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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>Sydney, Australia. 4 May 2009.</FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><A
href="http://2009.foss4g.org/"><FONT
title="http://2009.foss4g.org/ CTRL + Click to follow link" color=#0000ff
size=3 face=Consolas>http://2009.foss4g.org</FONT></A></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3 face=Consolas>The
international conference for free and Open Source Software for Geospatial
(FOSS4G), held in Sydney, Australia 20-23 October, 2009, is now open for
registration. </FONT><A href="http://2009.foss4g.org/"><FONT color=#0000ff
size=3 face=Consolas>http://2009.foss4g.org/</FONT></A></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>FOSS4G attracts the cream of international Geospatial Open Source
and Open Standards system implementors and sponsors. With themes ranging from
the integration of Open Source with Proprietary systems to the building of
Spatial Data Infrastructures and application of Open Geospatial Standards, the
conference offers a unique opportunity to tap into the wealth of knowledge and
experience available among the Open Source developers, sponsors and geospatial
professionals of all persuasions. The Open Geospatial Consotium (OGC) is
underpinning the conference with a Standards Based integration showcase based on
a climate change scenario, demonstrating integration between Open Source and
proprietary applications.</FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>Along with a comprehensive program of thought provoking
presentations and interactive workshops you would expect from an international
conference, FOSS4G retains many of the engaging characteristics of its Open
Source heritage. With Bird of a Feather sessions, code sprints, install-fests
and impromptu project meetings, there is an unparalleled opportunity to take
part in active communities and provide input into the direction for a variety of
projects. FOSS4G encompasses the best of Open Communities, such as
collaboration, helpfulness, innovation and honesty.</FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>Early bird registration is just $AU725 (~ $US525) for 3 days of
conference and tutorials, and $AU375 (~ $US270) for a day of top notch workshops
from the world's best international presenters.</FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Location</FONT></FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>FOSS4G 2009 will be held in Sydney, Australia which is built
around one of the largest, most beautiful harbours in the world with miles of
golden beaches stretching north and south of the city on the shores of the
Pacific Ocean. It has a warm climate in October with average temperatures
ranging from 15 - 22°C. Sydney and its surrounding areas provide a diverse range
of visual excitement and vibrancy. Visitors to Sydney are spoiled with choice
including national parks, famous beaches, the World Heritage Blue Mountains area
and the picturesque Sydney Harbour. Sydney’s also offers a diverse range of
cultural activities including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Australian Chamber
Orchestra, the Australian Ballet and the Sydney Theatre Company all performing
at the well know Sydney Opera House.</FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Call for
Presentations</FONT></FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3 face=Consolas>Are
you planning to present at this years conference? If so, don't wait until you
have your presentation finalised to tell us about it! Go to the submission
website now (</FONT><A href="http://2009.foss4g.org/presentations/"><FONT
color=#0000ff size=3
face=Consolas>http://2009.foss4g.org/presentations/</FONT></A><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>) and enter your name and contact details and at least a title.
Then, closer to the close-off date, log back in and fill out the abstract
details. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>This will be a big help for the organisers as it will give us some
advanced notice as to how many and what type of presentations to
expect.</FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>FOSS4G
2009 Highlights</FONT></FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>*The Climate Challenge Integration Plugfest (CCIP)*: FOSS4G will
launch the OGC's Climate Challenge Integration Plugfest (CCIP), which
demonstrates standards based interoperability between Open Source and
Proprietary geospatial applications. It consists of a server with multiple
virtual machines, each installed with geospatial applications offering standards
based web services. All web services will demonstrate a common dataset, and will
be accessed by a range of geospatial client applications installed on client
computers. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><A
href="http://external.opengis.org/twiki_public/bin/view/ClimateChallenge2009/WebHome"><FONT
color=#0000ff size=3
face=Consolas>http://external.opengis.org/twiki_public/bin/view/ClimateChallenge2009/WebHome</FONT></A><FONT
size=3 face=Consolas> </FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>Presenters are encouraged (but not mandated) to make use of
scenarios and on-site data from the Climate Challenge Integration Plugfest
(CCIP). </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>This is especially important as demand for access to data over the
internet is expected to be high, and Australia has notoriously slow connections
to the outside world.</FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>*FOSS4G Live DVD*: LiveDVDs, based on the Xubuntu operating system
and including Geospatial Open Source Software, will be given to all delegates.
Users can boot a Live DVD on their computer and trial the software without
installing or effecting the existing system. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><A
href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_Disc"><FONT color=#0000ff size=3
face=Consolas>http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_Disc</FONT></A></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>*Installfest*: The Installfest will give delegates the opportunity
to meet in a common area and install a wide variety of FOSS software on their
laptops, EE PC or any other system they care to bring in. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>Community members will be around to assist with any troubles and
provide help and insight into the software. The install fest will take place
after workshops on the first day.</FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>*Workshops and Tutorials*: Workshops and Tutorials allow
presenters to lead attendees through applications, integration solutions, or
other topics in an interactive environment. Half-day workshops (3 hours) will be
held in computer rooms on the first day. Tutorials (90 minutes) will be held in
standard presentation rooms, run concurrently with presentations during the
third and fourth days.</FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>*Presentations*: The meat of the conference are it's
presentations. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>Drawing on a huge community of local, regional and international
experts we will discuss some of the most current and poignant topics in the
industry today.</FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>*Demo Theatre*: During lunch and coffee breaks the demonstration
theatre will be showcasing live software. These short demonstrations from
sponsors, open source projects and the user community show what is possible with
open source today.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><o:p><FONT size=3
face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>*Birds of a Feather*: Rooms have been set aside for semi-organised
meetings between like minded groups. Some prominant community initiatives
started in prior FOSS4G Birds of a Feather sessions.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><o:p><FONT size=3
face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>*Code Sprint*: The weekend after FOSS4G is reserved for the
Hackers' </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>Code Sprint. Hackers will be locked in a basement with lots of
bandwidth, pizzas and coke. (Well, maybe something better than that, but we
don't want to spoil the mystical hacker image by describing it any</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>differently.)</FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Upcoming
milestones</FONT></FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>* 1 Jun
2009, Abstract submission deadline</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>* 13 Jul
2009, Presenters notified of acceptance for talks</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>* 31 Jul
2009, *Author/Early registration deadline*</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>* 14 Sep
2009, *Completed program available on the wiki*</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>* 20 Oct
2009, FOSS4G Workshop</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>* 21-23
Oct 2009, FOSS4G Presentations and Tutorials</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>* 24-25
Oct 2009, FOSS4G Code Sprint</FONT></FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><o:p><FONT size=3
face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Media
Sponsors</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><o:p><FONT size=3
face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>*
Position Magazine: </FONT></FONT><A href="http://www.positionmag.com.au/"><FONT
color=#0000ff size=3 face=Consolas>http://www.positionmag.com.au/</FONT></A></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>* Asian
Surveying and Mapping Newsletter: </FONT></FONT><A
href="http://www.asmmag.com/"><FONT color=#0000ff size=3
face=Consolas>http://www.asmmag.com</FONT></A></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>*
Geoconnexions Magazine: </FONT></FONT><A
href="http://www.geoconnexion.com/"><FONT color=#0000ff size=3
face=Consolas>http://www.geoconnexion.com/</FONT></A></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>*
Directions Magazine: </FONT></FONT><A href="http://directionsmag.com/"><FONT
color=#0000ff size=3 face=Consolas>http://directionsmag.com/</FONT></A></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>* GIS
Development: </FONT></FONT><A href="http://gisdevelopment.net/"><FONT
color=#0000ff size=3 face=Consolas>http://gisdevelopment.net/</FONT></A></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Consolas><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>* Baliz
Media: </FONT></FONT><A href="http://www.baliz-media.com/"><FONT color=#0000ff
size=3 face=Consolas>http://www.BALIZ-MEDIA.com/</FONT></A></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3
face=Consolas>------------------------------------------------------------------------</FONT></P>
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face=Consolas> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3 face=Consolas>For
more information or to keep informed from the FOSS4G Organising Committee, join
our email list or twitter feed at: </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoPlainText><A
href="http://2009.foss4g.org/contacts/"><FONT color=#0000ff size=3
face=Consolas>http://2009.foss4g.org/contacts/</FONT></A></P>
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