[OSGeo-Discuss] Towards a UK OSGeo chapter

[Jo Walsh]

dear all,

Here in the UK are many half-connected sub-communities involved with 
Open Source Geospatial. Starting a UK chapter seems beneficial.
Chris Puttick kindly set up this mailing list for interested people. 
http://lists.openarchaeology.net/mailman/listinfo/osgeo-uk

We are all on too many mailing lists already, so i see this one as a
combination of contact database, and a place for quiet focused
discussion of what an OSGeo UK Chapter might usefully do.
http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/United_Kingdom contains a lot of
suggestions for a 'mission' - likely too many already!

One thing I'd particularly like to see is OSGeo locals helping to
organise events, in collaboration with other UK technical groups 
- both non-geo open source groups like the UKUUG, and non-open-source
geo groups like the AGI and the local cadre of the OGC.

An upcoming event which may be of interest is "Open Knowledge 1.0",
a one-day event on 17th March 2007 in Limehouse, London.
This will feature four discussion/panel sessions on access to, and
reuse of, collective data in different domains - open science,
freeculture and open media, civic information, and open geodata.
http://blog.okfn.org/2006/12/14/open-knowledge-10-london-saturday-17th-march-2007/

If you're in the UK and want to help figure out what we can all do
together to advance open geographic information systems here, then
please sign up to the list (even in 'delivery off' mode). 
I don't see Big Pressure to do Big Things straight away, but just to
lay some groundwork now, and have a place for people to stand.

best wishes,


jo