[Geodata] Geodata Research

[David William Bitner]

David,

Welcome. Getting a public geospatial data repository "off the ground"
unfortunately is only a small part of the problem.  These types of efforts
take a lot of ongoing active support that goes well beyond the initial build
out as they become stale and irrelevant very very quickly.  There have been
a number of false starts to get these things going by individuals throughout
the years.

We most likely have significant physical resources that we can leverage and
that I would certainly be happy to help get you access to.  My experience
says that without either getting a critical mass of volunteers involved
(which is certainly more than one) or individuals or groups who have a
specific business need that is met that it would be very difficult to be
successful. If you are keen on getting some motion in this arena, managing
human capital (both developers as well as data providers) is going to be
more significant of a challenge than anything technical. The first question
that you will need to be able to answer very clearly is "what value is this
repository adding".

Please use this forum as you have any questions or to try to find
like-minded individuals to work with you.

David

On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 4:10 PM, David Campbell <dcampbell24 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Greetings everyone,
>
> As part of my M.A. in Computer Science I am going to be doing GIS research,
> and
> my interests look like they align well with the goals of the Public
> Geospatial
> Data Project. I am planning on doing three semesters of research (starting
> now)
> leading up to a thesis. Unfortunately, although our Earth Science
> department
> uses GIS, there is no one with a strong technical GIS background. So I am
> seeking both ways to get involved and some guidance if anyone will offer
> it. I
> want to see OSGeo get their geodata repository off the ground and would be
> happy to work on researching data standards, building the browsing
> interface,
> building the back-end, and researching discovery methods (one thing at a
> time).
>
> My current experience includes a GIS certificate program in which, using
> ESRI
> products, I created a variety of maps, made some simple geodatabases, did
> spatial and network analysis, and made a customized interactive city map. I
> am
> not an experienced programmer, but have some familiarity with a number of
> languages including C, C++, Python, Haskell and Bash. I also have some
> experience with CSS/HTML.
>
> I look forward to working with the Public Geospatial Data Committee.
> --
> David Campbell
> _______________________________________________
> Geodata mailing list
> Geodata at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/geodata
>



-- 
************************************
David William Bitner
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