[Northamerica] Intro

[Mark Lucas]

Brian,

Thanks for the impressive summary.  With the right contributors there are some impressive opportunities for OSGEO-NA to expand the influence and viability of open source geospatial solutions.  I'd like to see us expand our reach into environmental, academic, social, business, and government areas.  I'm sure I come off as focused on the government aspects - but that is due to my background and professional engagements.  We look forward to working with you.

Mark

On Nov 4, 2011, at 8:13 PM, Brian Hamlin wrote:

> Hi All-
> 
>  I'd like to introduce myself and say something about my interest in a North American Chapter of OSGeo
> 
>  My introduction to most things formally geospatial came by fate or by fluke, with a hand-me-down assignment as steering committee member for a conference that was slated for June of 2007 - the 5th International Symposium on Digital Earth.  Dr. Tim Foresman had committed to chairing the next ISDE, and had a deep rolodex - unfortunately without the funding to match !  The insiders saw it coming miles away (kilometers?)
> 
>  So basically it was a huge, 5 day, 120 presentation conference, done United Nations Environment Programme style - on a wing and a prayer. The nations of China, New Zealand, Australia, the EU were all officially represented.. as were NASA, NOAA, the National Snow and Ice Center.. UC Berkeley ... UC Santa Barbara sent Michael Goodchild.. the State of California sent the Lt Governor.. Florida was represented.. The commercial interests.. ESRI, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and a host of startups.. etc etc.. I built the exhibition floor network working with the surprisingly strict UCB network people..  I did meet and greet with presenters..  I also handled presentation graphics jobs and fought endless fires as they came up.. as the 'local' - since most everyone else was out of town, out of state or out of country.. I had a chance to meet Roger Tomlinson.. (he didnt say much :-)  Ben Discoe and Rebecca Moore.  I met many of the innovators of this nascent 'digital earth' tech.. and at that time, Keyhole, acquired by Google as Google Earth, had gotten 300m downloads.. as you well know, this is what the past looked like..
> 
>           http://vterrain.org/Packages/GovEdu/
> 
> So what was the theme of this ISDE5 ?  It was to *bring together* the disparate forces, including military, so use these new tools and new capacities, and spark * new intelligence *  which we almost all agreed, we desperately need right now..  (The National Snow and Ice people were freaking out about the arctic ice melts and larger climactic indicators - the State of California was very aware of the changes in salinity in the San Juaquine Delta system and its implications for agriculture in the central valley.. Florida is in line to be the next Netherlands.. the island nations political protests were starting in earnest, etc)
> 
>  What concerns me personally ?  Environmental issues.. over-used and insufficiently understood words, like.. bio-diversity or its opposite, mass extinctions . My ex-wife is a professional conference facilitator, so I have spoken at or played organizational roles in many, many "camps" and "un-conferences" in the SF Bay Area...
> 
>  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_event
> 
>  As far as OSGeo - along Alex Mandel and a few others, we have carved out a 'California Chapter' of OSGeo, in the shadow of the Dot Com Ground Zero and Silicon Valley.. Also with Alex Mandel and a few others, I built the OSGeo LiveDVD for the last two years, as a way to learn first hand what the OSGeo offerings are about.. I am a programmer for more than 20 years.. I have an office at the David Brower Environmental Center in Berkeley California, across the street from the University. I am quite keen on seeing OSGeo grow in North America.
> 
>  I am quite sure that it is ** essential ** that the military folks are at the table, and that ** non-military ** folks are at the table, to take this where it needs to go.
> 
> 
>  best regards
> 
>  Brian Hamlin
>  GeoCal
>  OSGeo California Chapter
>  415-717-4462 cell
> 
> 
> 
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