[VisCom] FOSS4G Conference Summary

[Tyler Mitchell]

FYI - I've prepared a summary of the FOSS4G conference that we aim to release as a press release.  VisCom and some from the FOSS4G team are reviewing it with me, but I just wanted to give you the opportunity to voice any concerns.  The text is below...

Tyler

> -------
> FOSS4G 2006 Conference Summary
> 
> The energy and enthusiasm of the Free and Open Source Software for 
> Geoinformatics (FOSS4G) Conference continues to grow. This year 
> over 500 attendees made their way to Lausanne, Switzerland from 
> September 12-15th to participate in this annual international event.
> 
> The conference began with a day and a half of more than 25 hands-
> on workshops. They covered web mapping, desktop applications, 3D 
> visualization, and much more. As in years past, these workshops 
> were completely sold-out due to their popularity.
> 
> Plenary sessions and over 120 presentations made up the remainder 
> of the formal event. During the Sponsor Presentations, several of 
> the FOSS4G sponsors introduced their companies and explained their 
> involvement in Open Source. It was encouraging to see that the 
> sponsors invested in the conference not merely for promotion, but 
> because they are keenly interested in the success of the ideas 
> represented at FOSS4G.
> 
> The birds-of-a-feather (BOF) sessions were an informal way for 
> communities to meet, discuss, plan and even do some programming. 
> Topics included: promoting open access to geospatial data, 
> developing international user groups, planning new programming 
> projects, debating details of APIs and more.
> 
> The final afternoon consisted of plenary talks and a discussion 
> panel where several community members shared observations of the 
> past and offered future predictions. James Westervelt shared some 
> early history of the GRASS GIS project in a unique way, by 
> presenting recent thoughts from many of the original programmers 
> and users of decades past.
> 
> We also heard from the Director of Swisstopo, the Federal Office 
> of Topography, about their National Geodata Initiative. He 
> described their efforts to make geodata more affordable and 
> highlighted several parallels between their data management 
> efforts and open source development.
> 
> The capstone of the conference was the presentation of the second 
> annual Sol Katz award. This annual award recognizes the important 
> contributions of an open source community member. This year it was 
> awarded to Markus Neteler from the Center for Scientific and 
> Technological Research (ITC-irst, Italy) recognizing his 
> instrumental work on the GRASS GIS project. Markus' hard work and 
> commitment brought GRASS GIS back onto the radar for those needing 
> powerful analytical and visualization tools. Anyone who has worked 
> with Markus knows that the award was well deserved. His 
> enthusiasm, commitment to open source and enjoyable personality 
> have been an encouragement to the broader open source community.
> 
> The conference, including great social events, could not have 
> happened without an incredible amount of volunteer energy and 
> resources. An event of this size and stature had dozens of people 
> working behind the scenes, months in advance, including local 
> organizers, sponsors, an international committee, university staff 
> and more. It also required substantial funding from generous 
> sponsors. Thank you to all who helped organize, fund and attend 
> the event - it was a great cross-pollinating experience and will 
> remain the highlight of the year for many of us.
> 
> FOSS4G was also an important venue for the Open Source Geospatial 
> Foundation (OSGeo). With generous sponsorship support and planning 
> from Autodesk, OSGeo volunteers were able to introduce the 
> foundation to hundreds of attendees in a professional manner. The 
> booth was a focal point for learning more about the foundation and 
> how to get involved. There were also several OSGeo-related 
> presentations during the conference to help inform attendees. 
> Thank you volunteers, speakers and Autodesk staff for making our 
> presence at FOSS4G such a success.
> 
> The 2007 event will be organized by OSGeo. The foundation will be 
> soliciting proposals from local communities who would like to host 
> the event. The location is yet to be determined and will depend on 
> proposals received. Watch the foundation discussion mailing list 
> for more information.
> Some videos and photos from the event are available on the FOSS4G 
> website under Souvenirs. Workshop and presentation slides are also 
> available from the conference timetables.
> 
> 
>