OSGeo at Where PressEvent

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The main Where 2.0 event page is here: OSGeo at Where 2.0


Logistics

  • Wednesday, June 14
  • Time: during lunchtime (~60 mins)
  • Location: Redwood Room
  • Participants: 5 OSGeo folk. Members of the press will be invited. Room capacity is 20 people.

This will follow the keynotes on Wednesday morning so this is nice timing. There is nothing going on during this lunch hour and there is no exhibit hall during this time.

Michael Gerlek is coordinating this event, but will not be able to attend. Rich Gibson will be the on-site volunteer to help host and execute this event. Kirsten Davidson is the Autodesk coordinator for this. Here's the official description: http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/where2006/view/e_sess/9493. Please RSVP if you want a lunch!

Rich will be doing an audio recording the event for future podcast fodder.

Agenda

  • moderator introduces self, 4 panel members
  • moderator introduces theme: "What is Driving Open Source Adoption in GIS Today?"
  • each panel member gives a 1-2 minute (no more!) opening
  • <much active discussion ensues>
    • this is where the press gets to ask questions
    • moderator gently aids in keeping discussion alive, as needed
    • moderator may interject preplanned, leading questions
  • at the end of the session, each panel member gets a 1 minute wrap-up
  • moderator concludes, thanks panel and attendees


Discussion Topic

TOPIC: "What is Driving Open Source Adoption in GIS Today?"

This topic is suitably broad enough to be something readily consumable by the press and still give decent discussion, sound-bites/quotes, etc. Note we want to have some of the session be not too technical, as in addition to the usual GIS media there may well be mainstream tech press there from Big Media like San Jose Merc, WSJ, or NYT.

Some leading questions for the moderator:

  • What role do Open Standards play? Where do players like OGC fit into the Open Source ecosystem?
  • There has been recent interest in geo and GIS topics in the consumer space -- look at the blooming of interest in the past year or so in things like Google Earth / Google Maps, cheap GPS, a Mapping Hacks book, etc. How does Open Source help out in the consumer / prosumer space?
  • What are the leading/popular/coolest/etc Open Source packages today?
  • For the corporate manager, what should he or she be thinking about when considering adopting Open Source as part of his solution? Are there any risks or cautions?
  • Can "closed" (proprietary) companies and Open Source work together? Where is that happening today?
  • How do people make money off open source? Is it just about "selling support"? Are companies like Red Hat just well-publicized exceptions? Or are there any commercial success stories around "selling" open source in the GIS arena?
  • When we talk about adopting Open Source in the GIS industry, aren't we really talking about more than just "source code that only programmers care about"? For example, are there end-user applications available, e.g. for GIS analysts, armchair cartography fans, etc?
  • What about open "data" and related services and service architectures? Is the increase in these areas driving interest and adoption of "open source"?


Participants

  • Rich Gibson (Moderator)
    • email: Rich@testingrange.com
    • URL: http://mappinghacks.com, http://geocoder.us
    • employer and title: Locative Technologies, Chief Scientist
    • city, state/province, country: Sebastopol, CA, USA
    • OSGeo affiliation: Associate Member
    • bio: Rich Gibson operates Locative Technologies, a Bay Area startup that provides geocoding and consulting services and other product development. He is a co-author, with Jo Walsh and Schuyler Erle, of Mapping Hacks, and co-author with Schuyler of Google Maps Hacks.
  • Dave McIlhagga (Panelist)
    • email: dmcilhagga@dmsolutions.ca
    • URL: http://www.dmsolutions.ca
    • employer and title: President and Founder, DM Solutions Group Inc.
    • city, state/province, country: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
    • OSGeo affiliation: Board Member
    • bio: Dave McIlhagga is the president and founder of DM Solutions Group Inc., a leader in web mapping solutions delivery since 1998. Dave has positioned DM Solutions Group as a leading provider of commercial products and services to the open source web mapping community, and premiere web mapping solutions provider to select vertical markets such as Healthcare and Real Estate. Dave is a Board member of the newly formed Open Source GeoSpatial (OSGeo) Foundation and an active contributor to the open source geospatial movement.
  • Frank Warmerdam (Panelist)
    • email: warmerdam@pobox.com
    • URL: https://gdal.osgeo.org
    • employer and title: Lead GDAL Developer
    • city, state/province, country: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
    • OSGeo affiliation: Founding Member, Board President
    • bio:
  • Gary Lang - (Panelist)
    • email: gary.lang@autodesk.com
    • URL: http://www.autodesk.com
    • employer and title: Vice President, Infrastructure Solutions Division, Autodesk
    • city, state/province, country: San Francisco, California, USA
    • OSGeo affiliation: Founding Member, Board Member
    • bio: Gary Lang first joined Autodesk as a programmer in 1989. After serving in a variety of roles including director of internet technology, he left in 1996 to co-found a management consulting firm that focused on strategic consulting, product development, and business development. As a principal of the firm, Lang consulted with numerous technology companies including Intuit, Iomega, Giftcertificates.com, Thomson Financial Services, and General Magic, helping to manage and fine tune their engineering and product development organizations. During this time Lang also managed the start up of three companies as vice president of engineering. In 2003, Lang rejoined Autodesk in his current role in which he leads the engineering, quality assurance, technical publications, and product design teams for the Infrastructure Solutions Division. Most recently, Lang became a driving force behind Autodesk’s first open source product offering, MapGuide Open Source, and he is a founder and board member of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation. Lang has a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of California at Santa Cruz.
  • Schuyler Erle - (Panelist)
    • email: schuyler@nocat.net
    • URL: http://mappinghacks.com
    • employer and title: MetaCarta
    • city, state/province, country: Cambridge, Massachusetts, US
    • OSGeo affiliation: Founding Member
    • bio: Schuyler Erle is a free software developer and activist. His interests include digital cartography, wireless networking, intelligent search engines, and the Semantic Web. He is the lead developer of NoCatAuth, the leading open source wireless captive portal.

To Do

  • Need to a one-page handout for the press with names spelled properly, critical URLs, key messages, etc. -- Kirsten
  • need press list to send above info to (with copy of list to mpg) -- Kirsten
  • We are investigating getting lunch catered -- Kirsten?
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