letter of support for FGDC CAP grant

[David Bitner]

For those of you who were not at our meeting last night, a group of
local to regional government agencies in the Twin Cities metro and
along the MN/ND border are collaborating on getting an FGDC Cap Grant
to foster the development of a common client application for accessing
map data as well as supporting server side "services" and potential
enhancements to MapServer itself.  This grant has the possiblity of
creating a number of new MapServer users in the area.  The intention
of this letter is to demonstrate that there is already a commited
community of MapServer users in the area.  The more signatures that we
get, the more this letter will have that effect.  If anyone has any
questions, myself, Brian, Steve Lime, Bob Basques, and David Fawcett
have all been part of the discussions leading up to this grant
application.

Thank you very much to anyone willing to help.

On 1/25/06, Fischer, Brian <bfischer at houstonengineeringinc.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi Everyone,
> >
> >
> >
> > This is a draft letter of support from the TCMUG that was discussed at last
> > night's meeting.  Can you please send comments about the letter and if you
> > want you're name to be included on the signature block.  I need all comments
> > and a confirmation on who's going to be listed in the signature block back
> > to me by the end of the day Thurs.  Also, thanks to David B. for taking a
> > first cut at the draft letter.
> >
> >
> >
> > Brian
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > To Whom It May Concern:
> >
> >
> >
> > The Twin Cities Mapserver Users Group (TCMUG) is comprised of users from
> > government, private sector, non-profit, and academic interests from around
> > the Twin Cities, MN metropolitan area.  TCMUG is a group that meets monthly
> > to discuss development using Mapserver and other open source related
> > software.  The group includes both members who have many years of expertise
> > using Mapserver as well as newcomers to the technology.  The group provides
> > a forum for advanced developers to discuss their development ideas as well
> > as for new developers to ask their questions.
> >
> >
> >
> > As the TCMUG is dedicated towards furthering the development of applications
> > using Mapserver and related open source software and the TCMUG involves many
> > members of collaborating agencies, the TCMUG heartily supports the
> > initiatives put forth in this grant.  The TCMUG also hopes that it can
> > provide support to this initiative by acting as a forum for those involved
> > to reach a greater pool of developers.  TCMUG feels this project has the
> > potential to not only provide an alternative solution to commercial
> > software, but to introduce Open Source and OGC data sharing concepts to
> > local governments.
> >
> >
> >
> > Signed,
> >
> > David Bitner, Metropolitan Airports Commission, GIS Specialist
> >
> > Brian Fischer, Houston Engineering, Inc., GIS Specialist/Programmer
> >
> > Jon Q Public
> >
> > Jane Doe
> >
> > etc...
> >
> > TCMUG members
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Brian Fischer, GIS Specialist/Programmer
> >  Houston Engineering, Inc. | Leave Nothing to ChanceTM
> >  10900 73rd AVE N, Suite 106
> >  Maple Grove, MN 55369
> >  Phone:  763.493.4522 / Fax:  763.493.5572
> >  Email:  bfischer at houstonengineeringinc.com
> >  Website: www.houstonengineeringinc.com
> >
> >