[OSGeo-Conf] Application for FOSS4G 2016 in Bonn/Germany - Letter of Intent

[Till Adams]

Dear FOSS4G conference committee,

the FOSSGIS e.V., in its role as german speaking chapter of the Open 
Source Geospatial Foundation, in partnership with the UN City of Bonn, 
the University of Bonn and numerous Open Source GIS companies located in 
Bonn hereby want to submit their proposal to host the FOSS4G conference 
for 2016 in Bonn, Germany.

We know, that FOSS4G is *the* geospatial event of the year, especially 
in 2016 when OsGeo itself commits its 10th birthday!

Please allow us some words about us, the FOSSGIS e.V., which takes the 
lead in the application for FOSS4G2016 in Bonn.

The FOSSGIS e.V. (a german "Verein", and therefore a legal non-profit 
entity comparable to a member association) is the german speaking 
chapter for the so-called "D-A-CH-Raum" including Germany, Austria and 
the German speaking parts of Switzerland. FOSSGIS currently is supported 
by almost 200 paying associated members. The main focus of the FOSSGIS 
association is to advance and spread Free and Open Source Software in 
GIS, support the growth of free and open data and promote the use open 
standards. The precursor of the FOSSGIS is the "GRASS 
Anwendervereinigung" which was founded in 2001 actually predating OSGeo 
and even FOSS4G by a few years. :-)

Additionally to most other OSGeo local chapters, FOSSGIS has a strong 
focal point on the german speaking OpenStreetMap community as well, 
acting as the legal entity for OSM in Germany in many cases.

Our main yearly event is the FOSSGIS conference. It started as a „German 
speaking UMN MapServer user conference“ in 2003. Events in the past 
years saw at least 400 attendees, this year in Berlin we reached 560. 
Although only in German language FOSSGIS nowadays also attracts visitors 
from other local OSGeo folks, especially from our adjacent countries, 
e.g. members of the Dutch, Belgian, Czech, Italian and Danish local 
chapters.

FOSSGIS e.V. directly supports OpenSource communities by sponsoring Code 
Sprints and runs events focusing on connecting communities and 
development groups. Every year FOSSGIS organizes a hacking weekend to 
further the goals of the association.

Three years ago FOSSGIS e.V. hired Katja Haferkorn as a part time 
employee to coordinate the FOSSGIS conference, manage sponsors and act 
as a general contact for all those jobs that lack volunteer enthusiasm 
but are still required to get done. Katja, with her longtime experience 
in conference organization, will obviously be a central part of the 
local intelligence as well.


Please find attached our letter of intent.

Best regards, Marco, Arnulf and Till


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