[Aust-NZ] Where to now? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Ben.Searle at osdm.gov.au]

Hi,

I think that there are a number of opportunities for the open source geo (OSG) community.  The Government 2.0 Task Force will be reporting later this year and I hope that this opens up opportunities to maker more government data easily accessible.

This provides two opportunities:
1. Assisting with developing tools to support data discovery and access - given that much of the government data will be spatial, this is an area for OSG.

2. With access to a wider range of data the OSG community can develop a range of tools to mash up this data.

Additionally, I am keen to see some OSGeo components in the Spatial at Gov<mailto:Spatial at Gov> 2010 conference.

I am happy to discuss further.......



Regards

Ben Searle
General Manager,
Australian Government Office of Spatial Data Management

Phone: 02 6249 9298
Mobile: 0439-995-785
Fax: 02 6249 9942
Email: ben.searle at ga.gov.au<mailto:ben.searle at osdm.gov.au>
Postal address: GPO Box 378, Canberra ACT 2601

-----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, 17 November 2009 5:20
To: Aust-NZ at lists.osgeo.org
Subject: [Aust-NZ] Where to now?

Now that FOSS4G-2009 is finished and has been well received, it may be time to start thinking about which directions we want to take OSGeo-AustNZ.

There appears to be a definite desire for information and workshops on OSGeo projects in our region.

Perhaps Shaun Kolomeitz and Simon Hope have hit on a good way of building the Australian and New Zealand communities by targeting local groups? However I feel we should keep the AustNZ focus to keep the overall momentum going (as per Open Source Industry Australia).

Alternate between informal sessions at the pub and info sessions hosted by kind benefactors?

Borrowing from a successful format that I saw in the early 1990's (G.T.), for info sessions, it may be good to focus on demonstrating solutions to problems and finishing with "oh and by the way, we used these OSGeo projects to do this". This could be followed by dedicated "under to hood" [1] sessions for more detail if required.




For 2010, a few of us have volunteered to help Ben Searle with Spatial at Gov. We will probably have an OSGeo presence and workshops there.



Lets get some thoughts going...





On another note, at FOSS4G, Arnulf Christl suggested that we may wish to consider running another regional FOSS4G event in two years time.

I canvased a few people at FOSS4G and believe that we'd get a few key Developers / Vendors back here if we did.

I think that if we were to do this, running it in New Zealand this time would be ideal.

Is there any interest in this? This could become a regular event if there is sufficient interest.




Bruce


[1] I hope you don't mind my using the term Ian and Ben J

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