1101828741misspell-30" class="yiv1101828741mark">th</span> August. Drop us an email if you think you will come so we can get an idea of numbers.</span></div>
<br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Kind regards,</span></div>
<br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Tim</span></div>
</b>
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
Tim-<span id="yiv1101828741misspell-31" class="yiv1101828741mark">Hinnerk</span> <span id="yiv1101828741misspell-32" class="yiv1101828741mark">Heuer</span>
<div><br>
<div>Web Developer</div>
<div><span id="yiv1101828741misspell-33" class="yiv1101828741mark">Landcare</span> Research (http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz)</div>
</div>
<div>Informatics (http://wiki.zen.landcareresearch.co.nz)</div>
<div><span id="yiv1101828741misspell-34" class="yiv1101828741mark">Ph</span>: +64 6 353 4872</div>
</div>
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