<div dir="ltr">Adding a support section like some other OSGeo projects is a good idea (in my opinion). This is a way for people to use the project webpage to find those who are most substantially contributing to the project and know the most about GDAL/OGR. <br>
<div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Aug 21, 2014 at 5:46 AM, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bertelli@charta.acme.com" target="_blank">bertelli@charta.acme.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Charta is interested to be listed as experienced provider if <a href="http://gdal.org" target="_blank">gdal.org</a> will ever add info about commercial support.<br>
<br>
Nevertheless, I think this item has to receive more attention, considering at least:<br>
* the license of GDAL. Using MIT license means being expecially open to commercial usage. I don't know if this is really consequential with selecting a group of commercial providers instead of being agnostic about usage of the code and technology created (I don't agree with this, but...);<br>
* usually support means choice between several tools and technologies, being a core contributor could mean some bias about recurring to a specific tool. Being listed as such could become a double-edged sword;<br></blockquote>
<div><br></div><div>If you are looking for GDAL/OGR support (on the <a href="http://gdal.org">gdal.org</a> web page) you have already made your technology choice. If you are looking for support in selecting a technology you should not be looking on <a href="http://gdal.org">gdal.org</a> but rather collecting references or otherwise doing research on appropriate support in whatever domain you're in. <a href="http://gdal.org">gdal.org</a> is not the the proper place to look for support on javascript libraries or other non-GDAL/OGR topics. Someone may be better off with advice to use something other than GDAL/OGR but <a href="http://gdal.org">gdal.org</a> is not the place to get that advice (the people and companies listed there may give that advice if approached but they would best know what is out of the GDAL/OGR scope). <br>
</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
* any evaluation aobut support should be based on the help provided to the user and not about the contribution to the project. The client shoud be able to choose if he needs "broad" or "focused" support, if he needs new developments or better integration and so on. Listing experiences or specialisation (geodatabases, remote sensing and so on) could be more useful.<br>
</blockquote><div><br></div><div>A prudent customer might evaluate support by referrals and reviews based on help provided to the user but <a href="http://gdal.org">gdal.org</a> is in no place to evaluate that. <a href="http://gdal.org">gdal.org</a> is certainly in a place to evaluate and recommend those who have a history of competently contributing to the project (tickets, patches, commits, emails correctly answered, relevant presentations at FOSS4G, etc).<br>
<br></div><div>The OSGeo Service providers directory, <a href="http://www.osgeo.org/search_profile?SET=1&MUL_TECH[0]=00013">http://www.osgeo.org/search_profile?SET=1&MUL_TECH[0]=00013</a> already provides a mechanism for self listing anything the person listing wants. This remains a valuable resource for researching support options but gives no indication of who is competently contributing to the project.<br>
</div><div><br></div><div>The PostGIS support page lists focus area of support, <a href="http://postgis.net/support">http://postgis.net/support</a></div><div><br>Best regards, Eli<br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<br>
Even's case is noteworthy, because he is more than a "Core contributor", but a project leader for GDAL. When his affiliation to École des Mines changed to his own company, Spatialys, I thought this was a very good move because he could more easily provide consulting services to commercial entities. Maybe his visibility as a prominent person in this community is already warranted, I understand that his proposal is addressed to others, but I think gdal-dev is about developing, although the list provides a lot of help to users, is this the right place? <br>
</blockquote><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
c<br>
<br>
On Thu, Aug 20, 2014 at 10:02:35 PM, Even Rouault wrote:<br>
<br>
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 22:02:35 +0200<br>
From: Even Rouault <<a href="mailto:even.rouault@spatialys.com" target="_blank">even.rouault@spatialys.com</a>><br>
To: "<a href="mailto:gdal-dev@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank">gdal-dev@lists.osgeo.org</a>" <<a href="mailto:gdal-dev@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank">gdal-dev@lists.osgeo.org</a>><br>
Subject: [gdal-dev] Adding a "Commercial support" section on <a href="http://gdal.org" target="_blank">gdal.org</a><br>
?<br>
Message-ID: <<a href="mailto:201408202202.36022.even.rouault@spatialys.com" target="_blank">201408202202.36022.even.<u></u>rouault@spatialys.com</a>><br>
Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset="us-ascii"<div class=""><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
Hi,<br>
<br>
I'm wondering if there would be a concensus and interest to add a "Commercial<br>
support" section on <a href="http://gdal.org" target="_blank">gdal.org</a>. A number of OSGeo projects have such page (see<br>
[1]), so that wouldn't be completely awkward to have one for GDAL as well.<br>
<br>
The OSGeo Service provider database reference 137 companies/individuals that<br>
have registered themselves as providing GDAL support ([2]) ! Pretty cool, but<br>
I'm wondering how a user not familiar with the project could effectively use<br>
that list to identify core contributors from casual advanced users.<br>
<br>
If we agree for adding a "Commercial support" section, the question is : on<br>
which criteria do we accept an organization/individual to be listed in the<br>
section ? We would want them to be as most objective and non debatable as<br>
possible.<br>
A simple criterion could be anyone who has commit rights (in trunk, not just<br>
in a sandbox or customer branch). There are currently 56 SVN committers. That<br>
could be strengthened with a minimum number of commits/lines changed during a<br>
period, but we perhaps don't need that level of complexity.<br>
We could possibly also extend that to entities that provide public support to<br>
users through gdal-dev or other public forums (gis.stackexchange, others?).<br>
Other suggestions ?<br>
<br>
Should we distinguish several categories of actors ?<br>
- QGIS makes a division between "Core contributors" vs "Contributors".<br>
GeoServer has "Core contributors", "Experienced providers" and "Additional<br>
services" (the last one is populated on service provider request).<br>
- On the other side, deegree, Geomoose or Geotools simply list them in a<br>
single section.<br>
The answer likely depends on the number of organizations that would be listed<br>
(I guess below 10 we don't need much structure). The difficulty here would be to<br>
establish the categories and criteria.<br>
<br>
So, could entities interested in being listed reply to this email so we can<br>
have a better idea of how many would be listed, and if we need more stricter<br>
criteria or several categories ?<br>
As far as I'm concerned, Spatialys would be interested.<br>
<br>
Best regards,<br>
<br>
Even<br>
<br>
[1] Non exhaustive list of OSGeo projects with a commercial support section :<br>
<a href="http://geoserver.org/support/" target="_blank">http://geoserver.org/support/</a><br>
<a href="http://www.geomoose.org/info/commercial_support.html" target="_blank">http://www.geomoose.org/info/<u></u>commercial_support.html</a><br>
<a href="http://docs.geotools.org/latest/userguide/welcome/support.html" target="_blank">http://docs.geotools.org/<u></u>latest/userguide/welcome/<u></u>support.html</a><br>
<a href="http://wiki.deegree.org/deegreeWiki/GettingSupport" target="_blank">http://wiki.deegree.org/<u></u>deegreeWiki/GettingSupport</a><br>
<a href="http://qgis.org/en/site/forusers/commercial_support.html" target="_blank">http://qgis.org/en/site/<u></u>forusers/commercial_support.<u></u>html</a><br>
<br>
[2] OSGeo Service Provider catalog with entities declaring GDAL expertise :<br>
<a href="http://www.osgeo.org/search_profile?SET=1&MUL_TECH[]=00013" target="_blank">http://www.osgeo.org/search_<u></u>profile?SET=1&MUL_TECH[]=00013</a><br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
Spatialys - Geospatial professional services<br>
<a href="http://www.spatialys.com" target="_blank">http://www.spatialys.com</a><br>
<br>
<br></div></div><span class=""><font color="#888888">
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Charta servizi e sistemi per il territorio e la storia ambientale srl<br>
Dipendenze del palazzo Doria,<br>
vc. alla Chiesa della Maddalena 9/2 16124 Genova (Italy)<br>
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