[Qgis-community-team] The 1st Portuguese QGIS users meeting: a success

[Giovanni Manghi]

On 29 and 30 October 2012 was held the first Portuguese QGIS users
meeting, following the QGIS day from last year. The event was a
success, with the presence of about 160 people throughout the meeting,
and an average of 75 people per workshop. Among the participants there
were technicians and GIS experts (from local and central government,
companies, associations and individuals), but also many students and
teachers.

In the theoretical session of the 29th, in addition to a presentation
by about the current state of Quantum GIS and the future developments,
nine rather interesting case studies were presented, in diverse areas
as military cartography, nature conservation and even management of
geological resources. The most significant testimony came from, for
example, their use by large companies like Mota-Engil and Cimpor, in
addition to various municipalities.
Interesting was also the closing session that featured a brief
exchange of ideas about new challenges and possibilities offered by
open source software, in particular, by the increasing demand for
training in Quantum GIS.

The workshops that took place the next day, gave a better
understanding of the various aspects of Quantum GIS, namely the
Desktop, Server and
Web components and its full incorporation into a complete spatial data
infrastructure, the integration with PostgreSQL/PostGIS and also a
practical example of GIS analysis with QGIS: Forest Fire Risk Mapping.

Apparently the informal nature of the event, with a theoretical
session during an afternoon and a day of demonstrating workshops was
very well
accepted, it is expected that this format could be maintained in
future editions of this meeting.

The meeting was organized by the Department of Geographic Engineering,
Geophysics and Energy (DEGGE), University of Lisbon (Faculty of
Science), Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning (IGOT), Faunalia
and Municipia.

Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/faunaliagis

Photo Gallery:
https://plus.google.com/events/clv1f6d1lf27i4uvtibgii3ulg0

Presentations:
http://qgis.org/en/user-meetings/lisboa102012.html


Cheers

-- Giovanni --