<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 7:52 AM, Laura Toma <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ltoma@bowdoin.edu">ltoma@bowdoin.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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<div>Dear OSGeo community, </div><div><br></div><div>After attending FOSS4G last week, I wanted to share some thoughts. As much as I'd like to be a regular attendee, I am afraid that the conference is becoming too expensive. This year the early registration was more than $400 (for 2.5 days of conference; the tutorials were extra), and the least expensive hotels listed by the conference website were more than$100 a night (As a matter of fact, most of the hotels listed on the conference website were 4 stars or more!). Add the flight, and it ends up more than $2500. I am at a small university, and travel funds are limited. I imagine the situation is the same for many people in academia and external funding has become very hard to get. </div>
<div><br></div><div>On the other hand, FOSS4G is the only conference that unites FOSS GIS developers. I am wondering if anybody has the same concerns, and if anything can be done to keep the conference available to a wide audience. For e.g., have a regional conference; and/or split into several venues e.g. users/research/business/developers; have lower rates for academia and researchers. </div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>-Laura </div><br><br><div> <span style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><p style="margin: 0px;">
<br></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><br></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;" face="Helvetica" size="3">------------------</font></p>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;" face="Helvetica" size="3">Laura Toma</font></p>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;" face="Helvetica" size="3">Dept. of<span> </span>Computer Science</font></p>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;" face="Helvetica" size="3">Bowdoin College</font></p>
Brunswick, ME 04011, USA<br></span><div><br></div><div></div></span></div></div></blockquote><div> <br>Thanks Laura for your comments. It's true that FOSS4G is expensive, at least for Latin America. Cape Town<br>and Sydney are far away from our budgets. I would take advantage of you mail to get in touch with other users<br>
in Latin American countries and try unite, and maybe sometime sponsor a conference or chapter. I am new<br>to OSGeo, working to get some projects to work in Guadalajara city in Mexico. I am not aware of many<br>users of gis open software here, but is definitely worth trying!<br>
<br>Hope to get to some FOSS4G anytime soon, but like to thank all of you involved in these projects, you<br>really help a lot.<br><br>Alex Borrell<br>Department of Transit and Transport.<br>Guadalajara, Mexico <br></div>
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