From jsanz at osgeo.org  Mon Nov  6 01:17:48 2017
From: jsanz at osgeo.org (Jorge Sanz)
Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2017 10:17:48 +0100
Subject: [OSGeo-Announce] OTB 6.2.0 Released
Message-ID: <CAGw=ncsv1arpKJ3ZSpNS=wQ1UN0aa97vP3E0wjh-ZB-Us+QAHQ@mail.gmail.com>

Dear all,

We are pleased to announce that Orfeo ToolBox 6.2.0 is out !

As usual, ready-to-use binary packages
<https://www.orfeo-toolbox.org/download/> are available for Windows, Linux
and Mac OS X:

You can also checkout the source directly with git:

git clone https://git at git.orfeo-toolbox.org/git/otb.git OTB -b release-6.2

We welcome your feedback and requests, and encourage you to join the OTB
community and mailing list
<https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=fr#%21forum/otb-users/join>. If you
think you face a bug, please report it on Mantis.
<https://bugs.orfeo-toolbox.org>

As we made an exception to our 3 months release schedule (OTB 6.0 is now 6
months old), we know that you are all looking forward to updating your
favorite tool. And there is indeed a lot of new things
<https://wiki.orfeo-toolbox.org/index.php/Requests_for_Changes#OTB-6.2.0>
in this new version. In addition, a total of 47 reported bugs have been
fixed. You can check the Release Notes
<https://git.orfeo-toolbox.org/otb.git/blob/5926aca233ff8a0fb11af1a342a6f5539cd5e376:/RELEASE_NOTES.txt>
.
Better help, doc and logs

Thanks to RFC 91
<https://wiki.orfeo-toolbox.org/index.php/Request_for_Changes-91:_Better_error_messages>,
errors have been made clearer everywhere in OTB. For instance, when OTB 6.0
used to say:

2017 May 16 18:07:49 : Application.logger (CRITICAL) Invalid image
filename blabla.tif.
2017 May 16 18:07:49 : Application.logger (FATAL) The following error
occurred during application execution :
/home/otbval/Dashboard/src/OTB/Modules/Wrappers/ApplicationEngine/include/otbWrapperInputImageParameter.txx:79:
itk::ERROR: InputImageParameter(0x2158710): No input image or filename
detected...

OTB 6.2 now says:

2017-05-16 18:07:49 (FATAL): Cannot open file blabla.tif. The file
does not exist.

RFC 96
<https://wiki.orfeo-toolbox.org/index.php/Request_for_Changes-96:_Long_help_in_otbcli>
takes care of improving the display of help in command-line mode. There is
now a *-help* switch that allows to display the same help as in the
documentation tab of GUI applications, and this switch also allows to get
help for parameters:

$ ./bin/otbcli SampleSelection -help instats sampler vec
 MISSING -instats <string> Input Statistics (mandatory)
 Input file storing statistics (XML format)

-sampler <string> Sampler type [periodic/random] (mandatory, default
value is periodic)
 Type of sampling (periodic, pattern based, random)

MISSING -vec <string> Input vectors (mandatory)
 Input geometries to analyse

Meanwhile, we started a background task for improving the content of the
documentation itself. With a single sprint of one day, we already improved
greatly the documentation of 19 applications, which can are listed in RFC
103
<https://wiki.orfeo-toolbox.org/index.php/Request_for_changes-103:_Improve_OTB_Applications_documentation_%28part_1%29>.
We are planning to continue this work in future releases until all
applications have been screened for documentation improvements.

Other improvements in this section includes the logging for composite
application (RFC 105
<https://wiki.orfeo-toolbox.org/index.php/Request_for_changes-105:_Simplify_logging_of_composite_applications>),
and an explicit open-source licence for the Cookbook (RFC 94
<https://wiki.orfeo-toolbox.org/index.php/Request_for_Changes-94:_CookBook_licensed_under_cc-by-sa>
).
Improvements and refactoring of several applications

We re-factor several applications following discussions during last OTB
User Days: <http://www.orfeo-toolbox.org/otb-user-days-2017-recap/>

   -

   KMeansClassification
   <https://wiki.orfeo-toolbox.org/index.php/Request_for_Changes-97:_KMeansClassification_reimplemented>:
   now a composite application of sampling/classification applications which
   use internally the KMeans implementation available in the Shark library
   -

   ExtractROI
   <https://wiki.orfeo-toolbox.org/index.php/Request_for_Changes-99:_Refactor_ExtractROI_application>:
   allow to define different types of ROI (coordinates in latitude/longitude),
   give point of interest and a radius, use a reference vector?
   - All in one LSMS segmentation application
   <https://wiki.orfeo-toolbox.org/index.php/Request_for_changes-106:_All-in-one_LSMS_application>:
   new composite application *LargeScaleMeanShift  *which combines all
   steps of Large Scale Segmentation in one application!
   - Convert
   <https://wiki.orfeo-toolbox.org/index.php/Request_for_changes-107:_Refactor_Convert_application>:
   new RGB mode to select input bands (can be read also automaticcally from
   the metadata)
   - PixelValue
   <https://wiki.orfeo-toolbox.org/index.php/Request_for_changes-109:_Refactor_PixelValue_application>:
   Add new way to input pixel position
   - DownloadSRTMTiles
   <https://wiki.orfeo-toolbox.org/index.php/Request_for_changes-115:_Refactoring_of_DownloadSRTMTiles>:
   complete revamp of the application which allows to define tiles area from
   images/vector/list of tiles, better handling of corner cases

Improved build, superbuild, and packages

There is now only one binary packages per platform which includes:

   - All in one: All OTB applications, Monteverdi and all official remote
   modules which  are now packaged in the same archive (no more distinction
   between OTB and OTB-Contrib package)
   - OTB XDK: OTB package contains now headers and development files which
   allows to compile and link your source code with OTB.

Moreover, superbuilds now contains the latest OpenJpeg, Gdal and NetCDF5.
Welcome to Daniel McInerney
We?ve got one new committer to OTB! Daniel is a researcher working for
Coillte Teoranta ? the Irish State Forestry Board and a user of OTB for a
long time. His first pull request includes a lot of great improvements in
the documentation.
I encourage anybody interested to get more involved in OTB to join
discussions and become part of the team.
Orfeo ToolBox Graduates OSGeo incubation!
OTB has graduated in July from incubation and is now a full fledged OSGeo
project <http://www.osgeo.org/>!
Graduating incubation includes fulfilling requirements for transparent
community operation code provenance, and general good project operation. It
allows OSGeo to recommend Orfeo ToolBox as example sustainable open source
software, giving users and our community confidence in the project and the
project team. It is a great honor for us to become an official member of
the OSGeo community.
Thanks to everyone who helps during the process.

OTB Dev Team
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From jsanz at osgeo.org  Wed Nov  8 07:18:20 2017
From: jsanz at osgeo.org (Jorge Sanz)
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2017 16:18:20 +0100
Subject: [OSGeo-Announce] OS guidebook on lidar and conservation by WWF
Message-ID: <CAGw=ncvrSyvjzofaBwwbiqqZtC2U8GehDTyH4U+3OHe9_0ganQ@mail.gmail.com>

Dear OSGEO community,

WWF-UK has compiled easy-to-read guidelines related to the practical use of
LiDAR remote sensing in conservation and ecological research. The main
argument behind creating these guidelines was that as vegetation and
terrain structure has been known to determine habitat quality, lidar
could/should be used more widely in these disciplines as it provides data
about this structure on a sub-meter scale. Especially since nowadays
numerous countries are making their nationwide lidar datasets open-access.
In a nutshell, the guidelines introduce lidar, help one decide if it is
right for their needs and then provide key information needed when using
it: programs to use, what have other people done with it, where to get data
etc.. All the material is found from the newly launched webpages:

https://www.wwf.org.uk/conservationtechnology/

where you will also find useful FAQs (this is the one for lidar):

https://www.wwf.org.uk/conservationtechnology/lidar-faq.html

that provide basic information on each of the conservation technologies
(lidar, camera trapping, acoustic monitoring). The FAQ is most suited for
those who are new to the technology and interested in learning whether it
might be suitable for their needs. All of the guidelines are also available
as peer-reviewed pdf files:

https://www.wwf.org.uk/conservationtechnology/documents/Lidar-WWF-guidelines.pdf

You may distribute the web-page and the guidelines and use them as you wish
for any teaching/research/general purposes as this is what we ultimately
hope you to do. Kind regards on behalf of WWF,

Dr. Markus Melin
mmelin at bournemouth.ac.uk
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Markus_Melin
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From jsanz at osgeo.org  Wed Nov 22 07:52:10 2017
From: jsanz at osgeo.org (Jorge Sanz)
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2017 16:52:10 +0100
Subject: [OSGeo-Announce] A new gvSIG Mobile is already available. The open
 source mobile GIS of the Suite gvSIG.
Message-ID: <CAGw=ncvdCfP6qnPZKY633G_kFO7auoovYfc4Y5zwLYP_TWBZJw@mail.gmail.com>

The new gvSIG Mobile is already available, the open source GIS
application for field data gathering.

The application is available for Android devices, and can be installed
from ?Google Play? [1].

The new gvSIG Mobile is based on Geopaparazzi, and was born with the
aim of having a mobile GIS application for professionals, having
different tools that facilitate its integration with the rest of the
gvSIG Suite. For example, it has a data importer and exporter from/to
gvSIG Online. Besides, the next version of gvSIG Desktop will include
a plugin that will allow data dumping between both applications.

With this new version it will be possible to carry out census or
inventories, update or audit information and all of that integrated
with the SDI. You can gather field data, edit existing data, attach
images, notes or sketches to geolocated elements, etc. Without
forgetting the ability to have forms that make gathering easier.

All the information about documentation for users and developers,
videos, etc. will be included at the project website [2].


[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.gvsig.gvsigmobile
[2] http://www.gvsig.com/en/products/gvsig-mobile


From jsanz at osgeo.org  Mon Nov 27 07:36:27 2017
From: jsanz at osgeo.org (Jorge Sanz)
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2017 16:36:27 +0100
Subject: [OSGeo-Announce] Call for Volunteers for Geodata Committee
Message-ID: <CAGw=ncty+-wxCLNcp7o_me0K-Z1TbA-F3aVPRpZMbo1=4dPWFg@mail.gmail.com>

Dear OSGeo community,

We are all aware of how important Open data is for our community, and
for the mission of OSGeo.  Most of you are aware that the OSGeo
foundation has a committee dedicated to this, called the Geodata
Committee; however the reality is that this committee is quiescent/not
active/at rest, as its mailing list has not really been used since a
message was posted in May of 2015 (which no one answered actually).

The Geodata Committee is still listed as a working committee on the
OSGeo website, and points to a page[1] that contains the mailing list
and the wiki.  The mailing list has 387 members, and the archives go
all the way back to March of 2006.  Back in those days, the committee
would meet regularly on IRC and it was very vibrant (thanks to Jo,
Arnulf, and the many early visionaries pushing forward and sharing).

More recently, there was a "reboot" push for this committee around
2012, and also another one in October of last year.  Of course there
were likely many other attempts, but those are the ones that come to
mind.

We believe that open data is even more critical to the mission of
OSGeo today, and a strong relationship with the various data
communities is important for the health of the ecosystem.  We also
look to the massive success of GeoForAll for sharing the passion for
education and Open as a great example of what we can all do together.

Would you be willing to help revive the OSGeo Geodata Committee?  It
would be great to hear more thoughts and ideas on this.  It does not
seem right to dissolve the committee; in fact we want the opposite to
occur.

Thank you,

Maria, Codrina, Vasile, Jeff on behalf of the OSGeo Board of Directors

[1] http://www.osgeo.org/content/projects/geodata.html