[Aust-NZ] Finding a way forward - GeoNetwork as platform tosupport ANZLIC Profile of ISO 19115/19139

[Piers Higgs]

Hi to all,

In the spirit of Bruce's request for more comments about us as a community, I thought I'd throw in another perspective as well.  I'm also a relatively recent OSGEO convert.  A brief picture, I'm a GIS graduate who left that industry to become an ecologist, then I started an "environmental technology consulting" business a couple of years ago, Gaia Resources, which involves portable technologies, databases and data management, and GIS, all in an environmental context.  We're physically based in Perth.

Gaia Resources is using some OSGEO project/products internally and in some commercial applications at the moment.  While we're not focused on development, we're more focused in implementation -  I think we might bring a different perspective to the group.  We use the products rather than develop them, but we are looking to work on/with these projects in the future as we grow.  In the meantime, I am keen to support OSGEO and especially the local/regional chapter in ways we can, which is why we put money into the WALIS stand for OSGEO.

We're not heavily involved in the OSGEO/GIS community really, but we're relatively active in our target markets, so we are in a sense bringing some of the products/projects to a different audience.

I have also been concerned for a while about the lack of open source GIS tools taught to GIS students (as an OSGEO convert and an employer).  I think this is an area we could do more on as a community.  I have enquired about the use of OSGEO products at one of the local Unis here, Curtin University, and there wasn't much (actually, virtually nothing) being taught about OS GIS products.  So I have already started talking with the head of the Spatial Sciences division (we also have a scholarship there) about this and think it might be useful for the community as a whole if we can educate people earlier in their career than try to educate them when they are "all grown up".  (Perth locals, let me know if you are interested in helping out!).

Anyway, that some more stuff to add to the discussion.

Piers

-----Original Message-----
From: aust-nz-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:aust-nz-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Bruce Bannerman
Sent: Tuesday, 20 May 2008 6:20 PM
To: aust-nz at lists.osgeo.org; anzlicmet-l at listserv.its.utas.edu.au
Subject: Re: [Aust-NZ] Finding a way forward - GeoNetwork as platform tosupport ANZLIC Profile of ISO 19115/19139

Thank you to all who have responded so far.

We're starting to get a snapshot of open source spatial work that is going on around Australia and New Zealand. It is certainly starting to take off.


Please keep the comments coming, so that we as a community get a better understanding of the issues involved. 


I would like to reiterate that this email thread is not intended as a criticism of any group or individual.


While I had originally wondered what we, as a community, could do to support Simon with the GeoNetwork ANZLIC Profile work, I can see that it is rapidly turning into:


How can we support Simon, Byron, Cameron, Robert and a number of other organisations in their GeoNetwork ANZLIC Profile work?



We have the beginnings of an open source community. Where to from here?


What we eventually put in place could have potential for other Australian and New Zealand specific open source spatial work in the future.


I'd also like to hear some thoughts from some of our more experienced open source developers. 


To kick things off:

I've had an off line email from Jeroen Ticheler from the GeoNetwork community. Jeroen is keen to help us where he can.

He has suggested that if it is required, it may be possible establish a branch with ANZLIC support on the Geonetwork SubVersion.



Please keep the comments coming. This is very informative.



Bruce Bannerman