[OSGeo-Discuss] New Mexico local chapter?

[Mark Lucas]

Zachary,

I think this is a good idea and i'd suggest you take a look at OSSIM  
http://www.ossim.org which is more focused on photogrammetry and  
remote sensing.  It already performs orthorectification, precision  
terrain correction, map projection/datum shifts, and supports several  
rigorous camera models.  OSSIM is an OSGeo project, but is not as  
well known as some of the online mapping tools due to its more  
scientific orientation and corresponding learning curve.  OSSIM would  
certainly benefit from additional capabilities in some of these areas  
and educational materials.

Contact me directly if you are interested in finding out more.

Mark Lucas


I think a chapter in New Mexico focused on the technologies that you  
have defined would be an asset to the overall OSGeo effort.
On Feb 4, 2007, at 7:11 PM, Zachary L. Stauber wrote:

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> Hi All,
> 	Some of us down here in New Mexico (or up depending on your  
> orientation) want
> to start a local chapter.  I've started a wiki here listing some  
> info on us.
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/New_Mexico
>
> Anyone think it's a great idea?
> A bad idea?
> Too small of an area?
> Too big?
> Just right?
>
> Before you answer let me go into a little bit of why we need a  
> chapter.  I work
> for a private engineering firm that does photogrammetry that does a  
> high volume
> of orthophotos plus I teach photogrammetry part time at the local  
> tech-voc
> institute where we can't afford the usual software.  I'd like to  
> see the
> software cheaper (specifically, free) and developers pay more  
> attention to bug
> fixes and so on, which open source usually does.  So I need a  
> vehicle for
> starting up photogrammetry in open source, and rather that  
> duplicating efforts,
> we figured we'd join OSGeo.  My co-worker John Nipper is a  
> programmer with
> experience in programming for aerial cameras and LiDAR sensors and  
> wants to
> help.  But we also need to be able to solicit help from experts in  
> the field,
> professors of photogrammetry and surveying, mathematics, etc., and  
> open source
> is the only neutral ground on which we can easily work together.
>
> My colleague and chair of the GIT program at the tech-voc school  
> Amy Ballard
> wants to offer a class just on open source software.  She believes  
> it's taking
> off and will is useful in real jobs around New Mexico, and she  
> wants to
> encourage its further use.
>
> R. Cliff Wilkie, geodetic surveyor for the City of Albuquerque,  
> wants to offer
> users some shifting and reprojection software for surveyors to  
> manipulate their
> points that operates transparently and has a good manual or  
> explanation of the
> mechanics internally so people know what's happening to their data,  
> for people
> like him to whom 1mm is a significant error.
>
> Karl Benedict is hosting the server.  He's the senior research  
> analyst and IT
> manager for the University of New Mexico's Earth Data Analysis  
> Center.  He's
> been 100% open source for years now, big user of the usual suspects  
> (MapServer,
> Linux, SOAP, and so on), and is all for encouraging their use in  
> the GIS
> community in New Mexico.
>
> I think we have a unique setup here, not only having people from  
> all three
> communities (private, government, and academic) but most important  
> working in
> some fields that are somewhat esoteric.  GoogleEarth has millions  
> of users, and
> with it things like MapServer.  Desktop GIS has tens of thousands  
> around the
> world, but photogrammetry and high accuracy geodesy, probably only  
> several
> hundred.  So there are a lot of things being developed in the high  
> volume areas
> of open source that get a lot of attention, and the esoteric ones  
> don't so much,
> which is too bad because the commercial software available suffers  
> in quality
> from the same dynamic.  There are only a dozen photogrammetry  
> packages out there
> compared to scores of desktop GIS, and most of them are flirting  
> with a price
> around US$20,000 per component, per license.
>
> The US National Geodetic Survey provides some tools for datum  
> shifts and
> reprojecdtions like CorpsCon, but they are US-centric, and the  
> development is
> controlled by a body which is not funded as well as it should be  
> considering
> it's the foundation on which all geographic data is collected.   
> Some software is
> still DOS-only.
>
> We need to be part of OSGeo so development can make sure the  
> intellectual
> property rests in the public domain and the development is still  
> controlled by a
> long-lived body devoted to the task like OSGeo rather than the US  
> federal
> government or any private business.  They can donate money and  
> their peoples'
> time to us, grants, etc., but development that goes into a private  
> box is
> notoriously cumbersome to update, doesn't have a wide range of  
> users to test it,
> and has a habit of dying off.
>
>
> 	-Zack Stauber
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