From warmerdam at pobox.com Tue Aug 5 14:15:56 2008 From: warmerdam at pobox.com (Frank Warmerdam) Date: Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:15:56 -0400 Subject: [OSGeo-Announce] Autodesk announces third major donation to open source community Message-ID: <4898C30C.1050405@pobox.com> Autodesk Contributes Coordinate System Software to the Open Source Community Open Source Technology Continues to Gain Momentum with Geospatial Professionals SAN RAFAEL, Calif. Aug. 4, 2008 ? Autodesk, Inc., (NASDAQ: ADSK) today announced that it has donated the source code for CS-Map coordinate system technology to the open source community and is seeking to establish it as part of an official OSGeo Foundation project for coordinate reference systems. The contribution represents Autodesk?s third major contribution to the open source community, following its MapGuide Open Source and Feature Data Object (FDO) Data Access Technology donations. "This contribution advances OSGeo?s mission of supporting and building the highest quality open source geospatial software," said Frank Warmerdam, president of the OSGeo Foundation. "Opening the CS-Map source code will ensure that all organizations and developers have access to this industrial-quality comprehensive library of map projections and coordinate systems, including several capabilities not previously available in open source." ?Autodesk recognizes the central values of open source community and enterprise development, including faster innovation, more frequent product updates and lower overall cost of ownership,? said Lisa Campbell, vice president, Autodesk Geospatial. ?By contributing the code for CS-Map, Autodesk hopes to meet users? needs while continuing to encourage community participation in software and application development.? Coordinate System Technology Integral to Geospatial Analysis CS-Map is a coordinate system and map projection library that enables users to more easily support geographic coordinate conversions and allow accurate and precise geospatial analysis. It currently supports a library of more than 3,000 map projections and coordinate systems. Coordinate systems are fundamental pieces of any mapping or geospatial application and are constantly being added and updated. With open source code, the open source community will be able to develop coordinate conversions as needed and give organizations and developers access to this critical piece of technology. Autodesk acquired CS-Map through its acquisition of Mentor Software in September 2007. CS-Map is currently embedded in most Autodesk geospatial products, including AutoCAD Map 3D and Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise. Open Source Geospatial Projects See Further Adoption OSGeo currently hosts 15 open source geospatial projects, including MapGuide Open Source and FDO Data Access Technology. Since the organization's founding in 2006, its projects now represent code contributions from more than 200 developers including a base of more than 6 million lines of code. The MapGuide Open Source project also announced the addition of MapGuide Maestro to the project, which is a new map authoring tool for MapGuide Open Source. MapGuide Maestro is a free application that eases the management of spatial data in MapGuide Open Source and has specialized interfaces for editing the following components of MapGuide Open Source: feature sources, Layer definitions, Map Definitions, Web Layouts and Fusion Layouts. Organizations large and small are reaping the benefits of the continual updates from the community. The Resort Municipality of Whistler, British Columbia has adopted MapGuide Open Source to help promote Whistler2020?a program aimed at preserving Whistler?s environment with sustainable, eco-friendly practices. KidsGIS, an eco-friendly GIS portal developed by volunteers from the geospatial field to teach children about the environment, includes an online mapping application built on MapGuide Open Source. Both projects also draw on FDO Data Access Technology to incorporate data from multiple sources. About Autodesk Autodesk, Inc. is the world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk has developed the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art digital prototyping solutions to help customers experience their ideas before they are real. Fortune 1000 companies rely on Autodesk for the tools to visualize, simulate and analyze real-world performance early in the design process to save time and money, enhance quality and foster innovation. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com. # # # Autodesk, AutoCAD and Autodesk MapGuide are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. OSGeo and Open Source Geospatial Foundation are trademarks of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation in the USA and/or other countries. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. ? 2008 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved. From tmitchell at osgeo.org Wed Aug 6 14:55:20 2008 From: tmitchell at osgeo.org (Tyler Mitchell (OSGeo)) Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2008 14:55:20 -0700 Subject: [OSGeo-Announce] Astun Technology becomes OSGeo Associate Sponsor Message-ID: <05ED972C-D493-4C54-B30A-650A63274B63@osgeo.org> I'm pleased to announce that Astun Technology has become the latest OSGeo Associate Sponsor. I met Mike Saunt earlier in the year and was glad to hear about their use of MapServer, PostGIS and other open source products. They describe the company as: "...an innovative web mapping company producing the iShareMaps platform. The iShareMaps platform is changing how Local Councils and Police Authorities in the UK can supply information (location based or not) to their citizens whether via traditional Interactive Mapping, property based lookups such as My House or keeping citizens up to date with location based email alerts. The platform now links over 35 different back office systems to provide citizens with a single accessible view of information around their area. Astun fully supports OSGeo and as such iShareMaps can be configured with great Open Source solutions such as MapServer , PostgreSQL/PostGIS and GDAL/ OGR." Please join me in thanking Astun Technology for their encouraging show of support as an OSGeo Sponsor. You can learn more about their work at: http://www.isharemaps.com/ Sincerely, Tyler Tyler Mitchell Executive Director Open Source Geospatial Foundation tmitchell at osgeo.org P: +1-250-277-1621 M: +1-250-303-1831 From warmerdam at pobox.com Fri Aug 22 13:12:12 2008 From: warmerdam at pobox.com (Frank Warmerdam) Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:12:12 -0400 Subject: [OSGeo-Announce] Sol Katz Award for Geospatial Free and Open Source Software - Call for Nominations Message-ID: <48AF1D9C.6080108@pobox.com> The Open Source Geospatial Foundation would like to open nominations for the 2008 Sol Katz Award for Geospatial Free and Open Source Software. The Sol Katz Award for Geospatial Free and Open Source Software (GFOSS) will be given to individuals who have demonstrated leadership in the GFOSS community. Recipients of the award will have contributed significantly through their activities to advance open source ideals in the geospatial realm. Sol Katz was an early pioneer of GFOSS and left behind a large body of work in the form of applications, format specifications, and utilities while at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. This early GFOSS archive provided both source code and applications freely available to the community. Sol was also a frequent contributor to many geospatial list servers, providing much guidance to the geospatial community at large. Sol unfortunately passed away in 1999 from Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, but his legacy lives on in the open source world. Those interested in making a donation to the American Cancer Society, as per Sol's family's request, can do so at https://www.cancer.org/asp/donate/don_multi_donate.asp?navToScreen=don_1. Nominations for the Sol Katz Award should be sent to SolKatzAward at osgeo.org with a description of the reasons for this nomination. Nominations will be accepted until midnight UTC on September 12th (http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?month=09&day=12&year=2008&hour=23&min=59&sec=59). A recipient will be decided from the nomination list by an OSGeo designated selection committee. The winner of the Sol Katz Award for Geospatial Free and Open Source Software will be announced on at the FOSS4G 2008 conference (http://www.foss4g2008.org/) closing plenary in Cape Town, South Africa. The hope is that the award will both acknowledge the work of community members, and pay tribute to one of its founders, for years to come. It should be noted that past awardees and selection committee members are not eligible. Past Awardees: 2007: Steve Lime 2006: Markus Neteler 2005: Frank Warmerdam Selection Committee: Frank Warmerdam (chair) Markus Neteler Steve Lime Jeff McKenna