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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'>David,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'>I have added my
name to several places on the wiki page you mentioned. I had been meaning to do
this since you sent you first invitation. Perhaps, like me, others are also
interested but just busy. :]<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'>I can see that
you have a desire to move things forward, and I believe you are making an
excellent effort as chair of the Public Geospatial Data Committee. I would like
to express my definite interest in two (2) areas “covered” by the
Geodata Committee.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'>The first is
promoting (1) reasonable (2) open and (3) affordable access to publicly funded geospatial
data. I am often times shocked and insulted at the amount of money or types of
extremely restrictive license conditions that are put on GIS data funded with
my public tax dollars.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'>The second is
geodata licensing. Different licensing options and education in this area is a
critical step in obtaining the goal I mentioned immediately above. We won’t
make any heady way in increasing access to publicly funded GeoSpatial data
until agencies have reasonable licensing and options.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'>After finding
and/or establishing some “open geodata licensing” options, I think
we should consider appointing regional “volunteers” that can
catalog the geodata polocies in place and enforced by public agencies in their
region. (For example, in the United States we might have a couple of volunteers
that work at the Federal or National level, and other volunteer that serve for
each of the 50 states.) After this catalog or inventory has taken place we can
identify agencies we would like to contact directly about open geodata
licensing and hosting options. We could even promote awareness of geodata
licensing issues and reward good geodata policies by handing out a single “open
geodata excellence” award to one public agency or organization every
year.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'>In the spirit of
less talk and more action, I personally volunteer to do the following:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Arial Narrow";color:blue'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>-<font size=1
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font color=blue
face="Arial Narrow"><span style='font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'>Provide
a brief written summary of available geodata licenses to this mailing list by
the end of December 2007.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Arial Narrow";color:blue'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>-<font size=1
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font color=blue
face="Arial Narrow"><span style='font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'>If no
suitable “open” geodata licenses exist, work on a draft license
that can be presented to this mailing list be the end of February 2008.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Arial Narrow";color:blue'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>-<font size=1
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font color=blue
face="Arial Narrow"><span style='font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'>Once
existing or draft geodata licenses are “approved” by the OSGeio, provide
(simple) web site design services and web hosting for a “Geodata
Licensing” web site that serves a purpose similar to the Creative Commons
website. The goal will be to have a functioning website set up by the end of
April 2008.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Arial Narrow";color:blue'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>-<font size=1
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font color=blue
face="Arial Narrow"><span style='font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'>Serve
as the “regional geodata volunteer” for the State of <st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State>, completing a geodata access policy survey for
all <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">California</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Counties</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> and major state agencies by the
end of December 2008.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'>Some of this
work may already be done, as I am still fairly new to this list. I also
recognize that some of the dates listed above may be ambitious. But I think
they would give us, at a minimum, some targets to reach for.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'>In summary, this
is an important issue to me, and I am ready to spend some time and effort on
moving it forward, and I am willing to get started today.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'>Landon<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Arial Narrow"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center tabindex=-1>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
geodata-bounces@lists.osgeo.org [mailto:geodata-bounces@lists.osgeo.org] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>David William Bitner<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, November 28, 2007
7:15 AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> geodata@lists.osgeo.org<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [Geodata] Geodata
Directions</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Greetings Geodata folks,<br>
<br>
I have to start by saying that I am writing this note out of a bit of
frustration and disappointment. We currently have 140 members of this
mailing list and 42 people who have self identified on the wiki as interested
in participating in this group. In the two requests that I have made
recently hoping to get a response from everyone on this list I have received a
total 4 responses. Only 3 people took the time (probably less than a
couple minutes) to give me scheduling information to try to find a reasonable
monthly meeting time/day of week, and the only person who has added anything to
the wiki ( <a
href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Public_Geospatial_Data_Project_Update_Mission">http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Public_Geospatial_Data_Project_Update_Mission</a>)
that is up to brainstorm different directions for this group has been our
previous chair. <br>
<br>
This is all a bit disheartening as these are both activities that take very
little time and are supposed to help engage the members of this group.<br>
<br>
I truly believe that for long term success and especially for this group to be
able to engage cooperation and participation with other groups and individuals,
we must be able to clearly state what it is we do and why we are doing
it. <br>
<br>
In order to accomplish this, as a first step, I started the wiki at <a
href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Public_Geospatial_Data_Project_Update_Mission">http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Public_Geospatial_Data_Project_Update_Mission
</a>as a starting point for brainstorming. If any of you have been
involved in strategic planning or creating mission statements, brainstorming
and having a way to voice any and all ideas -- realistic or grand dreams
-- is almost always the starting point. This list should be huge when we
are done. Once we have a large list, my intentions are to collate the lists and
try to combine duplicate or highly similar ideas and also tabulate the support
that each idea has in order to distill where the energies of this group
lie. Part of this may involve another exercise or two for which I will
again seek comment and participation from you. <br>
<br>
I do not see my job as chair of this group to go off and set a direction for
this group and just try to get buy off on that. I see my job as trying to
facilitate consensus on where our energies and our needs lie. <br>
<br>
I truly hope that we can engage some level of participation from everyone who
is interested in this project. I do not expect that everyone will runoff
and work on actual data gathering and donate hours to this project, but I do at
least hope that we can leverage this large community as a sounding board when
it comes to determining directions we should take. <br>
<br>
Please tell me if you think the approach that I am taking is poor. Please
tell me if you have other ideas on how to engage the full community. Please
become engaged yourself!<br>
<br>
Thank you all for your interest and your time, <br>
<br>
David<br>
OSGeo, Public Geospatial Data Committee Chair<br clear=all>
<br>
-- <br>
************************************<br>
David William Bitner <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
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