FOSS4G 2015 Press Release 00a

=Seoul to host FOSS4G conference in 2015= ''“Toward Diversity! FOSS4G Bigbang in Seoul!!”''

Seoul (South Korea) selected to host the 2015 international conference for "Free & Open Source Software for Geospatial" (FOSS4G).

OSGeo Korean Chapter www.osgeo.kr

Contact: Sanghee Shin [mailto:shshin@gaia3d.com shshin@gaia3d.com]

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The OSGeo Korean Chapter is pleased to announce that we have been selected to host the 2015 FOSS4G international conference. The conference will be hosted in Seoul in September 2015, and is expected to attract the leading developers, users and business people in the open source geospatial community from Asia and all over the world.

Holding the FOSS4G conference, the biggest open source GIS event in the world, for the first time in the Asia will bring countless benefits to the region and provide geospatial communities, local businesses, and wider society with a great opportunity to learn about the potential of open source geospatial technologies.

Sanghee Shin, CEO at Gaia3D and Representative of OSGeo Korean Chapter explained his motivations for leading Seoul’s bid to make Seoul the starting point of a FOSS4G big bang extending the FOSS4G throughout the region via this conference. He said, “When I tried to introduce Open Source GIS to South Korea in 2008, no one was willing to listen to my opinions. However five years later, the Korean government has recently launched a bid for an Open Source GIS R&D project with a budget of USD 9.5m. This means that that Open Source GIS is set to become a key part of the GIS landscape in South Korea. I’m absolutely sure that FOSS4G 2015 will ignite and strengthen this trend.”

The OSGeo Korean chapter has organised a FOSS4G Korea event each year since 2011 with attendance growing year on year. FOSS4G Korea events run alongside Smart Geo Expo, the biggest geospatial event in South Korea attracting many people from Government, universities, institutes and industry; these delegates also had the opportunity to attend the FOSS4G Korea conference.

In support of a successful FOSS4G 2015 conference, KSIS (Korea Spatial Information Society), the academic society with members of geospatial professional, researchers, students, and policy makers regarding geospatial field, will closely cooperate with OSGeo Korean Chapter. Additionally, KAOS-G (Korean Alliance OpenSource for Geospatial), an alliance of open source GIS companies in South Korea has committed to actively helping OSGeo and KSIS deliver the FOSS4G 2015 event.

The Local Organising Committee (LOC) for FOSS4G 2015 looks forward to the FOSS4G Seoul 2015 conference increasing awareness and usage of Open Source GIS in South Korea, throughout Asia and of course to the rest of the world where it is already being used.

About OSGeo

The Open Source Geospatial Foundation has been created to support and build the highest-quality open source geospatial software. The foundation's goal is to encourage the use and collaborative development of community-led projects, data development and education.

About OSGeo Korean Chapter

The OSGeo Korean Chapter applies OSGeo principles locally. In particular, we focus on promotion and outreach in Korea.

About FOSS4G

FOSS4G is the annual international conference on Open Source geospatial software. From its beginning the FOSS4G conference has been the gathering of the spatial tribes and has a reputation of being a melting pot for great ideas in the spatial industry and a catalyst for many successful geospatial products, standards and protocols. In 2014 the conference will be hosted in Portland, USA, the 2013 conference was held in Nottingham, United Kingdom and was a huge success. FOSS4G Seoul 2015 will be the eleventh "formal" gathering of the Open Source geospatial community. 2015 will be a key year for South Korea and Asia, and FOSS4G will be the best place to see the Free and Open Source (FOSS) way to make an SDI work.