FOSS4G 2008 Announcements

NB: This page used to hold the Calls for papers and workshops. These are now at FOSS4G2008 Call for papers and FOSS4G2008 Call for workshops. It now holds planned and delivered public announcements. See also FOSS4G2008 Communication and FOSS4G 2008 Timeline

Back to FOSS4G2008 ...

See you in two weeks (to go September 15)
final logistics and updates

Reminder online registration possible till 28th, thereafter every day on site. Daily registration on site. Any workshop spaces will be for sale. Gala event

One month to the conference and counting! (to go September 1)
Subject: Only ONE MONTH Until FOSS4G 2008

2008 Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference incorporating GISSA 2008, September 29 - October 3, Cape Town, South Africa

Register and make your travel plans now! Remember, airfares are better when you book more than two weeks in advance.

http://www.foss4g2008.org/

The FOSS4G program is now set!

!!!modify this for 2008:

Plenaries: http://foss4g2007.org/plenaries Presentations: http://foss4g2007.org/program_overview/tuesday http://foss4g2007.org/program_overview/wednesday http://foss4g2007.org/program_overview/thursday Posters: http://foss4g2007.org/presentations/posters Labs & Workshops: http://foss4g2007.org/labs http://foss4g2007.org/workshops

We're looking forward to seeing you in Cape Town at the end of the month!

News and update (to go August 18)
+reminder to presenters to submit complete papers / presentations by today.

register now!

News and update (to go August 4)
register now!

News and update (to go July 21)
register now!

News and update (to go July 7)
register now!

Order your exhibition stand by Monday at early bird rates (to go 27 June)
and Poster abstracts in by 30th

Also Do PositionIT e-mail shot now
push regsitration and early bird exhibitors

Book your hotel by tomorrow and guarantee accommodation at conference rates (to go 23 June)
and Poster abstracts in by 30th

Exhibitor early-bird pricing ends in one week (to go 20 June)
Announce sponsors, exhibitors already secured.

Announce early-bird registration status.

Re-emphasise benefits.

Early bird registration closes tomorrow (to go 19 June)
and hotel specials hold lifts on 24 June

Remind about keynote speakers and workshops.

Announce selected paper and presentation list.

Early Bird Registration Deadline Approaching (issued by Gavin June 13)
Subject: FOSS4G 2008 Early Bird Registration Ends in ONE WEEK

2008 Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference incorporating GISSA 2008, September 29 - October 3, Cape Town, South Africa

http://www.foss4g2008.org/

Book now to get the early bird rates: conference registration before the deadline is just R2900 (ZAR) (~$365USD) ; after June 20, registration is R3900 (~$491USD). This covers the core 3.5 day conference, featuring academic, presentation and poster tracks, live demo theatre, plenaries, exhibition hall, wall-to-wall hands-on mini-workshops ('labs') and more! A fantastic Gala dinner at Moyo in Stellenbosch is an extra item that will be worth every cent. The early bird really does get the worm!

WORKSHOPS, TECHNICAL VISITS and CODE SPRINT

For R4900 (ZAR)(~$618 USD) if you register before 20 June, you get a full five days featuring all of the above PLUS the extremely popular FOSS4G hands-on workshops. We have added some interesting technical visits too this year. So register now and as soon as the items listed below have been confirmed on the programme we will let you know so you can make your choices, first come-first served. If you wait till after June 20, full registration goes up to R5900 (ZAR) (~$744 USD).

Workshop summary: Getting Started with MapServer; Setting up a geospatial catalog using GeoNetwork; Building Web Mapping Applications with OpenLayers; Practical Introduction to MapGuide Open Source; Practical Introduction to GRASS and related software for beginners; The Open-Geo Stack: OpenLayers, GeoServer, PostGIS; QGIS for beginners, with Python plugins adn GRASS; FOSS4G routing with pgRouting tools and OpenStreetMap road data; A Hitchhiker's guide to Ruby On Rails stack for geoWeb; gvSIG / Sextante; Mapserver OGC Web Services; Collaborative Mapmaking with GeoDjango; Standardized Geoprocessing with FOSS; Hydrological and Geomorphological Terrain Analysis with JGrass; Introduction to Geoportal Management using Mapbender; Web based GIS and domain model integration; MapWindow GIS: Custom GIS Application Development for Windows. (Remember there are an additional 20 hands-on labs that form part of the conference programme at NO EXTRA COST) Technical visits:
 * Sunspace in Stellenbosch - building South Africa's satellites
 * Chief Directorate: Surveys and Mapping (~ ordnance survey, national mapping agency)
 * Houwteq Satellite Integration Facility in Grabouw – Institute for Satellite and Software Application (very FOSS)
 * GIS on a wine farm, with tasting! In Grabouw

Code Sprint: An option on the Friday will be the Code Sprint, being coordinated by Tim Sutton from QGIS. For developers and hackers or interested onlookers.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Ed Parsons, chief of geospatial technology at Google and ex CTO of the UK Ordnance Survey will be our keynote speaker at the opening plenary. http://www.edparsons.com/

James McFee whom many of you will know from his blog http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/ will feature in our closing plenary.

EXHIBITOR AND SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Early bird rates apply to exhibitors too! If you are planning to exhibit, reserve your stand BEFORE 30 JUNE for big savings! For information on exhibitor and sponsorship opportunities, see http://tinyurl.com/555ade or contact Gavin Fleming, Conference Chair via email: gavinf at mintek dot co.za.

We hope to see you in Cape Town, South Africa in September, in just over three months!

For up-to-date information, registration and program details, please visit the conference website.

http://www.foss4g2008.org/

Notification of new Bronze sponsorship category (posted by Gavin 2 June 08)
Free and Open Source Geospatial 2008 incorporating GISSA National Conference 2008 Cape Town, South Africa. September 29 - Oct 3 2008

FOSS4G 2008 is the best opportunity this year for exposure and networking for your organisation. We are expecting 800-1000 managers and decision makers, users and developers from all over the geospatial world. These will be from Government, NGOs and the private sector. We already have a full program of papers, presentations and hand-on workshops and labs. There are 5 days of potential face-to-face exposure time, including 3.5 days of core conference and exhibition, as well as media partners, website, programme and more.

We still have slots open for Sponsors and stands available for Exhibitors.

Please see the attached Prospectus for Sponsorship and Exhibition options.

NEW SPONSORSHIP CATEGORY ANNOUNCED! Bronze Sponsor for R8 000 (~$1050). Other categories range from R40 000 (~$5300) to R500 000 (~$66000) and can be customised. Join Autodesk, SITA, Google and WhereGroup as sponsors.

Exhibitors book your stand before 30 June to take advantage of EARLY-BIRD PRICING! -A 3m x 3m stand is now R17 500 (~$2300) but will be R20 000 (~$2600) after 30 June.

Note that Government, NGO and Education exhibitors qualify for a DISCOUNT rate! -A discounted stand is now R12 500 (~$1600), after 30 June R15 000 (~$2000)

For a sneak preview of hands-on WORKSHOPS and LABS that are under review this week see http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G2008_Workshop_Submissions If you sponsor computers for the workshops you get exclusive branding of the workshop venues (5 days worth!). Double your value by donating them onwards to needy schools.

See you there! www.foss4g2008.org

PS: please disseminate this as widely as possible

One of a series of mails sent to GISSA members by Carrin (this one on 23 May)
“Open Source: an option for developing nations”

Where are you in this debate?

Attend this benchmark event and make the most of an opportunity that promises to take our geospatial industry to the next level. Register your name and submit your abstract online at http://conference.osgeo.org/index.php/foss4g/2008

A special concession for South Africans, submit your abstract (only 500-600 words) online by the 8 am, Tuesday 27 May on any of the topics below.

The quality of your presentations has been excellent at all our conference and regional meetings. So much good work is being done by you, the geospatial practitioners, to give development a spatial platform, and you should be justly proud of what has been achieve. Now its time to show the geospatial world, that when it comes to its application for developing nations, nobody does it quite like we do!

Conference topics: Disaster management                                                        Health Energy                                                                                Water Climate change                                                                  Weather Ecosystem management                                                    Agriculture Biodiversity                                                                         Land reform Education                                                                           Government Local economic development, poverty alleviation              Participatory GIS Semantic Web and ontologies in GIS                                2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa Mining, exploration, beneficiation                                    Military Location based services, logistics, routing                      Spatial economy NGOs, CBOs (Community-based organisations) and community development workers

Today’s Topic: Millennium Development Goals (MDG)

With the South African government having committed itself to Open Source Software, and the Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) Act having been enacted in 2006, the country is poised to face a bright spatially-enable future. Are government departments at all levels making the most of these mechanisms to ensure that the millennium goals are met? What is happening to ensure that eGovernment becomes a reality in SA to fast tract achieving these and other goals?

MDGs for SA:

Goal 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Goal 2. Achieve universal primary education Goal 3. Promote gender equality and empower women Goal 4. Reduce child mortality Goal 5. Improve maternal health Goal 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Goal 7. Ensure environmental sustainability Goal 8. Develop a global partnership for development

What spatial infrastructure needs to be in place in order to achieve these, and what is Governments’ role in providing that infrastructure? What role are governments in other developing nations playing and are there lessons that we can learn from them? What are the issues that need to be debated about the role that Open Source can play in achieving the goals? Has proprietary software reached it sell-by date, what role will vendors play in future, who will develop our systems and provide training and support? Be part of the debate, send in your abstract and come to Cape Town.

Carrin Martin GISSA National Chairperson

FOSS4G2008 Final Call for Workshops and Labs - Deadline 23 May 2008 (Distributed by Gavin 2008/05/22 just to FOSS4G-newsletter, GISSAConf-news and OSGeo Africa)
(this was html with some colour, banner image and pdf flyer attachment) Subject: FOSS4G2008 Final Call for Workshops and Labs - Deadline 23 May 2008

Free and Open Source Geospatial 2008 incorporating GISSA Conference 2008, Cape Town, South Africa. September 29 - Oct 3 2008.

The deadline for submission of Presentation and Academic Paper abstracts and Workshop proposals is tomorrow (Fri 23rd)!

Don't delay, submit now!

We have HUGE international interest and a great selection of Presentations, Wokrshops and Labs already; let’s make sure the world sees what Africa is made of. The conference is NOT limited to Open Source GIS. While some topics are required to be about Open Source, for all the Applied topics listed on the website, it doesn’t matter what GIS you used!

Remember, our definition of GIS is very wide and includes Remote Sensing, Image Processing, Surveying and all the branches of geoinformation science and geospatial technology.

The Calls for Papers and Workshops can be found at www.foss4g2008.org

Workshops and Labs are hands-on events, with participants seated in front of computers and able to follow along with the instructor, working directly with the software and applications under discussion. There will be two computer labs with close to 50 computers each, with two people per computer.

Sponsors & Exhibitors: please download the Prospectus from the website. Book your stand now!

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANT DATES FOR FOSS4G2008:

23 May 2008: Final Deadline for submission of Paper and Presentation Abstracts and Proposals for Workshops and Labs

6 June 2008: Notification of acceptance of workshop/lab proposal

17 June: Notification of acceptance of abstracts

20 June: Early-bird registration closes

30 June: Exhibitor early-bird pricing closes. 30 June: Poster abstract submission deadline

21 July: Notification of acceptance of posters

18 August 2008: Deadline for submission of presentation / papers for the proceedings

Conference Dates September 29 - October 3 2008

FOSS4G 2008 Call for paper and workshops extended! (Distributed by Gavin 15/05/2008)
Free and Open Source Geospatial 2008, Cape Town, South Africa. September 29 - Oct 3 2008, incorporating GISSA 2008.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE EXTENSION! 23 May

Due to demand, the Where 2.0 conference starting on our previous deadline and a website glitch with the original cut-off date, we are pleased to announce the EXTENSION of the deadline for Paper, Presentation and Poster abstracts AND the deadline for Workshop proposals to the *** 23 MAY ***. Go to http://www.foss4g2008.org and click on 'Call for Papers'.

You can also view the Call for Papers at: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G2008_Call_for_papers and the Call for Workshop proposals at: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G2008_Call_for_workshops

Thanks to those of you who have submitted so far. As of 14 May we already have an exciting selection of Workshops and Labs (32), Academic Papers (50), Presentations (85) and Posters (10). The previous Announcement gave you a taste of the Workshops. As far as papers and presentations go, a small sampling gives us ‘An Integrated Water Resource Decision Support System built from OSS tools’, ‘Characterisation of tsunami affected areas using remote sensing and GIS’, ‘Modus Operandi of a FOSS GIS project in India’, ‘Challenges in GIS education and training’, ‘Using Python and wxWidgets to build custom GIS applications’, ‘Using KML and Google Earth to interact with SA water resource data’, ‘Easing Transition to Open Source Geo-Spatial Data Manipulation in GML’, ‘A Free GIS Book’, ‘Open-source based market information systems - one option for Developing Nations’,’ A year of full-speed FOSS- winning the hearts, minds, and business case’, ‘Senegalese land register modernization through OpenSource software’, ‘BeeGis: digital field mapping that just works’,’ The use of FOSS GIS in Integrated GIS in Local Government in South Africa’,’ GIS in the Geography Curriculum: Teacher Training’.’ Topology support in FOSS4G solutions’, ‘TerraLib as an Open Source Platform for Public Health Applications’,’ Google Earth Powered by MapGuide Open Source’,’ GDAL/OGR Project Status Report’ and this list goes on.

Remember: Early-bird registration now closes on 20th June and hotel specials will be released soon after, so register soon!

Submit your abstract or proposal soon. Come and have a bash in Cape Town.

Gavin Fleming FOSS4G 2008 Conference Chair www.foss4g2008.org

PS: Please distribute this notice widely, blog about FOSS4G 2008, add a banner to your website, add FOSS4G2008 to your website calendar...

Extension of Abstract Submission Date to Friday, 23 May 2008 (Distributed by Inge 2008/05/14 to GISSA lists)
We are pleased to announce an extension in the abstract submission deadline for the 2008 Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) conference, incorporating GISSA 2008, being held from 29 September to 3 October, in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. This is due to the fact that there was a glitch with the online submission process which appeared to be already closed for submissions yesterday, the 12 of May on the last day of submissions. Thank you to those of you who informed us, so that we could rectify the problem. I apologize for the inconvenience caused. As a result we have extended the date for the submissions of abstracts to Friday the 23rd of May 2008. Please endeavor to submit your abstract as soon as possible. We believe that we have ironed out the glitch in the system. In summary the following still applies:

Academic Track

This year we are thrilled to host the first academic track for peer reviewed papers at FOSS4G. The date for submission of abstracts to the academic track is now 23 May 2008. Abstracts have to be 500-600 words in length, please ensure that these are long enough as abstracts which are too short will automatically be disregarded. These will be reviewed by the Program Committee of the academic track of FOSS4G 2008. You will be notified of acceptance or otherwise on or before 17 June. If your abstract is accepted for the academic track, you have to submit a full paper by 18 August 2008 for inclusion in the proceedings. The Programme Committee will compile a short list of high quality papers addressing substantial research questions. Authors of these papers will be invited to submit a revised paper in response to reviewer comments and suggestions for inclusion in the South African Computer Journal.

Presentation Track

The date of submission for abstracts of 500-600 words to the presentation track is now the 23 May 2008. The abstracts submitted to this track will be chosen by an open community process. You will be notified of acceptance or otherwise on or before 17 June. If your abstract is accepted for the presentation track then you will be required to submit your presentation by 18 August 2008 for inclusion in the CD proceedings.

Poster Track

Due to the demand for posters we have included a poster track to the conference. Should you wish to display a poster at the conference, please submit a short abstract of no more than 150 - 300 words detailing the topic and content of your proposed poster. The deadline for the poster abstract submission is Monday the 30th of June 2008. You will be notified of acceptance or otherwise on or before the 21st of July 2008. Posters will be selected based on their relevance to the conference topics as space is limited. Posters must be an AO landscape or A1 portrait size in order to fit on the poster boards. Please indicate your proposed poster size and orientation in the abstract (AO landscape or A1 portrait). Important Dates

Submission of abstracts (both general and academic tracks): 12 May 2008 has been extended to 23 May 2008

Notification of acceptance (both general and academic tracks): 17 June 2008

Submission of abstracts for posters: 30 June 2008

Notification of acceptance of posters: 21 July 2008

Submission of full papers / presentations: 18 August 2008

FOSS4G2008 Conference: 29 September – 3 October 2008

Submission Process

In order to submit an abstract please visit the www.foss4g2008.org website, and select Proposal Submission. This will take you to a login page, where you can enter your existing account information, or if you are new to the site, register for a user account before you can proceed. You will then be taken through a step by step process to submit your abstract. Please make sure that you select the correct track option.

''NOTE: To submit an abstract you will need to be logged in as an Author: From the User Home page, under Roles, select Authors. If you do not have a role of Author available then go to the “my profile” link and check the Author checkbox. You will then have an Author role under the User Home page.''

General Information

All FOSS4G 2008 papers/presentations take the form of 25 minute talks, with 5 minute question and answer sessions at the end. Anyone can submit a presentation or paper and take part in the conference as a presenter. Posters will be on display for the duration of the conference. Designated poster sessions are scheduled to take place on 30 September and 1 October 2008 between 12:00 and 13:00

Author guidelines for the formatting of the paper or presentation are available online on the conference website. Please note that your paper or presentation will only be included in the proceedings once your registration to the conference has been received in full. For more information, see the FOSS4G 2008 site: http://www.foss4g2008.org

Should you have any further queries that are not addressed on the website then please contact the following:

Technical Programme & submissions: Inge Netterberg [inge.netterberg@gmail.com]

Academic Track: Serena Coetzee [scoetzee@cs.up.ac.za]

General Track: Inge Netterberg [inge.netterberg@gmail.com]

Poster Track: Mandy Vickers [mandyv@mintek.co.za]

CFP reminder and workshop update (Distributed by Gavin 2008/05/09)
Subject: FOSS4G 2008 CFP reminder and workshop news

Free and Open Source Geospatial 2008, Cape Town, South Africa. September 29 - Oct 3 2008. incorporating GISSA 2008.

Reminder: The paper / presentation submission deadline is May 23(was 12 May). Go to http://www.foss4g2008.org and click on 'Call for Papers'.

Early-bird registration closes on 20th June(was 15th June), so register soon!

FOSS4G is renowned for its hands-on workshops and labs. 2008 is no exception. The Workshop/labs track has been going well in terms of submissions. We have (as of 9th May 2008) 26 interesting and relevant submissions to choose from, ranging across a wide spectrum of GIS topics. Desktop GIS (with spatial analysis and geovisualization to the fore) is a common theme and there is a strong representation from the broad Internet GIS field (web map servers, rich internet applications/web clients, OGC web services). Themes also making an appearance are geoportals, metadata, spatial ETL and the use of spatial databases. There is also some focus on programming/scripting. The emphasis is heavily on showing what is possible with FOSS4G through practical "how-to's", getting software/services up and running quickly and trying them out. Many of the workshops emphasise the excellent Java-based tools and frameworks.

90 minute Labs are included in the core conference package. Register for the full 5 day package and get to attend up to three 4 hour workshops free!

Submit your abstract soon. Come and have a bash in Cape Town.

Gavin Fleming FOSS4G 2008 Conference Chair www.foss4g2008.org

PS: Please distribute this notice widely, blog about FOSS4G 2008, add a banner to your website.

FOSS4G 2008 Registration and Calls for Papers and Workshops (Distributed by Gavin 2008/04/04)
Subject: FOSS4G 2008 Registration and Calls for Papers and Workshops

If you attend just one GIS conference in 2008, make it FOSS4G 2008! It promises to be the highlight of your year.

The 2008 Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) conference, incorporating GISSA 2008, is on the horizon.

WHERE: Cape Town, South Africa, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Cape Town is one of the Top 5 worldwide tourist and conference destinations. WHEN: Monday 29 September to Friday 3 October. Extend your stay with a holiday in beautiful South Africa and make the trip even more worthwhile.

Theme: "Open Source Geospatial: An Option for Developing Nations"

FOSS4G is presented annually by the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) and in 2007 gathered 700 developers and users of open source geospatial software as well as managers and decision makers from around the world to discuss new directions, exciting implementations, and growing business opportunities in the field of open source geospatial software.

Incorporation of GISSA 2008 this year opens FOSS4G to a wider field of GIS practitioners and decision makers. GISSA is the GeoInformation Society of South Africa and we want all players from South Africa to join their peers from around the world at this international event. Come and present your work, learn about Open Source GIS and participate in the FOSS-Proprietary debate.

South Africa's recent adoption of a National Open Source Policy in Government and the introduction of GIS into our school syllabus this year make FOSS4G an especially important conference for South Africa and other countries in a similar position.

Major features include Hands-on Workshops and Labs, Presentations and Academic Papers, a live Demo Theatre, large exhibition hall, Outreach activities, Technical visits and a great social programme including a gala dinner at Moyo in Stellenbosch.

Visit the website http://www.foss4g2008.org to find out more. Register or submit an Abstract or Workshop Proposal. This year there will be an Academic Track in addition to non-peer-reviewed presentations, catering for a wide range of topics.

Autodesk and Google have already come on board as sponsors. If your organisation is interested in supporting the conference or exhibiting, please download the Prospectus from the website.

I'm looking forward to seeing you in Cape Town!

Gavin Fleming FOSS4G 2008 Conference Chair www.foss4g2008.org

Item posted to osgeo discuss, osgeo announce, osgeo africa, osgeo edu, FOSS4G2008 newsletter and indirectly to other lists.