[Board] us ministry of interior partnership kerfuffle

[Jody Garnett]

Board:

I noticed online today that one of our partners, Ministry of Interior is
tripping up with our open source community (specifically QGIS and
LASTools). While LASTools is not an OSGeo project this is still an area
where I would like to see our OSGeo partnership program help address what I
hope is a communication challenge.

Our partnership is described here:
- https://www.osgeo.org/partners/us-doi/
- https://wiki.osgeo.org/images/e/ec/DOI_OSGeo_MOU_092517.pdf

The page does not provide a contract person for US Department of Interior,
but the PDF lists Thomas Dabolt. The MOU is dated from 2017, so if it no
longer in effect we should drop the partnership.

As for the communication challenge:
1) https://twitter.com/LAStools/status/1280599834882445312

*The @Interior attacks @FOSS4G - going after both @LAStools and @QGIS. Who
is behind this? @Esri? Maybe #Covid19 challenges role of #Esri in #GIS.
License trouble in home office is strong argument to switch to #QGIS with
#LAStools. Does ESRI use "muscle" with feds against #FOSS4G?
pic.twitter.com/uPP3RvmERm <http://pic.twitter.com/uPP3RvmERm>*

2) https://twitter.com/LAStools/status/1280736160264970240

*@cbed32 @Interior @foss4g @qgis @Esri @ENERGY @WomenMarch4Paz
@SistersofSAR @geospatialwomen @OpenTopography @USGSLandCover @NOAADigCoast
@GEDI_Knights @NEON_sci @USGSTNM Official communication forwarded to me by
a concerned government official and fan of @LAStools and @rapidlasso for
many years ... #LiDAR #geospatial @Livermore_Lab @SandiaLabs @forestservice
@GEDI_Knights @NEON_sci @OpenTopography @NSF @NOAADigCoast @USGSTNM @USGS
@NCALM_UH https://twitter.com/LAStools/status/1280736160264970240/photo/1
<https://twitter.com/LAStools/status/1280736160264970240/photo/1>*

<https://twitter.com/LAStools/status/1280736160264970240>


I understand that normally OSGeo does not engage at the national level, the
reason we have local chapters after all, but in this case we have a formal
relationship to draw on.

I am not sure if Martin Isenburg is available to comment, other than via
twitter? This appears to be a legitimate issue where OSGeo's relationship
with the US Department of Interior could be of service.

Thanks for your time
--
Jody Garnett
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