[Aust-NZ] Upcoming OSGeo Chapter in the Central North Island

Wed Aug 14 17:33:56 PDT 2013

Hi,

I agree that this could be under the aus/nz group banner. I'm all for less bureaucracy and a more complimentary group rather than having yet another group. However, we would like to plan a meetup here in Palmerston North on the 28/08. If you want to join us you are more than welcome. Let us know if you can make it to the pub or if you can join our hangout and give us your information so we can invite you. The other option would be a public hangout that people can join if they like and that could be streamed to YouTube.

We're all about collaboration so please don't take this as a threat to existing groups.

Regards
Tim

On Aug 15, 2013 11:58 AM, "Byron Cochrane" <cochranes4 at eml.cc> wrote:
Occasional regional get-togethers under the banner of Aust-NZ OSGeo are the norm in Australia. Could proceed in that manner.

Cheers,
Byron

On Wed, Aug 14, 2013, at 08:38 AM, Brent Wood wrote:
Hi Tim,

I agree with Hamish.

We already have an OSGEO chapter that encompasses NZ, we have the NZOSS, reasonably active NZ GIS & GPS online groups (incl OSM support & dvpt), a very active biodata group (Dataversity) all with some level of Open Source focus & support. The new ECO/WWF Moodle website for tutorial/training resources for environmental data management & analysis also has a strong Open Source GIS focus, but is not built around OSGEO.

More fragmentation I think would be divisive rather than productive.

I'd sooner see an existing NZ group strengthened by more activity & members instead. As a long time GMT user (as well as several OSGEO tools) & a novice R user, I also suggest that running such a group as an "OSGEO chapter" is unecessarily restrictive, and that if such a group is established, it should be formed within and help grow existing NZ initiatives rather than compete with them for members, time & resources.

For this reason, I do not support & will not join the proposed group, as I think it would be detrimental to the overall progress of Open Source GIS in NZ, quite apart from not wanting to add yet another membership to my list, which is already long enough that I can't do most groups justice. I believe the NZ Open Source & GIS communities needs to pull together more, not fragment even further.

Just my opinion.... if there are enough interested people to form an active chapter, I still wish you well, & hope we can work together on shared goals in future.

Regards

  Brent Wood

________________________________
From: Hamish <hamish_b at yahoo.com<mailto:hamish_b at yahoo.com>>
To: "heuert at landcareresearch.co.nz<mailto:heuert at landcareresearch.co.nz>" <heuert at landcareresearch.co.nz<mailto:heuert at landcareresearch.co.nz>>; Aust NZ Aus Geo List <aust-nz at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:aust-nz at lists.osgeo.org>>
Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 5:22 PM
Subject: Re: [Aust-NZ] Upcoming OSGeo Chapter in the Central North Island

Hi Tim,

why not just run it under the guise of the greater aust-nz chapter? unneccessary bureaucratic overhead takes time away from coding :)

regards,
Hamish

________________________________
From: Tim-Hinnerk Heuer <heuert at landcareresearch.co.nz<mailto:heuert at landcareresearch.co.nz>>
To: Aust NZ Aus Geo List <aust-nz at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:aust-nz at lists.osgeo.org>>
Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 2:57 PM
Subject: [Aust-NZ] Upcoming OSGeo Chapter in the Central North Island

Hi,

I'm Tim-Hinnerk Heuer, a geo web developer working at Landcare Research in Palmerston North. The Informatics group at Landcare Research has been using open source geo-software for quite a while and we know there are other people in the local region with an interest in such software.

We have come up with the idea of forming an informal group in Palmerston North - or more specifically the lower North Island - to exchange ideas and encourage collaboration on geospatial data and geospatial open source software. One possibility is that this group becomes an OSGeo chapter (see http://www.osgeo.org/).

At the moment, this initiative is driven by myself and my colleague Pierre Roudier, who is working on soil data using open source software (R, GDAL/OGR, QGIS, GRASS GIS). Anybody wanting to join the effort is obviously more than welcome!

We are planning a meeting to gauge interest in forming such a group. It is set to take place at the Village Inn Kitchen in Hokowhitu, Palmerston North, from 5.30pm onwards, on Wednesday 28st August. (We chose this venue because it has high-speed Internet access and one idea we have is to invite people from around New Zealand or even the world to join us via video conference to talk about their software and/or how they are using open source geospatial software).

A couple of us are attending FOSS4G 2013 in the UK in mid September and, if there is support for the idea of forming a chapter, we would raise it with the OSGeo Board then.

We are looking forward to seeing you at the Village Inn Kitchen in Hokowhitu, Palmerston North on the 28th August. Drop us an email if you think you will come so we can get an idea of numbers.

Kind regards,

Tim

--
Tim-Hinnerk Heuer

Web Developer
Landcare Research (http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz)
Informatics (http://wiki.zen.landcareresearch.co.nz)
Ph: +64 6 353 4872<tel:%2B64%206%20353%204872>

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--
Byron Cochrane
cochranes4 at eml.cc

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