Geodata Report 2008

Public Geospatial Data Committee

 * Period covered by report: Jan-Dec 2008
 * Contact name: David Bitner

Summary
The Public Geospatial Data Committee has been fairly dormant committee of OSGeo over the course of 2008. The primary role of the committee has been as a forum for geodata related activities through the use of the mailing list. Early efforts at strategic planning and creation of catalog have become stagnant due to lack of engagement by a large enough group to really make a difference. In order to grow beyond the current committee activities, the Geodata Committee needs volunteers to lead individual activities such as getting an operable catalog and repository off the ground.

Key Accomplishments

 * Representation at FOSS4G2008
 * Support of Open Street Map, Open Aerial Map, and the Flight Gear Scenery Project
 * Forum for Geodata related discussions through the year

Areas for Improvement

 * More engagement by members of the community
 * Clear mission and direction that make it clear to members and outsiders who we are and what we do
 * Work with others with similar goals so as not to reinvent the wheel
 * Partner with those who need support of our resources
 * Work more closely with Education Committee and education datasets
 * Define clear areas where volunteers can be engaged

Opportunities to Help

 * Leadership
 * Strategic Planning -- without clear direction, it is hard to know where we can put peoples efforts to work
 * Cataloguing work - both on software setup side (GeoNetwork) and collecting metadata for public data sets
 * Open Geodata Licensing success stories - writing about how your organization or project has moved to an open licensing approach, sharing decisions with others

Outlook for 2009

 * Continued forum for public geodata related issues