Boston Code Sprint 2013

Purpose
Get together project members to make decisions and tackle larger geospatial problems (as done last year at the IslandWood Code Sprint 2012 and previous years: Montreal (2011), New York City (2010), and Toronto (2009)). This code sprint is targeting members of the "C Tribe" (eg, MapServer, GRASS, GDAL, Proj, PostGIS, MapGuide, OpenLayers). Other tribes are welcome to join the sprint, of course, but we hope that "C Tribe" members will give this event special consideration.

We have started a Boston Sprint 2013 Agenda page for preliminary planning of tasks.

Timing
Dates: Weekday: Monday - Thursday 3/25-3/28 Duration: Four days (9AM - 5PM)

Venue
 Planned Location:  Devonshire Sky Club Conference Room and if needed spill over into Paragon Offices

Both across the street from Boston City Hall. Right along the Freedom Trail and about 2 blocks away from the Free Software Foundation head quarters.

Weekend Access
= Agenda= Sunday (March 24th)


 * 5:00pm to 10:00pm - check-in
 * if you plan to arrive earlier than 4pm or later than 11:55 PM, contact Leo to make arrangements
 * You can hang out with rest of Boston hackers if you want

Monday (March 25th)


 * 8:00am - breakfast
 * 8:00am to noon - sprinting
 * noon - lunch (in meeting room)
 * noon to 4:00pm - sprinting
 * 4:00pm to 5:00pm - drinks/social hour
 * 5:00pm to 7:00pm - dinner
 * 7:00pm - watch Hockey somewhere

Tuesday (March 26th)


 * 8:00am - breakfast
 * 8:00am to noon - sprinting
 * noon - lunch (in meeting room)
 * noon to 5:00pm - sprinting
 * 5:00pm to 7:00pm - dinner
 * 7:00pm to 8:00pm - walk around Boston the most walkable city :)

Wednesday (March 27th)


 * 8:00am - breakfast
 * 8:00am to noon - sprinting
 * noon - lunch (in meeting room)
 * noon to 5:00pm - sprinting
 * 5:00pm to 7:00pm - dinner
 * 7:15pm to 8:15pm (or later)

Thursday (March 28th)
 * 8:00am - breakfast
 * 9:30am - checkout
 * 8:00am to noon - sprinting
 * 11:00am - lunch (in meeting room)
 * 12:00pm - hard stop, meeting room closes
 * departures

Sponsor Demos
During the lunch hour, our sponsors will have the opportunity to talk briefly and informally about their products/services and how they use open source.


 * Monday
 * 12:00 - Azavea: GeoTrellis
 * 12:30
 * Tuesday
 * 12:00
 * 12:30
 * Wednesday
 * 12:00
 * 12:30

Sponsors
We have three sponsorship levels:


 * Gold: >= $2000
 * Silver: $1500
 * Bronze: $750

We will again be looking for sponsors ($750+) to support food and fun for the sprinters as they work hard and play hard for four productive days. Each sponsorship will be put towards lunch and dinner costs for the sprinters, and potentially bringing in sprinters who might otherwise be unable to attend.

Sponsors get the following benefits:

To sponsor, please contact Leo Hsu and Regina Obe (lr at pcorp dot us) directly regarding sponsorship and level of sponsorship you'd like to provide
 * Your banner at the top of this page
 * 30-minute slot to talk about how you are using FOSS GIS (first come first serve)
 * Get to sit with us at the sprint and have input in project road map of an OSGeo project you are interested in
 * Our undying gratitude, which comes in handy when you least expect it. Remember that feature you wanted in X :)
 * The good feeling that you have contributed to the FOSS GIS movement (priceless and good for the health too)

2013 Sponsors
This is the current list of pledges

Gold

 * 1) EnterpriseDb

Silver

 * 1) Mobile Geographics
 * 2) Airborne Interactive
 * 3) GeoSynergy

Bronze

 * 1) OneOcean
 * 2) Azavea
 * 3) Hobu, Inc.

Hotel
We've decided not to get a block of rooms because it seems it is pricier than having people pick the hotel they like best.

Our recommendation is to book your own room via Hotwire or Priceline.

For Hotwire, any hotel in the Financial District will be within walking distance.

For Price Line, any hotel within ½ mile of 1 DEVONSHIRE PL BOSTON MA 02109 will be within walking distance.

Boston has no major conventions during the Code Sprint.

There are over a dozen hotels name-brand and boutique within a ½ mile, all rated above three stars.

Should you have specific questions, feel free to email us directly: lr at pcorp.us. We’ll help you find the perfect accommodation.

Costs
Participants should plan for the following costs:


 * Travel to Boston, variable depending on where you are.
 * Accommodation for four nights, $300 to $600 depending on what room you choose and whether you room share.
 * Breakfast, dinner and other snacks.
 * The sponsorship moneys will be put towards: morning snacks, lunches, dinner (1), social event (?), and trip subsidies (e.g. travel costs for core developers)

Communication

 * Please join the mailing list: http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/tosprint


 * IRC chat during the event: Channel: #tosprint Server: irc.freenode.net

Participation
We are planning for attendance of 20-40. Please add your name and the projects you are hoping to sprint and note the likeliness of your attendance.

For room if you need a room - put either: single room - if you want your own room share - if you'd prefer to share or don't care local arrangements - put if you already have arrangements planned


 * 1) Leo Hsu (Definite) Paragon Corporation - PostGIS, pgRouting, PDAL       3/25, 3/18, 3/11, any
 * 2) Regina Obe (Definite) Paragon Corporation - PostGIS, pgRouting, PDAL    3/25, 3/18, 3/11, any
 * 3) Michael Smith - US Army Corps  - MapServer; PDAL; GDAL/OGR - Will definitely be here
 * 4) Daniel Morissette - Mapgears - MapServer; GDAL/OGR - 99.72% sure, 3/18, 3/11, 3/14, 3/7, 3/21, 3/25, 3/4
 * 5) Pierre Racine - University Laval  - PostGIS Raster - Possible
 * 6) Paul Ramsey  - PostGIS - 3/4, 3/25, 2/28 (single room)
 * 7) Michael P. Gerlek (or designee) - OneOCean - PDAL & Friends (very likely to attend)
 * 8) Frank Warmerdam - Google - GDAL; MapServer; PROJ.4 - Possible
 * 9) Tom Kralidis - MapServer, pycsw, owslib - Possible
 * 10) Mike Rosen - LizardTech - PDAL, GDAL - likely
 * 11) Thomas Bonfort - Terriscope - MapServer - flight booked - "any"
 * 12) Olivier Courtin - Oslandia - PostGIS, TinyOWS - 2/28, any
 * 13) David Zwarg - Azavea - PostGIS Raster; GDAL/OGR - 99.73% sure, any, local arrangements
 * 14) Kirk McKelvey - LizardTech - PDAL/GDAL - likely, 3/4, 3/18, 3/25, single room
 * 15) Jim Klassen - SharedGeo - likely
 * 16) Howard Butler - Hobu, Inc. - very likely, any, (single room)
 * 17) Bborie Park - PostGIS Raster - flight booked, single room
 * 18) Steve Lime - MapServer - very likely -  3/4, 3/18, 3/25
 * 19) Steve Woodbridge - iMaptools.com - MapServer; pgRouting; postGIS - very likely, any
 * 20) Mateusz Loskot - PostGIS/PDAL - unlikely, any
 * 21) Stephan Meissl - EOX - MapServer - flight booked, room share
 * 22) Gérald Fenoy - ZOO-Project - possible, any
 * 23) Jeff McKenna - Gateway Geomatics - MapServer - flight booked, shared room
 * 24) Norman Barker - Cloudant - very likely - "ANY"
 * 25) Norman Vine - self - likely - any
 * 26) Brad Chambers - RadiantBlue - PDAL - likely - single room

Virtual participants (irc #tosprint)

Room Share
If you would like to room share,


 * 1) Reserve a room at the hotel, choosing a type with more than one bed.
 * 2) Put your name in this section, indicating the amount of space in your room.

Put your names below:


 * example entry: B has a triple room, needs two roommates.

Individual Preparation

 * Bring your own computer
 * Install subversion and the compiler tools, and come with a working development environment if possible.

FAQ

 * Is the Boston Code Sprint just a coding event?
 * Yes, a coding, testing and documentation event. It is a working session for people who are already participants in open source projects.
 * Will it be possible to present new projects during this event?
 * No, this is not a presentation-oriented event. People will get together in small groups and work on areas of mutual interest within their projects.
 * Will there be presentation time to show case innovative uses of technology?
 * Yes, Sponsors and sprinters actively working on projects will have their moment of glory

Social Events
Here are some events happening around town that would be fun:

Hockey

 * Mon Mar 25 7:00 PM: Maple Leafs vs. Bruins
 * Wed Mar 27 7:30 PM: Canadiens vs. Bruins

Basketball

 * Tues Mar 26 7:00 PM: Knicks vs. Celtics

Lunch
Sam LaGrassa

Dim Sum - China Pearl - Boston Down town Chinatown

Irish Pubs

Dinner
Korean Barbecue Boston Chinatown

Taiwan Cafe Boston Chinatown

Various locations in North End for good Home Italian cooking and pastries

Getting to the Sprint
From Logan Airport -- Take Blue Line to State Street.