[OSGeo-Conf] question period for FOSS4G 2015 RFP - this week

Wed Mar 19 14:37:24 PDT 2014

Dear Sanghee,
Thanks for your elaborate answers! It would indeed be really good to hear back from you once you had feedback from others in Asia.
Kind regards,
Jeroen

On 19 mrt. 2014, at 09:21, Sanghee Shin <shshin at gaia3d.com> wrote:

> Dear Jeroen and Paul, 
> 
> Both of you raised very important issue that hit the mark critically. Venue selection was not an easy job for us and still there is debating inside LOC whether we made right choice. 
> 
> Let's answer one by one. 
> 
> 1. Jeju airport is connected to 16 foreign airports mainly in Japan, China, Hongkong and Taiwan. The easiest way to go to Jeju island is making a transit at Gimpo(Seoul), Narita(Tokyo), Beijing or Sanghai airport. And there are numerous air flights between Seoul(Gimpo) and Jeju. If you come from Amsterdam, you might land at Incheon International Airport(Seoul) and then need to move to Gimpo airport to make transit to Jeju. It would take around 14 ~ 15 hours including 1 stop-over transit time. However if you make a transit at Narita(Tokyo), you can transit to Jeju airport directly. This will be the same case to the passengers from India, Australia, North America, because major flights from outside of Korea usually land at Incheon International Airport. 
> 
> 2. The main reason why we chose Jeju as venue location was to attract more Asian delegates without VISA problems. According to statistics of past FOSS4G conferences, 1/2~3/4 of delegates are from the same continent. So we assumed that we could increase delegates from Asia by removing VISA problems. However I'm not sure whether this VISA problems could be major hurdle to attend FOSS4G 2015 in Korea. So asked this to some OSGeo guys in Asia today to hear their opinions.
> 
> 3. Some Asian citizens including Chinese need to get a valid VISA when they transit through mainland Korea. No Visa is required only when they landed directly from outside of Korea. And almost all the europeans and Russians, US & Canada citizens, Japanese are not required to get VISA. 
> 
> 4. Nobody is living there in Jeju Island. 
> 
> 5. No. We've never hosted FOSS4G related conferences in Jeju so far. We hosted FOSS4G Korea 1 time in KINTEX(http://www.kintex.com/client/_eng/index.jsp) near Seoul and 2 times in Seoul COEX, the largest and most expensive convention centre.
> 
> 6. I don't think hosting FOSS4G in Jeju will affect the number of delegates from Korea. Because Jeju is the No. 1 resort place for Korean people to want to visit. Since, there are so many air flights from major cities in Korea and Jeju, somebody say that it's easier to go to Jeju rather than to go to Seoul. 
> 
> 
> Actually as you know, our venue selection was made based on assumptions that removing VISA problems would increase the number of delegates from Asia. But it's really hard to estimate the number of delegates from Asia except Korea & Japan and it's also very hard to estimate how the location will affect the delegates from other continent, let say Europe, N.A...
> 
> I also want to hear your opinions and past experiences. 
> 
> To FOSS4G 2015 selection committee, I just wonder whether we could change venue location after going through Phase I. 
> 
> With regards, 
> 
> Sanghee
> ---
> Shin, Sanghee
> Gaia3D, Inc. - Helping Earth Sustainable 
> http://www.gaia3d.com 
> Tel : +82-(0)2-3397-3475
> Fax : +82-(0)2-3397-3478
> 
> 2014. 3. 19., 오전 8:26, Paul Ramsey <pramsey at cleverelephant.ca> 작성:
> 
>> I too wonder at the location chosen. It's a long way to Korea, but
>> even further to Jeju. Will a remote location increase or decrease
>> participation from Korea? The host country always has the most
>> attendees.
>> 
>> P
>> 
>> On Tue, Mar 18, 2014 at 6:59 AM, Jeroen Ticheler
>> <jeroen.ticheler at geocat.net> wrote:
>>> Hi Sanghee,
>>> Thanks for your proposal that is exciting to read!
>>> 
>>> Questions:
>>> 
>>> - Can you provide a little more information about the location, especially how well it can be reached from abroad?
>>> A first check for flights from Amsterdam showed many results with 30+ hours of traveling and 2 or more stops. What is that like from the US, Australia, India and other countries in Asia? And what is the impact of hosting the conference on a remote(!?) island instead of e.g. in Seoul? (By the way, I love the island idea :-) )
>>> 
>>> - You indicate that there are no Visa problems on Jeju Islands. Am I correct to assume that transit through mainland Korea and/or other neighboring countries gives no problems either?
>>> 
>>> - Are there LOC members living on Jeju islands?
>>> 
>>> - Have you hosted one of the local chapters conferences on Jeju in the past? What other locations in Korea did you host the conference in the past?
>>> 
>>> Thanks again, cheers,
>>> Jeroen
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 17 mrt. 2014, at 08:56, Bart van den Eijnden <bartvde at osgis.nl> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Hello conference committee,
>>>> 
>>>> I'd like to ask you to take some time this week to read over the (2 page) proposal from South-Korea to host FOSS4G in 2015 and ask any questions you might have for them on this mailing list.
>>>> 
>>>> On March 24 I'd like the conference committee to take an official vote on the advancement to stage 2, where people will have 2 business days to vote.
>>>> 
>>>> The proposal can be found here:
>>>> 
>>>> http://svn.osgeo.org/osgeo/foss4g/proposals/2015/Letter_of_Intent_Jeju_Korea.pdf
>>>> 
>>>> TIA and let me know if you have any questions.
>>>> 
>>>> Best regards,
>>>> Bart
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>>> 
>>> 
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