FOSS4G2008 Call for papers

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'''NEWS! The abstract submission deadline for both the academic track and the presentation track has been extended to 23 May'''.

Continue reading below and see FOSS4G 2008 Announcements for more details.

Extension of Abstract Submission Deadline to 23 May 2008
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 paper 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
If you missed the deadline for the paper/presentation abstract or your paper/presentation is not selected you are still welcome to submit an abstract for a poster before the 30th of June 2008. For further information regarding posters please see the call for posters below.

Submission Process
In order to submit an abstract please visit the FOSS4G2008 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 below. 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

Further Queries
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 at mintek dot co dot za)

Call for Papers
We are pleased to announce the Call for Papers 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. For more information, please see the FOSS4G 2008 site:

This conference gathers developers and users of open source geospatial software from around the world to discuss new directions, exciting implementations, and growing business opportunities in the field of open source, mixed and propriety geospatial software. FOSS4G is presented annually by the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). The local host for FOSS4G2008 is the Geo-Information Society of South Africa, GISSA. FOSS4G 2008 incorporates 'GISSA 2008'. While Free and Open Source GIS is our focus, you are also welcome to submit papers for the 'applied' topics that use proprietary or mixed GIS. We want to encourage exposure, debate and understanding among FOSS and proprietary communities. Talks will be marked clearly on the programme as FOSS / Proprietary / Mixed / Peer Reviewed.

Topics which must have a FOSS component or perspective are:

 * New FOSS GIS developments
 * Interoperability and standards - OGC, GEOSS
 * Web processing services, Sensor Web enablement and the like
 * Using FOSS with proprietary software
 * Making the transition to FOSS GIS
 * FOSS GIS support and training
 * FOSS GIS business models
 * FOSS GIS implementation and deployment
 * Open data, open content, open architectures, open everything!
 * Case studies of open source implementations
 * Improving FOSS GIS cartography and map production
 * Use Case driven FOSS GIS development and improving the user experience
 * FOSS GIS Internationalisation and Localisation

Topics for applications, methodologies or theoretical geospatial work are not limited to a FOSS perspective:

 * Sustainable development and the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals)
 * 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
 * Location based services, logistics, routing
 * 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa
 * NGOs, CBOs (Community-based organisations) and community development workers
 * Mining, exploration, beneficiation
 * Spatial economics
 * Military
 * Land information and administration (cadastre, address data, etc.)

Academic Papers Track
This year we are thrilled to announce the first academic track for peer-reviewed papers. The date for submission of abstracts to the academic track is 12 May 2008. Abstracts have to be 500-600 words in length and will be reviewed by the Program Committee of the academic track of FOSS4G 2008. Abstracts will be judged on the basis of significance, relevance, correctness, originality, and clarity. 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 the 12 May 2008. The abstracts submitted to this track will be chosen by an open community process. 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.

Guidelines for Authors
In order to keep things simple, for both you the Authors and us the Technical Programme Committee, we have decided to keep the Authors Guidelines for both the Presentations and the Academic Papers the same. You can download a pdf version of the Authors Guidelines (updated 28 July 2008) [[Media:FOSS4G2008_AuthorGuidelines_Paper.pdf | here]]. NB: The abstract of the final paper has to be 250 words (deadline 18 August 2008), and not 500-600 words as specified in the Author Guidelines above.

Call for Posters
If you missed the deadline for the paper/presentation abstract or your paper/presentation is not selected you are still welcome to submit an abstract for a poster before the 30th of June 2008. The posters will provide an opportunity to showcase your topic to a wide audience at the conference. Poster topics must adhere to the conference theme and be in line with the topics set out in the call for the papers/presentations above.

Posters will be displayed on the landings outside the meeting rooms for the duration of the conference. A designated poster session will be scheduled where authors will need to be present in order to provide further information regarding their posters and answer any questions.

Should you wish to display a poster at the conference please submit a short abstract of 150-300 words detailing the topic and content of your proposed poster. Poster abstracts must be submitted via e-mail to mandyv at mintek dot co dot za by the 30th of June 2008. Poster abstracts that were submitted via the website before the 23rd of May 2008 will still be included. You will be notified whether your poster has been accepted by 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).