Geo for All

Website of Geo for All: http://www.geoforall.org/

Introduction
The ICA-OSGeo Lab network is a joint initiative of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) and the International Cartographic Association (ICA) and a follow-up of their joint Memorandum of Understanding. The ICA and OSGeo Presidents will be the co-chairs and permanent members of the Advisory Board. Others will have a 3 year term starting date of the Advisory Board being constituted (1 Dec 2013). The Advisory Board has brought together an excellent range of expertise (academia, government, industry) and geographical distribution (we have nearly all continents covered). It also brought together members from other key communities ISPRS, AGILE, INSPIRE, UNIGIS and others which will make sure is it a fully inclusive global initiative. The Advisory Board will meet once every six months by telemeeting and AB members will keep an eye on the developments and provide strategic advice to the initiative through various forums.

Background
While there has been tremendous growth in geospatial technology over the last few decades, the number of universities offering courses in geospatial science has not kept pace. Free and open geographic information (GI) software helps make geospatial education available to students from economically poor backgrounds worldwide (removing the need for high cost proprietary GI software). Our key aim is to make it possible for students in developing and poor countries to be also able to get geospatial education. This initiative will bring more opportunities for geospatial education worldwide. Over 50 Open Source Geospatial Labs have already been established in universities around the world as part of this initiative in just two year’s time, and we will be establishing over 100 research labs worldwide by September 2014.

Future Plans
ICA and OSGeo aim to have over 500 labs established worldwide in the next five years making Geo for All the biggest geospatial education and research network on the planet. With the Advisory Board the Geo for All initiative has a good team of experts to guide us for the future.

Advisory Board
http://www.geoforall.org/advisory_board/


 * Professor Georg Gartner (ICA President & co-chair)
 * Jeff McKenna (OSGeo President & co-chair)
 * Professor Josef Strobl
 * Professor Marguerite Madden
 * Professor Mike Jackson
 * Sven Schade
 * Gavin Fleming
 * Sergio Acosta y Lara
 * Dr Chris Pettit
 * Professor Venkatesh Raghavan
 * Geoff Zeiss
 * Jeroen Ticheler
 * Phillip Davis
 * Arnulf Christl
 * Professor Maria Brovelli
 * Dr Rafael Moreno