"Geospatial Foundation" Meeting

[Frank Warmerdam]

On 1/14/06, Puneet Kishor <punkish at eidesis.org> wrote:
> The meeting is hosted by Autodesk, and Autodesk will also pay for some
> of the attendees to attend the meeting.
.
> I hope Autodesk's financial underwriting of the above event will not
> create a conflict of interest of any sort. Would it be worthwhile
> publicly announcing the event so other private corporations have an
> equal opportunity to attend/sponsor/represent at the event?

Puneet,

There are lots of folks going that are not sponsored.  I'm sure
some of them would be happy to be sponsored by other companies.
I have also felt a bit concerned about the sponsorship by Autodesk,
but mainly from the point of view that those who have to pay their
own way may not be able to attend.  But please understand that
the sponsorship is mainly being done to get a decent degree of
representation by various projects.

As for equal opportunity to attend, there is a concern that having
too many people present may make it difficult to get work done in
the meeting.  I'm not sure how much meeting space there is, I
do know there is a limited amount of time available.  So if
additional people are attending we will have to be very careful
about actually getting decisions made in a timely fashion.

I, for one, can not afford the time to attend more of these
meetings in person this winter/spring, so this one needs to count.

> Personally, I am happy that the meeting is at a place that I can
> attend. Well, it is 150 miles from here, but I can drive there on my
> own steam without feeling obligated to anyone. But, it would have been
> nicer to have the meeting at a "neutral" location and perhaps even at a
> neutral event.

What isn't neutral about Chicago?  It was selected because it
was central, and more easily reachable by plane than Phoenix.

> For example, the meeting could be held at UMN,

I can't see how having it at UMN would have been more neutral.

>  or even
> at a "rented" meeting room at O'Hare

It is at a rented room at an O'Hare hotel.

> -- I would be happy to chip in
> toward the cost from my pocket if the expense is reasonable.

Hold onto that money, and consider contributing it to the foundation
once setup!

Best regards,
--
---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent