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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Dear Incubator Committee, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I am writing to apply for OSGeo Community Project status for the Flexurba R package. In April 2023, I presented the Flexurba package and the GISRUK conference in Leeds, and received the GISRUK and OSGeo:UK GoFundGeo Award.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Flexurba is an open-source R package to flexibly reconstruct the Degree of Urbanisation (DEGURBA) classification. DEGURBA is an operational definition of cities, towns and rural areas that is widely used in policy reports
and academic circles. It is developed by six international organisations - among which the European Commission and the OECD - to provide a globally consistent delineation of urban areas and thus enhance statistical comparability across nations. Much effort
has been devoted to making the workflow behind the methodology as transparent and reproducible as possible: it is extensively documented in a manual (Eurostat, 2021) and a set of analytical tools is provided by the Global Human Settlement Layer to reproduce
the classification. The current suite of tools uses a graphical user interface. This certainly enhances the ease of use, but also obscures the underlying code and restricts the user from adapting implementation details in the algorithm.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Against this backdrop, we developed the Flexurba package: a
<b>flex</b>ible reconstruction of the DEG<b>URBA</b> algorithm. The package encompasses the first open implementation of DEGURBA’s algorithm in any programming language. It provides flexibility to the user to customise the parameters in the algorithm and evaluate
the consequences of certain implementation choices. The user can construct alternative versions of DEGURBA by changing the minimum population thresholds, and even more ‘hidden’ implementation details, such as the contiguity requirements and edge smoothing
rules.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">For an extensive description of the package and its contribution, please consult the following journal article:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Van Migerode, C., Poorthuis, A., & Derudder, B. (2024). <span lang="EN-US">
Flexurba: An open-source R package to flexibly reconstruct the Degree of Urbanisation classification.
<i>Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science</i>, 0(0). <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/23998083241262545">
https://doi.org/10.1177/23998083241262545</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">With the support of OSGeo, we hope to further extend the Flexurba package and promote its functionalities to a wider audience.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Community Project Application Checklist :<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0cm" type="disc">
<li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span lang="FR">1. Be Geospatial :<o:p></o:p></span></li><ul style="margin-top:0cm" type="circle">
<li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm;mso-list:l0 level2 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US">README :
<a href="https://gitlab.kuleuven.be/spatial-networks-lab/research-projects/flexurba/-/blob/main/README.md">
https://gitlab.kuleuven.be/spatial-networks-lab/research-projects/flexurba/-/blob/main/README.md</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm;mso-list:l0 level2 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US">Project Website :
<a href="https://flexurba-spatial-networks-lab-research-projects--e74426d1c66ecc.pages.gitlab.kuleuven.be/">
https://flexurba-spatial-networks-lab-research-projects--e74426d1c66ecc.pages.gitlab.kuleuven.be/</a><o:p></o:p></span></li></ul>
<li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US">2. License file:
<a href="https://gitlab.kuleuven.be/spatial-networks-lab/research-projects/flexurba/-/blob/main/LICENSE.md">
https://gitlab.kuleuven.be/spatial-networks-lab/research-projects/flexurba/-/blob/main/LICENSE.md</a><o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US">3. Code of Conduct:
<a href="https://gitlab.kuleuven.be/spatial-networks-lab/research-projects/flexurba/-/blob/main/code-of-conduct.md">
https://gitlab.kuleuven.be/spatial-networks-lab/research-projects/flexurba/-/blob/main/code-of-conduct.md</a><o:p></o:p></span></li></ul>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Please let me know if you have any questions about the package or if you have any suggestions to improve our application. My OSGeo userid is ‘cvmigero’ and I will need permission to create a project page.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Warm regards, also on behalf of my supervisors Prof. Ben Derudder and Prof. Ate Poorthuis,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Céline Van Migerode<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt;background:white"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:#1F3864;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:NL-BE">Céline Van Migerode</span></b><b><span lang="FR" style="color:#1F3864;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:NL-BE"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt;background:white"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#1F3864;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:NL-BE">PhD researcher of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO)<b><br>
</b>KU Leuven Public Governance Institute – Faculty of Social Sciences<br>
KU Leuven Division of Geography and Tourism – Faculty of Science<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"><img border="0" width="115" height="95" style="width:1.2in;height:.9916in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01DB1639.D1F409E0" alt="Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek -... - Flanders in the USA | Facebook"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">
</span></span><span style="mso-fareast-language:NL-BE"><img border="0" width="196" height="75" style="width:2.0416in;height:.7833in" id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image002.png@01DB1639.D1F409E0"></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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