[OSGeo-Discuss] OSGeo Advocates - an Issue/Point

[Arnie Shore]

Possibly on the edges of this discussion, but let me raise this point
focused at OSGeo Advocates here as well as practitioners in general.

I'm the project leader on a free Open Source project that makes
available a Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) application, typically used
by emergency response teams, whether fire, medicine/ambulance, or
police.  (See www.ticketscad.org)

Location information - of incidents, response units,treatment
facilities, etc.  - is clearly a fundamental CAD requirement, and
most/all modern applications include geo in some form.

Commercial CAD applications can be quite expensive, which helps
explain the 40% non-USA download rate from SourceForge among other
sites, including our own at www.ticketscad.org.  By name, it's
Tickets.

While I understand that the focus of many geo practitioners here can
be other than run-of-the-mill applications like CAD, I like to point
out the importance of CAD in the day-to-day operations of many
important services provided by local government agencies, volunteer
teams, and commercial operations.  Its ubiquity in so many familiar
venues can obscure the fact that the costs of CAD  acquisition and
deployment too often deters its use in operations where it can assist
in raising the effectiveness levels for often overworked teams.  Which
remains our motivation.

Under the heading of full disclosure:  While we have a conversion to
base the geo components on OpenStreetMap/Openlayers, at this writing
we're not yet there, and are using one of the GYM  engines.

My purpose here is to raise the awareness level of the OS Geo
Advocates and enthusiasts re an application area -
Computer-Aided-Dispatch - which may not often be considered under the
general OS Geo rubric, but deserves to be, IMO.

AS