[Board] Please review: Open Letter asking to avoid format fragmentation in LiDAR standards
Jeff McKenna
jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com
Mon Apr 20 07:59:02 PDT 2015
Hi Cameron,
In terms of my own feedback to your letter (I cannot speak for the
entire OSGeo Board), I would prefer to remove any reference to any
specific company or institution (such as Esri), and focus the goal of
the letter (as opposed to a flame war) on the needs for standards for
LiDAR data. As this page is written now, it is not a surprise to me
that media outlets are drooling over this letter. But what good can
come out of that, other than upsetting a large geospatial vendor in our
ecosystem?
Personally, I have spoken to Martin about this face-to-face, and I was
at a presentation he did on this exact topic at FOSS4G-Asia in December
(I moderated his session, small world sometimes isn't it); it is a
frustrating situation that he was put through, and I support him though
this.
But, since you are asking the OSGeo Board now, I cannot support such an
attack against one organization formally.
Short story: can you reword your wiki/letter to focus on standards for
the LiDAR format, and not attack one organization?
-jeff
On 2015-04-20 11:28 AM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
> As Bart mentioned,
> * After initially being written, the letter was sent to OSGeo standards
> list, asking for review.
> * Suchith sent to OGC TC-Discuss list for review, and ESRI responded.
> * After ~ 1 week for review, the letter was forwarded to OSGeo discuss
> and a few others, asking for signatures (we have ~ 70 signatures,
> growing every day)
> * As per this email thread below, I've asked OSGeo board's approval to
> officially present this letter.
> * Today I've had inquiries from mass media. I've asked them to hold off
> on breaking the story until the board gives approval to officially
> present the letter, which will add extra weight to the letter. They
> didn't publish today, but may publish in 12 to 48 hours. (Media
> organisations have a strong desire to be the first to publish).
>
> So now the board has had time to consider, can you please all vote on
> following 2 proposals:
>
> I request the board support an OSGeo Community developed Open
> Letter aimed at protecting open LiDAR standards.
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/LIDAR_Format_Letter
>
> Proposal 1: The OSGeo Board agree to include the following
> statement (or similar wording) into the letter:
>
> = Cover Letter from the OSGeo Board =
>
> The board of the [http://osgeo.org <http://osgeo.org/> Open
> Source Geospatial Foundation] (OSGeo) is presenting this
> letter to the OGC, ESRI and ASPRS. The letter highlights
> concerns about fragmentation in LiDAR standards from many
> people within the OSGeo community. As always, if there is
> anything the OSGeo board can do to help, then please let us know.
>
> Signed: <OSGeo Board Members>
>
> Proposal 2:
> Once the letter has completed the signature phase, the letter
> be emailed from the OSGeo President to key people within these
> organisations:
>
> Mark Reichardt <mreichardt AT opengeospatial.org
> <http://opengeospatial.org>
> <http://opengeospatial.org>>, OSGeo President
> David Danko <DDanko AT esri.com <http://esri.com>
> <http://esri.com>>, ESRI's
> Senior Consultant for GIS Standards
> Stephen D. DeGloria < sdd4 AT cornell.edu <http://cornell.edu>
> <http://cornell.edu>>, President of the ASPRS
>
>
>
> On 20/04/2015 10:50 pm, Bart van den Eijnden wrote:
>> Jeff,
>>
>> this was sent to discuss 1 week ago [1]. It has also been sent to the
>> OGC TC-Discuss list where Esri has even responded.
>>
>> [1]
>> http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2015-April/014137.html
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Bart
>>
>>> On 20 Apr 2015, at 14:44, Jeff McKenna <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com
>>> <mailto:jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>> That would be good Maxi, as my concern is getting community feedback
>>> before the Board reviews such a request.
>>>
>>> Has this letter been sent yet to the general OSGeo community for
>>> review? (the Discuss list) I think it is great that the Standards
>>> group reviewed it, maybe now it is ready for the general OSGeo community.
>>>
>>>
>>> -jeff
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2015-04-20 6:18 AM, Massimiliano Cannata wrote:
>>>> Thare are interesting discussions running on the italian chapter list.
>>>> It would be nice if someone could wrap-up a short summary of interesting
>>>> points.
>>>>
>>>> I could do it in the next days if none is available.
>>>>
>>>> Maxi
>>>>
>>>> 2015-04-20 10:30 GMT+02:00 Jachym Cepicky <jachym.cepicky at gmail.com
>>>> <mailto:jachym.cepicky at gmail.com>
>>>> <mailto:jachym.cepicky at gmail.com>>:
>>>>
>>>> I'm fine with that
>>>>
>>>> pá 17. 4. 2015 v 8:56 odesílatel Bart van den Eijnden
>>>> <bartvde at osgis.nl <mailto:bartvde at osgis.nl>
>>>> <mailto:bartvde at osgis.nl>> napsal:
>>>>
>>>> Hello board,
>>>>
>>>> do people still need time to comment on the letter or can we
>>>> call for a motion on this?
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>> Bart
>>>>
>>>>> On 16 Apr 2015, at 13:52, Cameron Shorter
>>>>> <cameron.shorter at gmail.com
>>>>> <mailto:cameron.shorter at gmail.com> <mailto:cameron.shorter at gmail.com>>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi OSGeo Board,
>>>>>
>>>>> I request the board support an OSGeo Community developed Open
>>>>> Letter aimed at protecting open LiDAR standards.
>>>>> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/LIDAR_Format_Letter
>>>>>
>>>>> Proposal 1: The OSGeo Board agree to include the following
>>>>> statement (or similar wording) into the letter:
>>>>>
>>>>> = Cover Letter from the OSGeo Board =
>>>>>
>>>>> The board of the [http://osgeo.org <http://osgeo.org/> Open
>>>>> Source Geospatial Foundation] (OSGeo) is presenting this
>>>>> letter to the OGC, ESRI and ASPRS. The letter highlights
>>>>> concerns about fragmentation in LiDAR standards from many
>>>>> people within the OSGeo community. As always, if there is
>>>>> anything the OSGeo board can do to help, then please let us
>>>>> know.
>>>>>
>>>>> Signed: <OSGeo Board Members>
>>>>>
>>>>> Proposal 2:
>>>>> Once the letter has completed the signature phase, the letter
>>>>> be emailed from the OSGeo President to key people within these
>>>>> organisations:
>>>>>
>>>>> Mark Reichardt <mreichardt AT opengeospatial.org
>>>>> <http://opengeospatial.org>
>>>>> <http://opengeospatial.org>>, OSGeo President
>>>>> David Danko <DDanko AT esri.com <http://esri.com>
>>>>> <http://esri.com>>, ESRI's
>>>>> Senior Consultant for GIS Standards
>>>>> Stephen D. DeGloria < sdd4 AT cornell.edu <http://cornell.edu>
>>>>> <http://cornell.edu>>, President of the ASPRS
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 11/04/2015 12:14 pm, Cameron Shorter wrote:
>>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>> A number of us have been collaboratively developing an Open
>>>>>> Letter asking key stakeholders to avoid fragmentation in
>>>>>> LiDAR standards.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It starts:
>>>>>> /We, the undersigned, are concerned that the current
>>>>>> interoperability between LiDAR applications, through use of
>>>>>> the open "LAS" format, is being threatened by ESRI's
>>>>>> introduction and promotion of an alternative "Optimized LAS"
>>>>>> proprietary format. This is of concern since the
>>>>>> fragmentation of the LAS format will lead to reduced
>>>>>> interoperability between applications and organisations, and
>>>>>> introduce vendor lock-in./
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Could all interested please:
>>>>>> 1. Review and provide feedback to this standards email list
>>>>>> 2. If you agree with the letter, please add your name to the
>>>>>> "Signed" section
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Cameron Shorter,
>>>>>> Software and Data Solutions Manager
>>>>>> LISAsoft
>>>>>> Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf,
>>>>>> 26 - 32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW 2009
>>>>>>
>>>>>> P +61 2 9009 5000, Wwww.lisasoft.com
>>>>>> <http://Wwww.lisasoft.com> <http://www.lisasoft.com/>, F +61 2
>>>>>> 9009 5099
>>>>>
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