<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><br></div><div>On February 25-27, 2009 the 10th Italian GRASS/GFOSS meeting took place in</div><div>Cagliari, Sardinia. This was also the venue for the 2nd Italian Chapter.<br>As every year the conference is a collector to present news about the<br>GFOSS world and its circulation in public and scientific world.<br>Approximately 120 attendees were registered.<br><br>Some of the highlights, which you may already have picked up from<br>other communication channels:<br><br><br>- we saw sqlite now providing integration with raster data [1] and<br>with QGIS [2]<br>- another great surprise came from the Scientific visualization group at<br>CRS4. The meeting was the occasion to release under GPL their RATMAN 3D [3]<br>visualization application, boasting extremely advanced rendering algorithms,<br>currently used by the Sardinian Regional Government as their official 3D<br>viewer.<br><br> For more information please refer to this wiki page [4]. Various linux<br>distros are under preparation, and if you are interested in 3D visualization<br>you are welcome to check this out.<br><br>During the conference, gfoss.it , the Italian OSGEO chapter, also had its<br>second annual meeting.<br><br>In addition to a review of activities conducted in 2008 (which you may also<br>find summarized in the annual report page of the OSGEO wiki), some<br>brainstorming took place in terms of confirmation of 2009 planning, budgets<br>and strategies to further promote free geographic software (and data)..<br><br>We have also been discussing the possibility of funding through the local<br>chapter activities such as participation to hack meetings, and similar actions.<br><br>Another live topic remains, after substantial collaboration in Italy in<br>2008, the relationship to the OpenStreetMap community. Several GFOSS.it<br>members are also active "open mappers", and we are trying to understand<br>if/how the release of the new license for OSM data [5][6] will impact other<br>efforts ongoing in the advocacy of free geographic data in general.<br><br>A report on the 10th GRASS-GFOSS user meeting will also be available<br>in the press, in the Geomedia Magazine<br>(<a href="http://www.rivistageomedia.it/">http://www.rivistageomedia.it/</a>), in April.<br><br>[1] - <a href="http://www.gaia-gis.it/spatialite/index.html">http://www.gaia-gis.it/spatialite/index.html</a><br>[2] - <a href="http://www.gaia-gis.it/QGisJanus/">http://www.gaia-gis.it/QGisJanus/</a><br>[3] - <a href="http://ratman.sourceforge.net/">http://ratman.sourceforge.net/</a><br>[4] - <a href="http://wiki.gfoss.it/index.php/Ratman">http://wiki.gfoss.it/index.php/Ratman</a><br>[5] - <a href="http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/">http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/</a><br>[6] - <a href="http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/legal-talk/2009-February/001958.html">http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/legal-talk/2009-February/001958.html</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><br><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; 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; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; 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; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; 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; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; 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; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; 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; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; 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; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Massimo Di Stefano</div><div><a href="mailto:massimodisasha@yahoo.it">massimodisasha@yahoo.it</a></div><div><br></div><div>epifanio on irc.freenode.net /join gfoss</div><div><br></div></div></span><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div><br></body></html>