[Australia] Geospatial @ RailsConf Europe 2007

[Tim Bowden]

On Tue, 2007-07-17 at 20:55 +1000, shoaib wrote:
> Hi all
<snip>

> Unfortunately at this stage I might not be able to make it to
> FOSS4G'07 in Victoria but fingers crossed as Sydney may be bidding for
> FOSS4G 2008.
> 
Hope you can make it Shoaib.  We need to keep the Aussie presence up!

As far as a bid for '08 goes, I don't think we can make a credible
effort, particularly as the bid deadline is this Friday.  Cameron and I
have had a few chats on the phone about it, and I think the best idea
would be to make a 'nominal' bid for '08 to signal our intention to make
a serious bid for '09.  Perhaps Cameron we need to move the conversation
off the phone and onto the list?

We haven't got too far yet, but our thinking is that our best
proposition would be Sydney, probably utilising UNSW which has a
significant spatial sciences dept.  We also have Cameron on the ground
there, who is actively leading this.  We had a chat the other day with a
NSW govt Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau person (Josh Roberts) who
is willing to help us put together a bid.  At this stage nothing is
fixed, particularly as we are not expecting to be able to put a winning
bid together for '08.  We do consider '09 to be a different story
though.  That one we want to win, and I think we should aim at setting a
benchmark others will find hard to match.

Anyone have a taste for getting involved?  We plan to have quite a bit
of fun with this (yes, there will be some hard work, but the rewards
will make it all worthwhile!)

Regards,
Tim Bowden