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<P><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Hey Folks,</FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Two things.</FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">1. I am looking for people interested in developing existing open source software for use in Search and Rescue. Specifically interested in mapping, but personnel management is definitely a part of that.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">One example of using GRASS in a SAR scenario includes</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> </SPAN><A HREF="http://www.swcp.com/~russo/080103/"><SPAN LANG="en-us"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">http://www.swcp.com/~russo/080103/</FONT></U></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></A><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">A personally management software package that includes mapserver, GDAL, maptools and proj4 named E-GADS is found here </FONT></SPAN><A HREF="http://e-gads.sourceforge.net/"><SPAN LANG="en-us"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">http://e-gads.sourceforge.net/</FONT></U></SPAN></A><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New"> . This project is pretty dead from 2004 but the developer says the code is stable and a patch was updated in 2007. Perhaps a general OPEN SOURCE SAR list would be beneficial for other fringe projects.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">Essentially the group would focus on two parts. Continuing development of SAR specific applications like E-GADs would be one. This might include customizing interfaces and increasing functionality and ensuring interoperability. Also of course documentation would be required.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">The other would be adding SAR specific functionality to existing GIS packages. This would include SIMPLE interfaces through GRASS/QGIS to run specific scripts (python or other). Also, of utmost import is customization of user interface that can be used by a non-techie volunteer at 3am in the morning after 1 litre of coffee.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">The group would probably focus on OSGEO mapping solutions (GRASS/QGIS) as well as other software that has ties to OSGEO packages.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">If you're interested, let me know. There is also a discussion thread on the GRASS users list.</FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">2. Is there a place in OSGEO to house such a mailing list?</FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">Cheers</FONT></SPAN>
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