Cascadia Chapter Report 2008

Cascadia Chapter Report 2008

 * Contact: Aaron Racicot

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
12/12/2008 OSGeo board meeting (www.cugos.org) into Cascadia OSGeo Chapter http://roadflaw.activetools.org/
 * Chapter Formation: We officially became an OSGeo Chapter at the
 * Integrated existing Cascadia Users of Geospatial Open Source
 * Held series of code sprints around the "Road Flaw" project -

AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT
locations" to attract people from other locations
 * Get a real website up and move away from Google Groups
 * Try to start moving physical location of monthly meeting to "guest
 * Integrate the CUGOS and OSGeo presence into more regional conferences

OPPORTUNITIES TO HELP

 * Website development
 * Engagement of more local and regional governments into the group

OUTLOOK FOR 2009
We have already planned a great presence at this year's Washington URISA conference (http://www.waurisa.org/conferences/2009_Conference_Index.html ) by hosting a workshop, booth and panel of talks within the program all focusing on Open Source group (http://groups.google.com/group/pdx-osgis)
 * We intend to host a small regional mini-conference and hack fest in 2009
 * We have our eyes on fundraising to help support regional OSGeo efforts
 * We plan to partner with our regional friends in Portland via the PDX OSGIS

REMARKS
Although we were only officially approved as an OSGeo chapter 20 days before the end of 2008, we have been growing in member numbers as well as "on the ground" activities. As of March 2009 we have 119 members on our mailing list and maintain an attendance of 15-25 members at our monthly meetings. We have members from all aspects of the community and industry participating and look forward to continued growth in 2009. Special thanks to LizardTech for their continued support to OSGeo by providing the Cascadia chapter a monthly meeting space. Please spread the word... Cascadia OSGeo would love to see you at the next monthly meeting on the third Wednesday of every month in downtown Seattle! Sign up to the mailing list at http://www.cugos.org.