[Board] [geoforall-ab] IMPORTANT - feedback and vote will be needed: geo4all relationship

[Suchith Anand]

Geo4All is for Open Principles in GeoEducation , so it is very clear that only free and open source software is the focus and hence we strongly promote OSGeo software.  I am strongly against anyone trying to use Geo4All  for promoting any properitary software. We should be inclusive with all free and open source software that can be used for education AND  "exclusive" towards anyone trying to use Geo4All  for promoting any proprietary software.


Venka summarised this well "There has also been some talk about where do we draw a line on what we can include under the umbrella of Geo4All. I believe that Geo4All is an initiative to promote Free and Open Source Geospatial Software. So any geospatial software that requires a proprietary software or library to be installed before it can be executed can neither be a part of OSGeo nor Geo4All.Also, any software that is not made available under a valid Open Source  License can neither be a part of OSGeo nor Geo4All, I think. "

For education, it is important that we are inclusive, hence there are many open source projects that we should be open to. For example R is used extensively for teaching (it is not OSGeo software). Should we exclude that just because it is not OSGeo software. We all need to adhere to Open Principles in GeoEducation.I think this need to be firmly added to the Geo4All criteria. 

Geo4All is all about geoeducation and empowerment for all and that should be our focus (we should not lose track of the bigger picture).It is clear from various examples that properitory GIS agenda is being pushed forward in geoeducation  over many years and still ongoing. Recent  example where we had to take action http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/ica-osgeo-labs/2015-June/001742.html

Geo4All has done excellent work in bringing Open Principles in GeoEducation to the forefront (and many proprietaryGIS vendors are not happy with this and doing their best to undermine this).So it is important that strong structures are in place so that we can continue to expand and build the momentum. 


I remember some years back in the OSGeo Edu telemeetings discussing ideas on why we could not expand inspite of our excellent software  and why we had very little traction in geospatial education in universities, schools etc  and i mentioned that it was because we are talking among ourselves (i.e preaching to the converted). That is exactly why we decided to have strong outreach efforts collaborating with like minded organisations  and initial ideas for Geo4All was born. Now it is time , we make sure the efforts of all colleagues in  who worked hard to make this initiative started  is firmly put in place for the future . 

Best wishes,

Suchith
________________________________________
From: Board [board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] on behalf of Jeff McKenna [jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com]
Sent: Friday, November 27, 2015 10:38 AM
To: board at lists.osgeo.org
Subject: Re: [Board] [geoforall-ab] IMPORTANT - feedback and vote will be needed: geo4all relationship

On 2015-11-26 9:19 PM, Jody Garnett wrote:
> I have added NASA World Winnd as an example and I tried to collect
> clarifications from this discussion -
> https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/GeoForAll_OSGeo_Relationship
>
Also, Esri is not mentioned in the GeoForAll relationship document, but
it has been pointed out several times recently that GeoForAll should
also be about promoting Esri solutions (yes, I am not making this up).
If that is indeed the case, let us put it in writing here, as we must
somehow understand all of this.  Maybe those who feel that way, can edit
the wiki directly and explain -
https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/GeoForAll_OSGeo_Relationship

If you ask me, the OSGeo Board is having a difficult time figuring out
this relationship, mostly because GeoForAll is so broad in focus (which
is both amazing, and yet brings many questions).

-jeff






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