[Board] US ARRA Broadband mapping

[Arnulf Christl]

> Folks,
>
> Brian Hamlin (darkblue / <maplabs at light42.com>) has been following
> activities in the US with regard to mapping broadband availability
> with regard to use of stimulus funding to improve things.  He has
> been investigating work by an advocacy group named Public Knowledge
> in this area, and thinks there is an opportunity for us and them to
> work together.  I believe the idea is that we would provide some
> advocacy support, and that we would assist with provision of software
> and support for their group to do the broadband mapping project.
>
> If it proceeds there should be funding to support the work.
>
> He has suggested we get in contact with them with a letter something
> like the below.  Brian is on the road now and has limited online
> capacity but I believe he plans to follow up with the board when he can.
>
> If someone is interested in this topic they might want to learn more
> about Public Knowledge at publicknowledge.org.  I am interested but
> have limited capacity/time to followup.

All,
this sounds good, thanks for the good work. I support support the idea but
cannot contribute directly due to limited capacities (sort of a +0).

About bragging: You might want to add that OSGeo has signed a memorandum
of understanding with the OGC which is the relevant standardization body.

Best regards,
Arnulf.

> ==
> TO: Public Knowledge et al
> RE: ARRA Broadband Mapping Lobby
>
> FROM: Open Source Geopsatial Foundation (OSGeo.org)
> DATE: 22 June 2009
>
> All-
>
> It has come to the attention of our Board of Directors that Public
> Knowledge et
> al is engaging in lobbying on behalf of data transparency and open access
> to
> information pertaining to the ARRA Broadband Initiative.
>
> We at OSGeo strongly support open data access as a public good, and the
> use of
> open, interoperable standards in software used to acquire, manage and
> disseminate public data.
>
> There may be an opportunity to work together in a timely manner on this
> issue.
> Please consider arranging a conference call with appropriate parties in
> all
> possible haste, so that strategic options may be explored.
>
> If you are not familiar with OSGeo, after a quick search on the web, you
> will
> find that OSGeo is the leading on-the-ground open source software
> development
> organition, comprising xx2 dozen projects and 100s of developersxxbragxx
> across
> the world and in the United States. As a coalition, OSGeo holds a unique
> role
> in advocacy of open standarads and open source, in a world where industry
> consolidation has produced a very small handfull of huge private firms,
> with
> the inevitable market tensions associated with maintaining their
> positions. We
> believe that OSGeo is very much in line with the spirit and intent of the
> push
> for transparent government and public access science. As such there may be
> a
> special opportunity to raise the bar for the kind of technology initiative
> as
> presented in the ARRA Broadband Initiative now and in the future.
>
> best regards
>
> signature
> --
> ---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
> I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam,
> warmerdam at pobox.com
> light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
> and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent
>
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-- 
Arnulf Christl
Bonn, Germany