<div dir="ltr">Hi David. I can do my best to speak for Philadelphia as a location for conferences:<div><br></div><div><i>Upsides</i></div><div> * Accessible location:</div><div> -> USAir/American hub, Delta, Southwest and United have significant presence as well</div>
<div> -> Good international air coverage, though not as good as Dulles, Newark or JFK</div><div> -> Major Amtrak station</div><div> -> Good internal public transit</div><div> -> Significant hotel capacity at a slightly lower price point than Boston, New York or DC</div>
<div> * A huge number of great, affordable restaurants and pubs</div><div> * 3 large research universities within the downtown area (U-Penn. Drexel and Temple)</div><div> * Walkable downtown</div><div><br></div><div><i>Downsides:</i></div>
<div> * Scarcity of medium-sized conference facilities. The PA Convention Center is extremely convenient, is in the heart of the city, and is good for large events, but it's a big place and I don't know how easy it would be plan an event for 700 - 1000 people. There are also lots of smaller spaces that are good for 40 - 100 people, but not a lot in-between. The best bet may be universities, though that can be tough, depending on the timing and class schedules. Some other possibilities might be Sheraton Society Hill or one of the other hotels.</div>
<div> * Unions - a big downside for the convention center is the unions - they are expensive and difficult to work with. If you don't use the convention center, it won't be a problem, but they have quite an unpleasant reputation there.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Best,</div><div><br>Robert</div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr"><span></span><span></span><br>------------------<br>Robert Cheetham<div><br><div>Azavea <span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;border-collapse:collapse"> | 340 N 12th St, Ste 402, Philadelphia, PA</span><br>
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<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Apr 8, 2014 at 4:06 PM, David Dubovsky <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ddubovsky@boundlessgeo.com" target="_blank">ddubovsky@boundlessgeo.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr"><div>Andrew, </div><div><br></div><div>I echo David's appreciation for stepping up to take this on. My organization (Boundless) sees a lot of benefit to a co-hosted event, potentially raising the profile of FOSS4G significantly. </div>
<div><br></div><div>I did have a few thoughts on location. Before 2015 there will have been five FOSS4G Events in North America: </div><div><br></div><div>2007: FOSS4G Victoria </div><div>2011: FOSS4G Denver </div><div>2012: FOSS4G-NA Washington DC </div>
<div>2013: FOSS4G-NA Minneapolis </div><div>2014: FOSS4G Portland </div><div><br></div><div>Given the distribution it looks like FOSS4G is due for an east coast event. I know DC would work out, but we did have the first NA event there. I'd like to float the idea of having the event in Philadelphia. It has a major airport and is easily accessible by train. DC and NYC attendees can easily come for one or multiple days via amtrak. I don't think travel restrictions would be too bad for Philly either. </div>
<div><br></div><div>That said I defer to those more familiar with the city and the other conferences. </div><div><br></div><div>David</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">
<span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent;font-weight:bold">David Dubovsky</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent">Marketing Manager </span><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent;font-weight:bold">|</span><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent"> Boundless</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><a href="mailto:ddubovsky@boundlessgeo.com" style="color:rgb(17,85,204);text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(0,167,141);background-color:transparent;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">ddubovsky@boundlessgeo.com</span></a><span style="color:rgb(0,167,141);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent"><a href="tel:917-460-7204" value="+19174607204" target="_blank">917-460-7204</a></span><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent"></span></p>
<span style="text-decoration:underline;color:rgb(0,167,141);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">@boundlessgeo</span><br></font><div><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></div>
</div></div>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="h5">On Mon, Apr 7, 2014 at 2:45 PM, Andrew Ross <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:andrew.ross@eclipse.org" target="_blank">andrew.ross@eclipse.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div class="h5">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div>David,<br>
<br>
Thank you. Our team is always glad to support the ecosystem.<br>
<br>
Personally, I'm jazzed at the potential and looking forward to
having a lot of fun with this.<br>
<br>
You're spot-on. We recognize the branding is a crucial bit of
this. It's not simple, but I think we should be able to figure out
a way to do it that works for everyone. For those that have ideas
or want to participate, please speak up ASAP.<br>
<br>
Cheers!<br>
<br>
Andrew<br>
<br>
On 07/04/14 13:50, David William Bitner wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">Andrew,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>First of all, thank you for stepping up as willing to take
on FOSS4G NA 2015. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Having made two calls to the broader community over the
last several months looking for folks to express interest in
hosting the NA event for 2015 with no response, I am excited
to see someone with your experience stepping forward. Unless
this thread spurs on another bid, at this point, I would not
envision necessity for a competitive bid for this event.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I think that co-hosting the event with Eclipse and
LocationTech can both help boost the profile and the make this
event logistically easier. I think the most critical piece in
joining these events this year will be in making sure that we
can keep the FOSS4G and OSGeo branding prominent.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Keep in mind as well (anyone else here too that might want
to provide a competing bid!), that we have earmarked ~$20K
from the Minneapolis event to help bootstrap a 2015 NA FOSS4G.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>David</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div><div><div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Apr 4, 2014 at 4:02 PM, Andrew
Ross <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:andrew.ross@eclipse.org" target="_blank">andrew.ross@eclipse.org</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> Hello Everyone,<br>
<br>
Please excuse the cross post between OSGeo's discuss &
conference_dev lists as well as LocationTech's discussion
list. I'm hoping to enable inclusive discussion about an
idea.<br>
<br>
Bit of background, this coming May (19-21), <a href="http://www.locationintelligence.net/" target="_blank">LocationTech Summit is co-hosted with
Location Intelligence in Washington D.C.</a>. Travel
restrictions for Federal Government employees for instance
meant holding this in D.C. was important in 2014.<br>
<br>
We have started planning for 2015, and I wanted to reach
out and see if an idea might be of interest to the greater
community.<br>
<br>
The idea is to co-host LocationTech Summit, FOSS4G North
America, and EclipseCon next year in the spring. <br>
<br>
For those that haven't been:<br>
<ul>
<li>EclipseCon is a great developer conference &
covers topics that I feel may be a really nice
complement such as Science, Internet of Things,
Automotive, Software development best practice, and
more. While there are some awesome talks in the area,
it's not just about the IDE. :-)</li>
<li>FOSS4G NA is the regional sibling of FOSS4G Global,
also a great developer conference, and focused on
geospatial technologies. It is a must attend event if
you're into web mapping or looking for open source GIS
solutions.</li>
<li>LocationTech Summit is new (first one this May),
similar to FOSS4G however perhaps has a stronger focus
on high performance geoprocessing technologies and new
technologies like GeoGit for instance.<br>
</li>
<li>My feeble attempt at contrast aside, I think these
last two will see a lot of the same speakers &
audience.</li>
</ul>
A few thoughts:<br>
<ul>
<li>We believe a combined event could likely be done to
prioritize camaraderie which is so important for open
source projects & community. i.e. avoid anyone
feeling lost in a huge event.</li>
<li>We feel the mutual outreach to people across
communities would be really useful, interesting, and
spark wonderful ideas we can't predict.</li>
<li>The logistical work can be done by full time
conference organizers who organize EclipseCon each
year. The program is up to the communities to set.</li>
<li>For those seeking suppliers, partners, &
customers, this should make for more opportunities.<br>
</li>
<li>Profit sharing with significant participating groups
is doable. We're glad to help figure out a fair and
amicable solution.<br>
</li>
<li>Ensuring each group are well served is a priority of
course. We think this combined event might attract
people who might not otherwise come to any of them.
But we'll have to try and see.</li>
</ul>
<p>Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Is this a good idea?
Interested?<br>
</p>
<p>Kind regards,<br>
</p>
<p>Andrew<br>
</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
</div></div></blockquote>
<br>
</div>
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