Camptocamp Report 2008

Camptocamp - The Open Source Base Camp

 * Contact name: Claude Philipona

Based in Switzerland and France, Camptocamp is an active editor and integrator of Open Source software specializing in Geospatial solutions, Business solutions and Infrastructure solutions. Our company offers a complete software service package including R&D, consulting, customized project development, training (certified training institution) and support. Our team consists of highly qualified and quality-driven professionals, who inspire, master and challenge Open Source solutions.

The involvement of Camptocamp and its employees in the development of Open Source projects is a constant commitment. As a company, we strive to make a difference by contributing to Open Source key communities and our engineers are committers and/or members of several projects committees (GeoExt, GeoNetwork, PostGIS, MapFish, MapServer, OpenLayers, Spatial Data Integrator, and Udig, to name a few).

Key Accomplishments
Throughout 2008, Camptocamp was pleased to witness the growing interest in MapFish by the community of users and developers. Subsequently, the MapFish community applied for the OSGeo incubation in September 2008. In collaboration with OpenGeo, Camptocamp also initiated the GeoExt project in order to offer a standardized library for ExtJs-based GeoWidget. This project has experienced swift success and is garnering great interest within the geospatial community.

Several large customer projects started -or were completed- by our teams in 2008, providing the opportunity to improve and extend several pieces of software, undeniably bringing significant contributions to Open Source software such as GeoNetwork. The most relevant projects were: 1) GeoCat.ch II: the development of the next generation geospatial catalog on behalf of the Swiss government, in collaboration with Geocat B.V and the BRGM, 2) GeoNetwork: used for the GeoSource project, a metadata catalog for local government agencies, built in collaboration with the BRGM.

Another important accomplishment for Camptocamp in 2008 was the development of a customized spatial data infrastructure solution on behalf of the UNHCR (United Nations Refugee Agency), using several Open Source components (Spatial Data Integrator, MapFish/OpenLayers, GeoNetwork) and enabling the integrated management of geographical information for camp mapping and UNHCR data.

Seminars, workshops, training sessions and demo events to promote the use of Open Source geoinformatics in GIS projects are regularly organized in France and Switzerland by our team of experts. Camptocamp is proud to support collaborative developments of open geospatial technologies and to be an active player in the promotion of OSGeo and FOSS in Europe. With OSGeo Francophone chapter, we organized the Open Source Village at the Geo Evènement conference in Paris, France. Our company is also a loyal participant to several national and international conferences as an exhibitor and/or a speaker.

Camptocamp believes that the synergies and joint efforts within the OSGeo to built community-led projects are great opportunities to show that high-quality Open Source GIS tools can be developed by all and be available to all.