[OSGeo-Discuss] Free GIS Day November 6, 2014 OSGéo - IGEAT (ULB) ­ Brussels (Belgium)

[Gert-Jan van der Weijden]

Johan, Dirk, 

Please keep us (the dutch local chapter) informed on yours ideas to form a Belgian ocal chapter.
As you know, we started the dutch local chapter primarily as a language based chapter (thus covering both The Netherlands and the Flemish Region).

I understand the idea to form a Belgian chapter; discussions in the dutch local chapter are often related to national geo-issues (ie the development of the dutch national SDI "PDOK"). 
On the other hand, the formal, Governmental mapping agencies seem to have difficulties in looking across the Dutch-Flemish border. I think it is a challenge as OSGeo to prove that we can "do geo" accross the border. Either within one organization, or together in two closely related Dutch and Belgian chapters.

After all, we share some history, some 200 years ago ;-)


Greetings from The Netherlands, 


Gert-Jan
Chairman of the Dutch local chapter OSGeo.nl



-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] Namens Johan Van de Wauw
Verzonden: woensdag 3 september 2014 09:06
Aan: Barend Köbben
CC: OSGeo Discussions; board-fr at lists.osgeo.org
Onderwerp: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] [Board-fr] Free GIS Day November 6, 2014 OSGéo - IGEAT (ULB)  Brussels (Belgium)

Barend,

Thanks for raising the issue. Belgium is indeed a complicated country [1]. I have two feelings on this:
1) I'm really happy this event is organised in Brussels and I believe it supports the goals of OSGeo.
2) Rather than having a problem with the fact that the event is only in French, I think an event called FOSS4G-* or OSGeo-* should give opportunity to local OSGeo contributors to participate, eg by having a call for papers/workshops. These type of local events are one of the few opportunities individuals/companies contributing to OSGeo have to reach out to (potential) customers.

Feeling 1 is bigger than feeling 2 for me, so I support the name this time, but I think we should definitely sit together after the event, to make sure that if a next event  is organised we can do so jointly.

Actually, I think we should form a local Belgian chapter. For me being part of the Dutch (language) chapter does not make sense that much.
Many/Most of our users/clients are either Bilingual or French. They are much more likely to attend an event in Brussels than in the Netherlands/France. And people can still choose to join a language chapter if they prefer that.

Johan
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ceg6NQKHd70

On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 12:40 AM,  <b.j.kobben at utwente.nl> wrote:
> Nasty question from a Dutch (Netherlands) member of OSGEO.nl: Have you 
> consulted the Flemish OSGEO community about claiming the .be 
> (=Belgium) suffix for a French/Wallonic speaking event...?
>
> Sorry, but I feel it has to be asked...
>
> Barend
>
> --
> Barend Köbben
> Senior Lecturer ­ ITC-University of Twente PO Box 217, 7500 AE 
> Enschede (Netherlands) @barendkobben
>
>
>
>
>
> On 01-09-2014 17:16, "Vincent Picavet" <vincent.ml at oslandia.com> wrote:
>
>>Hello all,
>>
>>As far as OSGeo-fr is concerned, we have been consulted and are happy 
>>to see that event taking shape. We will support the event as much as 
>>we can.
>>
>>Vincent
>>
>>Le lundi 1 septembre 2014 17:57:58, Maelle Vercauteren a écrit :
>>> Dear,
>>>
>>> I am contacting you about the potential use of the name ³FOSS4G-Be² 
>>> and about the participation of OSGeo-fr for a future freeGIS day in 
>>> Belgium (Website and Event):
>>>
>>> We want to organize a French OSGeo event (the so called FOSS4G-Be) 
>>>in early  November 2014, in relation with the GIS courses and 
>>>masterclass held at the  Université Libre de Bruxelles, IGEAT 
>>>research Unit:
>>> It will be a one day event. There will be a selection of plenary  
>>>communication related to free SIG use in public or private 
>>>environment and
>>> 2 or 3 practical workshops.
>>>
>>> This event will cover the following 3 topics:
>>>
>>> 1) FOSS4G tools/software: Establishment/creation or storage of  
>>>infrastructure and web sharing of spatial data
>>> 2) Data & Services: Presentation on the freely available data and 
>>>services
>>> 3) Applications: use of Open GIS (also with guest speakers from the
>>>South)
>>>
>>>
>>> Would you be willing to support us and work together on this project 
>>> and could we use the name ³FOSS4G-Be²?
>>>
>>> Could the event be co-organized by the ULB and OSGeo-fr?
>>> If so, it would be nice to have an OSGeo-fr stand with a 
>>>representative of  the association and of its activities (as well as 
>>>a plenary presentation if  you are interested in).
>>>
>>>
>>> Feel free to contact me if you have questions or if you would like to
>>>share
>>> your suggestions.
>>>
>>>
>>> Thank you in advance for your reply,
>>>
>>>
>>> Kind regards,
>>> Maë//e
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