OSGeo Mission

The following declarations form the basis of the statement of OSGeo Mission and Goals

Mission

1. To support the development of Free and Open Source Geospatial Software, and promote its widespread use. - can this be refined?
2. To promote freely available geodata - Free Software is useless without data. - An idea... can this be refined?
3. To provide support for the use of OSGeo software in education via curriculum development, outreach, and support.

Goals

The following more detailed goals support the overall mission.

• To provide resources for foundation projects - eg. infrastructure, funding, legal.
• To promote freely available geodata - free software is useless without data.
• To promote the use of open source software in the geospatial industry (not just foundation software) - eg. PR, training, outreach.
• To encourage the implementation of open standards and standards-based interoperability in foundation projects.
• To ensure a high degree of quality in foundation projects in order to build and preserve the foundation "brand".
• To make foundation and related software more accessible to end users - eg. binary "stack" builds, cross package documentation.
• To provide support for the use of OSGeo software in education via curriculum development, outreach, and support.
• To encourage communication and cooperation between OSGeo communities on different language (eg. Java/C/Python) and operating system (eg. Win32, Unix, MacOS) platforms.
• To support use and contribution to foundation projects from the worldwide community through internationalization of software and community outreach.
• To operate an annual OSGeo Conference, possibly in cooperation with related efforts (eg. EOGEO).
• To award the Sol Katz award for service to the OSGeo community.

Vision

To be the global reference of high quality Geospatial Software and provide transparent geospatial information to foster the development of worldwide communities.

Definition

Vision Statements define the organizations purpose. It communicates both the purpose and values of the organization. The vision must be encompassed by OSGeo's beliefs.

   * meet OSGeo's organizational goals as well as community goals.
   * are a statement of OSGeo's values.
   * public/visible declaration of OSGeo's expected outcomes.
   * precise and practical.
   * will guide the actions of all involved.
   * reflect the knowledge, philosophy, and actions of all.
   * a key component of strategic planning.

Values

1. OSGeo believes in the Development through geographical data
2. We can achieve excellence through world wide cooperation
3. We believe that "more are smarter than a few" (James Surowiecki,2005) - the power of the communities

Values represent:

   * key priorities in the OSGeo’s culture
   * what drives the members
   * four to six core values from which OSGeo would like to operate 
   * values of users, developers and the community
   * Notice any differences between OSGeo’s preferred values and its true values