Fwd: [OSGeo-info] GPSD and OSGEO

[Daniel Brookshier]

Forwarded message from info at osgeo.org

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Eric S. Raymond" <esr at snark.thyrsus.com>
> Date: March 12, 2006 5:03:06 PM CST
> To: info at osgeo.org
> Cc: gpsd-dev at lists.berlios.de
> Subject: [OSGeo-info] GPSD and OSGEO
> Reply-To: info at osgeo.org
>
> Please forward this mail to the Directors of OSGEO.
>
> I write on behalf of the GPSD project, on which I've been the lead
> since September 2004.  We maintain an open-source monitoring daemon  
> for USB
> and RS-232C GPS devices, and associated clients and test tools.  You
> can read all about our project at <http://gpsd.berlios.de/>.
>
> News of OSGEO reached one of our mailing lists shortly after it was
> officially founded.  A couple of our regulars have suggested we
> consider affiliating with OSGEO in some way, and nobody has demurred.
> I'm open to this idea, and am writing to open a dialogue on how GPSD
> and OSGEO might fit together.
>
> What we would bring OSGEO is a well-established project shipping
> mature and effective software for one important component of a
> geospatial applications stack.  I believe we have the strongest single
> concentration of talent in GPS-to-computer interfaces anywhere in the
> open-source community.  Our software is in production use by several
> geolocation-aware projects including Kismet, GPSdrive, and roadmap.
>
> Our needs, as a project, aren't too pressing.  We could use a small
> amount of cash funding for buying test devices; for example, one of
> our guys wants to build an open-source BIOS-flashing utility for GPS
> mice and he knows he's bound to brick half a dozen or do of them
> getting it debugged.  Otherwise we're pretty self-sufficient; we've
> got a good crew and stable hosting space.
>
> The main reason I'm interested in OSGEO is longer-term -- I think
> it's generally good for the open-source community to develop mediating
> organizations that give it more clout in conversations with vendors
> and regulators and standards bodies.  That's a significant part of
> what I was thinking about when I co-founded the Open Source Initiative
> back in 1998.
>
> In our particular area, I'd like to see OSGEO get involved in
> standards work on GPS-related stuff like NMEA 0183 and RTCM-104, at
> least to the extent of pressuring vendors and governments to open up
> these standards.
>
> I'd like, and I think my developers would like, to see OSGEO grow
> and flourish. If there's a way you think the GPSD project can help
> that happen, let's talk about it.
> -- 
> 		<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>
>
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