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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Hi all<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>SITA, the South African State IT Agency who is responsible
for strategy, procurement and implementation of all things IT for SA National
and Provincial Government, has started actively pursuing investigations into
FOSS GIS. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>SITA staff concerned are on these lists and I am meeting informally
next week with the person who’s been tasked with running the process. Two
SITA staff attended FOSS4G2007 and returned quite inspired. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Why this might concern you is that it is an indication of SA
government taking their FOSS policy seriously, in this case with regards to
FOSS GIS. This means big upcoming FOSS GIS opportunities. SITA needs to
investigate and demonstrate what FOSS GIS can do and at some point start
implementing a parallel system to the proprietary one currently being built. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>SITA will want to know what capacity there is to support
them. I would like to start the ball rolling by suggesting that if you are a
consultant or service provider that you register yourself on the OSGeo Service
Provider Directory (currently showing nothing from <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place>).
<a href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Service_Provider_Directory">http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Service_Provider_Directory</a>.
After familiarising yourself with that content you can submit your profile here
<a href="http://www.osgeo.org/submit_profile">http://www.osgeo.org/submit_profile</a>.
SITA and others will then be able to find you here: <a
href="http://www.osgeo.org/search_profile">http://www.osgeo.org/search_profile</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Watch this space!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=section1 style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Gavin Fleming MSc</span></font><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=section1 style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Senior GISc and
Sustainable Development Researcher <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=section1 style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Mintek </span></font><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=section1 style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>w: +27-11-709-4668</span></font><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=section1 style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>c: 0845965680</span></font><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=section1 style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>f: 0866164820<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=section1 style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>xmpp (Jabber, Google
Talk, etc.): <a href="mailto:gavinjfleming@gmail.com"><font size=1 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>gavinjfleming@gmail.com</span></font></a></span></font><font
size=1><span style='font-size:8.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=section1 style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Skype: phlemingo<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=section1 style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>postal: P/Bag X3015,
Randburg, 2125</span></font><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=section1 style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>physical:
<st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">200 Malibongwe Drive</st1:address></st1:Street>,
Randburg<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=section1 style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>South Africa</span></font></st1:place></st1:country-region><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=section1 style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>27.9782E
26.0896S</span></font><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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