Twin Cities

Chapter
The Twin Cities, MN chapter of OSGeo is a rebranding and restructuring of the Twin Cities MapServer Users Group (TCMUG). Currently the TCMUG is organized using web and mailing list support through the MapServer resources hosted at the University of Minnesota.

History
The Twin Cities MapServer Users Group was formed alongside the organizing committee for MUM3/OSG '05 in the Fall of 2004. TCMUG has met near monthly since that time with a mix of social gatherings and technical presentations hosted at various locations around the Twin Cities, MN Metropolitan Area. TCMUG is made up of people representing government, non-profit, academic, and private interests. Members of TCMUG are active in several areas within OSGeo. In addition, TCMUG has a strong presence in state and regional GIS initiatives through MetroGIS, the Governor's Council on Geographic Information, and Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium as well as work with FGDC grant funded projects. Members of TCMUG are active users and developers and have been a forum in the region for not just MapServer, but also many other Open Source GIS packages.

Mission
The mission of the Twin Cities, MN chapter of OSGeo is to build upon the Mission and Goals of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) by providing local networking and support opportunities and by advocating for Open Source GIS software and OSGeo initiatives through regional groups and conferences.

Continuing Goals

 * Continue to hold near monthly meetings
 * Advocate for the use of Open Source GIS at regional and state levels
 * Maintain an OSGeo presence at conferences -- in particular the Minnesota GIS/LIS annual conference
 * Help act as a breeding ground for new projects

Near Term Goals

 * Submit to become an official chapter of OSGeo
 * Rebrand TCMUG as the Twin Cities, MN chapter of OSGeo
 * Migrate organizational resources (web page, mailing list) from U of MN resources to OSGeo

Membership
There are currently 56 people subscribed to the TCMUG mailing list. A typical meeting has around 6-10 participants.

Contact Information

 * Join the TCMUG mailing list
 * Contact David Bitner 612-725-6156, bitner *at* dbspatial *dot* com