[Board] GIS for the United Nations and the International Community Conference

Mon Jun 15 23:06:07 PDT 2015

Hi Sanghee,

This is a fantastic development and thank you for your efforts to make this happen. It is also long term importance and i humbly request the OSGeo Board and main FOSS4G LOC to take steps so we all can ensure  that this will be continued and build upon for future FOSS4G conferences with a seperate track dedicated to "Open Source GIS in the United Nations".

I am ccing our ICA-OSGeo lab list colleagues, so that we will start planning support for this for FOSS4G 2016 in Germany (hands on workshops etc).

I would also request you to bring to the attention of UN colleagues  the set of training materilas in Creative Commons licence that GeoAcademy colleagues  have already developed (and running a very successful MOOC program) that includes these five GIS courses:

    GST 101 Introduction to Geospatial Technology Using QGIS 2.8
    GST 102 Spatial Analysis Using QGIS 2.8
    GST 103 Data Acquisition & Management Using QGIS 2.8
    GST 104 Cartography Using QGIS 2.8
    GST 105 Remote Sensing Using QGIS 2.8 & GRASS 7.0

All the course materails are available at https://github.com/FOSS4GAcademy

It will be a great platform for UN colleagues to make use of for the "Train the Trainer" program for UN staff globally.  UN staff can not only make use of the Open Educational materials  but more importantly they can get the Free and Open Source Geospatial Software for thier needs.

So i am sure the UN focussed session at FOSS4G Seoul is great start for expanding our  collaborations and thanks again for your leadership and efforts that made this happen.

Best wishes,

Suchith

________________________________________
From: Sanghee Shin [endofcap at gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, June 15, 2015 11:36 PM
To: Suchith Anand
Cc: Shin Sanghee; Polimi; Patrick Hogan; board at lists.osgeo.org
Subject: Re: [Board] GIS for the United Nations and the International Community Conference

Hi All,

For the updates,

FOSS4G Seoul will have special session named “Open Source GIS in United Nations and Developing Countries” in cooperation with United Nations Cartographic Section and LH Corp - a public land and housing company in Korea. Dr. Joonyoung Choi in LH Corp will lead the organising.

Through the session, we’ll discuss pros/cons of open source GIS, past experiences/future possibilities of open source GIS in UN and developing countries. In short sharing the experience will be the main purpose of this session.

This session might be a good start point for the future discussions.

All the best,

Sanghee
---
Sanghee Shin, Chair of FOSS4G 2015 Seoul
"Toward Diversity! FOSS4G Bigbang from Seoul!"
http://2015.foss4g.org
Twitter: @foss4g
Facebook: FOSS4G2015
email: foss4gchair at osgeo.org

> 2015. 5. 21., 오전 8:33, Suchith Anand <Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk> 작성:
>
> Thanks Maria, that will be excellent. I suggest that we use the session at FOSS4G Europe 2015 to discuss ideas on how we can better build synergies with the UN Millennium Development Goals based on initial ideas at http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/ica-osgeo-labs/2015-May/001610.html
>
> I am waiting for updates from Sanghee on FOSS4G 2015 Seoul session.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Suchith
> ________________________________________
> From: Polimi [maria.brovelli at polimi.it]
> Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2015 7:00 AM
> To: Suchith Anand
> Cc: Cameron Shorter; board at lists.osgeo.org; Patrick Hogan
> Subject: Re: [Board] GIS for the United Nations and the International Community Conference
>
> Suchith, Cameron
> That's great! Let me see if I'm able to find some time for a first meeting during FOSS4G Europe. Days are busy, but probably there could be some time on Friday evening after the closing session. I know that it is not the best, but let us try.
> In any case I'm absolutely interested in being part of this effort. Thanks!
> Ciao!
> Maria
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Prof. Maria Antonia Brovelli
> Vice Rector for Como Campus and GIS Professor
> Politecnico di Milano
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> Il giorno 21/mag/2015, alle ore 03:06, Suchith Anand <Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk>> ha scritto:
>
> Hi Cameron,
>
> This is a good idea. Let us try that.
>
> I also think it is good to plan ideas also for special track for FOSS4G conferences on "Open GIS for UN and International development" (like the Academic tracks etc we now regularly have) as that helps build long term collaborations.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Suchith
> ________________________________________
> From: board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> [board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org>] On Behalf Of Cameron Shorter [cameron.shorter at gmail.com<mailto:cameron.shorter at gmail.com>]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2015 11:39 PM
> To: board at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:board at lists.osgeo.org>
> Subject: Re: [Board] GIS for the United Nations and the International Community Conference
>
> Hi Board,
> Great to see this item on the board agenda tomorrow.
> With regards to this conference, an easy and initially
> non-confrontational step would be to offer an OSGeo based presentation
> at the conference. I regularly approach conference organisors and offer
> a presentation or workshop which provides a comprehensive  overview of
> Open Source Geospatial Software, based on the OSGeo-Live presentation
> [1]. We are almost always warmly encouraged to present, and wh then
> source a local OSGeo Advocate [2] to present.
>
> Someone from the OSGeo Board might want to do something similar for this
> ESRI UN conference, or alternatively, I'd be happy to approach on behalf
> of OSGeo-Live.
>
> [1] http://live.osgeo.org/en/presentation/index.html#/
> [2] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Advocate
>
> Warm regards,
> Cameron
>
> On 11/05/2015 9:08 pm, Suchith Anand wrote:
> Hi Sanghee,
>
> Thank you for the updates. Please also inform them on our previous collaborations with the UN (through the ICA) for this.
>
> In 2012 and 2014 we have organised hands on  workshop "Open Source GIS & WebMapping for UN staff" in Vienna, Austria. It was organized on behalf of the Commission on Open Source Geospatial Technologies of the International Cartographic Association (ICA). Barend Kobben (ITC) was the course organisor for this. Thank you Barend.
>
> http://kartoweb.itc.nl/kobben/SOMAP-OSGEO-workshop/  (2014 Workshop )
> http://kartoweb.itc.nl/kobben/SOMAP-OSGEO-workshop/report2012.html  (2012 Workshop )
>
> So we are keen scale up our engagement with the UN to higher levels. Please cc me in your email and i am happy to also contact our other key contacts in the UN for this if needed.
>
> Thanks again for your help with this.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Suchith
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Sanghee Shin [endofcap at gmail.com<mailto:endofcap at gmail.com>]
> Sent: Monday, May 11, 2015 9:05 AM
> To: Suchith Anand
> Cc: Shin Sanghee; Jeff McKenna; board at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:board at lists.osgeo.org>
> Subject: Re: [Board] GIS for the United Nations and the International Community Conference
>
> Hi Suchith and others,
>
> For the update, Seoul team is currently discussing with UN Cartographic Section and other interested parties whether we can have special session named "Open GIS for the United Nations and for International Development.”
>
> Hope I get back to you soon.
>
> All the best,
>
> Sanghee
> ---
> Sanghee Shin, Chair of FOSS4G 2015 Seoul
> "Toward Diversity! FOSS4G Bigbang from Seoul!"
> http://2015.foss4g.org
> Twitter: @foss4g
> Facebook: FOSS4G2015
> email: foss4gchair at osgeo.org<mailto:foss4gchair at osgeo.org>
>
>
>
> 2015. 5. 1., 오후 11:06, Suchith Anand <Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk>> 작성:
>
> Hi Sanghee,
>
> This is great to hear and i am sure the United Nations will never endorse any particular properitory GIS vendors products etc. The UN GGIM Beijing Declaration on Sustainable Development with Geospatial Information clearly provides highlights on the importance of Openness (software, standards, data)  https://ggim.un.org/docs/meetings/3rd%20HLF/Beijing%20Declaration%2024Oct2014%20FINAL.pdf
>
> This event  at http://www.gisfortheun.com , (though the url is  misleading as initially i thought this event was endorsed by the UN! ),  it looks like it  is a vendor initiated event (Esri) trying to reach out to the UN agencies to help indirectly promote thier properitory products in the hope that the UN will buy and use thier products :-)
>
> I think, this discussion anyway helped us  to take proactive action to engage more proactively United Nations. It is great if we can do a special session at FOSS4G Seoul (though i thought it will be quite short notice and hence thinking ideas for FOSS4G 2016) but if you as the chair of FOSS4G 2015 wants a special session organised, i will be happy to help you oragnise this (i will help remotely though as i wont be able to attend the conference) .
>
> Please let me know if you want to goahead with organising special session for the United Nations at FOSS4G 2015 and we can start contacting colleagues in the UN for support and participation.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Suchith
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Sanghee Shin [endofcap at gmail.com<mailto:endofcap at gmail.com>]
> Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2015 7:09 PM
> To: Suchith Anand
> Cc: Shin Sanghee; Jeff McKenna; board at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:board at lists.osgeo.org>
> Subject: Re: [Board] GIS for the United Nations and the International Community Conference
>
> Hi Suchith,
>
> As far as I know there is already some moves toward openness in UN.
>
> 1. At FOSS4G Seoul, Mr. Kyung-Soo Eom, Head of UN Cartographic Section, will give a keynote speech[1] about UN’s views, plans toward open source GIS. And I was told that some UN technical officers will attend FOSS4G Seoul to discuss feasibility of open source GIS in UN and share their thoughts.
>
> 2. UN already called for RFI named "Request for Information (RFI) on the implementation of an enterprise open source GIS software at the United Nations”[2]
>
> 3. This years SotM will be held at UN Headquarter with support from UN.[3]
>
> 4. When UN-GGIM[4] was established in 2011, President of OSGeo - Arnulf Christl - was invited to UN-GGIM conference and at the same year, OSGeo submitted OSGeo’s vision for UN-GGIM.[5] And importance and role of open source GIS is also written in UN-GGIM’s report.[6]
>
> I think we can explore the possibility of organising similar session you suggested at FOSS4G Seoul.
>
> All the best,
>
> Sanghee
>
> [1]http://2015.foss4g.org/programme/keynote-speech/
> [2]http://www.un.org/depts/ptd/pdf/rfi50.pdf
> [3]http://openstreetmap.us/2015/04/at-united-nations/
> [4]http://ggim.un.org/
> [5]http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Vision_for_UN-GGIM
> [6]http://ggim.un.org/docs/Future-trends.pdf
> ---
> Sanghee Shin, Chair of FOSS4G 2015 Seoul
> "Toward Diversity! FOSS4G Bigbang from Seoul!"
> http://2015.foss4g.org
> Twitter: @foss4g
> Facebook: FOSS4G2015
> email: foss4gchair at osgeo.org<mailto:foss4gchair at osgeo.org>
>
>
>
> 2015. 4. 30., 오후 6:03, Suchith Anand <Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk>> 작성:
>
> Hi Madi,
>
> Thanks for bringing this up. Though i dont know details of the conference (just going through the website), it looks like a clever marketing event by Esri.
>
> My suggestion is the following
>
> 1. Folks can email their contacts in the United Nations to understand why this event is only showcasing just  one properitory vendor .At the very least there should be some competition among the properitory GIS vendors :-)
>
> 2. Ask the United Nations contacts why this event is not supporting Openness in GIS . In fact, the recent earth quake relief operations in Nepal by the Humanitarian Open Street Map Team   http://opensourcegeospatial.icaci.org/2015/04/mapping-response-contributions-for-nepal/   highlight the importance of Openness and bringing the International community together based on open principles.
>
> 3. We are in a very strong position for organising our own focussed events for the United Nations community in parallel to the FOSS4G conferences from next year. So my suggestion is let us plan a special one day event at FOSS4G 2016 in Germany titled " Open GIS for the United Nations and for International Development". I am happy to be one of organisors and would like to get help from 2-3 people who wish to support to get this organised. Please let this list know if you can help. Thanks.
>
> Suchith
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> [board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org>] On Behalf Of Jeff McKenna [jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com<mailto:jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com>]
> Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2015 2:00 PM
> To: board at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:board at lists.osgeo.org>
> Subject: Re: [Board] GIS for the United Nations and the International Community Conference
>
> Hi Madi,
>
> Thank you for pointing to this event.
>
> To be honest, this is a tough one to handle (likely why no one else
> responded to you yet), but I definitely see your point.  Its audience is
> supposed to be "The International Community", but it is invite only.
> There are so many questionable items here.
>
> The only point that I could make for their side, is that other than the
> event title, it is clear that this event is for Esri "partners".  And
> that this event seems to run every year (since 2012 it appears).
>
> I'm not sure how to handle this one.  Maybe we can start a discussion
> with the organizers/Esri, in hopes that for next year's event OSGeo can
> be involved.  But the only way to contact the organizers appears to be
> through exhibits(at)esri
>
> I am hoping my response awakens other readers and those who are able to
> share their thoughts.  Worst case scenario: we will discuss this item at
> the next Board meeting (I've added it to the agenda).
>
> Madi, not to change the subject on purpose, but while I am talking with
> you here, I'd like you to consider joining the OSGeo Board.  I think
> you'd be a great representative of the community.  (keep this in mind
> for when the next Board elections begin)  Maybe we can chat about this
> at FOSS4G-Europe.
>
> -jeff
>
>
>
> On 2015-04-29 12:17 PM, Margherita Di Leo wrote:
> Dears,
>
> with some colleagues we noticed the following event organized at UN:
> http://www.gisfortheun.com called "GIS for the United Nations and the
> International Community Conference". At a closer look at the agenda
> (http://www.gisfortheun.com/agenda/index.html), it turned out that the
> only GIS mentioned is Esri.
>
> At the beginning we thought that Esri was a sponsor, but apparently it
> does not seem to be the case http://www.gisfortheun.com/sponsors/index.html
> However, although the very general title, turns out that the event is
> co-organized by Esri. Indeed in the home page, it reads:
>
> "The event is jointly hosted by UNITAR’s Operational Satellite
> Application Programme (UNOSAT) and Esri."
>
> I don't have anything against Esri but with such general title, it seems
> misleading that no other software representative is invited. For the
> sake of diversity, some OSGeo software might as well be part of this
> event. Just to be sure that people do not think that Esri is the only
> GIS on Earth. Otherwise, if it is an advertising event, it could just be
> clear in the title: instead of just GIS, it could as well be called
> "Esri GIS for the United Nations and the International Community
> Conference".
>
> What do you think? Could OSGeo politely ask Esri to clarify the
> situation and either open up to the broader GIS community or just change
> the title of this event? Would the board take action in this sense?
>
> Thank you
>
> --
> Best regards,
>
> Dr. Margherita DI LEO
> Scientific / technical project officer
>
> European Commission - DG JRC
> Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES)
> Via Fermi, 2749
> I-21027 Ispra (VA) - Italy - TP 261
> Tel. +39 0332 78 3600
> margherita.di-leo at jrc.ec.europa.eu<mailto:margherita.di-leo at jrc.ec.europa.eu>
> <mailto:margherita.di-leo at jrc.ec.europa.eu>
>
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> --
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