From warmerdam at pobox.com  Wed Nov 14 11:03:14 2012
From: warmerdam at pobox.com (Frank Warmerdam)
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2012 11:03:14 -0800
Subject: [OSGeo-Announce] MapServer 6.2 Released
Message-ID: <50A3EAF2.4090204@pobox.com>

The MapServer Team is pleased to announce the long awaited release of MapServer 
6.2.0 after an extensive beta phase.

This is the first joint release between MapServer 6.2, TinyOWS 1.1, and 
MapCache 1.0, and is the first step towards a fully-fledged MapServer ?Suite? 
integrating these 3 components.

Major features for 6.2 include:

  * MapServer 6.2 is INSPIRE View Service compliant, i.e. supports
    the provision of an INSPIRE View Service compliant WMS Server.
  * Mask Layers: Mask layers are used to ?mask out? part of a given
    layer, to only represent data that intersect features from another
    layer.
  * Precise Symbol Placement: Traditionally, MapServer centers a marker
    symbol on the point it should be rendered to. ANCHORPOINT is a new
    SYMBOL level keyword that describes where the given symbol should
    be anchored.
  * Complex Multi Label/Symbol Symbology: Some cartographic representations
    require juxtaposing multiple symbols and/or labels in order to obtain
    a complex final symbol.
  * Vector Fields: MapServer can render vector fields based off data from
    GDAL supported raster formats containing u and v bands.
  * Label Leader Offsetting: For densely labelled maps, MapServer now
    supports offseting a label with respect to it?s original anchorpoint
    if the original location resulted in a collision with an already
    present label. An optional line can also be rendered to link the
    rendered text to it?s original feature location.
  * Multiple Font Support: List a set of true type fonts to search for
    required characters.
  * SVG Symbology: Along with the traditional ELLIPSE, VECTOR, PIXMAP
    and TRUETYPE symbols, MapServer 6.2 now supports SVG symbols directly.

Full details and download information can be found in the MapServer 6.2 release 
announcement.

   http://www.mapserver.org/development/announce/6-2.html


From warmerdam at pobox.com  Wed Nov 28 21:03:00 2012
From: warmerdam at pobox.com (Frank Warmerdam)
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2012 21:03:00 -0800
Subject: [OSGeo-Announce] Open Source Geospatial Research and Education Lab
 established at the Czech Technical University in Prague
Message-ID: <50B6EC84.3000702@pobox.com>

We are pleased to announce the establishment of Open Source Geospatial Research 
and Education (OSGeoREL) Laboratory in the Czech Republic at the Faculty of 
Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague. The laboratory is one 
of the members of a worldwide network developed under the auspices of the 
ICA-OSGeo Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

In 2011, the International Cartographic Association (ICA) signed a Memorandum 
of Understanding (MoU) with the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) with 
a view to develop global collaboration opportunities for academia, industry and 
government organisations in the field of open source GIS software and data. The 
MoU aims to provide expertise and support for the establishment of Open Source 
Geospatial Laboratories and Research Centres across the world to support the 
development of open source geospatial software technologies, training and 
expertise. Details at http://www.osgeo.org/node/1230

OSGeoREL at the CTU in Prague is led by Martin Landa, Department of Mapping and 
Cartography. The laboratory is devoted to education in geoinformatics using 
FOSS4G, and to research in open source software development for geospatial 
applications. Martin Landa is an OSGeo charter member since 2011 and a member 
of the GRASS Development Team since 2006. He is actively involved in the GRASS 
project as the lead architect of graphical user interface (GUI) development and 
PostGIS integration in GRASS vector architecture.

Geoinformatics at the CTU in Prague: Prof. Ale? ?epek has established a study 
program in geoinformatics since 2005 (originally with Prof. Leo? Mervart), he 
is the author of project GNU Gama and of a minor project GNU Sqltutor (both 
hosted at GNU servers) and the editor in chief of Geoinformatics FCE CTU journal.

More details of the lab at http://geo.fsv.cvut.cz/gwiki/osgeorel