[OSGeo-Discuss] THIRD BRAZILIAN MAPSERVER USER'S MEETING

[Rafael Medeiros Sperb]

Dear all,

It is my pleasure to inform that the THIRD BRAZILIAN MAPSERVER USER'S MEETING was a success. The meeting was held in Brasilia, at the Presidential Auditorium, as response to the invitation of the Federal Government which has been investing its efforts on Open Standards and Opensource. Among the most recent initiatives I should mention the E-PING Commission, which has been establishing official standards. It means that once a standard is officially adopted by the government, it becomes a criterion for software development or acquisition. A sub-commission for geoinformation is already working towards OGC... ;-)

More than 300 people have attended the event. 23 cases were presented by government officials, as well as universities and private companies. Surprisingly, the quality of the applications presented has exceeded our expectation, especially in comparison with the first and second meetings. 6 workshops were available (Principles of Cartography for Developers, MapServer Basics, MapServer Advanced, PostGIS Basics, Geoserver Basics and OCG) thanks to the support of several people that have committed their selves to them.

To the growing MapServer community and in face of the success, I would like to thank Mr. Tyler Mitchell who enlightened the meeting with his speech and contribution. I would also like to thank Persegona's brothers (Marcelo and André) and Thammy and Roberta for their commitment to organization and well being of all participants. Finally, recognize the efforts of Dr. Albuquerque, Sérgio and Silmara to materialize the meeting at the Presidential Palace.

RELEVANT ASPECTS OF THE MEETING:

- Unofficial organization of the OSGeo Brazilian Chapter;

- We shall transform the BRAZILIAN MAPSERVER USER'S MEETING in to OSGeo Brazilian Chapter Meeting. For that we will try to bring members from the other communities (e.g Grass, Geoserver, geonetwork, etc.) to OSGeo-Br;

- OSGeo Brazilian Chapter will submit a proposal to bring FOSS4G 2008 to Brazil in order to initialize this new "phase" 

Cheers,

Rafael Medeiros Sperb
G10