OSGeo - User contributions [en]

FOSS4G 2017

2017-04-12T06:28:40Z

Rajan: /* Scientific Committee */

[[File:Rectangle color 150 350.png|thumb|right|370px|FOSS4G 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.]]

Go to the official [http://2017.foss4g.org FOSS4G 2017] event page.

__TOC__

== Initial Proposal ==

Download the proposal PDF: https://svn.osgeo.org/osgeo/foss4g/proposals/2017/FOSS4G2017_proposal_Boston.pdf

== Local Organizing Committee ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+ style="text-align:left;"|LOC_Members
! style="text-align:left;"|Name
! style="text-align:left;"|Organization
! style="text-align:left;"|Sector
! style="text-align:left;"|Title
! style="text-align:left;"|Location
! style="text-align:left;"|Role
|-
|[[Andy Anderson]]
|Amherst College; University of Massachusetts Amherst
|style="background-color:#f4cae4;" | Academic
|Academic Technology Specialist; Adjunct Assistant Professor in Environmental Conservation
|Amherst, Massachusetts
|Chair of Program Subcommittee
|-
|[http://twitter.com/gzambotti Giovanni Zambotti]
|Harvard University
|style="background-color:#f4cae4;" | Academic
|GIS Specialist
|Greater Boston
|
|-
|Patrick Florance
|Tufts University
|style="background-color:#f4cae4;" | Academic
|Associate Director of Geospatial Technology
|Greater Boston
|
|-
|Chris Barnett
|Tufts University
|style="background-color:#f4cae4;" | Academic
|Geospatial Developer
|Greater Boston
|
|-
|[http://twitter.com/guidos Guido Stein]
|AvidGeo & Applied Geographics, Inc.
|style="background-color:#fdcdac;" | Community
|Founder & GIS Analyst
|Greater Boston
|Co-Chair of FOSS4G Boston 2017
|-
|[http://twitter.com/mjfoster83 Mike Foster]
|Maptime Boston & MIT
|style="background-color:#fdcdac;" | Community
|Community Organizer & GIS Specialist
|Greater Boston
|Chair of Workshop Subcommittee
|-
|[http://twitter.com/aledafreeman Aleda Freeman]
|MassGIS/MassIT/Commonwealth of Massachusetts
|style="background-color:#cbd5e8;" | Government
|Web Mapping Services Manager
|Greater Boston
|Chair of Extracurricular Subcommittee; Member Program Subcommittee
|-
|Christian Jacqz
|MassGIS/MassIT/Commonwealth of Massachusetts
|style="background-color:#cbd5e8;" | Government
|Former Director of MassGIS
|Greater Boston
|Member Program Subcommittee
|-
|Carolyn Bennett
|Boston Redevelopment Authority
|style="background-color:#cbd5e8;" | Government
|GIS Manager
|Greater Boston
|
|-
|[http://twitter.com/mt_appgeo Michael Terner]
|Applied Geographics, Inc.
|style="background-color:#b3e2cd;" | Private
|Executive Vice President
|Greater Boston
|Chair of FOSS4G Boston 2017
|-
|[http://twitter.com/wsmitchell Will Mitchell]
|NBT Solutions, LLC
|style="background-color:#b3e2cd;" | Private
|Principal
|Portland, Maine
|On Sponsor Committee
|}

== Community Committee ==

=== Past Activities ===
[[FOSS4G 2017/Logo Contest|Logo Contest]]

== Program Related ==

==Scientific Committee==
''[[FOSS4G Notes on Academic Track ]]''
; [[User:Simonelanucara|Simone Lanucara]] : Spatial Data Infrastructures, Open Geospatial Consortium interfaces, Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial, Sensor Web Enablement, Semantic harmonization, Data harmonization, Big Data
; [[Helena Mitasova]] : terrain modeling, visualization, GRASS GIS
; [[User:Maria|Maria Brovelli]]
; [[Venkatesh Raghavan]]
; [[Andy Anderson]], Amherst College & University of Massachusetts Amherst : Demographics, Environmental Systems, Geostatistics, Programming, HPC, Education
; [[User:Zia | Mohammed Zia]] : GIS, Web GIS, Vehicle-Routing, Programming, Remote Sensing, Geology
; Marco Minghini : Volunteered Geographic Information, OpenStreetMap, Land Use/Cover, Education
; Darshana Rawal, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India: Web GIS, GIS, Programming, Geomarketing ,Disaster Management, LBS
; [[Charlie Schweik]], University of Massachusetts Amherst : VGI, Land Use/Cover, Commons-based Peer Production in Open Geospatial, Education
; Kalum Priyanath Udagepola : Digital Globe, GIS Education, Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), Geospatial BI, Decision Support Systems, Spatial Data Visualization, Remote Sensing, Land Surveying
; [[User:thuygeo|Tuong-Thuy Vu]]: Remote Sensing, Data Fusion, GIS Education, Big data
; Sven Schade, European Commission - Joint Research Centre : Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), Semantic Web, Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI), Citizen Science, crowd-sourcing
; [[User:Peter Loewe|Peter Löwe]]: Open Science, Data Science, GRASS GIS
; [[Serena Coetzee]], Centre for Geoinformation Science, University of Pretoria, South Africa : spatial data infrastructure, address data, standardization, open principles, GISc education, geovisualization
; [[User:Nimalika | Nimalika Fernando]] : location based services, mobile GIS, route planning, indoor spatial data modelling & indoor navigation,web-GIS
; [[Jorge Gustavo Rocha]], University of Minho : VGI, OpenStreetMap, Software development
; Rafael Moreno, University of Colorado Denver, Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences : Natural resources management, Sustainable Development, Environmental Modeling with GIS, FOSS4G
; [[Jeff McKenna]], OSGeo : web mapping, databases
; Mark Iliffe, N-LAB, University of Nottingham : Volunteered Geographic Information, Systems Engineering, Crowd-Sorucing, OSM, Transport/Mobility
; Steven Lehr, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Department of Computer Engineering : Machine Learning, Data Mining, Mapserver, PHP
; KS Rajan, Lab for Spatial Informatics, IIIT Hyderabad : Satellite image processing, WebGIS, Spatio-temporal data mining, Routing, GIS Education
; Add your name and institution here : And your areas of expertise here

== Processes ==

*[[FOSS4G 2017 Committee Member Selection|2017 Committee Member Selection]]
*[[FOSS4G 2017 Session Selection|2017 Session Selection]]
*[[FOSS4G 2017 Keynote Selection|2017 Keynote Selection]]
*[[FOSS4G 2017 Website Updates|2017 Website Updates]]

== Lessons Learned ==

*[[FOSS4G 2017 Lessons Learned|FOSS4G 2017 Lessons Learned]]

[[Category:FOSS4G2017]]
[[Category:FOSS4G]]
[[Category:Events]]

User talk:Ravivundavalli

2015-06-15T05:46:28Z

Rajan: /* FOSS4G India 2015, June 8 to 10th */

[[File:Ravi.jpg|thumb|left|]]
=='''''FOSS4G India 2015, June 8 to 10th'''''==
An event very meticulously planned for months, finally materialised at, 'The Vatican for RS-GIS in India', The Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) Dehradun.
One of the most memorable in the IIRS campus is a plaque and a quote from a pioneer Indian space scientist.
Inspiration https://plus.google.com/114935751871526846208/posts/J1jCxGQHtKP
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikram_Sarabhai
This institute has a history of evolving from Indian Photo-interpretation Institute (IPI) 1966, to what it is presently. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Institute_of_Remote_Sensing.

8th June 2015: '''Two workshops''' were held to initiate attendees in 'Geospatial Data Processing using R', by AK Jha/Kamal Pandey(Half a day)', and 'Becoming QGIS Power User by Ujaval Gandhi(1 day)'.
Both the workshops were well attended, with encouraging feed-back.
https://plus.google.com/+UjavalGandhi/posts/CbcanbWvfKv

'''The inaugural''' was a very symbolic event with those at the, 'Helm' presiding over. It was a pleasure to trace the evolution/introduce,GRASS,OS-GIS, and the paradigm of Indian digital technology vis-a-vis OSGeo and OSGeo India. An old caricature of attendees hair, turning GRASS green added to the presentation provided a lighter moment. The presentation is below and one might Hack/Change/Adopt at similar events.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ekeyrbgfkou7622/OSGeoIndiaGIS.odp?dl=0
Inaugular https://plus.google.com/114935751871526846208/posts/htqAfzEdWQT

'''OSGeo Live DVD''':
OSGeo India included all the Conference Proceedings in the Live-DVD and distributed it the participants. My humble self mentioned in my inaugural presentation that the essence of all OSGeo and OS-GIS software are tucked into the live DVD. It was also emphasised that the Live-DVD is a way of seeing all the software run on once computer / Laptop without soiling it by booting with it. Use of Virtual Machine on certain operating systems, which are not boot-friendly to the Live-DVD was also mentioned. As usual the conference acknowledges the untiring effort by live.osgeo.org (http://live.osgeo.org/en/index.html) who keep the DVD afresh with all latest OS-GIS.
https://plus.google.com/114935751871526846208/posts/iXhdxwaePux

'''The Exhibition''':
It is normal practice in India to have stalls of allied agencies, displaying their latest products.
IIIT Hyderabad (the seat of OSGeo India), Survey of India, Wildlife Institute India, NRSC, CSSTEAP/IIRS, Mapbox and Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology were lined up.
https://plus.google.com/114935751871526846208/posts/EpRE3ztZHcT

The FOSS4G went on it's busy schedule with two parallel sessions.
Societal GIS namma-mysuru https://plus.google.com/114935751871526846208/posts/8jYvmCuwt9t
Session on Smart Cities https://plus.google.com/114935751871526846208/posts/26GyJN9DtkK
FOSS4G India 2015 Front Desk https://plus.google.com/114935751871526846208/posts/Hkco7Fjs3H2
Geo4All Rajan https://plus.google.com/114935751871526846208/posts/QxPxNmMHrWR
Panchayath GIS from Kerala. Jaisen. https://plus.google.com/114935751871526846208/posts/SYg1gzWfVWY
Mapbox https://plus.google.com/114935751871526846208/posts/Q4F1SF6QYaE

'''OSGeo India, S.N.Prasad's evening meetings''':
Narendra Prasad was busy hobnobbing with various departments seeking knowledge and acquaintance on OSGeo initiatives. This resulted in two meetings. On 8, 9th June 2015 we had a meeting with Wild Life Institute India and Forest Survey Institute respectively. Of interest are all OSGeo products as well as mobile android mapping applications like Geopapparazi and OSMand. Venka shined at both places with very informative presentations. I have chipped in with a presentation on Geopaparazzi and OSMand. Rajan and Prasad elaborated on various aspects of OSGeo India activity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_Institute_of_India
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Survey_of_India

'''OSGeo India team Hyderabad''': Dr Ramachandra Prasad, has dealt with all the required meetings, replies, portal, name it and you have it done with a smile. During the long months with several postponement of dates, FOSS4G India 2015 was brought to a boil with adept handling. All done in-spite of the relentless summer which was terrible through out India without exception.

'''KAIINOS, IIIT Hyderabad''': The three day FOSS4G India 2015 was largely conducted with their help. Trained by Rajan, they are a group of very energetic experts with uncanny ability in Open Source Software and GIS alike. Many of the projects like mana-rajahmundry.org and the would be namma-mysuru.org projects are nurtured by their team. Right from the word 'GO', the entire event was untiringly conducted by KAIINOS, right from building the website to managing the registration desks.

'''IIRS team''': Team headed by P.L.N.Raju and S.K.Srivastav managed the entire on stage and behind the stage activity with exemplary tact. The very cool nature of S.K.Srivastav received a lot of praise, in the very heated atmosphere of Dehradun which logged 40 Deg Celsius on all the three days of the event.

'''Rajan OSGeo India's account''' (from his email)
"All,
I am just back to Hyderabad after successfully holding the *FOSS4G-India 2015* at IIRS Dehradun [1] with the help of all the co-organisers. We had a very enthusiastic group of about 110+ participants covering researchers, academicians, students, software developers, companies, and Govt functionaries (National and State bodies).

There were 2 Workshops- one on Becoming QGIS Power User by Ujaval Gandhi; and the other on Geospatial Data Processing using R by Kamal
Pandey and AK Jha. About 48 papers and 3 talks on - Use of OSM for Crisis Mapping; Use of Open Standards and Open Source in SDIs (and the
National Roadmap); and on Geo for All initiative were presented. All the full papers, presentations and also Photos will be uploaded in a week's time onto the conference website [1].
The panel discussions towards the end had some wonderful ideas on building Synergy across various organizations by leveraging their
strength, More focus on Capacity Building initiatives, Use and adoption of FOSS4G in GeoSpatial Curriculum, develop and implement focused
solutions for Common users like Linemen (utilities management) to City Mayors, focused efforts on tweaking/improvisation/development of FOSS4G tools aimed at specific verticals like Social forestry, legacy data support, etc.

Would like to mention here that IIRS has developed a tool called Trivim-A free and open source Software for 3D Street Model Generation [2], [3] and it was showcased during the event. GPS enabled Photos captured from mobile phones and consumer grade cameras can be used to generate the Street view. Pls do try it out and share your comments with poonam at iirs dot gov dot in. They will soon be choosing an appropriate OSLicence for this product.

-Rajan
OSGeo-India

[1] http://foss4gindia.in/
[2] https://shivareddyiirs.github.io/Trivim1.0_precompiled/
[3] http://shivareddyiirs.github.io/Trivim1.0/

http://foss4gindia.in/Technical%20Program%20Schedule_June9-10_2015.pdf"

=='''''Tenth anniversary of the 1st FOSS (+GIS) Workshop in Geological Survey of India 17-18 May 2005'''''==

it is now ten years since the 1st FOSS workshop was conducted in GSI. Remember how we were perseverent with GRASS GIS which released it's first Live-CD at GRASS USER Conference Bangkok (2014). Venka (whom I met in-person later on) provided us (GRASS Live-CD) mailing it through Yan Chemin. 512km RAM for running GRASS Live-CD was some scale and few computers passed it. My colleague Satyakumar researched on Vector GIS with exemplary success, while P.K.Sinha made a commendable job out of GRASS Raster operations. For us to do all that, that we are used to on ARC-GIS, was the aim and we proved that ,YES it can be done to a frowning crowd of admirers of all that is not FOSS.

My search for a, 'GRASS expert', in IIS Bangalore resulted in Discovering SACON and all the wonderful persons only a few kilometers from GSI Bandalaguda. Santosh was (is) of a great help. The point was to show GSI, that FOSS GIS is accepted and used in other GOI and allied organisations.

Prasad garu demonstrated the GRASS clone GRDSS. Our effort to bring in people from IIS inspite of my making a personal journey (GSI did not sanction a tour) to IIS Bangalore, culminated into a better result.

By 2007 we experimented and shifted to OpenJUMP and jumped around the country spreading the good word of FOSS GIS. Our 1st leg was Bangalore.. but this time to taste outright success.
The training otherwise provided using ARC-GIS was totally shifted to FOSS GIS. OpenJUMP, PostGIS, ILWIS, and Inkscape were acquainted. Ramamurthy, B.KSahoo and P.K.Sinha translated the entire Mineral Prognostication Exercise int FOSS GIS. Training was provided with a few trainers travelling to train around 20 trainees at each region, Bangalore (twice), Jaipur, Lucknow, Visakhapatnam, Shillong making an economical sense. Trainees received training on their own data on computers they use (no further installation required etc).

Ten years on, we are now weeks away from FOSS4G India 2015. The lovely struggle continues.
Some photos here

https://plus.google.com/u/0/114935751871526846208/posts/NWVCdABfsf9?pid=6150212060128456690&oid=114935751871526846208

https://plus.google.com/u/0/114935751871526846208/posts/ZstWh95YrAn?pid=6150215942741675842&oid=114935751871526846208

=='''''Karnataka Central University Gulbarga; 16,17 February 2015.. GIS OpenSource'''''==
A -2- day event on ''''Real Time GIS'''', was conducted at 'Central University Karnataka (CUK)', campus Gulbarga. The '''OSGeo India''' were happy to be a resource for this well attended event with a forenoon of lectures and afternoon of hands-on training. '''K.S.Rajan''', explained how real-time data can be used in Open GIS siting example of an award winning software. V.Ravi Kumar, showcased evolution of 'Information Technology in India', and OSGeo India's '''mana-rajahmundry.org'''. Open Street Maps (OSM) digitization and using OSMAND an android mobile application for capturing real-time data were the hands on experience on 16 th February 2015. '''D.Shenguptha''' a promising student of Geography from Mysuru university also helped in acquainting participants using OSMAND android mobile (GIS) application. '''P.S.Roy''', '''Narendra Prasad''',''' R.C.Prasad''' and '''G.Gowtham''' made their presentations and conducted hands on experience on 17th February 2015. P.S.Roy elucidated various spatial-data available siting Indian examples while Narendra Parasad explained environmental projects of Western Ghats eco-system. Prof '''Priya Srihari''' CUK organised the event with very enthusiastic students and faculty attending the lectures and hands-on with equal gusto. It is worth mentioning that the hands-on for OpenStreetMaps and OSMAND was taken like fish taking water. The out-door experience with OSMAND was very enthusiastically done with some girls preferring a run for real time tracking.
'''Dean Prof. Ali Raza Moosvi''' showed us various departments of, The School of Earth Science and an array of well established class rooms and laboratories.

'''Videos'''
http://youtu.be/h8mU3kxpxFU
http://youtu.be/-JX3XClmZSE
'''Photos'''
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/114935751871526846208/albums/6117589442505594161
'''Presentation''' link
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B9w1MRvdRxo7dENZTFVSemd2M1U&usp=sharing

=='''''Freedomfest K.L University Vijayawada 6,7 Feb 2015.. GIS OpenSource'''''==
Introduced to a very young crowd Societal GIS through '''Openstreetmaps and OSMand''' application.
The talk became a lecture for 1.5 hrs (due to delayed lunch). The young crowd was shown a '''comparison of the Googlemaps with OSM''', and explained why they should share Geospatial data. mana-rajahmundry.org was show cased and how societal GIS benefits for a transparent administration.
Pl download useful '''Open Source GIS presentation and exercises''' material from link
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qp7pybj5c08jdw3/AAChplA_X1U7_92shruNarbXa?dl=0
'''Photos of the event'''
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/114935751871526846208/albums/6113343620481701841

=='''Popularising mana-rajahmundry.org Societal GIS through a Quiz'''==
On the offer are 'TWO Android Mobiles with OSMand app installed', which are detailed in the above website (Quiz-FAQ menu).
There was an enthusiastic crowd at Rajiv Gandi Educational Institutes Rajahmundry, to listen to 'How and Where' etc to participate in the Quiz.
Hopefully the three rounds of Quizzing will harvest a crop of budding enthusiasts, to help society through Open GIS and Open Geospatial Data.
Some photos of the event are below.
https://plus.google.com/114935751871526846208/posts/cFvFFST9asa

=='''INCA-34 International Congress, Hyderabad, India (16 to 18th Dec 2014)'''==
OSGeo India has been participating in the Indian National Cartographers Comngress since 2007 and as usual we are thankful to the organisers for offering a Stall and a few registrations. This very well attended -3- day conference attracts all the 'Whos Who', of Indian Cartography and Geospatial domains. Our Stall is a hit with the young and the matured alike with Free DVDs of OSGeo Live exchanged for answers to a questionnaire.
The Surveyor General of India, who is also OSGeo India's chairman, announced about the Open GIS and Open Data project of mana-rajahmundry.org. He has also hinted the luke-warm response shown by the administrators and end user of the project, namely Municipal Corporation Rajahmundry. The very colourful poster came very handy in showcasing mana-rajahmundry.org as the underground venue of the event had a slow internet connection.

In the panel discussion, the role of Free and Open GIS being propagated by OSGeo India in bringing GIS close to the masses of India is explained.
Photos and a video are below.
D.V.S Sharma, researcher of Rajahmundry project, Gowtham and Mahendra of KAIINOS an, Open GIS Company, attended along with the executive of OSGeo India.

https://plus.google.com/photos/114935751871526846208/albums/6094578374051450049?banner=pwa
OSGeo India at Panel discussion of INCA-34 (Pl Excuse this jerky cell phone video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQDVTN5unTY

=='''OSGeo India Event: Societal GIS for the city of Mysuru (3,4th Dec 2014)'''==
'''Mysuru the princely capital''' of Karnataka State (South India) is one of the well developed OSM cities. Thanks to the efforts of Physics '''Professor Dr Sridhar''', we have a very good database of Mysuru city. The plan is to tune it for societal GIS; Ex: mana-rajahmundry.org being mentored by OSGeo India.
The 1st day and 2nd day forenoon were dedicated to acquainting the participants with Open Street Maps and using OSMand (and android mobile app). The last afternoon was used for brain-storming towards namma-mysuru.org, and the data that has to be further generated.

In essence it was decided to collect data for, ward-boundaries, slums, angan-wadis(cresche), sewage, garbage dumps/bins, water-supply, bus-stops. An NGO '''grahakara-vedikai''' (consumer forum) was also part of the discussions who will ultimately be using this Open Source and Open Geospatial data effort for 'Grievance Redressal' and other societal causes.

Some photos and video of the event are below.

http://youtu.be/30GLHqr7rWk
Enthusiastic participants
http://youtu.be/UBInkTzy4e0
Prof Sridhar acquainting participants with OSM and OSMand

=='''Societal GIS with OsmAnd and GPSessentials'''==
Ooty is a great cool place in south India to be in the month of May. This year wanted to actually go mobile mapping in Ooty for Societal GIS. Googlemaps and Openstreetmaps are full of information about Hotels, Bazars and roads etc. Ooty on the web has little information about, Toilets, Gutters, Slums, Schools (Govt schools for poor people) and hotels for a budget tourist. Also there is less information about the rich Tribal heritage, and a very fragile ecosystem. There is a need to develop Eco-Tourism, where in tourists can be conducted through all heritage sites and also explained how important it is to preserve the environmental balance.

CPREEC http://www.ecoheritage.cpreec.org/
This organisation helped us a lot by providing guides on our traverses. We have made a presentation of work done emphasising the usefulness of GIS and societal GIS. Hope we can do a more concerted work in these lines in time to come.

http://www.slideshare.net/ravivundavalli/ooty-societalgis

We have found both OsmAnd and GPSessentials useful for this work. The Samsung Android phone worked quite well. A DellSTREAK-7 Android tablet
was comparatively slow in acquiring GPS. It also helps having an extra power source, as mobiles use power quickly. I used an Iball external power source. We have also used a Holux GPS tracker just to compare with tracks of Android mobile.

Self and Ajay of Rajahmundry GIS project enjoyed the work in the company of Thrimoorthy and Shivdaas who helped us guiding through our traverses. Mr Kumaravely of CPREEC, Ooty was very cooperative and helped us through our work.

=='''OSGeo India at Training Institute, Geological Survey of India, 'OSGeo Live Initiation' February 11th 2014'''==
OSGeo Live DVD was demonstrated to a crowd of trainees (students) from Developing world and to Post MSc diploma students.
After a brief account of Philosophy of FOSS, GNU-Linux OSGeo Live was demonstrated show casing Qgis. Open Data concepts were
showcased through Open Street Maps(OSM), and also how Qgis can allow setting a background of OSM. A lively discussion followed and
a couple of notable interactions are below.

1. Seeing maps (background) for generating data for Societal GIS, a trainee quipped, 'drawing some lines wont make GIS but having several Layers of Information'. I totally agreed with him and suggested that the depth of an open GIS data set, is what you make from it. Do a thorough job, have layers of:
Roads, Sanitation, Schools, Hospitals, Government property, waste disposal .. digitize as KML outputs from OSM, import them in Qgis for a thorough attribution and, there you have a model for Societal GIS. Teach administrators how to benefit from it.

2. It was emphasised that customisation of GIS was only possible in Open Source GIS, and that one can run a thriving business and sell Open Source GIS. A trainee quipped that, ARC-GIS, a proprietary GIS, can also be customised. I have at length explained that 'YES', but only by those who can access to the source code. In contrast, the Open Source GIS can be customised, Ex Open Source GIS can be translated to a local language, by any one conversant.

The lecture also included, how, joining a mailing list of each OSGeo GIS software can help solve problems.

It was nostalgia for me, to be back where I retired six years ago. Meeting colleagues, Aneel, Ramamurthy,N.R.S.Reddy, Durgarao, Nageswaran, Samuel Sukumar, brought back memories of teaching Open Source GIS going around the country, which again is only possible with Open Source GIS
(no issues with available licenses.. a big stumbling block for closed source proprietary GIS).
Exercises and data for acquainting with Qgis and OpenJUMP. Use link to download pl. All the best to trainees who visit this.
Data https://db.tt/NReLbozh, https://db.tt/hOf2fu8A, https://db.tt/5QPJUdQD, https://db.tt/xxHdYHIL, https://db.tt/90BzwMKN
PDF of OpenJUMP exercise https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55790728/OJ-Indian-Nuclearpowerplant.pdf
PDF of Qgis exercise https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55790728/qgisNuclearEx.pdf

=='''OSGeo India Winter School at IIIT Hyderabad 2014'''==
UNDER DRAFTING.. Will be out soon.

=='''OSGeo India and Adi Kavi Nannaya University Training workshop 23 - 25 January 2014'''==
The training workshop is focused on 'Societal GIS', showcasing Rajahmundry Open Source GIS project, which is sponsored by Department of Science and Technology(DST).
OSGeo India Chairman and Surveyor General of India, Swarna Subba Rao spoke at the Inauguration, along with Rajahmundry City administration, District Collector,East Godavari, Revenue Development Officer (RDO) and Municipal Commissioner Rajahmundry. The well attended inauguration of the training workshop was held at Central Tobacco research Institute (CTRI). The Registrar AKNU presided over the function, with Director CTRI and Science College principal and HOD Geology Dept attending the same. My old self showcased GIS data of Rajahmundry a 2nd tier city of Andhrapradesh. Queries showcased the importance of GIS for administration, focusing on financially weaker localities of the city and reach of societal welfare measures like Fair Prise Shops. A Query to initiate planning for a twelve yearly religious event namely 'Godavari (river) Pushkaralu (a 12 day once in twelve years holy dip event)', where nearly a million pilgrims descend on the anceant river banks of the city streaching the administration to it's limit, was also shown. The District collector spoke high of the importance of GIS data and wanted it for all the cities of the district.
Dr Raghu of APSRAC, Prof Rajan IIIT(treasurer OSGeo India), Prof K.V.Swamy, Prof Venkatesh Raghavan (OSGeo International, ZOO project), Mahalakshmi Narayanan (NIC Chennai), Goutham (MD Kaiinos a FOSS GIS Company), researchers of Rajahmundry GIS Project, Sharma and Ajay and self conducted the training. The training mainly focused on 'Societal GIS', how with every thing, 'free', from GIS software to spatial data GIS can be created. Vector data was created using OpenStreet map (OSM) for the trainees area of interest using JOSM. The data was attributed with field work and further improved with a tracker GPS. GPS Tracks and JOSM vector data were fused on Qgis with proper attribution. Qgis was initiated through 'India Nuclear Plant exercise' by Sharma and Ajay.
Dr Raghu showcased Watershed creation, while Rajan elaborated of customising FOSS4G tools. Gowtham showed how to tweak FOSS4G tools, while Mahalakshmi Narayanan narrated tools on android smart phone about garbage disposal in Chennai. Venka summed up the spirit OSGeo and FOSS4G tools, touching the entire gamut of OSGeo.
Prof Victor George Vice Chancelor of AKNU (university)and Venka distributed certificates to the trainees.
The trainees are from AKNU Geoinformatics, Yogi Vemana University Kadapa, Geoinformatics Dept Nizamabad and SRTM University Nanded.

Some photos of the event are at the following link.
https://plus.google.com/photos/114935751871526846208/albums/5974553028927377089?banner=pwa

=='''OSGeo India Booth at Visakhapatnam, India'''==
Indian Society of Geomatics and Indian Society of Remote Sensing conducted a National Seminar on 'Remote Sensing and GIS for Environment with Special Emphasis on Marine and Coastal Dynamics. OSGeo India had a booth at the exhibition of this well attended 3 day event (4 to 6th Dec 2013).
OSGeo India Chairman Swarna Subba Rao spoke at the Inauguration, along with 'Who's Who', of Indian GIS big wigs, while K.S.Rajan (treasurer OSGeo India) received an award for outstanding contribution to GIS and remote sensing in the country. The booth attracted a bee line of students who were eager to experiment with OSGeo software. Copies of OSGeo Live-DVD were distributed to all those who have answered a questionnaire quizzing about OSGeo and FOSS GIS. My old self, R.C.Prasad (executive of OSGeo India), Goutham (MD Kaiinos a FOSS GIS Company), researchers of Rajahmundry GIS Project, Sharma and Ajay also attended and organised the booth.

Some photos of the event are at the following link.
https://plus.google.com/photos/114935751871526846208/albums/5955407679877239905

=='''OSGeo India Training FOSS GIS at SRTM University,Nanded, India'''==

Open source GIS software training workshop from 03-10-2013 to 05-10-2013 was conducted by
Mr. M. Ajay Kumar and Mr. D.V.S.Sarma in Sri Ramananda Teerth Marthwada Univesity, Nanded. Researchers,
Students of P G Diploma Geoinformatics and some of faculty members of school of Earth Sciences
participated. OpenJUMP, QGIS and ILWIS software are acquainted by Ajay and Sarma.
Vector analysis (Creation of Point, line and polygon, Overlay operations and Topology building) was explained
in OpenJUMP and QGIS. Raster analysis (Geo-Referencing, Image to Image rectification, Layer stacking, Supervised
and unsupervised classification) was introduced using ILWIS. Prof Krishnamachari, of SRTM organised this event.
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/97511734

=='''OSGeo India @ INCA-33 International congress, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India'''==
OSGeo India participated in INCA-33 congress 19th to 21st Sept 2013, with a booth at it's exhibition. Our main theme was ''''Interoperability between FOSS GIS and other (Proprietary) GIS'''', mainly to erase the inihibitions of those who use Proprietary GIS. So we had a server with PostGIS, connected with Proprietary GIS and CAD on one side and FOSS gis on the other, talking to each other.

OSGeo India's booth also sported young talent from an Open Source Geospatial company, http://www.kaiinos.com/ , represented by G.Gowtham it's co-founder. There was a query from an adjoining booth, on providing support and maintenance for Post-GIS server. Incidentally the booth belongs to ESRI.

'''OSGeo Live DVDs''':
As usual the OSGeo India booth was prepared with a hundred Live-DVD copies with attractive labels. The DVDs were to be won by all those who answer a questionnaire on FOSS GIS and OSGeo it self. An accompanying pamphlet of OSGeo India provides all the necessary guidance to the questionnaire. As you can see from the photos a lot of young GIS enthusiasts thronged the booth to win the DVDs, and were keenly studying the OSGeo India pamphlet.
Thanx to OSGeo Live project, we the OSGeo India could keep young talent interested in FOSS GIS. 'Cat Herding...OSGeo Live style, is great'.

OSGeo India, Chair Swarna Subba rao, felicitated V.Jayaraman who gave a spirited lecture on Cartography and GIS citing examples from John Snow to Beck's Map of London Underground (http://lazarus.elte.hu/cet/academic/cull.pdf ), as part of, 'Todarmal Memorial Lecture'.
From OSGeo India, R.C.Prasad, G.Gowtham of IIIT Hyderabad and Ajay, Sharma of AKN University Rajahmundry and self participated. Prof Solanki, NIRD, Jaipur,Charter Member of OSGeo, participated and presented his paper on 'Training in FOSS GIS'.

The INCA is an affliate of ICA, and ICA has an MOU with OSGeo. OSGeo India had it's presence right from 2007, with a booth to spread the good word of Open Source GIS.

'''Photos''' are at the following link.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/114935751871526846208/albums/5929681147362797809

=='''SWECHA (Free Software Telugu UBUNTU) OSGeo India Workshop Godavari Institute of Engineering Technology, Rajahmundry, A.P, India'''==

An Open Source Software -2- day event was held 19,20 July 2013 at Godavari Institute of Engineering Technology (GIET), Rajahmundry. The very well attended event (more than 60 attendees) dealt with various Free and Open Source Software subjects, including Installation of Ubuntu on the attendee laptops, Python and PHP programming besides an Introduction to Open Street Maps (OSM).
The feed back spoke highly of training imparted on all subjects with particular reference to Python programming, PHP and OSM.

The venue provided by GIET and convened by Prof Rama Sundari is quite convenient with attendees sitting on round tables with their laptops. WIFI provided was weak and it could not meet the OSM online digitization. OSGeo India helped by researchers Sharma and Ajay (Adi Kavi Nannaya University Rajahmundry) went around installing OSM and GIET image on laptops for the hands on exercise.

Swecha and OSGeo India team included Prof Pratap reddy (JNTU, Hyderqabad), My self, Naveen,Abhinay, Sandeep Sashi, Suneel Mohan.

It is felt that preparing Subject wise LIVE DVDs that can work with 'Localhost'(without internet) for PHP, Python etc can improve the training performance.
Link to Photos and Video
http://www.panoramio.com/photo_explorer#user=4879556&with_photo_id=93465781&order=date_desc
http://youtu.be/1Son77n-7X4

=='''FSMI (Free Software Movement India) Workshop Chirala, A.P, India'''==

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/training-programme-on-foss-technology/article4723377.ece

As part of this two week programme, OSGeo India conducted a session on Open Street Maps on 5th June 2013. Researchers of Adi Kavi Nannaya University, Rajahmundry Sharma and Ajay introduced tyhe audiences to OSGeo and FOSS GIS, along with distribution of OSGeo Live DVDs.

Stressing on FREE Spatial data generation, they have introduced the young (twenty ish) audience to JOSM The Openstreetmaps GUI, for mapping neighborhood. The attendees who are already aware of the FOSS revolution were thrilled to generate maps using FOSS GIS. Sharma and Ajay experienced through the Rajahmundry FOSS GIS project have demonstrated the ease and power of Openstreetmaps for societal benifits, like City Planning, Garbage removal sanitation, Traffic management etc.

http://www.panoramio.com/photo_explorer#view=photo&position=1&with_photo_id=91433197&order=date_desc&user=4879556

=='''National Workshop and Brainstorming Session on Geoheritaze, 'Need for Activism' 30,31 May 2013'''==
Organised with the collaboration of INTACH and Geological Survey of India, by Geology Deptt, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India.

As a Geologist I always thought about my field work, photos and the scribbled field notes there on right from the early 70s when computers were not in vogue (at least around India); How all my work is translated into shades of various colors on a map (Geological) and all the details of my Geological reports nearly vanishing into thin air. Always wanted to put finer details on a webpage well illustrated with photos.

Then came this workshop (above)and I thought I will exchange ideas with the crowd that is going to attend. I retraced my very first field work (as a B.Sc student 1966) trying to see what ever is the present status of Inter-trappean beds. Armed with a Blumax GPS and a Smart Phone I rode on my bike with Dr Peter a Geologist from Adi Kavi Nannaya university, Rajahmundry.
Field Work: Peter could show me the intertrappean beds but on the quarry walls which are dangerous to approach. We found a few chunks of the calcareous rock with Turritella, Phisa fossils still intact. I wished that at least a portion of this must be preserved as Geological Heritage and Geotourism.

Field Work and GIS: The track along with photos are converted to KML and KMZ for Digital globes Openstreetmaps and Google-Earth respectively such that every one can see. Pnaromio (http://www.panoramio.com/map/) is almost a Postbox for Googlemaps while the Kml file that can be generated works well with JOSM (an Openstreetmap Dessktop GUI).

The Workshop: Seeing Mr Bhargava's (Google *himalayan geology bhargava*) photographs of Himachal Pradesh, Lahaul Spiti was a treat indeed. All those locales can be considered for Geoheritage sites. But Alas, If only these wonderful photos are Geo-Tagged and become accessible to rest-of-the-world like in http://lahaulspiti.net/, the point will be nailed further.

Summary: I felt that the brainstorming is indeed a little push to awaken a somnambulist society to preserve Heritage.
Funding: Do your bit, blog and Geotag photos with small notes for the community. Do not wait for funding.
Geotourism: Make Geoheritage tours popular. Combine Geology, Archeology, Anthropology and even mythology together to make tours. Train Geoguides (a source of generation for employment). Decorate a website with all notes and photos.

Restive crowd: I found the crowd (learned later that many young attendees are from INTACH) nearly admonish a speaker 'Not to Read the Slides'.

FYI
INTACH = The Indian National Trust For Art and Cultural Heritage
http://www.intach.org/

Presentations: Mine is at http://www.slideshare.net/ravivundavalli/geotourism-geoheritage-22313164
Hope other presentations will be put on the web too.
Wish all the nice photos shown are geotagged, and personally I extend help needed, in geotagging (email photos with location, and will set them on Panoramio).

=='''SRTM University Nanded June 2012'''==

It was my pleasure to accompany Prof Venkatesh Raghavan to SRTM University Nanded (29th June 2012), for show casing FOSS GIS. The Head of earth Science Department and Prof Krishnamachari arranged a well attended session of lectures and hands on practice. Prof Venkatesh Raghavan Showcased 'Mapmint' a webgis tool based on FOSS4G tools with a live example of Rajkot (Gujarat India) Urban GIS. A hands on exercise using OpenJUMP completed the event with enthusiastic students and researchers acquainting with the userfriendly GUI of OpenJUMP.

Our visit to Saraswathi temple, BASARA A.P and Gurudwara at Nanded were vey memorable.

photos
https://plus.google.com/photos/114935751871526846208/albums/5762625472852735105/5762625793259035170

=='''Rajahmundry GIS May 2012'''==

Prof Venkatesh Raghavan, of Osaka university Japan, has spent 19 to 21st May at Rajahmundry, as a guest to Adi Kavi Nannaya University taking up a project to add more content and web-enable Rajahmundry GIS, funded by Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Rajahmundry Municipal Corporation (MCR). Interacted with Honourable Member of Parliament Vundavalli Aruna Kumar, who initiated Rajahmundry GIS project in 2007 the basis for present endeavour. Discussion about the power of FOSS GIS for transparent administration and Citizens grievance redressal was very interesting for all attendees.

Prof Swamy and researchers Sharma and Ajay showcased collection and collation of latest data, including intutive ways like georeferrencing street electric poles for location and crime mapping in particular.

=='''Lok Pal Bill, and Citizens Grievance Redressal Mechanism (March 2012)'''==

Mass movements seeking transparent administration are sweeping right across many parts of the world, and India is no exception. Free and Open Source GIS that can be translated to Indian languages and customised to specific needs can really help such an endeavor. Both the houses of Indian Parliament have constituted committees to for 'Lok Pal and Citizens Grievance Redressal Mechanism'.

'''How Free and Open Source GIS can be of Help'''

Grievances can be recorded digitally using Geographic Information System (GIS). This provides a way of recording and visualising the grievance along with the adjoining information on a digital map enabling a quick analysis and redressal. Free and Open Souce GIS can be used for this with the screens (front ends) translated to regional languages, making it accessible to urban and rural areas with equal ease. Copy of the grievance can be provided along with a map/ image. This approach can help in quick redressal of cases as an analysis can be done using spatial relation. Cost of the system is almost free except for the cost of the computers needed and training of personnel, which OSGeo India can plan and provide on a relatively low budget.

The adage "A picture is worth a thousand words" refers to the notion that a complex idea can be conveyed with just a single still image. It also aptly characterizes one of the main goals of visualization, namely making it possible to absorb large amounts of data quickly.

'''Location Based Service (LBS) and Citizens Charter''':

What is LBS and how it helps in identifying or pin-pointing grievance with a location, such that other related issues can be understood.
Location Based Service is “any service or application that extends spatial information processing,or GIS capabilities, to end users via the Internet and/or wireless network”.

'''How Grievance redressal is helped by LBS and GIS:'''

Receiving Grievance: Typically a Grievance is recorded as a note or a memo submitted to the authority concerned. With GIS as an additional information, the location of the grievance, is pinpointed on the concerned Digital Map, and a print of the memo along with the portion of digital map is given as a receipt.

'''Collation of information of grievances:'''

The grievances are collated on the GIS to support analysis and suggest posible remedies and redressal. Data base of grievances collected earlier and redressal there on are also visible on screen in the GIS.
Ex: A grievance about the spread of gastroentitis in an area and action taken.
Incidense of the decease when shown on GIS shows the related data like, sewage, waste disposal and hospitals. The concerned departments of the governament can also view the GIS for quick action. The internet enabled GIS can make the grievance visible to all the departments of the governament at various levels,for a quick action there on.

=='''Open Source WEB-GIS capacity building Workshop (22 to 26th Feb 2011)'''==

This workshop with a -5- day duration was organised by OSGeo India in collaboration with
Adi Kavi Nannaya University (AKNU), Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh South India.

The 1st two days were for an introduction to Open Source GIS including Open Jump and Database GIS
PostGIS. Two days were used for OpenGeo Suite, with the last day for rendering layers of interest
for the participants.
OpenJUMP exercise, included, acquaintance through a mock exercise locating a Nuclear Powerplant, digitisation of a raster map attribution, and rendering a suitable cartographic output using Inkscape.
PostGIS exercise included the same mock exercise used for OpenJUMP in a database GIS format, where a few SQL queries and give the result thus creating an impression on the power of PostGIS. Making a PostGIS database table, importing comma delimited files, projecting Long Lat data into a choice of projections was also explained. The GIS data of the city of Rajahmundry was used for the exercise.
OpenGeo suite was explained through all it's components, Geoserver, Geostyler, Geoexplorer and Open Layers using GIS data of the city of Rajahmundry. An account of using Udig for editing webserved GIS data was also touched upon.

The training included installation of all the software.

The Participants included teachers researchers and professionals of Geoinformatics, Computer Science, Maths
and Life Sciences.

This is the first capacity building workshop of it's kind by OSGeo India and the notes and material prepared
make the basis for future endeavours.

The resource persons included Subhakar a researcher of AKNU, Santosh Gaikwad, Achari from SACON Hyderabad and
myself.

The workshop was inaugurated by Vice Chancelor of the university. The validiction, was attended by Aruna Kumar
Hounarable Member of Parliament who funded the first ever project in Open Source GIS for the city of Rajahmundry.
Swarna Subba Rao, Surveyor General, Survey of India distributed certificates to the participants.
Prof K.S.Rajan, of OSGeo India gave a good account of OSGeo and how millions can be saved by shifting to
Open Source Software.

Prof Bhargava registrar, Prof Verma and Prof Swamy of AKNU spoke eloquently about the event.

All the participants expressed their desire to put to use skills learned.

Some photographs of the events may be viewed from the following link.
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=vundavalli.photos&target=ALBUM&id=5586014932405930801&authkey=Gv1sRgCLbn0vjKtKqP9QE&feat=email

=='''OSGeo India at Geospatial World Forum (GWF), Hyderabad, India January 18 - 21,2011 '''==
The Geospatial World Forum is a mega jamboree with the, 'Who's Who' of Information Technology
(IT), India's Remote Sensing (RS)Industry, socialising with leading business companies of the GIS.

OSGeo's '''Open Source Initiatives''' (19th Jan)
Just to see how Open Source GIS is received, have Googled, 'GWF 2011 Hyderabad' and found that the 1st five show, 'India: Mission GIS for billions of people can be achieved with Open Source..'. On The 61st Republic Day of India, am blogging, to show the world that 'India needs FOSS GIS for transparent administration and Indic translation for a sustainable GIS'.
http://www.pressreleasepoint.com/open-source-initiatives-so-far-gwf-2011

Arnulf attired in a white tie and suite, quipped that,as a manager, in this event, he is wearing clothes as other managers, and that he is more comfortable in a T-Shirt. He also took a break from the Session he chaired, 'Open Source Initiatives', to attend a Seminar 'Spatial Data Infrastructure', to presnt, 'ESDIN - Best Practice European SDI Network'.
A bulletin by 'GIS Developement', can be seen in the link below.
http://picasaweb.google.com/vundavalli.photos/OSGeoGWF19Jan201102?authkey=Gv1sRgCKKQr8ax4Zq6RQ

Arnulf's presentation about INSPIRE gave the inspiration for FOSS GIS, in the session.
Dr Shiv Kumar, CEO NSDI, Chairing the session participated in the active discussion, with a query (hazard summing up for brevity), 'Is Open Source GIS, Dependable / Powerful enough for an SDI', to which Arnulf answered, 'Yes it is.. for sure and INSPIRE depends on it'.
But for this ''inadvertent planning error to send a Session's Chairman tip-toeing in and out of another Session'', by the organisers, we wouldn't have an audience that uses proprietary Software, and received a proven message/example of an alternative.

''''OSGeo's Open Source Initiatives'''', session(Jan 19th 14 to 1800 Hrs) continued with -8- presentations in a packed house. Two presentations from Indian space Research organisation by Dr Diwakar and Dr Harish Karnatak, three from academia by Dr Raghavan, Dr Rai and Dr Rajan, one by environmental agency SACON by Dr Prasad, one from a Commercial company k-Cube by Kuamaran and lastly by a full time OSGeo Evangelist my self.
The '''audience included''' Mr Swarna Subba Rao, Surveyor General, Survey of India, Dr Moorthi, Director General, Geological Survey of India, and Dr Ayyasami, Deputy Director General G.S.I, Hyderabad, Kiran Chandra of Free Software Moment India (FSMI), Prf Swamy of AKN Univ, Prf Krishnamachari SRTM Univ, and scores FOSS GIS users, academics, professionals. OSGeo international was representated by Arnulf, Prf Maria, Charter member, and Prf Giuseppina Vacca (Italy Sardinia). Prf Suchith Anand of Nottingham University (OGIS event U.K) was present for the Open Source Initiatives seminar.
http://picasaweb.google.com/vundavalli.photos/OpenSourceInitiativesOSGeoGWF19Jan2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCKjcnYqe2YjdTQ

'''WEB-GIS:'''
Prf Maria, Politecnico di Milano, Italy prsented 'A Voxel 3D tool for WEB Visualisation of environmental variables'( using FOSS GIS). Heard that it was well received, and very interesting.

Jan 19th Evening ''''Icebreaker'''':
Dr Rajan OSGeo India's treasurer arranged a party in a decent joint round the corner from his IIIT Hyderabad. There was fun and socialising between the international representatives of OSGeo.

Jan '''20th Fore noon at IIIT''' Hyderabad:
Dr Rajan arranged an interaction with his FOSS GIS researchers. Many of us also used the occasion to present ourselves and work initiatives.
For Maria and Vacca the luncheon was special, with young students squatting on suitably designed tables.
http://picasaweb.google.com/vundavalli.photos/IIITHyderabad20Jan2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCJeBlujx9s3U1wE

'''Jan 20th Developers Forum''':
It was a pleasure to watch FOSS GIS tools and their customisation being presented on 'Spatial Cloud Computing', Prabuddha Ghosh, Customizability of FOSS GIS, S.M.Moorthi and 'Java plugin for Geoserver', B.Dhanapal.
''''COTS'= Commercial Off The Shelf software, is used to describe various software, and I explained at length that FOSS GIS = COTS and Proprietory GIS = COTS but FOSS GIS -NOT EQUAL TO- COTS. You can make a living selling and providing services for FOSS GIS.'''
http://picasaweb.google.com/vundavalli.photos/GWF20Jan2011DevelopersForum?authkey=Gv1sRgCMqT_aufotmRgAE

'''Jan 21st Geospatial Science Forum''':
Prf Venkatesh Raghavan, gave a very well received presentation 'ZOO' his pet project that can even accept FORTAN code (Oh FORTRAN-4 nostalgia). He started explaining ''WPS to a rapt audience as 'Why Pay for Software''', breaking them into laughter.

'''Open Street Maps (OSM) at GWF''':
It was the third lecture at the Geospatial Science Forum, by Dr Alexander Zipf, who eloquently introduced OSM and the path it is breaking, going 3D etc. He said 'At Least in Europe', explaining OSM's popularity in Europe, for various developments and use. I have communicated to Zipf, that OSGeo India has a grand design for using OSM, and a session for FSMI is going to be initiated in the after noon By Prf H.S.Rai.
http://picasaweb.google.com/vundavalli.photos/GWF21stJan2011GeospatialScienceForum?authkey=Gv1sRgCKHQhNfwidWIvwE

'''Jan 21st After noon ' Location Intelligence and Emerging Trends:'''
Prf Giuseppina Vacca, presented LBS with Open Source Software, through a well illustrated presentation focusing on tourist information.

'''Exhibition''':
The Stall of Assam and Jarhkhand, states that are using Open Source Tools, and GRASS GIS, were of great interest. GARIIASI is the FOSS GIS software they initiated. Hope such novel attempts will multiply in future making GIS sustainable, for various states of India.
http://picasaweb.google.com/vundavalli.photos/JSACGRASSPostGIS?authkey=Gv1sRgCPfmtrHCkO-dswE

'''Open Stree Maps for FSMI''':
Prf H.S.Rai, acquainted -6- enthusiasts of FSMI in using OSM for developing maps for Hyderabad. The focus will be for Water supply, Toilets and Tourism initially. This will provide a tool for administrators to help planning in backward and slum areas of the city.
http://picasaweb.google.com/vundavalli.photos/OSGeoInitiatingFSMForOSM?authkey=Gv1sRgCM_L4oaMj9C0UA

Feed back to GWF organisers:
OSGeo gave a telivised feed back to GWF. We find the event very nicely coordinated, with exceptional hospitality and good food. We are thankful to the organisers for allowing OSGeo India members and admirers alike for the Jan 19th OSGeo event, without any registration. The exhibition was well organised and stalls full of viewers hearing explanations intently.
http://picasaweb.google.com/vundavalli.photos/FeedBackVideoGWF21Jan2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCOKg87jjioaEfw

Arnulf's INSPIRE presentation at FOSS4G2010
http://2010.foss4g.org/presentations_show.php?id=3387

'''Geological Survey of India's impressive STALL:'''
Felt at home visiting the GSI's stall, displaying GSI's progress in their portal. Director General, GSI, Dr Sundara Moorthy, Deputy Director General, Dr Ayyasami, received Surveyor General, Sri Swarna Subba Rao. P.Vijay Kumar, Director Geodata, and P.K.Sinha explained to Surveyor General, the progress GSI has made in it's web-portal and the ported spatial data. Venkatesh Raghavan also met his old friends at The GSI's stall. The STALL with it's impressive displays and an on-line computer displaying GSI's portal was a 'Crowd puller', and it was very satisying the way GSI is progressing under very able and dedicated guidance.
http://picasaweb.google.com/vundavalli.photos/GSIatWGF2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCKLotavsgLbzSg

'''CRITICIZER WELCOME''' pl login creating a Username and password and dissect this blog.

=='''Training Workshop on 'Open Source Geospatial Tools Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pasific (CSSTEP)Affliated to the United Nations January 12 - 14,2011 '''==

This well attended event catered to students from various countries of Asia.
Among various Open Source GIS tools, Dr Narendra Prasad (SACON) explained web-GIS initiatives on Wet Lands, GRASS GIS was by Uttam Kumar, IISC Bangalore, OpenJUMP was
acquainted by me and Prf K.S.Rajan of IIIT Hyderabad, PostGIS Open Layers and
Geoserver by Dr Harish Karnatak and Santosh Gaikwad Map Windows by Dr Hanumantha Rao,
NRSC Hyderabad and Geonetwork (Metadata Catalogue)by Dr Sameer Saran, IIRS.
The training was totally hands-on and installation of Software was part of the
training for sustainability.

Maj Gen Dr Shiv Kumar, NSDI graced the Inauguration of the workshop, while Mr Swarna
Subba Rao, Surveyor General, Survey of India and Dr Negi, Director Forest Research
Institute gave the certificates during Validiction.

Dr P.S.Roy, The representative of OSGeo India who is also Dean of IIRS heading CSSTEP
maticulously planned the event giving leadership. Dr Minakshi Kumar made all
the necessary arrangements to make the event a grand success.

On a personal note I found all the students enjoying the workshop, and two vietnamese
in particular who braved bad weather and hail, on a holiday to spend much of it learning
Mineral Prognostication using OpenJUMP and PostGIS.

Photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=vundavalli.photos&target=ALBUM&id=5565683603403253169&authkey=Gv1sRgCPyWhprhlYjzXg&invite=CJmO5rAD&feat=email
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=101759183641389752232&target=ALBUM&id=5568650157897883153&authkey=Gv1sRgCKqz3pjG1ue9Vg&feat=email

=='''WINTERIM program Univ of Iowa and Gandhi Gram Rural Univ Dec 2010/Jan 2011 '''==

The program started at Madurai from 31st Dec 2010, through an interaction with 'Envirocare', an award winning Organisation of repute dealing with pollution study / control / remedies.

From 4th Jan 2011 to 8th Jan 2011, the students of Iowa university were acquainted with Open Source GIS. GIS data sets were digitised pertaining to Dindigul District of Tamilnadu, including Soil, Roads and Settlements, such that students can use the data to plot their locales / areas of interest and benefit after environmental studies. OpenJUMP was used for Vector GIS while ILWIS was used for 3-D visualisation, using SRTM data of Dindigul district. Inkscape was the CAD introduced. Some photos can be seen from the following link.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=vundavalli.photos&target=ALBUM&id=5565341682711608753&authkey=Gv1sRgCJCIutH8z4ScpwE&invite=CLLSzsUL&feat=email

=='''Department of Geinformatics Gandhi Gram Rural University (GGRU). 15th December 2010 '''==

The ease with which GIS can be achieved using FOSS GIS was demonstrated. Phylosophy and priniciples of OSGeo was explained in this well attended event. The students were advised not to help piracy but only use Licensed software. Presentation of FOSS4G2010 were shown to give them the depth of FOSS GIS's ability. Prof Mani HOD presided over the event, with Prof T.T.Renganathan of Department of Agriculture giving the finishing lines. Some photos of the event and GGRU are below.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=vundavalli.photos&target=ALBUM&id=5551539781968717105&authkey=Gv1sRgCM-08aW14ty7vgE&feat=email

This visit of mine to GGRU was in connection with, 'WINTERIM program University of Iowa and Gandhi Gram Rural University Dec 2010/ Jan 2011'. Could get lot of information for preparing base maps of Dindigul District, to prepare for Open Source GIS initiative.

=='''Department of Geography Andhra University. 27th January 2010 '''==

A lecture come demonstration was held for the students and faculty of The Geography department of Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, explaining the aims of OSGeo and FOSS GIS software propagated. The ease with which GIS can be achieved using FOSS GIS was demonstrated on screen through a simple exercise. Phylosophy and priniciples of OSGeo International were explained in this well attended event arranged by Dr.Suneetha,HOD.
Photos of the event are in the following link
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=ravivundavalli&target=ALBUM&id=5439534974830419105&authkey=Gv1sRgCJyAiZ39ttiK0AE&feat=email

http://www.andhrauniversity.info/science/geography/index.html

=='''Department of Geography Mysore University. 18th November 2009 '''==

'Demistifying GIS, through FOSS GIS', a demonstration was held for the students and faculty of The
Geography department. 'Locating a nuclear power plant in India, querying a set of data of Geology,
drainage, indian boundary and state capitals, was demonstrated using OpenJump. The ease with which GIS can be achieved using FOSS GIS was demonstrated. Phylosophy and priniciples of OSGeo International was explained in this well attended event.
http://www.uni-mysore.ac.in/geography/

==''' Open Source GIS in India: Present Scenario Indian Institute of Science(IIS), Bangalore 16th November 2009 '''==

The OSGeo-India participated in the following event of CiSTUP jointly with KSCST at IIS.
About the institutions browse here.
http://www.iisc.ernet.in/
http://cistup.iisc.ernet.in/
http://kscst.org.in/

The participants were from various departments of IIS and Centre for Ecological studies in Particular. IIS Bangalore is a Tier-1 mirror for GRASS, and is one of the pioneers in FOSS GIS development in India. GRDSS, a flavour of GRASS GIS with routines added for using Indian satellite image formats, is more than 9 years old They not only keep GRDSS updated as GRASS is updated, but also add numerous other functions.

After an initial introduction to OSGeo and it's phylosophy, projects taken up using FOSS GIS were presented. An account of GIS datasets generated for Rajahmundry and the WEB-GIS of the same with Telugu (an Indian language)front end was demonstrated. Using Googlemaps in WEB-GIS for Wet-Lands of Kerala was also demonstrated at length.

Development of GRDSS and it's future was presented by it's principal developers Prf Ramachandra and Mr Uttam Kumar of CES, IIS. The ease with which FOSS GIS is learned and implemented for village administration was demonstrated by Jaisen who was from a humble village background. Jaisen who was a village Clerk, joined in a course of environmental science and then learned to use GRASS for village administration. A presentation from CES IIS, also demonstrated how research on wetlands around the city of Bangalore, and urban sprawl was done using FOSS GIS with MODIS, ASTER and SRTM Free data. Seismological study and microzonation of the city of Bangalore was presented with illustrative maps which are due for convertion into GIS.

Private entrepreneurs like K-Cube, http://www.kcubeconsulting.com/ who run their business using FOSS GIS have participated and also indicated their aims and hope. A discussion on how best FOSS GIS can be implemented and lessons learned completed the event.
Some photos of the event:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lh/sredir?uname=ravivundavalli&target=ALBUM&id=5406858286864853713&authkey=Gv1sRgCPmOyv39tr7WCA&invite=COOc168H&feat=email

=='''The Indian GIS scene -- Hype and reality ''' ==

In the late nineties and early in the present millenum Geographic Information System saw a boom in the Indian market
with millions spent on acquiring proprietory GIS software, hardware and digitisation of existing paper maps. Many universities
started offering courses exclusively in geoinformatics as a seperate subject. Most of the metro cities have embarked on
GIS projects to initiate use of GIS in administration. Many Journals specialising in Mapping and GIS also flowered
and forcasted an exponential growth in GIS as public utility.

In reality, presently GIS is more used by the academia than by administrators. Many of the governamental agencies
are unable to spend for upgrading proprietory GIS software and also lack trained human resource.

So the prevailing scenario is one which shows the need of sustainable GIS.
There are many situations which are true to India unlike the developed world.

FOSS GIS to fight corruption:
The maxim 'Knowledge is power' is very true in grass route administration. The district administration for example
is most important in India. The very able administrators at the top, have to depend on lower level
officials for actually running the administrative machine. The lower level officials have all the ground knowledge
and any public distribution of funds etc is directly dependant on their efficiency. A corrupt low level official
can make a mokery of the most novel of welfare measures. This is where FOSS GIS can help. Among the many possibilities with
FOSS GIS, it can be translated to indian languages and customised.

How FOSS GIS can help:
District level administrative GIS with all the requisite information can do the trick. Being in their
own language, the citizens can in fact correct erroneous data. With this the top administrator can monitor
the situation, and so are the benificiaries who can actually see any scheme functioning on a computer screen.

Examples:
1. Ration cards:
In India ration cards distribution is vital for giving welfare for the poor. Georeferencing each ration card holder
can show their actual spread in various localities such that anamolies can be corrected. If all the ration card addresses
are georeferenced, it can be a boon to the administrator thus reducing chances of bogus ration cards and corruption.

2. Water bodies:
The water bodies like lakes and ponds etc are desilted every year spending tax payers money.
In fact many ponds have become cultivated lands and just do not exist any more. This can be seen by the latest imagery
and even better visualised by seeing periodical images showing change. Quite a lot of research material is generated
on this but very little of it is for helping administrators, as the test cases mostly canvas use of costly Proprietory GIS.

How Open Source GIS can help
Citizens rights:
The state of Andhra Pradesh pioneers in E-Seva which is a Governament to Citizen (G2C) concept. E-Seva centres are spread
in all the towns and can add GIS terminals using Open Source GIS. Citizens can lodge complaints showing on the map (GIS)
sites that require attention from Sanitation to road maintenance etc.

GIS is nothing new but what can be new, is its extensive use for civil administration. Only Open Source GIS can provide
extensive use of GIS by administrators cutting down costs. In India GIS initiative is in the hands of academia giving
it an aura of high and costly technology. This scene can change for the better with proliferation and mass usage of
Free and Open Source GIS.

OSGeo India has done a project for the town of Rajahmundry (presented in FOSS4G2008 http://conference.osgeo.org/index.php/foss4g/2008/paper/view/30/116) involving local students for collecting and analysing data.
Now the second phase of this very project will tune it for actual usage and benifit of society, by focusing on themes like, sanitation, water supply, roads and civic ameneties. Hopefully this example will be emulated for societal benifit.

Project GISDA for Pune City:
http://pcmcgisda.org.in/technology
This is a shining example to emulate in other parts of India. This project uses Open Source software for public administration.

== '''OSGeo-UK : A begining''' ==
Open Source Geospatial and The OSGeo Foundation
Talk by: Jo Cook, of Oxford Archaeology, 22nd Jan 2009

It is a very nice occasion that a few weeks old OSGeo-UK, has started with a, 'curtain raiser' initiative. The talk covered the OSGeo's aims and goals, along with several other allied topics, like "Overview of the open source geospatial stack and the key packages within it". The material is available at http://www.archaeogeek.com/talks/bcs_talk_jcook_notes.pdf.
But for a lack of OS of her choice on the laptop at BCS, Jo could have demonstrated gvSIG using ,openmoko phone, with flexible keyboard, for mobile GIS. Jo, mentioned that there are about 50, members in the OSGeo-UK. There was a mention of the very first conference on 22nd June 2009 at Nottingham (http://cgs.nottingham.ac.uk/~osgis/os_call_showcases.html).
The talk also included lighter moments with a mention of, Open Source Beer project 'http://www.opensourcebeerproject.com/', a news to me.
The talk ended with a lively discussion. I asked about status of free availability of Geospatial data in the UK, and learned that, is still faraway. I was all the time scribbling notes on a piece of paper, which is actually, a map (google-graphic-dump) of the venue, and a route from Covent-Garden, the tube station. I wondered, is this not free spatial data.. where is the glitch.!! The refreshments were so nicely served that, the talk was slightly delayed for the attendees to finish munching.

== ''''You wont get a cent'''' ==

The magic landscape of the Table Mountain welcomed the geologist in me, while the Gandhi in the soul kept my eyes open for anything that can relate to the great man's experiences in this land that made a Mahatma out of a simple law practitioner.

Thanks to the mix up of airport pickups, My arrival was memorable. Coming out of the south African immigration, I searched for the FOSS4G2008 sign, and failed to find any. Squinted at all the Signboards held by persons waiting, to receive various persons. But no sign of my Indian name or OSGeo or FOSS4G2008 appeared. With some hesitation I was at the help desk with my suitcases on toe. The Help-Desk lady called the conference's location, but no one answered. It was 6-30 in the eventing and I was advised to take a taxi to reach the venue, which I eventually agreed after I was assured that the taxi accepts dollar payment too. At the International Convention Center I found the event managers very busy and the lady almost accused me that why I missed the pickup. The lady was so confused that she almost opened a door adjoining the counter she was attending, only to quickly close it after finding that it was actually a fire escape door. The taxi driver was advised to take me to The Fountains Hotel after the event managers gave me an approximate taxi fare of 300 rand. The next morning I returned the unspent amount of 30 rand to the same lady but received no courtesy in the form of 'Thank You' etc. I thought may be this is not reason enough in South Africa.

The conference schedule was so busy that days went like minutes. The Grand Gala dinner at Moyo was wonderful, but I wished the male singer made more of those 'Tongue in Palette', clicking sounds which I understood to be part of African Languages. It is amazing that such large bottoms can make all those wonderful dance movements. Making time for seeing the 'Water Front', and other tourist attractions was quite difficult, and on the last day of my Cape Town Stay, I took the red tourist bus up to the foot hill of the 'Table Mountain', but Alas it was too Windy and the cable car was not functioning, to reach the top
of the, 'Table Mountain'.

On the last day of the Conference, to make sure that my pick up transport to the airport is intact, I paid a visit to the reception desk of the event managers. The Lady who paid for my Taxi was there, with her usual frown. 'Will you please make sure that I get my transport to the airport, tomorrow, I am in room number such and so..', I said politely in my in dish English. 'You wont get a cent,
If you miss your transport', she admonished. Others in the vicinity could feel the tension in the air, but probably were perplexed to see my broad smile.

I thought to my self, ' You made it Ravi, you made it'. That night alone in my room nursing a glass of red-wine, I wondered, what it must have felt like for Gandhi, when he was thrown out of a train in The Then South Africa. http://www.encounter.co.za/article/112.html The next morning I found the OSGeo RSA organizer, Gaven at breakfast. I called Gaven aside and narrated the incident, but laughed it off when he confessed that the same Lady was worse with him. I will remain thankful to those who event-managed FOSS4G2008 for having made my experience so memorable.

== Evangelising FOSS GIS: ==

After being actively involved with FOSS GIS and OSGeo and OSGeo India in particular, I have realised that the much needed proliferation of FOSS GIS and OSGeo software in the developing world (like India) is quite different to the model followed in the developed world. Even the departments like, 'Geological Survey of India', 'NRSA', pioneering in use of GIS in the country, have several (man made) issues which do not exist in the developed world like USA, Italy, Japan and the rest of Europe. For the OSGeo's gospel to be heard in India and Asia you require someone who knows the ground realities. India is already spending billions to GIS enable its gevernance at various levels. But this sure will be a sad storey, as the data products created may not be used due to lack of licenses of Proprietary software. This will create a vaccuum that can be naturally filled by the usage of OSGeo and FOSS GIS softwares. Indian states like Kerala have officially adopted GNU-Linux as the official Operating System, but with mixed success as far as FOSS GIS is concerned. The very 1st workshop for awareness building had a mixed response, due to some issues with the OS. In Kerala software on GNU-Linux is only acceptable.
As Co-Chairman for OSGeo India events, have been going around spreading OSGeo, which is most relevant to Indian conditions. Trying my best to introduce FOSS GIS software in various educational institutions.
Spread of FOSS GIS software is very beneficial to INDIA which has scarce funding. Lot of funds are spent for generation of geospatial data through Proprietary software, which then wait in vain for mass utilization for the lack of licenses of Proprietary GIS. Even if a few hundreds of Proprietary licenses are made available they cannot reach the nooks and corners of this vast highly populated country. So OSGeo can workout a GIS solution for India saving funds. There is also a catch-22 situation where students are only interested in learning skills that can land them a job, and FOSS GIS jobs can proliferate with availability skilled GIS personell. This can be solved by OSGeo's involvement by providing much needed encouragement to students. Conducting OSGeo Capacity building workshops and introducing FOSS GIS in curricula also will go a long way in realizing OSGeo's aims.OSGeo can also help customization of FOSS GIS through translation into Indian languages (already being done) and to suite various needs like, Urban town-planning, Policing, Sanitation etc, by roping in educational institutions providing possible research grants.
Enjoyed visiting places and spreading the good word of OSGeo. Some memories are captured as photos and the dearest is where Kalam's signature hair-cut is displayed. Kalam is the spirit behind Indian Open Source movement.
https://plus.google.com/photos/114935751871526846208/albums/5936807295715954801

== EVENTS of OSGeo India chapter ==

'''January 2007:'''
Free and Open Source Software In Science, 4-6 January, 2007, Union Christian College, Alwaye, Kochi In this programme by a educational institution, the participants were introduced to Free and Open Source GIS software, and the organisations that promote them. A dataset prepared for the city of Hyderabad, using freely available satelite imagery along with freely downloadable SRTM data was demonstrated by V.Ravi Kumar, emphasising FOSS GIS. http://www.space-kerala.org/fsc/index.php/Fsc/FreeAndOpenSourceGIS

'''The 1st OSGeo-India workshop:'''
The very first OSGeo workshop was held at the Map World Forum, Hyderabad 22-25th January 2007. This well attended event was also participated by OSGeo delegates from China, Vietnam and Japan. http://geospatial.blogs.com/geospatial/2007/01/map_world_forum.html http://www.gisdevelopment.net/magazine/years/2007/march/46.htm http://www.osgeo.org/files/journal/final_pdfs/OSGeo_vol1_Events.pdf

'''February 2007:'''
National Conference on Biodiversity Conservation and Human Well-Being was organized by Department of Zoology, Osmania University and co-sponsored by SACON Deccan Regional Station, Hyderabad. The conference was held at Osmania University during February 8-10, 2007. SACON conducted a workshop on Wetland Informatics. It was aimed to address some of the issues related to spatial information generation, processing and data base design, dissemination and software development. In this workshop SACON presented Wetlands of India's website and it's future with the extensive use of FOSS tools. V.Ravi Kumar, Joint Secretory OSGeo India Chapter presented about the various FOSS4G's GIS software and their use taking the City of Hyderabad as an example. Prof K.S.Rajan, treasurer of OSGeo India chapter also actively participated in the proceedings. P.K.Sinha and A.V.Satya Kumar demonstrated FOSS GIS by showing OpenJUMP and it's userfriendly capabilities in performing vector GIS tasks like onscreen digitization of raster images to shape file with attribution.

'''March-2007:'''
National Convention On Free Software, 3rd - 4th of March 2007, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh included a session on 'Geospatial data'. Dr K.S.Rajan, and V.Ravi Kumar of OSGeo-India chapter, presented 'OSGeo phylosophy', and Open Source GIS alternatives respectively, which was attended by Free Software Foundation (FSF) enthusisasts from around the country. http://www.swecha.org/node/29 Society of Geoinformatics Engineering at Anna University, Chennai, conducted a two-day Geohorizon 2007 symposium (16-17 march 2007). There were four participants from OSGeo India chapter two on each day. Sri Neeraj Deekshith of Autodesk India and Santosh Gaekwad of SACON Hyderabad, presented use of Open Source Geospatial software in their organisations. Mr V.Ravi Kumar, and Mrs Mahalakshmi Narayanan presented 'Open Source GIS Galore', and 'Open Source GIS for web-services' respectively. Santosh Gaikwad presented the use of GeoSever for internet mapping of Wetlands of india. He delievered the SACON's experience while studying GeoServer- a open source server for Web-GIS. Use of Udig and GeoServer for publishing vector or raster maps onto web by storing the spatial data into PostGIS was demonstrated. http://societyofgeoinformaticsengineers.blogspot.com/index.html

'''May 2007:'''
On 11th May 2007 one day OSGeo-India workshop was held at, 'GIS Development', Noida (Delhi) with participants from the Indian geospatial community. They represented organizations like National Remote Sensing Agency, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), Tata Consultancy Servicesv (TCS), MapInfo, Adroitec, GIS Consortium, Eicher, 5Map, Infosys, Autodesk, National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, and Bharti Vidyapeeth's Institute of Computer Applications and Management (BVICAM). The workshop was opened by OSGeo-India representative Dr P.S.Roy, with an opening remark that,"GIS has emerged as an important technology tool. GIS initiatives need to be upscaled in terms of outreach and this is where OSGeo comes into play." One of the most important objective, from an Indian context, is to convert the free GIS tools like GRASS and MapServer in vernacular languages to form a large interest group. Dr. Roy also elaborated upon some of the noteworthy initiatives taken by organizations in India in the open source domain. V.Ravi kumar, who is a founder member of OSGeo India, spoke about various FOSS GIS like GRASS, Quantum GIS, UDIG, Open Jump available today. The demonstration on 'Locating a Nuclear Power Plant', using Open Jump, was not only interesting but also testified how FOSS GIS can be equally useful as Proprietary GIS softwares. Ravi Kumar also talked in length about utility of FOSS GIS in India. The most pertinent point raised by him was that FOSS GIS is cost effective and can, therefore, become popular in a developing country like India. It can also provide employment through promotion of Village Cadastral GIS where all that one spends on, is a branded computer (available for less than Rs.20,000), as no cost is incurred on the software because it is, free and open. Sridhar Saraswati of Autodesk India, also gave a presentation, which answered a vital question- why is Autodesk supporting free and open source softwares? The reason is that firstly, Autodesk wants a broader adoption of Internet mapping technology and secondly, FOSS would create higher demand for related products. It would also be beneficial for the customers as the frequency of software releases will increase, cost of ownership will come down and there will be more innovation and support for standards. Satyajit Rath from CDAC, Noida presenyted 'CDAC's Initiatives on Open Source GIS'. 'Geospatial Convergence with Open Source' was presented by Amit Jain, of Infosys. The workshop came to an end with the closing remarks by Dr. P.S Roy. He expressed hope that "Proprietary softwares should invest in open source to make it a win-win situation for all."
http://www.gisdevelopment.net/magazine/global/2007/june/48.htm

'''June 2007:'''
The OSGeo-India chapter has conducted it's 1st Capacity building 3 day workshop from 26th to 28th June 2007 at Salim Ali Centre For Ornithology & Natural History (SACON) Hyderabad. The workshop was attended by -18- participants from NIC, NRSA, IIIT, Spec Systems, Army and Survey of India. All the participants were conversant with Proprietary GIS software and were eager to acquaint with FOSS alternatives. The 1st day included demonstration and hands-on practice with OpenJUMP GIS and map composition through Inkscape. The 2nd day was devoted to ILWIS GIS through raster analysis and generation of stereo pair and 3D visualization. The 3rd day was for using GRASS GIS for network analysis and creation of 3D visualisation and fly-bi. The participants were shown how one can join the OSGeo as a member and help spread the awareness. The resource persons were from Geological Survey of India.

'''July 2007:'''
A two hour lecture come demonstration of 'Open Source GIS GALORE', was presented by V.Ravi Kumar of OSGeo India, for the students of Geoinformatics post graduation course Nannaya University, Rajahmundry on 3rd July 2007. GRASS GIS and OpenJUMP were demonstrated using sample data. The students who could interact well in the question and answer session were presented GRASS6.2 Live CDs.

'''Link to photos of the above events'''
https://osgeoindia1stworkshop.shutterfly.com/#n_3

Live GIS History

2015-06-15T05:36:22Z

Rajan: /* 8-10. June 2015 FOSS4G India 2015, IIRS Dehradun, India */

Where has OSGeo-Live been used? Please tell us. A history of wide use provides justification for future developers to include, and improve their application on OSGeo-Live.

See also [[Live GIS Testimonials]].

== Template Questions ==
* date of the event or training course, or program
* City, Country
* link to webside
* OSGeo-Live handed out to attendees? How many?
* USBs, DVDs, or VMs used? How many?
* OSGeo-Live lightning overview presented? To how many people? Was it a plenary event? If not, what percentage of the attendees attended this talk? Did you get any feedback? What did you hear?
* OSGeo-Live used for workshops or training programs? What did the workshop/training cover. Was the USB/DVD or VM used? Were attendees computers used? If so, what operating systems were they running? How long did it take to set up? Were there any issues?
* Any suggestions on what we can do to improve OSGeo-Live for future?
* Contact: person (usually coordinator) who can be contacted to ask further questions

== 2015 ==

=== October 5th-9th 2015 Digital Earth 2015 ===
* Halifax, Nova Scotia · Canada
* OSGeo-Live workshop?
* Contact: Dirk Werle (conference chair), Brian Hamlin and Jeff McKenna (OSGeo-Live presenters)

=== 14-19 September 2015: FOSS4G 2015 ===
* Seoul, South Korea
* Contact: Sanghee Shin
* OSGeo-Live USBs handed out, OSGeo-Live used in a number of the workshops

=== 13-18 July 14, 2015: FOSS4G Europe ===
* Como, Italy
* Workshops, Conference, Codesprint
* Contact: Maria Antonia Brovelli

=== 8.-10. July 2015 AGIT Salzburg (Austria) ===
* 8.-10.July 2015
* Salzburg, Austria
* http://agit.at/
* OSGeo-Live postcards: xx
* OSGeo-Live presentation
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 8-10. June 2015 FOSS4G India 2015, IIRS Dehradun, India ===
OSGeo-India tweaked the Live DVD to also contain the Digital Proceedings of the Conference (full papers and abstracts) and it was made available to all the Participants. My humble self mentioned in my inaugural presentation that the essence of all OSGeo and OS-GIS software are tucked into the live DVD. It was also emphasised that the Live-DVD is a way of seeing all the software run on one's computer / Laptop without soiling it by booting with it. Use of Virtual Machine on certain operating systems, which are not boot-friendly to the Live-DVD was also mentioned. As usual the conference acknowledges the untiring effort by live.osgeo.org (http://live.osgeo.org/en/index.html) who keep the DVD afresh with all latest OS-GIS. https://plus.google.com/114935751871526846208/posts/iXhdxwaePux
* http://foss4gindia.in

=== 11. - 13. May 2015 Symposium Königslutter - Angewandte Kartographie - Geovisualisierung ===
* Königslutter (Germany)
* Workshop on OSGeo-Live:
** Workshop with OSGeo-live from USB
** 10 attendees
* PostCards postcards to all delegates - about 50 postcards
* used presentation: http://svn.osgeo.org/osgeo/livedvd/gisvm/trunk/doc/de/presentation/index.html
* http://angewandte-kartographie.de/
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 1-3 June 2015: CalGIS ===
* Sacramento, California, United States
* http://www.calgis.org
* Contact: Alex Mandel / Christina Boggs

=== 11. - 13. March 2015 FOSSGIS ===
* 11. - 13. March 2015
* Münster, Germany
* http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/2015/
* Videos on youtube: http://youtube.com/fossgis
** see also http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/2015/programm/events/904.de.html
* Hand out OSGeo-Live 500 postcards to all delegates
* > 21 Workshops will take place, most of them will use OSGeo-Live
** 239 persons in the workshops
* What format of OSGeo-Live was used?
** USB Sticks
** USB Sticks were given to the participants
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 9-11 March 2015 FOSS4G-NA ===
* Burlingame, California, USA
* Contact Andrew Ross

=== 31 January 2015 FOSDEM ===
* Location: Brussels, Belgium
* 31 January & 1 February 2015
* Presentation: From Debian-GIS to OSGeo live and back
* Description: Debian GIS is a project with the goal of making Debian the best distribution for Geographical Information System applications.
OSGeo live (live.osgeo.org) is a self-contained bootable dvd, usb thumb drive or virtual machine based on Lubuntu, that allows you to try a wide variety of open source geospatial software without installing anything. It also contains a set of uniform documentation (description and quickstarts) to guide people around the different projects.
Even though OSGeo live is based on the packages in Debian, both projects diverted and where OSGeo live managed to get a large (100+) community of contributors, progress in Debian GIS was stalling. Recently however, a new wind is blowing in Debian GIS (among others with the Debian pure blends initiative) and many changes from OSGeo live are being incorporated back into Debian.
Apart from presenting both projects I will highlight some problems people encounter when they would like to add their package to Debian GIS, and how Debian pure blends try to solve this.
* Speaker: Johan Van de Wauw
* https://fosdem.org/2015/schedule/event/from_debian_gis_to_osgeo_live_and_back/

== 2014 ==
=== 2-5 December 2014, FOSS4G Asia ===
* Bankok, Thailand
* OSGeo-Live lightning talk presented.
* planning to use OSGeo-Live at the workshop.
* Planning to distribute OSGeo-Live DVDs in the conference kit.
* Contact: Venkatesh Raghavan, Heegu Park

=== 28 November 2014, Illinois State GIS Association Annual Conference ===
* Chicago, Illinois, US
* OSGeo-Live presentation given, which was well attended, with a number of people coming and asking questions afterwards.
* Handed out 23 OSGeo-Live USBs
* Contact: Bob Basques

=== 6 November 2014, beOpenGISfr ===
* Brussels, Belgium
* http://be-opengis.ulb.ac.be/
* OsGeo-Live VM was used during workshops. Approx 90 USB sticks with OSGeo-live were distributed
* Contact: [[User:mlennert|Moritz Lennert]]
* Photos: http://be-opengis.ulb.ac.be/photos.html

=== 7-9 October 2014, INTERGEO 2014 ===
* Berlin, Germany
* http://intergeo.de
* OSGeo-live Postcards
* presentation about OSGeo-Live in the Open Source Park http://www.intergeo.de/intergeo/besucher/messe/opensource-park.php
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 8-13 September 2014, International FOSS4G===
* Portland, Oregon, USA
* https://2014.foss4g.org/
* Contact: ?
* 300 8Gig OSGeo-Live USBs handed out from the OSGeo Booth.
* OSGeo-Live VM used for many of the workshops.

=== 2-3 September 2014, OSGIS 2014===
* University of Nottingham, UK
* http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/osgis/home.aspx
* Contact: Suchith Anand

=== 27-28 August 2014 FOSS4G Korea ===
* COEX, Seoul, Korea
* Handed out OSGeo-Live DVDs
* Contact: Sanghee Shin

=== 21-25 July, 2014. Urban Informatics Postgraduate Elective===
* University of Melbourne, Australia
* USB stick with OSGeo-Live 7.9 was handed out to 25 enrolled students
* Students had a choice of USB or VM
* Contact: A/Prof Chris Pettit, Dr Jack Barton

=== 15.-17. July 2014 FOSS4G-Euope===
* Jacobs University Bremen, Germany
* http://foss4g-e.org/
* about 160 attendents
* OSGeo table together with FOSSGIS e.V.
* USB stick with OSGeo-Live 7.9 was handed out to every participant
* Presentation on OSGeo-Live http://kalxas.github.io/OSGeoLive-presentation/#/
* Code Sprint for version 8.0 at friday 18th july 2014
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 7-11 July 2014, Fifth Open Source Opportunities in GIS Summer School ===
* Girona, Spain
* http://www.sigte.udg.edu/summerschool2014/
* The Summer School is focused on the development and creation of Open Web Services and Web Applications, especially on the publication of data on the web. With this goal, the programme will cover topics related to the acquisition and importation of OpenStreetMap data into a spatial database, creation of geospatial web services and development of internet viewers for publishing geospatial data.
The course has been designed and will be conducted on a GNU/Linux operating system based on the use of the OSGeo-Live DVD
* http://live.osgeo.org/en/index.html
* Contact: Lluis Vicens

=== 1-3 July 2014, AfricaGeo ===
* Cape Town, South Africa
* http://www.africageo.org/
* presentation and paper based on OSGeo-Live (and distribution of ~550 OSGeo-Live DVDs in delegate bags)
* Contact: [[User:Gfleming|Gavin Fleming]], Tim Sutton

=== ANLiegen Natur (journal: article - print and online) ===
* journal focused on applied nature conservation (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)
* June 2015
* journal: [http://www.anl.bayern.de/publikationen/anliegen/anliegen36_1.htm ANLiegen Natur 36(1)]
* ''Open Data und freie und offene Geographische Informationssysteme (FOSSGIS) – ein Werkzeug für den (ehrenamtlichen) Naturschutz?''
* ''Open Data and free and open source software for geographic information systems (FOSSGIS) – a tool for (voluntary) nature conservation?''
* [http://www.anl.bayern.de/publikationen/anliegen/doc/an36113kudrnovsky_2014_open_data.pdf article]
* Contact: [[User:hellik|Helmut Kudrnovsky]]

=== 17-20 June 2014, USFWS National GIS Workshop ===
* West Virginia, USA
* http://training.fws.gov/nctcweb/catalog/CourseDetail.aspx?CourseCodeLong=FWS-CSP7304
* Contact: Doug Newcomb
* Presented OSGeo-Live presentation, handed out OSGeo-Live DVDs

=== 10-13 June 2014, OGRS 2014 ===
* Helsinki, Finland
* http://2014.ogrs-community.org/
* Contact: [[User:Ajolma|Ari Jolma]]

=== 2-4 July 2014, AGIT26 ===
* Salzburg, Austria
* http://www.agit.at
* OSGeo Day http://www.agit.at/index.php/programmagit/themen-schwerpunkte/osgeo-day-osgeo-park-2014
* OSGeo Booth, OSGeo-Live Postcards, OSGeo flyer, OSGeo Day and workshops
* Contact: Astrid Emde

=== 20-22 May 2014 FOSS4G-FR ===
* Paris, France
* Contact: Vicent Picavet

=== 21 May 2014 QLD Open Source Spatial Workshop ===
* Brisbane, Australia
* http://www.sssi.org.au/Events/QLD-Open-Source-Spatial-Workshop/eid/988.html
* OSGeo-Live DVD handed out to all participants and used in hands on workshops
* Contact: Shaun Kolomeitz

=== 27 April – 2 May, 2014 European Geosciences Union General Assembly===
* Vienna, Austria
* http://www.egu2014.eu/
* 100 OSGeo-Live DVDs handed out to participants
* Contact Peter Löwe
* Detailed report and lessons learned: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/EGU_Townhall_2014#OSGeo-Live_DVDs

=== 26-28 March 2014, 8as Jornadas de SIG Libre (Spanish FOSS4G) ===
* 26 - 28 March 2014 in Girona
* http://www.sigte.udg.edu/jornadassiglibre
* 6 Workshops will take place, using OSGeo-Live
** Introduction to QGIS
** Integration of Free Geospatial Technologies
** Introduction to python for geospatial applications
** Introduction to MapProxy
** Developing mobile applications with Glob3 mobile SDK
** Creating Web Applications with AngularJS AND LeafletJS
* What format of OSGeo-Live was used?
** VirtualMachine
* Contact: [[User:Lluís|Lluís Vicens]]

=== 19. - 21. March 2014 FOSSGIS ===
* 19. - 21. March 2014
* Berlin, Germany
* http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/2014/
* Videos on youtube: http://youtube.com/fossgis
* Hand out OSGeo-Live 7.9 postcards to all delegates - about 550 postcards
* Presenatation about OSGeo-Live '''OSGeo-Live rocks!''' '''maybe'''
* > 10 Workshops will take place, most of them will use OSGeo-Live
** 204 persons in the workshops
* What format of OSGeo-Live was used?
** VirtualMachine
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 23 February 2014 FOSS4G Sri Lanka ===
* Malabe, Sri Lanka
* OSGeo-Live Presentation including demo of OSGeo-Live
* Handed out OSGeo Live 7.0 DVDs
* Contact: Nimalika Fernando

=== 1-2 February 2014 FOSDEM ===
* Brussels, Belgium
* http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSDEM2014
* Presentation of OSGeo Live Overview on a screen, event was attended by ~5000 people, OSGeo stand got visit of at least 500 (all marketing material was given away)
* Contact: Anne Ghisla

=== 23-25 January 2014 Societal GIS training workshop ===
* Rajahmundry, India
* OSGeo India had a 3 day Societal GIS training workshop.
* Used OSGeo Live-7, both DVD and USB driven. Wish to use Virtual Box as Windows-8 has serious booting issues and OSGeo-Live works fine with Virtual Box (Sun Microsystems).
* http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User_talk:Ravivundavalli#OSGeo_India_and_Adi_Kavi_Nannaya_University_Training_workshop_23_-_25_January_2014

== 2013 ==
=== 4-6 December 2013, National Seminar on 'Remote Sensing and GIS for Environment', India ===
* Visakhapatnam, India
* OSGeo booth attracted a bee line of students who were eager to experiment with OSGeo software. Copies of OSGeo Live-DVD were distributed to all those who have answered a questionnaire quizzing about OSGeo and FOSS GIS.
* http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User_talk:Ravivundavalli#OSGeo_India_Booth_at_Visakhapatnam.2C_India

=== 14-15 November 2013, FOSS4G Korea 2013 ===
* Seoul, Korea
* http://www.osgeo.kr/135/
* OSGeo Live DVD will be distributed at the FOSS4G Korea venue and through KAOS-G booth at Smart GeoExpo Korea 2013.
* Contact: [[User:sanghee|Sanghee Shin]]

=== 4-8 November 2013, AfricaGIS 2013 / GSDI 14 ===
* Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
* http://www.gsdi.org/gsdiconf/gsdi14/
* Lightning overview presented (reveal JS version)
* Contact: [[User:Gfleming|Gavin Fleming]]

=== 8-10 October 2013, INTERGEO 2013 ===
* Essen, Germany
* http://intergeo.de
* it is planned to hand out 500 OSGeo 7.0 DVDs
* slides about OSGeo-Live in FOSSGIS e.V. presentation
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 24 - 26 Sept 2013, Asian Geospatial Forum 2013 ===
* Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
* http://www.asiageospatialforum.org
* OSGEO-Live and ICA-OSGEO lab network [http://prezi.com/hv18xf8_wolq/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy presentation]
* Contact: [[TuongThuy Vu|Thuy Vu]]

=== 19 - 21 Sept 2013, INCA-33 International Congress India ===
* Jodhpur, India
* http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User_talk:Ravivundavalli#OSGeo_India_.40_INCA-33_International_congress.2C_Jodhpur.2C_Rajasthan.2C_India
* Through OSGeo India booth 100 Live-DVDs are distributed
* Contact: ravivundavalli@yahoo.com

=== 17-21 September 2013, FOSS4G ===
* Nottingham, United Kingdom
* http://2013.foss4g.org
* Contact: Steven Feldman

=== 25-30 August 2013, International Cartographic Conference ===
* Dresden, Germany
* http://www.dgfk.net/index.php?id=164&do=akt
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 8-12 July 2013, Open Source Opportunities in GIS Summer School ===
* Girona, Catalonia, Spain
* About 25 students running OSGeo-Live in a Virtual Machine (Virtual Box).
* http://www.sigte.udg.edu/summerschool2013/
* Contact: [[User:Lluís|Lluís Vicens]]

=== 3-5 July 2013, AGIT25 ===
* Salzburg, Austria
* http://www.agit.at
* OSGeo Day http://www.agit.at/index.php/programm-2013/themen/osgeo
* Hand out OSGeo-Live 6.5 DVDs at FOSSGIS/OSGeo Booth - about 200 DVDs
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 10 June 2013, FROG (FRancophone Opensource Geomatique)===
* Paris, France
* http://osgeo.asso.fr
* Distribution to participants ?
* Contact : Vincent Picavet

=== 12.-14. June 2013 FOSSGIS ===
* 12.-14. June 2013
* Rapperswil, Switzerland
* http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/2013/
* Hand out OSGeo-Live 6.5 DVDs to all delegates - about 350 DVDs
* Presenatation about OSGeo-Live '''OSGeo-Live rocks!''' by [[User:Astrid Emde | Astrid Emde]] http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/2013/programm/events/576.de.html
* > 10 Workshops will take place, most of them will use OSGeo-Live 6.5
** 5 - 20 persons in the workshops
* What format of OSGeo-Live was used?
** VirtualMachine
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 17-19 June 2013, FOSS4G-CEE 2013 ===
* Bucharest, Romania
* OSGeo-Live 6.5 (or higher) DVDs will be handed out to all participants (conference target: 300)
* Some workshops are expected to make use of OSGeo-Live (call for workshops opens June 13th)
* A OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation is welcome (call for presentations opens June 13th)
* http://2013.foss4g-cee.org
* Contact: [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Vasile Vasile Crăciunescu]

=== 21 May 2013, Location Intelligence Conference ===
* Washington DC, United States
* OSGeo-Live presentation by [[User:Amyonthemap|Amy Gao]]

=== 29-30 April, 2013 GIS In Action ===
* April 29 to May 1, 2013,
* Portland, Oregon
* http://www.orurisa.org/GIS_In_Action (website is reused every year, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130510063948/http://www.orurisa.org/GIS_In_Action Archive.org site])
* The DVD was used to run demos at the booth. A limited number of copies were available to hand out to people who seemed very interested.
* The PDX-OSGeo chapter also helps organize an Open Source Track at GIS In Action which was very popular. This year, there was not a specific talk about the LiveDVD although it is often mentioned as a great way to try out software that people ask about.
* On May 2, there was an unconference where the LiveDVD was frequently referenced.
* Contact: [[User:EliL | EliL]]

=== 24 April, 2013 FOSS4G Buenos Aires 2013 ===
* 24 to 26 of April 2013, Buenos Aires, Argentina
* http://www.foss4g.org.ar/
* Unfortunately there was a problem with the DVD distributor and the participants didn't receive a copy.
* [http://jsanz.github.io/slides-201304-foss4gba/osgeo-live/#/title OSGeo Live presentation] by [[Jorge Sanz]]
* OSGeo Live was used on the MapProxy workshop by the lecturer and some attendants that were able to run it on Virtual Box
* Contact: [[Mauricio Miranda]]

=== 10 April, 2013 EGU 2013 ===
* Vienna, Austria
* http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2013/session/13223
* DVD-distribution to journalists
* splinter meeting with short presentation and screenshots of OSGeo-Live
* Contact: Peter Löwe

=== 6-8 March 2013, Jornadas de SIG Libre (Spanish FOSS4G2013) ===
* Girona, Spain
* http://www.sigte.udg.edu/jornadassiglibre
* Contact: [[User:Lluís|Lluis Vicens]]

=== 17-18 January 2013, WhereCampEU ===
* Rome, Italy
* http://wherecamp.eu/
* OSGeo-Live presentation by [[User:Lucadelu|Luca Delucchi]]

== 2012 ==

=== 4-7 December 2012, Open Source Developers Conference ===
* Sydney, Australia
* http://www.osdc.com.au/
* OSGeo-Live presentation by Cameron Shorter
* Contact: Cameron Shorter

=== 22-24 November 2012, PhilGEOS 2012 ===
* Quezon City, Philippines
* http://philgeos2012.wordpress.com/
* Over 60 participants joined 8 workshops and 3 lightning talks. The OSGeo Live project was also presented in one of the parallel technical sessions in the main conference. Likewise, an exhibit booth was installed during the PhilGEOS conference for OSGeo and OpenStreetMap. Over ~50 OSGeo Live DVDs were handed out to conference participants.
* Contact: Maning Sambale

=== 17-18 November 2012, OpenGIS ===
* Moscow, Russia
* conference on everything related to free and opensource GIS: data, software, methodology, organized by members of Russian GIS-Lab and OpenStreetMap communities.
* Over 200 participants; OSGeo-Live DVD was used in GRASS GIS workshop; ~10 OSGeo Live DVDs were handed out to conference participants.
* http://gisconf.ru/en/
* Contact: Maxim Dubinin, Alexander Mury

=== 14-17 November 2012, GFOSSDAY 2012 - OSMit 2012 ===
* Turin, Italy
* http://www.gfoss.it/drupal/gfossday2012
* OSGeo-Live software directly used from VMs within five workshops
* OSGeo-Live overview in keynote presentation
* Title: OSGeo-Live: il più semplice strumento per provare le applicazioni GFOSS / OSGeo-Live: the simplest way to test FOSS4G software
* Contact: [[User:Lucadelu|Luca Delucchi]]

=== 14-16 November 2012, EGU Leonardo Conference ===
* Turin, Italy
* http://www.eguleonardo2012.polito.it/
* Poster presentation in Session: Population
* Notes: Poster Presentations consist in a quick (1-Slide) oral overview during the sessions and in the attendance by the poster stand between the sessions.
* Title: A complete review of the breadth of quality Geospatial Open Source Software available to Hydrologists, using OSGeo-Live
* Contact: [[User:Madi|Margherita Di Leo]]

=== 12-13 November 2012, SWE-SmartCities Workshop ===
* Barcelona, Spain
* https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5tKYbjsGOrxWkVwWWZsM2NHNlk/edit
* Sensor Web Enablement workshop held by 52°North
* 21 OSGeo-Live handed to the participants and used for the exercises
* The DVD was used for a training workshop on OGC Sensor Web Enablement. Participants worked with the 52°North SOS and the 52°North WPS. The DVD was mostly used, in some cases the VM was used.During the training, the participants used their own laptop computers (a full mix of all operating systems).There was no dedicated time needed for setting up the DVD. No issues occured.
* Contact: [[User:esllolo|Estela Llorente López]], Simon Jirka (52°North)

=== November 2012, Open Source GIS and Webmapping Workshop ===
* Vienna (Austria)
* Waiting on Barend Köbben to provide website url once details are finalised

===25-26 October 2012, FOSS4G-India ===
* Hyderabad, India
* http://lsi.iiit.ac.in/foss4gindia
* OSGeo-Live DVDs to be handed out to all participants
* OSGeo-Live to be used in workshops
* OSGeo-Live Presentation to be given by K S Rajan
* Contact: K S Rajan

=== October 2012, LatinOSGIS ===
* Guayaquil, Ecuador
* OSGeo-Live 6.0 DVDs to be handed out
* lightning presentation by Mauricio Miranda
* http://www.fiec.espol.edu.ec/LatinOSGIS
* Contact: Indira Yadira Nolivos Alvarez

===17,18 October 2012, GeoINT 2012 ===
* Orlando Florida
* OSGeo-Live link handed out
* mentioned in various panels and forums
* geoint2012.com
* Contact: Mark Lucas and John Scott

=== 17-19 October 2012, Geospace Europe Summit 2012 ===
* Brussels Belgium
* OSGeo-Live link handed out
* Presentation pointing to live.ogeo.org efforts
* http://defence.flemingeurope.com/geospatial-intelligence-europe
* Contact: Mark Lucas

=== 17-19 October 2012, Latinoware ===
* Keynote presentation by Jody Garnett including parts of the OSGeo Lightning presentation
* http://2012.latinoware.org/?lang=en , http://2012.latinoware.org/?page_id=228
* Contact: Jody Garnett

=== October 2012, INTERGEO 2012 ===
* Hannover Germany, 9.-11.10.2012
* ~600 OSGeo 6.0 (and some of Version 5.5.) DVDs were distributed
* slide about OSGeo-Live in [http://fossgis.de FOSSGIS e.V.] presentation
* very good feedback to the DVD. Lot of people already know OSGeo-Live
* http://intergeo.de
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== October 2012, Smart Korea 2012 in conjunction with OGC TC/PC Meeting ===
* Seoul, Korea
* Around 50 OSGeo-Live 6.0 DVDs were handed out at OSGeo booth there
* http://www.opengeospatial.org/event/1210tc
* Contact: Sanghee Shin

=== 11-13 October 2012, XXXII INCA International Conference 2012 ===
* Dehradun, India
* http://www.incaindia.org/32INCA/
* Nearly 80 OSGeo-Live 6.0 DVDs handed out at OSGeo/IIRS Booth. Posters with screenshots of some applications with local data were put up.
* Explained delegates about OpenSource GIS. Demonstrated QGIS to anyone with a question. Demoed OpenCPN to some of the folks from National Hydrographic Office.
* Contact: Chaitanya Kumar CH

=== October 12, 2012, FOSS4G Korea 2012 ===
* COEX, Seoul, Korea
* Nearly 70~80 OSGeo-Live 6.0 DVDs were handed out during the event and brief explanation of OSGeo-Live project was given to participants
* FOSS4G Korea will be held in conjunction with Smart Korea 2012
* http://www.osgeo.kr
* Contact: Sanghee Shin

=== October 3-5, 2012, Minnesota GIS/LIS 2012 ===
* Saint Cloud, Minnesota, USA
* OSGeo-Live 6.0 DVDs handed out at OSGeo/FOSS4GNA Booth.
* OSGeo-Live ODP file set to loop on digital display in booth, augmented with local OSGeo project screenshots.
* Annual Conference and Workshops.
* http://www.mngislis.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=718
* Contact: Bob Basques

=== October 2012, GISSA Ukubuzana conference ===
* 1-3 October, Johannesburg, South Africa
* ~450 OSGeo 6.0 DVDs were distributed
* Lightning overview wwas also presented
* It was also used in two workshops ('Intro to PostGIS and QGIS' and 'Enterprise GIS with FOSS')
* http://gissa.org.za/activities/conferences/gissa-ukubuzana-2012
* More were distributed and used in workshops at the launch of the University of Pretoria ICA/OSGeo Lab on 4 Oct
* [[User:Gfleming|Gavin Fleming]]

=== September 2012, Geocamp ===
* September 22nd, Campo Maior, Portugal
* http://geocampers.com
* OSGeo project presentation: how the project is managed, how translations work, how a project is involved
* Contact: [[Jorge Sanz]], Hugo Santos info (at) geocampers (dot) com

=== September 2012, Asia GeoSpatial Forum ===
* Hanoi, Vietnam. 17~19th, September
* Around 50 OSGeo-Live 6.0 DVDs were handed out to the participants.
* A presentation on OSGeo overview and OSGeo-Live was given in oral presentation session
* Open Source GIS Session
* http://www.asiageospatialforum.org/
* Contact: Sanghee Shin

=== 5 September 2012 Open Source GIS Conference (OSGIS) ===
* Nottingham, United Kingdom
* All day session: "Educational use of OSGeo Live" presented by Ari Jolma
* 100 OSGeo-Live DVDs handed out
* OSGeo-Live lightning presentation by Barry Rowlingson
* http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/osgis/
* Contact: Suchith Anand

=== August 2012, 34th International Geological Conference ===
* Brisbane, Australia
* OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation by Peter Baunmann, conference convener
* http://www.34igc.org/
* Contact: Peter Baunmann

=== 18-19 July 2012, FOSS4G Southeast Asia ===
* Johor Bahru, Malaysia
* OSGEO-live DVD used at the plenary session. Several slides from OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation used plus some demonstration.
* OSGeo-Live handed out to all delegates.
* Contact: Dr. Franz-Josef Behr

=== July 2012, Third Open Source GIS Summer School ===
* Girona, Spain
* School program focused on the development and creation of Open Web Mapping Services and Web applications. Jeremy Morley (Lecturer and a theme leader at the NGI) will be contributing the Nottingham components for the Summer School. The course has been designed and will be conducted on a GNU/Linux operating system based on the use of the OSGeo-Live DVD.
* http://www.sigte.udg.edu/summerschool2012/
* Contact: Lluís Vicens

=== July 2012, International Environmental Modeling and Software Society Conference (IEMSS) ===
* Leipzig, Germany
* ~ 100 OSGeo-Live 5.5 DVDs to be handed out
* OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation
* http://www.iemss.org/sites/iemss2012/sessions_D.html
* Contact: Daniel P. Ames

=== July 2012, AGIT ===
* Salzburg (Austria) Annual Conference
* http://www.agit.at/
* [[AGIT]], Friday is OSGeo day, free booth together with OSM throughtout the week ([[Arnulf]])
* we want to hand out +- 500 OSGeoLive DVDs

===June 30 - July 1, 2012, FOSS4G Hokkaido 2012 ===
*Sapporo, Hokkaido JAPAN
*50 OSGeo-Live 5.5 DVDs handed out to delegates
*OSGeo.JP and OSGeo-Live overview in keynote presentation
*[https://sites.google.com/site/foss4ghokkaido/ Website (in Japanese)]
*[https://www.facebook.com/FOSS4G.Hokkaido Facebook (in Japanese)]

=== June 2012, useR! The International R User Conference ===
* Vanderbilt U, Nashville USA
* http://biostat.mc.vanderbilt.edu/wiki/Main/UseR-2012
* Workshop Presentation on Geospatial Data in R, 33 attendees
* Five or six OSGeo-Live 5.5 DVDs taken
* Boot and demo at end of workshop.

=== June 28, 2012, OSGeo.nl Day (FOSS4G Regional) within MapWindow Conference - The Netherlands ===
* Velp, The Netherlands
* OSGeo-Live 5.5 DVDs handed out to all delegates (about 120). This included a large contingent of OSGeo-NL people who I heard were very appreciative of the DVD.
* OSGeo-Live + OSGeo overview in keynote presentation
* OSGeo-Live software directly used from VMs within the two workshops
* http://osgeo.nl/osgeonl_dag_2012.html (OSGeo.nl Day Program + Pres. Slides)
* http://www.mapwindow.org/conference/2012 (general MapWindow conf)
* Contact: Daniel P. Ames

=== May 2012, FOSS4G-CEE & Geoinformatics 2012 ===
* Prague, Czech Republic
* OSGeo-Live 5.5 DVDs to be used in workshops
* OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation
* http://foss4g-cee.org/
* Contact: Jachym Cepicky

=== May 2012, FOSSCOMM 2012 ===
* Serres, Greece
* OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation
* 1 undergraduate thesis presentation using OSGeo-Live
* http://serres.fosscomm.gr/?page_id=582

=== May 2012, HellasGI 2012 ===
* Athens, Greece
* OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation
* Local chapter meeting

=== April 2012, COMEM OGO course :: Webmapping with OGC standards ===
* April 16th, a course dedicated on geospatialized e-Content for Media Engineering bachelor students (http://www.comem.ch) at School of Engineering and Business Vaud (http://www.heig-vd.ch), Western Switzerland, Yverdon-les-Bains
* Topic : learning webmapping and OGC standards with OpenLayers, GeoServer, PostGIS (http://ogo.heig-vd.ch)
* A customized OSGeo-Live 5.5 VM has been used through VirtualBox by 15 students to execute several exercices and to build a five days project (http://carto.iict.ch)
* Delivering a complete and ready to use geo-enabled VM is interessant for students to work in a kind of sandbox and to bring something easely back at home for later reuse.

=== April 2012, Geospatial World Forum 2012 ===
* The RAI, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
* 4-hour [http://wiki.osgeo.org/images/b/bf/GeospatialWorldForum_2012_OpenSource_Seminar_Program.pdf "Open Source Seminar"] organized by OSGeo/[http://OSgeo.nl OSGeo Dutch Chapter] with 11 speakers
* OSGeo-Live lightning presentation (15mins)
* http://www.geospatialworldforum.org/2012/open.htm

=== April 2012, FOSS4G North America 2012 ===
* Washington, United States
* Hand out OSGeo-Live 5.5 DVDs to all delegates
* OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation?
* http://foss4g-na.org/

=== April 2012, GISRUK 2012 ===
* Lancaster University, UK
* (probably) To be used for pre-conference workshop from Lutra Consulting
* Around 200 DVDs to be handed out at the OSGeo-UK desk
* http://www.lancs.ac.uk/gisruk2012/

=== April 2012, AGILE 2012===
* Avignon, France
* http://agile2012.imag.fr/index.php/workshops/hands-on-qopen-source-gis-a-webmappingq
* Open Source GIS & WebCartography workshop
* OSGeo-Live USBs handed to all workshop attendees

=== March 2012, Association for Geographic Information Welsh Group Open Source Seminar ===
* Wrexham, Wales, UK
* DVDs handed out to all delegates (20)
* http://astuntechnology.com/news/agi-open-source-training/ (proper link no longer available)

=== March 2012, AWRA GIS and Water Resources Conference ===
* New Orleans
* ~ 350 DVDs handed to delegates
* http://awra.org/meetings/Spring2012/

=== March 2012, FOSSGIS 2012 ===
* Dessau, Germany
* Hand out OSGeo-Live 5.5 DVDs to all delegates - more than 400 DVDs
* OSGeo-Live was mentioned in the opening speech
* http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/2012/
* OSGeo-Live was mentioned a lot on the conference. Some presenter mentioned in their presentation, to test the new stuff with OSGeo-Live
* How many people were in the workshop?
** 21 Wokshops took place in total, 15 Workshop used OSGeo-Live 5.5, some of the workshops used a modified OSGeo-Live version
** 5 - 20 persons were in the workshops
* What format of OSGeo-Live was used? DVD? USB? VM?
** Used with VirtualBox
* Did students bring their own computers? What types of computers and operating systems were brought in?
** No own computers. We used the computers with windows and VirtualBox from the GIS pool of the university
* How much time was spent setting up the class with setting up OSGeo-Live?
** This was done before the workshop

=== March 2012, Spanish FOSS4G 2012 ===
* Girona, Spain
* OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation.
* Possibly also handing out osgeo-live 5.5 DVDs?
* http://www.sigte.udg.edu/jornadassiglibre/

=== 6-7 March 2012, Malaysian Geospatial Forum ===
* Malaka, Malaysia
* http://www.malaysiageospatialforum.org
* The OSGEO-Live lightning overview was presented to around 50 attendees (of approximately 300 attendees of the whole event). Positive feedbacks, the common question was which package should be used to their work.

=== February 2012, AAG 2012 ===
* New York, New York
* 25 OSGeo-Live 5.0 bootable thumb drives to be handed out
* FOSS4G Workshop for Educators
* http://www.aag.org/cs/annualmeeting

=== February 2012, GIS courses ===
* 6-10 Feb, Enterprise GIS course at University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
* 13-17 Feb , Introduction to QGIS and PostGIS course, Muizenberg, South Africa
* OSGeo 5.0 DVDs handed out to course attendees (~15 each)
* Ran in first session of workshops as LiveDVD to browse through the ecosystem and get a feel for Linux and FOSS GIS.
* [[User:Gfleming|Gavin Fleming]]

=== January 2012, Pleiades Days 2012 ===
* Toulouse, France
* 50 OSGeo-Live 5.0 bootable thumb drives to be handed out
* [http://www.pleiades2012.com/ Website]

== 2011==

=== December 2011, Enterprise GIS course at the Council for Geoscience ===
* 12-14 Dec, Cape Town, South Africa
* OSGeo 5.0 DVDs handed out to course attendees
* We set up the VM on Windows for part of the workshop. Demo'd QGIS server and browsed through the system for an overview of other tools.
* It would be nice to have OpenGeo Suite Community Edition installed. It could provide PostGIS and GeoServer to the rest of the DVD. Also GeoNode.
* [[User:Gfleming|Gavin Fleming]]

=== November 2011, FOSS4G Tokyo/Osaka 2011 ===
*Tokyo and Osaka, JAPAN
*each 50+ OSGeo-Live 5.0 DVDs handed to delegates
*[http://www.osgeo.jp/%E3%82%A4%E3%83%99%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88/foss4g-2011-tokyo/ Website (in Japanese)]
*[http://www.osgeo.jp/%E3%82%A4%E3%83%99%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88/foss4g-2011-osaka/ Website (in Japanese)]

=== October 2011, IAEA/FAO Coordinated Research Program ===
* Burkina Faso
* This conference was the third in a series of semi-annual meetings reviewing research programs regarding two agricultural pests: Tsetse and Old/New World Screw-worm. The meetings focus on merging population genetics and GIS techniques to better understand the spread of these pests.
* A customized version of the OSGeoLive 5.0 was prepared with data specific to Burkina Faso, and each of the 15 participants received a USB flash drive for the practice session. Some basic exercises were conducted demonstrating QGIS, Spatialite, and R.
* Responses were overwhelmingly positive.

=== September 2011, Intergeo 2011 ===
* Nuremberg, Germany
* Intergeo is an anual big fair on geodesy, geoinformation and land management
* [http://fossgis.de FOSSGIS e.V.] (german language local chapter of OSGeo) organizes an the OSGeo Park at Intergeo every year presenting OSGeo software. There also is a [http://www.fossgis.de/wiki/Intergeo_2011/Vortragsprogramm presentation area] where we present OSGeo Software and solutions 3 days long
* Rest of the OSGeo-Live 4.5 handed out (aprox 100 DVDs)
* http://www.intergeo.de/en/englisch/index.php

=== September 2011, FOSS4G 2011 ===
Denver, United States
* OSGeo Live given to every delegate. (Release 5.0)
* 300 USBs printed, 600 DVDs
* OSGeo-Live was used within many of the workshops

=== June/July 2011, Open Source GIS Summer School ===
* University of Gerona, Gerona, Spain
* The school taught Open Source GIS technologies and made use of the OSGeoLive DVD
* http://www.sigte.udg.edu/summerschool2011/target-audience/prerequisites

=== August 2011, [http://irdal.ird.fr/spip.php?page=ecole_ete_spatial_bresil11_sommaire&id_rubrique=1022|Ecole d'été - Observation spatiale de l'environnement] ===
* Macapa, Brazil
* OSGeo-Live 5.0RC1 on a USB was used in a workshop for 12 students learning OTB and Monteverdi.

=== June 2011, FLUXNET & RS Open-Workshop ===
* David Brower Environmental Center, USA
* http://nature.berkeley.edu/biometlab/fluxnet2011/fluxwkshp_post.html
* Provided OSGeo LiveDVD to interested participants

=== June 2011, [[Live_GIS_Disk_FOSS4G_2010| OSGIS 2011]] ===
Centre for Geospatial Science, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
* http://cgs.nottingham.ac.uk/~osgis11/os_home.html
* Provided OSGeo-Live lightning presentation, abstract: [[Live_GIS_Disk_OSGIS_2011]]
* handed out OSGeo-Live DVDs to all delegates

=== May 2011, CGS 2011 ===
* Bishop CA, USA
* ~10 discs

=== April 2011, GITA 2011 ===
* Dallas Tx, USA
* 100 discs sent to OSGeo booth

=== April 2011, AAG 2011 ===
* Seattle, WA USA
* Annual Geography conference 8-10,000 attendants
* ~30-50 discs given away at OSGeo booth
* Remaining ~150 divided between CUGOS and Portland? chapters.

=== April 2011, FOSSGIS 2011 ===
* Heidelberg, Germany
* [http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/2011/ FOSSGIS] is an annual conference in german language with ~ 400 attendants
* we printed OSGeo-Live 4.5 and handed out about 450 DVDs
* OSGeoLive 4.5 was used sucessfully in ~ 12 workshops
* [http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/2011/programm/events/248.de.html Astrid Emde presented OSGeo-Live] in a 20 min talk with focus on the background of the project and the possibilities the project offers
** about 40 attendants

== 2010 ==
=== November 2010, GeoData Camp ===
* Athens, Greece
* Presented OSGeo-Live lightning presentation in Greek to more than 300 attendants. This included two 1-hour presentations in technical sessions and a 15 minute presentation in the main event.

=== October 2010, Intergeo 2010 ===
* Cologne, Germany
* Intergeo is an anual big fair on geodesy, geoinformation and land management
* [http://fossgis.de FOSSGIS e.V.] (german language local chapter of OSGeo) organizes an Open Source Park on Intergeo every year where OSGeo Software is presented. There also is a [http://www.fossgis.de/wiki/Intergeo_2010/Vortragsprogramm presentation area] where we present OSGeo Software and solutions 3 days long
* we printed OSGeo-Live 4.0 and handed out about 450 DVDs
* Lars Lingner presented the DVD with Cameron Shorters presentation
* http://www.intergeo.de/en/englisch/index.php
* Feedback
** good feedback: OSGeo-Live offers the possibility to get to know OSGeo Software without an installation

=== September 2010, [[Live_GIS_Disk_FOSS4G_2010|FOSS4G 2010]] ===
Barcelona, Spain
* Provided a 90 minute tutorial of OSGeo Live
* OSGeo Live given to every delegate. (Release 4.0)

=== April 2010, [http://www.fig2010.com/ FIG 2010] - International Surveyors conference===
Sydney, Australia
* Handed out Live DVDs from OSGeo stand. (Release 3.0)
* Provided 15 minute lightning talk about the OSGeo stack, promoting the LiveDVD. [[http://cameronshorter.blogspot.com/2010/04/report-from-osgeo-stand-at-federation.html Report]], [[http://blip.tv/file/3503561 presentation video]]

== 2009 ==

=== October 2009, [http://2009.foss4g.org FOSS4G 2009] ===
Sydney, Australia
* Handed out 500 Live DVDs in every delegate's show bag. (Release: 2.0.3)

=== June 2009, [http://www.spatial.gov.au/Conferences/spatialgov+2009/default.aspx Spatial@Gov] ===
* Canberra, Australia
* Handed out Live DVDs from an OSGeo stand. (Release 1.0)
* Cameron Shorter provided a 30 minute presentation on the Open Source GeoSpatial Stack.

== 2008 ==

=== November 2008, Australian Cooperative Research Center for Spatial Information Conference ===
* Brisbane, Australia
* Distributed ~ 250 OSGeo-Live DVDs to delegates (Release 1.0)

===September 2008, [http://2008.foss4g.org FOSS4G 2008]===
* Handed out ~ 150 Live DVDs from the OSGeo stand. (Release: foss4g2008)

[[Category: Live-demo]]
[[Category: History]]

Live GIS History

2015-06-15T05:35:35Z

Rajan: /* 8-10. June 2015 FOSS4G India 2015, IIRS Dehradun, India */

Where has OSGeo-Live been used? Please tell us. A history of wide use provides justification for future developers to include, and improve their application on OSGeo-Live.

See also [[Live GIS Testimonials]].

== Template Questions ==
* date of the event or training course, or program
* City, Country
* link to webside
* OSGeo-Live handed out to attendees? How many?
* USBs, DVDs, or VMs used? How many?
* OSGeo-Live lightning overview presented? To how many people? Was it a plenary event? If not, what percentage of the attendees attended this talk? Did you get any feedback? What did you hear?
* OSGeo-Live used for workshops or training programs? What did the workshop/training cover. Was the USB/DVD or VM used? Were attendees computers used? If so, what operating systems were they running? How long did it take to set up? Were there any issues?
* Any suggestions on what we can do to improve OSGeo-Live for future?
* Contact: person (usually coordinator) who can be contacted to ask further questions

== 2015 ==

=== October 5th-9th 2015 Digital Earth 2015 ===
* Halifax, Nova Scotia · Canada
* OSGeo-Live workshop?
* Contact: Dirk Werle (conference chair), Brian Hamlin and Jeff McKenna (OSGeo-Live presenters)

=== 14-19 September 2015: FOSS4G 2015 ===
* Seoul, South Korea
* Contact: Sanghee Shin
* OSGeo-Live USBs handed out, OSGeo-Live used in a number of the workshops

=== 13-18 July 14, 2015: FOSS4G Europe ===
* Como, Italy
* Workshops, Conference, Codesprint
* Contact: Maria Antonia Brovelli

=== 8.-10. July 2015 AGIT Salzburg (Austria) ===
* 8.-10.July 2015
* Salzburg, Austria
* http://agit.at/
* OSGeo-Live postcards: xx
* OSGeo-Live presentation
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 8-10. June 2015 FOSS4G India 2015, IIRS Dehradun, India ===
OSGeo-India tweaked the Live DVD to also contain the Digital Proceedings of the Conference (full papers and abstracts) and it was made available to all the Participants. My humble self mentioned in my inaugural presentation that the essence of all OSGeo and OS-GIS software are tucked into the live DVD. It was also emphasised that the Live-DVD is a way of seeing all the software run on one's computer / Laptop without soiling it by booting with it. Use of Virtual Machine on certain operating systems, which are not boot-friendly to the Live-DVD was also mentioned. As usual the conference acknowledges the untiring effort by live.osgeo.org (http://live.osgeo.org/en/index.html) who keep the DVD afresh with all latest OS-GIS. https://plus.google.com/114935751871526846208/posts/iXhdxwaePux

=== 11. - 13. May 2015 Symposium Königslutter - Angewandte Kartographie - Geovisualisierung ===
* Königslutter (Germany)
* Workshop on OSGeo-Live:
** Workshop with OSGeo-live from USB
** 10 attendees
* PostCards postcards to all delegates - about 50 postcards
* used presentation: http://svn.osgeo.org/osgeo/livedvd/gisvm/trunk/doc/de/presentation/index.html
* http://angewandte-kartographie.de/
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 1-3 June 2015: CalGIS ===
* Sacramento, California, United States
* http://www.calgis.org
* Contact: Alex Mandel / Christina Boggs

=== 11. - 13. March 2015 FOSSGIS ===
* 11. - 13. March 2015
* Münster, Germany
* http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/2015/
* Videos on youtube: http://youtube.com/fossgis
** see also http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/2015/programm/events/904.de.html
* Hand out OSGeo-Live 500 postcards to all delegates
* > 21 Workshops will take place, most of them will use OSGeo-Live
** 239 persons in the workshops
* What format of OSGeo-Live was used?
** USB Sticks
** USB Sticks were given to the participants
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 9-11 March 2015 FOSS4G-NA ===
* Burlingame, California, USA
* Contact Andrew Ross

=== 31 January 2015 FOSDEM ===
* Location: Brussels, Belgium
* 31 January & 1 February 2015
* Presentation: From Debian-GIS to OSGeo live and back
* Description: Debian GIS is a project with the goal of making Debian the best distribution for Geographical Information System applications.
OSGeo live (live.osgeo.org) is a self-contained bootable dvd, usb thumb drive or virtual machine based on Lubuntu, that allows you to try a wide variety of open source geospatial software without installing anything. It also contains a set of uniform documentation (description and quickstarts) to guide people around the different projects.
Even though OSGeo live is based on the packages in Debian, both projects diverted and where OSGeo live managed to get a large (100+) community of contributors, progress in Debian GIS was stalling. Recently however, a new wind is blowing in Debian GIS (among others with the Debian pure blends initiative) and many changes from OSGeo live are being incorporated back into Debian.
Apart from presenting both projects I will highlight some problems people encounter when they would like to add their package to Debian GIS, and how Debian pure blends try to solve this.
* Speaker: Johan Van de Wauw
* https://fosdem.org/2015/schedule/event/from_debian_gis_to_osgeo_live_and_back/

== 2014 ==
=== 2-5 December 2014, FOSS4G Asia ===
* Bankok, Thailand
* OSGeo-Live lightning talk presented.
* planning to use OSGeo-Live at the workshop.
* Planning to distribute OSGeo-Live DVDs in the conference kit.
* Contact: Venkatesh Raghavan, Heegu Park

=== 28 November 2014, Illinois State GIS Association Annual Conference ===
* Chicago, Illinois, US
* OSGeo-Live presentation given, which was well attended, with a number of people coming and asking questions afterwards.
* Handed out 23 OSGeo-Live USBs
* Contact: Bob Basques

=== 6 November 2014, beOpenGISfr ===
* Brussels, Belgium
* http://be-opengis.ulb.ac.be/
* OsGeo-Live VM was used during workshops. Approx 90 USB sticks with OSGeo-live were distributed
* Contact: [[User:mlennert|Moritz Lennert]]
* Photos: http://be-opengis.ulb.ac.be/photos.html

=== 7-9 October 2014, INTERGEO 2014 ===
* Berlin, Germany
* http://intergeo.de
* OSGeo-live Postcards
* presentation about OSGeo-Live in the Open Source Park http://www.intergeo.de/intergeo/besucher/messe/opensource-park.php
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 8-13 September 2014, International FOSS4G===
* Portland, Oregon, USA
* https://2014.foss4g.org/
* Contact: ?
* 300 8Gig OSGeo-Live USBs handed out from the OSGeo Booth.
* OSGeo-Live VM used for many of the workshops.

=== 2-3 September 2014, OSGIS 2014===
* University of Nottingham, UK
* http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/osgis/home.aspx
* Contact: Suchith Anand

=== 27-28 August 2014 FOSS4G Korea ===
* COEX, Seoul, Korea
* Handed out OSGeo-Live DVDs
* Contact: Sanghee Shin

=== 21-25 July, 2014. Urban Informatics Postgraduate Elective===
* University of Melbourne, Australia
* USB stick with OSGeo-Live 7.9 was handed out to 25 enrolled students
* Students had a choice of USB or VM
* Contact: A/Prof Chris Pettit, Dr Jack Barton

=== 15.-17. July 2014 FOSS4G-Euope===
* Jacobs University Bremen, Germany
* http://foss4g-e.org/
* about 160 attendents
* OSGeo table together with FOSSGIS e.V.
* USB stick with OSGeo-Live 7.9 was handed out to every participant
* Presentation on OSGeo-Live http://kalxas.github.io/OSGeoLive-presentation/#/
* Code Sprint for version 8.0 at friday 18th july 2014
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 7-11 July 2014, Fifth Open Source Opportunities in GIS Summer School ===
* Girona, Spain
* http://www.sigte.udg.edu/summerschool2014/
* The Summer School is focused on the development and creation of Open Web Services and Web Applications, especially on the publication of data on the web. With this goal, the programme will cover topics related to the acquisition and importation of OpenStreetMap data into a spatial database, creation of geospatial web services and development of internet viewers for publishing geospatial data.
The course has been designed and will be conducted on a GNU/Linux operating system based on the use of the OSGeo-Live DVD
* http://live.osgeo.org/en/index.html
* Contact: Lluis Vicens

=== 1-3 July 2014, AfricaGeo ===
* Cape Town, South Africa
* http://www.africageo.org/
* presentation and paper based on OSGeo-Live (and distribution of ~550 OSGeo-Live DVDs in delegate bags)
* Contact: [[User:Gfleming|Gavin Fleming]], Tim Sutton

=== ANLiegen Natur (journal: article - print and online) ===
* journal focused on applied nature conservation (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)
* June 2015
* journal: [http://www.anl.bayern.de/publikationen/anliegen/anliegen36_1.htm ANLiegen Natur 36(1)]
* ''Open Data und freie und offene Geographische Informationssysteme (FOSSGIS) – ein Werkzeug für den (ehrenamtlichen) Naturschutz?''
* ''Open Data and free and open source software for geographic information systems (FOSSGIS) – a tool for (voluntary) nature conservation?''
* [http://www.anl.bayern.de/publikationen/anliegen/doc/an36113kudrnovsky_2014_open_data.pdf article]
* Contact: [[User:hellik|Helmut Kudrnovsky]]

=== 17-20 June 2014, USFWS National GIS Workshop ===
* West Virginia, USA
* http://training.fws.gov/nctcweb/catalog/CourseDetail.aspx?CourseCodeLong=FWS-CSP7304
* Contact: Doug Newcomb
* Presented OSGeo-Live presentation, handed out OSGeo-Live DVDs

=== 10-13 June 2014, OGRS 2014 ===
* Helsinki, Finland
* http://2014.ogrs-community.org/
* Contact: [[User:Ajolma|Ari Jolma]]

=== 2-4 July 2014, AGIT26 ===
* Salzburg, Austria
* http://www.agit.at
* OSGeo Day http://www.agit.at/index.php/programmagit/themen-schwerpunkte/osgeo-day-osgeo-park-2014
* OSGeo Booth, OSGeo-Live Postcards, OSGeo flyer, OSGeo Day and workshops
* Contact: Astrid Emde

=== 20-22 May 2014 FOSS4G-FR ===
* Paris, France
* Contact: Vicent Picavet

=== 21 May 2014 QLD Open Source Spatial Workshop ===
* Brisbane, Australia
* http://www.sssi.org.au/Events/QLD-Open-Source-Spatial-Workshop/eid/988.html
* OSGeo-Live DVD handed out to all participants and used in hands on workshops
* Contact: Shaun Kolomeitz

=== 27 April – 2 May, 2014 European Geosciences Union General Assembly===
* Vienna, Austria
* http://www.egu2014.eu/
* 100 OSGeo-Live DVDs handed out to participants
* Contact Peter Löwe
* Detailed report and lessons learned: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/EGU_Townhall_2014#OSGeo-Live_DVDs

=== 26-28 March 2014, 8as Jornadas de SIG Libre (Spanish FOSS4G) ===
* 26 - 28 March 2014 in Girona
* http://www.sigte.udg.edu/jornadassiglibre
* 6 Workshops will take place, using OSGeo-Live
** Introduction to QGIS
** Integration of Free Geospatial Technologies
** Introduction to python for geospatial applications
** Introduction to MapProxy
** Developing mobile applications with Glob3 mobile SDK
** Creating Web Applications with AngularJS AND LeafletJS
* What format of OSGeo-Live was used?
** VirtualMachine
* Contact: [[User:Lluís|Lluís Vicens]]

=== 19. - 21. March 2014 FOSSGIS ===
* 19. - 21. March 2014
* Berlin, Germany
* http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/2014/
* Videos on youtube: http://youtube.com/fossgis
* Hand out OSGeo-Live 7.9 postcards to all delegates - about 550 postcards
* Presenatation about OSGeo-Live '''OSGeo-Live rocks!''' '''maybe'''
* > 10 Workshops will take place, most of them will use OSGeo-Live
** 204 persons in the workshops
* What format of OSGeo-Live was used?
** VirtualMachine
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 23 February 2014 FOSS4G Sri Lanka ===
* Malabe, Sri Lanka
* OSGeo-Live Presentation including demo of OSGeo-Live
* Handed out OSGeo Live 7.0 DVDs
* Contact: Nimalika Fernando

=== 1-2 February 2014 FOSDEM ===
* Brussels, Belgium
* http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSDEM2014
* Presentation of OSGeo Live Overview on a screen, event was attended by ~5000 people, OSGeo stand got visit of at least 500 (all marketing material was given away)
* Contact: Anne Ghisla

=== 23-25 January 2014 Societal GIS training workshop ===
* Rajahmundry, India
* OSGeo India had a 3 day Societal GIS training workshop.
* Used OSGeo Live-7, both DVD and USB driven. Wish to use Virtual Box as Windows-8 has serious booting issues and OSGeo-Live works fine with Virtual Box (Sun Microsystems).
* http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User_talk:Ravivundavalli#OSGeo_India_and_Adi_Kavi_Nannaya_University_Training_workshop_23_-_25_January_2014

== 2013 ==
=== 4-6 December 2013, National Seminar on 'Remote Sensing and GIS for Environment', India ===
* Visakhapatnam, India
* OSGeo booth attracted a bee line of students who were eager to experiment with OSGeo software. Copies of OSGeo Live-DVD were distributed to all those who have answered a questionnaire quizzing about OSGeo and FOSS GIS.
* http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User_talk:Ravivundavalli#OSGeo_India_Booth_at_Visakhapatnam.2C_India

=== 14-15 November 2013, FOSS4G Korea 2013 ===
* Seoul, Korea
* http://www.osgeo.kr/135/
* OSGeo Live DVD will be distributed at the FOSS4G Korea venue and through KAOS-G booth at Smart GeoExpo Korea 2013.
* Contact: [[User:sanghee|Sanghee Shin]]

=== 4-8 November 2013, AfricaGIS 2013 / GSDI 14 ===
* Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
* http://www.gsdi.org/gsdiconf/gsdi14/
* Lightning overview presented (reveal JS version)
* Contact: [[User:Gfleming|Gavin Fleming]]

=== 8-10 October 2013, INTERGEO 2013 ===
* Essen, Germany
* http://intergeo.de
* it is planned to hand out 500 OSGeo 7.0 DVDs
* slides about OSGeo-Live in FOSSGIS e.V. presentation
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 24 - 26 Sept 2013, Asian Geospatial Forum 2013 ===
* Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
* http://www.asiageospatialforum.org
* OSGEO-Live and ICA-OSGEO lab network [http://prezi.com/hv18xf8_wolq/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy presentation]
* Contact: [[TuongThuy Vu|Thuy Vu]]

=== 19 - 21 Sept 2013, INCA-33 International Congress India ===
* Jodhpur, India
* http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User_talk:Ravivundavalli#OSGeo_India_.40_INCA-33_International_congress.2C_Jodhpur.2C_Rajasthan.2C_India
* Through OSGeo India booth 100 Live-DVDs are distributed
* Contact: ravivundavalli@yahoo.com

=== 17-21 September 2013, FOSS4G ===
* Nottingham, United Kingdom
* http://2013.foss4g.org
* Contact: Steven Feldman

=== 25-30 August 2013, International Cartographic Conference ===
* Dresden, Germany
* http://www.dgfk.net/index.php?id=164&do=akt
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 8-12 July 2013, Open Source Opportunities in GIS Summer School ===
* Girona, Catalonia, Spain
* About 25 students running OSGeo-Live in a Virtual Machine (Virtual Box).
* http://www.sigte.udg.edu/summerschool2013/
* Contact: [[User:Lluís|Lluís Vicens]]

=== 3-5 July 2013, AGIT25 ===
* Salzburg, Austria
* http://www.agit.at
* OSGeo Day http://www.agit.at/index.php/programm-2013/themen/osgeo
* Hand out OSGeo-Live 6.5 DVDs at FOSSGIS/OSGeo Booth - about 200 DVDs
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 10 June 2013, FROG (FRancophone Opensource Geomatique)===
* Paris, France
* http://osgeo.asso.fr
* Distribution to participants ?
* Contact : Vincent Picavet

=== 12.-14. June 2013 FOSSGIS ===
* 12.-14. June 2013
* Rapperswil, Switzerland
* http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/2013/
* Hand out OSGeo-Live 6.5 DVDs to all delegates - about 350 DVDs
* Presenatation about OSGeo-Live '''OSGeo-Live rocks!''' by [[User:Astrid Emde | Astrid Emde]] http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/2013/programm/events/576.de.html
* > 10 Workshops will take place, most of them will use OSGeo-Live 6.5
** 5 - 20 persons in the workshops
* What format of OSGeo-Live was used?
** VirtualMachine
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== 17-19 June 2013, FOSS4G-CEE 2013 ===
* Bucharest, Romania
* OSGeo-Live 6.5 (or higher) DVDs will be handed out to all participants (conference target: 300)
* Some workshops are expected to make use of OSGeo-Live (call for workshops opens June 13th)
* A OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation is welcome (call for presentations opens June 13th)
* http://2013.foss4g-cee.org
* Contact: [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Vasile Vasile Crăciunescu]

=== 21 May 2013, Location Intelligence Conference ===
* Washington DC, United States
* OSGeo-Live presentation by [[User:Amyonthemap|Amy Gao]]

=== 29-30 April, 2013 GIS In Action ===
* April 29 to May 1, 2013,
* Portland, Oregon
* http://www.orurisa.org/GIS_In_Action (website is reused every year, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130510063948/http://www.orurisa.org/GIS_In_Action Archive.org site])
* The DVD was used to run demos at the booth. A limited number of copies were available to hand out to people who seemed very interested.
* The PDX-OSGeo chapter also helps organize an Open Source Track at GIS In Action which was very popular. This year, there was not a specific talk about the LiveDVD although it is often mentioned as a great way to try out software that people ask about.
* On May 2, there was an unconference where the LiveDVD was frequently referenced.
* Contact: [[User:EliL | EliL]]

=== 24 April, 2013 FOSS4G Buenos Aires 2013 ===
* 24 to 26 of April 2013, Buenos Aires, Argentina
* http://www.foss4g.org.ar/
* Unfortunately there was a problem with the DVD distributor and the participants didn't receive a copy.
* [http://jsanz.github.io/slides-201304-foss4gba/osgeo-live/#/title OSGeo Live presentation] by [[Jorge Sanz]]
* OSGeo Live was used on the MapProxy workshop by the lecturer and some attendants that were able to run it on Virtual Box
* Contact: [[Mauricio Miranda]]

=== 10 April, 2013 EGU 2013 ===
* Vienna, Austria
* http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2013/session/13223
* DVD-distribution to journalists
* splinter meeting with short presentation and screenshots of OSGeo-Live
* Contact: Peter Löwe

=== 6-8 March 2013, Jornadas de SIG Libre (Spanish FOSS4G2013) ===
* Girona, Spain
* http://www.sigte.udg.edu/jornadassiglibre
* Contact: [[User:Lluís|Lluis Vicens]]

=== 17-18 January 2013, WhereCampEU ===
* Rome, Italy
* http://wherecamp.eu/
* OSGeo-Live presentation by [[User:Lucadelu|Luca Delucchi]]

== 2012 ==

=== 4-7 December 2012, Open Source Developers Conference ===
* Sydney, Australia
* http://www.osdc.com.au/
* OSGeo-Live presentation by Cameron Shorter
* Contact: Cameron Shorter

=== 22-24 November 2012, PhilGEOS 2012 ===
* Quezon City, Philippines
* http://philgeos2012.wordpress.com/
* Over 60 participants joined 8 workshops and 3 lightning talks. The OSGeo Live project was also presented in one of the parallel technical sessions in the main conference. Likewise, an exhibit booth was installed during the PhilGEOS conference for OSGeo and OpenStreetMap. Over ~50 OSGeo Live DVDs were handed out to conference participants.
* Contact: Maning Sambale

=== 17-18 November 2012, OpenGIS ===
* Moscow, Russia
* conference on everything related to free and opensource GIS: data, software, methodology, organized by members of Russian GIS-Lab and OpenStreetMap communities.
* Over 200 participants; OSGeo-Live DVD was used in GRASS GIS workshop; ~10 OSGeo Live DVDs were handed out to conference participants.
* http://gisconf.ru/en/
* Contact: Maxim Dubinin, Alexander Mury

=== 14-17 November 2012, GFOSSDAY 2012 - OSMit 2012 ===
* Turin, Italy
* http://www.gfoss.it/drupal/gfossday2012
* OSGeo-Live software directly used from VMs within five workshops
* OSGeo-Live overview in keynote presentation
* Title: OSGeo-Live: il più semplice strumento per provare le applicazioni GFOSS / OSGeo-Live: the simplest way to test FOSS4G software
* Contact: [[User:Lucadelu|Luca Delucchi]]

=== 14-16 November 2012, EGU Leonardo Conference ===
* Turin, Italy
* http://www.eguleonardo2012.polito.it/
* Poster presentation in Session: Population
* Notes: Poster Presentations consist in a quick (1-Slide) oral overview during the sessions and in the attendance by the poster stand between the sessions.
* Title: A complete review of the breadth of quality Geospatial Open Source Software available to Hydrologists, using OSGeo-Live
* Contact: [[User:Madi|Margherita Di Leo]]

=== 12-13 November 2012, SWE-SmartCities Workshop ===
* Barcelona, Spain
* https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5tKYbjsGOrxWkVwWWZsM2NHNlk/edit
* Sensor Web Enablement workshop held by 52°North
* 21 OSGeo-Live handed to the participants and used for the exercises
* The DVD was used for a training workshop on OGC Sensor Web Enablement. Participants worked with the 52°North SOS and the 52°North WPS. The DVD was mostly used, in some cases the VM was used.During the training, the participants used their own laptop computers (a full mix of all operating systems).There was no dedicated time needed for setting up the DVD. No issues occured.
* Contact: [[User:esllolo|Estela Llorente López]], Simon Jirka (52°North)

=== November 2012, Open Source GIS and Webmapping Workshop ===
* Vienna (Austria)
* Waiting on Barend Köbben to provide website url once details are finalised

===25-26 October 2012, FOSS4G-India ===
* Hyderabad, India
* http://lsi.iiit.ac.in/foss4gindia
* OSGeo-Live DVDs to be handed out to all participants
* OSGeo-Live to be used in workshops
* OSGeo-Live Presentation to be given by K S Rajan
* Contact: K S Rajan

=== October 2012, LatinOSGIS ===
* Guayaquil, Ecuador
* OSGeo-Live 6.0 DVDs to be handed out
* lightning presentation by Mauricio Miranda
* http://www.fiec.espol.edu.ec/LatinOSGIS
* Contact: Indira Yadira Nolivos Alvarez

===17,18 October 2012, GeoINT 2012 ===
* Orlando Florida
* OSGeo-Live link handed out
* mentioned in various panels and forums
* geoint2012.com
* Contact: Mark Lucas and John Scott

=== 17-19 October 2012, Geospace Europe Summit 2012 ===
* Brussels Belgium
* OSGeo-Live link handed out
* Presentation pointing to live.ogeo.org efforts
* http://defence.flemingeurope.com/geospatial-intelligence-europe
* Contact: Mark Lucas

=== 17-19 October 2012, Latinoware ===
* Keynote presentation by Jody Garnett including parts of the OSGeo Lightning presentation
* http://2012.latinoware.org/?lang=en , http://2012.latinoware.org/?page_id=228
* Contact: Jody Garnett

=== October 2012, INTERGEO 2012 ===
* Hannover Germany, 9.-11.10.2012
* ~600 OSGeo 6.0 (and some of Version 5.5.) DVDs were distributed
* slide about OSGeo-Live in [http://fossgis.de FOSSGIS e.V.] presentation
* very good feedback to the DVD. Lot of people already know OSGeo-Live
* http://intergeo.de
* Contact: [[User:Astrid Emde|Astrid Emde]]

=== October 2012, Smart Korea 2012 in conjunction with OGC TC/PC Meeting ===
* Seoul, Korea
* Around 50 OSGeo-Live 6.0 DVDs were handed out at OSGeo booth there
* http://www.opengeospatial.org/event/1210tc
* Contact: Sanghee Shin

=== 11-13 October 2012, XXXII INCA International Conference 2012 ===
* Dehradun, India
* http://www.incaindia.org/32INCA/
* Nearly 80 OSGeo-Live 6.0 DVDs handed out at OSGeo/IIRS Booth. Posters with screenshots of some applications with local data were put up.
* Explained delegates about OpenSource GIS. Demonstrated QGIS to anyone with a question. Demoed OpenCPN to some of the folks from National Hydrographic Office.
* Contact: Chaitanya Kumar CH

=== October 12, 2012, FOSS4G Korea 2012 ===
* COEX, Seoul, Korea
* Nearly 70~80 OSGeo-Live 6.0 DVDs were handed out during the event and brief explanation of OSGeo-Live project was given to participants
* FOSS4G Korea will be held in conjunction with Smart Korea 2012
* http://www.osgeo.kr
* Contact: Sanghee Shin

=== October 3-5, 2012, Minnesota GIS/LIS 2012 ===
* Saint Cloud, Minnesota, USA
* OSGeo-Live 6.0 DVDs handed out at OSGeo/FOSS4GNA Booth.
* OSGeo-Live ODP file set to loop on digital display in booth, augmented with local OSGeo project screenshots.
* Annual Conference and Workshops.
* http://www.mngislis.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=718
* Contact: Bob Basques

=== October 2012, GISSA Ukubuzana conference ===
* 1-3 October, Johannesburg, South Africa
* ~450 OSGeo 6.0 DVDs were distributed
* Lightning overview wwas also presented
* It was also used in two workshops ('Intro to PostGIS and QGIS' and 'Enterprise GIS with FOSS')
* http://gissa.org.za/activities/conferences/gissa-ukubuzana-2012
* More were distributed and used in workshops at the launch of the University of Pretoria ICA/OSGeo Lab on 4 Oct
* [[User:Gfleming|Gavin Fleming]]

=== September 2012, Geocamp ===
* September 22nd, Campo Maior, Portugal
* http://geocampers.com
* OSGeo project presentation: how the project is managed, how translations work, how a project is involved
* Contact: [[Jorge Sanz]], Hugo Santos info (at) geocampers (dot) com

=== September 2012, Asia GeoSpatial Forum ===
* Hanoi, Vietnam. 17~19th, September
* Around 50 OSGeo-Live 6.0 DVDs were handed out to the participants.
* A presentation on OSGeo overview and OSGeo-Live was given in oral presentation session
* Open Source GIS Session
* http://www.asiageospatialforum.org/
* Contact: Sanghee Shin

=== 5 September 2012 Open Source GIS Conference (OSGIS) ===
* Nottingham, United Kingdom
* All day session: "Educational use of OSGeo Live" presented by Ari Jolma
* 100 OSGeo-Live DVDs handed out
* OSGeo-Live lightning presentation by Barry Rowlingson
* http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/osgis/
* Contact: Suchith Anand

=== August 2012, 34th International Geological Conference ===
* Brisbane, Australia
* OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation by Peter Baunmann, conference convener
* http://www.34igc.org/
* Contact: Peter Baunmann

=== 18-19 July 2012, FOSS4G Southeast Asia ===
* Johor Bahru, Malaysia
* OSGEO-live DVD used at the plenary session. Several slides from OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation used plus some demonstration.
* OSGeo-Live handed out to all delegates.
* Contact: Dr. Franz-Josef Behr

=== July 2012, Third Open Source GIS Summer School ===
* Girona, Spain
* School program focused on the development and creation of Open Web Mapping Services and Web applications. Jeremy Morley (Lecturer and a theme leader at the NGI) will be contributing the Nottingham components for the Summer School. The course has been designed and will be conducted on a GNU/Linux operating system based on the use of the OSGeo-Live DVD.
* http://www.sigte.udg.edu/summerschool2012/
* Contact: Lluís Vicens

=== July 2012, International Environmental Modeling and Software Society Conference (IEMSS) ===
* Leipzig, Germany
* ~ 100 OSGeo-Live 5.5 DVDs to be handed out
* OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation
* http://www.iemss.org/sites/iemss2012/sessions_D.html
* Contact: Daniel P. Ames

=== July 2012, AGIT ===
* Salzburg (Austria) Annual Conference
* http://www.agit.at/
* [[AGIT]], Friday is OSGeo day, free booth together with OSM throughtout the week ([[Arnulf]])
* we want to hand out +- 500 OSGeoLive DVDs

===June 30 - July 1, 2012, FOSS4G Hokkaido 2012 ===
*Sapporo, Hokkaido JAPAN
*50 OSGeo-Live 5.5 DVDs handed out to delegates
*OSGeo.JP and OSGeo-Live overview in keynote presentation
*[https://sites.google.com/site/foss4ghokkaido/ Website (in Japanese)]
*[https://www.facebook.com/FOSS4G.Hokkaido Facebook (in Japanese)]

=== June 2012, useR! The International R User Conference ===
* Vanderbilt U, Nashville USA
* http://biostat.mc.vanderbilt.edu/wiki/Main/UseR-2012
* Workshop Presentation on Geospatial Data in R, 33 attendees
* Five or six OSGeo-Live 5.5 DVDs taken
* Boot and demo at end of workshop.

=== June 28, 2012, OSGeo.nl Day (FOSS4G Regional) within MapWindow Conference - The Netherlands ===
* Velp, The Netherlands
* OSGeo-Live 5.5 DVDs handed out to all delegates (about 120). This included a large contingent of OSGeo-NL people who I heard were very appreciative of the DVD.
* OSGeo-Live + OSGeo overview in keynote presentation
* OSGeo-Live software directly used from VMs within the two workshops
* http://osgeo.nl/osgeonl_dag_2012.html (OSGeo.nl Day Program + Pres. Slides)
* http://www.mapwindow.org/conference/2012 (general MapWindow conf)
* Contact: Daniel P. Ames

=== May 2012, FOSS4G-CEE & Geoinformatics 2012 ===
* Prague, Czech Republic
* OSGeo-Live 5.5 DVDs to be used in workshops
* OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation
* http://foss4g-cee.org/
* Contact: Jachym Cepicky

=== May 2012, FOSSCOMM 2012 ===
* Serres, Greece
* OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation
* 1 undergraduate thesis presentation using OSGeo-Live
* http://serres.fosscomm.gr/?page_id=582

=== May 2012, HellasGI 2012 ===
* Athens, Greece
* OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation
* Local chapter meeting

=== April 2012, COMEM OGO course :: Webmapping with OGC standards ===
* April 16th, a course dedicated on geospatialized e-Content for Media Engineering bachelor students (http://www.comem.ch) at School of Engineering and Business Vaud (http://www.heig-vd.ch), Western Switzerland, Yverdon-les-Bains
* Topic : learning webmapping and OGC standards with OpenLayers, GeoServer, PostGIS (http://ogo.heig-vd.ch)
* A customized OSGeo-Live 5.5 VM has been used through VirtualBox by 15 students to execute several exercices and to build a five days project (http://carto.iict.ch)
* Delivering a complete and ready to use geo-enabled VM is interessant for students to work in a kind of sandbox and to bring something easely back at home for later reuse.

=== April 2012, Geospatial World Forum 2012 ===
* The RAI, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
* 4-hour [http://wiki.osgeo.org/images/b/bf/GeospatialWorldForum_2012_OpenSource_Seminar_Program.pdf "Open Source Seminar"] organized by OSGeo/[http://OSgeo.nl OSGeo Dutch Chapter] with 11 speakers
* OSGeo-Live lightning presentation (15mins)
* http://www.geospatialworldforum.org/2012/open.htm

=== April 2012, FOSS4G North America 2012 ===
* Washington, United States
* Hand out OSGeo-Live 5.5 DVDs to all delegates
* OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation?
* http://foss4g-na.org/

=== April 2012, GISRUK 2012 ===
* Lancaster University, UK
* (probably) To be used for pre-conference workshop from Lutra Consulting
* Around 200 DVDs to be handed out at the OSGeo-UK desk
* http://www.lancs.ac.uk/gisruk2012/

=== April 2012, AGILE 2012===
* Avignon, France
* http://agile2012.imag.fr/index.php/workshops/hands-on-qopen-source-gis-a-webmappingq
* Open Source GIS & WebCartography workshop
* OSGeo-Live USBs handed to all workshop attendees

=== March 2012, Association for Geographic Information Welsh Group Open Source Seminar ===
* Wrexham, Wales, UK
* DVDs handed out to all delegates (20)
* http://astuntechnology.com/news/agi-open-source-training/ (proper link no longer available)

=== March 2012, AWRA GIS and Water Resources Conference ===
* New Orleans
* ~ 350 DVDs handed to delegates
* http://awra.org/meetings/Spring2012/

=== March 2012, FOSSGIS 2012 ===
* Dessau, Germany
* Hand out OSGeo-Live 5.5 DVDs to all delegates - more than 400 DVDs
* OSGeo-Live was mentioned in the opening speech
* http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/2012/
* OSGeo-Live was mentioned a lot on the conference. Some presenter mentioned in their presentation, to test the new stuff with OSGeo-Live
* How many people were in the workshop?
** 21 Wokshops took place in total, 15 Workshop used OSGeo-Live 5.5, some of the workshops used a modified OSGeo-Live version
** 5 - 20 persons were in the workshops
* What format of OSGeo-Live was used? DVD? USB? VM?
** Used with VirtualBox
* Did students bring their own computers? What types of computers and operating systems were brought in?
** No own computers. We used the computers with windows and VirtualBox from the GIS pool of the university
* How much time was spent setting up the class with setting up OSGeo-Live?
** This was done before the workshop

=== March 2012, Spanish FOSS4G 2012 ===
* Girona, Spain
* OSGeo-Live lightning overview presentation.
* Possibly also handing out osgeo-live 5.5 DVDs?
* http://www.sigte.udg.edu/jornadassiglibre/

=== 6-7 March 2012, Malaysian Geospatial Forum ===
* Malaka, Malaysia
* http://www.malaysiageospatialforum.org
* The OSGEO-Live lightning overview was presented to around 50 attendees (of approximately 300 attendees of the whole event). Positive feedbacks, the common question was which package should be used to their work.

=== February 2012, AAG 2012 ===
* New York, New York
* 25 OSGeo-Live 5.0 bootable thumb drives to be handed out
* FOSS4G Workshop for Educators
* http://www.aag.org/cs/annualmeeting

=== February 2012, GIS courses ===
* 6-10 Feb, Enterprise GIS course at University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
* 13-17 Feb , Introduction to QGIS and PostGIS course, Muizenberg, South Africa
* OSGeo 5.0 DVDs handed out to course attendees (~15 each)
* Ran in first session of workshops as LiveDVD to browse through the ecosystem and get a feel for Linux and FOSS GIS.
* [[User:Gfleming|Gavin Fleming]]

=== January 2012, Pleiades Days 2012 ===
* Toulouse, France
* 50 OSGeo-Live 5.0 bootable thumb drives to be handed out
* [http://www.pleiades2012.com/ Website]

== 2011==

=== December 2011, Enterprise GIS course at the Council for Geoscience ===
* 12-14 Dec, Cape Town, South Africa
* OSGeo 5.0 DVDs handed out to course attendees
* We set up the VM on Windows for part of the workshop. Demo'd QGIS server and browsed through the system for an overview of other tools.
* It would be nice to have OpenGeo Suite Community Edition installed. It could provide PostGIS and GeoServer to the rest of the DVD. Also GeoNode.
* [[User:Gfleming|Gavin Fleming]]

=== November 2011, FOSS4G Tokyo/Osaka 2011 ===
*Tokyo and Osaka, JAPAN
*each 50+ OSGeo-Live 5.0 DVDs handed to delegates
*[http://www.osgeo.jp/%E3%82%A4%E3%83%99%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88/foss4g-2011-tokyo/ Website (in Japanese)]
*[http://www.osgeo.jp/%E3%82%A4%E3%83%99%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88/foss4g-2011-osaka/ Website (in Japanese)]

=== October 2011, IAEA/FAO Coordinated Research Program ===
* Burkina Faso
* This conference was the third in a series of semi-annual meetings reviewing research programs regarding two agricultural pests: Tsetse and Old/New World Screw-worm. The meetings focus on merging population genetics and GIS techniques to better understand the spread of these pests.
* A customized version of the OSGeoLive 5.0 was prepared with data specific to Burkina Faso, and each of the 15 participants received a USB flash drive for the practice session. Some basic exercises were conducted demonstrating QGIS, Spatialite, and R.
* Responses were overwhelmingly positive.

=== September 2011, Intergeo 2011 ===
* Nuremberg, Germany
* Intergeo is an anual big fair on geodesy, geoinformation and land management
* [http://fossgis.de FOSSGIS e.V.] (german language local chapter of OSGeo) organizes an the OSGeo Park at Intergeo every year presenting OSGeo software. There also is a [http://www.fossgis.de/wiki/Intergeo_2011/Vortragsprogramm presentation area] where we present OSGeo Software and solutions 3 days long
* Rest of the OSGeo-Live 4.5 handed out (aprox 100 DVDs)
* http://www.intergeo.de/en/englisch/index.php

=== September 2011, FOSS4G 2011 ===
Denver, United States
* OSGeo Live given to every delegate. (Release 5.0)
* 300 USBs printed, 600 DVDs
* OSGeo-Live was used within many of the workshops

=== June/July 2011, Open Source GIS Summer School ===
* University of Gerona, Gerona, Spain
* The school taught Open Source GIS technologies and made use of the OSGeoLive DVD
* http://www.sigte.udg.edu/summerschool2011/target-audience/prerequisites

=== August 2011, [http://irdal.ird.fr/spip.php?page=ecole_ete_spatial_bresil11_sommaire&id_rubrique=1022|Ecole d'été - Observation spatiale de l'environnement] ===
* Macapa, Brazil
* OSGeo-Live 5.0RC1 on a USB was used in a workshop for 12 students learning OTB and Monteverdi.

=== June 2011, FLUXNET & RS Open-Workshop ===
* David Brower Environmental Center, USA
* http://nature.berkeley.edu/biometlab/fluxnet2011/fluxwkshp_post.html
* Provided OSGeo LiveDVD to interested participants

=== June 2011, [[Live_GIS_Disk_FOSS4G_2010| OSGIS 2011]] ===
Centre for Geospatial Science, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
* http://cgs.nottingham.ac.uk/~osgis11/os_home.html
* Provided OSGeo-Live lightning presentation, abstract: [[Live_GIS_Disk_OSGIS_2011]]
* handed out OSGeo-Live DVDs to all delegates

=== May 2011, CGS 2011 ===
* Bishop CA, USA
* ~10 discs

=== April 2011, GITA 2011 ===
* Dallas Tx, USA
* 100 discs sent to OSGeo booth

=== April 2011, AAG 2011 ===
* Seattle, WA USA
* Annual Geography conference 8-10,000 attendants
* ~30-50 discs given away at OSGeo booth
* Remaining ~150 divided between CUGOS and Portland? chapters.

=== April 2011, FOSSGIS 2011 ===
* Heidelberg, Germany
* [http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/2011/ FOSSGIS] is an annual conference in german language with ~ 400 attendants
* we printed OSGeo-Live 4.5 and handed out about 450 DVDs
* OSGeoLive 4.5 was used sucessfully in ~ 12 workshops
* [http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/2011/programm/events/248.de.html Astrid Emde presented OSGeo-Live] in a 20 min talk with focus on the background of the project and the possibilities the project offers
** about 40 attendants

== 2010 ==
=== November 2010, GeoData Camp ===
* Athens, Greece
* Presented OSGeo-Live lightning presentation in Greek to more than 300 attendants. This included two 1-hour presentations in technical sessions and a 15 minute presentation in the main event.

=== October 2010, Intergeo 2010 ===
* Cologne, Germany
* Intergeo is an anual big fair on geodesy, geoinformation and land management
* [http://fossgis.de FOSSGIS e.V.] (german language local chapter of OSGeo) organizes an Open Source Park on Intergeo every year where OSGeo Software is presented. There also is a [http://www.fossgis.de/wiki/Intergeo_2010/Vortragsprogramm presentation area] where we present OSGeo Software and solutions 3 days long
* we printed OSGeo-Live 4.0 and handed out about 450 DVDs
* Lars Lingner presented the DVD with Cameron Shorters presentation
* http://www.intergeo.de/en/englisch/index.php
* Feedback
** good feedback: OSGeo-Live offers the possibility to get to know OSGeo Software without an installation

=== September 2010, [[Live_GIS_Disk_FOSS4G_2010|FOSS4G 2010]] ===
Barcelona, Spain
* Provided a 90 minute tutorial of OSGeo Live
* OSGeo Live given to every delegate. (Release 4.0)

=== April 2010, [http://www.fig2010.com/ FIG 2010] - International Surveyors conference===
Sydney, Australia
* Handed out Live DVDs from OSGeo stand. (Release 3.0)
* Provided 15 minute lightning talk about the OSGeo stack, promoting the LiveDVD. [[http://cameronshorter.blogspot.com/2010/04/report-from-osgeo-stand-at-federation.html Report]], [[http://blip.tv/file/3503561 presentation video]]

== 2009 ==

=== October 2009, [http://2009.foss4g.org FOSS4G 2009] ===
Sydney, Australia
* Handed out 500 Live DVDs in every delegate's show bag. (Release: 2.0.3)

=== June 2009, [http://www.spatial.gov.au/Conferences/spatialgov+2009/default.aspx Spatial@Gov] ===
* Canberra, Australia
* Handed out Live DVDs from an OSGeo stand. (Release 1.0)
* Cameron Shorter provided a 30 minute presentation on the Open Source GeoSpatial Stack.

== 2008 ==

=== November 2008, Australian Cooperative Research Center for Spatial Information Conference ===
* Brisbane, Australia
* Distributed ~ 250 OSGeo-Live DVDs to delegates (Release 1.0)

===September 2008, [http://2008.foss4g.org FOSS4G 2008]===
* Handed out ~ 150 Live DVDs from the OSGeo stand. (Release: foss4g2008)

[[Category: Live-demo]]
[[Category: History]]

LIDAR Format Letter

2015-04-21T05:08:29Z

Rajan: /* Signed */

=Open Letter of the Need for Open Standards in LiDAR=
April 2015.

We, the undersigned, are concerned that the current interoperability between LiDAR applications, through use of the open "LAS" format, is being threatened by ESRI's introduction and promotion of an alternative "Optimized LAS" '''''proprietary format.''''' This is of grave concern given that fragmentation of the LAS format will reduce interoperability between applications and organisations, and introduce vendor lock-in.

We request that:
# The OGC initiate the formalisation of an open standard for storing LiDAR data, and that OGC sponsors help prioritise the development of this open LiDAR standard.
# ESRI support the OGC in their [http://www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/vision mission] "to advance the development and use of international standards and supporting services that promote geospatial interoperability." In particular, ESRI joins with the OGC in consolidating an Open Standard for use of LiDAR data. This might include proposing ESRI's "Optimized LAS" as an Open Standard to remove any technical or legal hurdles in use of "Optimized LAS" as an Open Standard. A simple test to determine if "Optimized LAS" can be used as an Open Standard would be if "Optimized LAS" can legally be implemented by Open Source software such as libLAS or LASzip.
# Users and sponsors of LiDAR data, publicly state their preference for the use of an open LiDAR format over proprietary when selecting software and services.
# The custodians of the open LAS format [http://www.asprs.org/LD-Division/LAS-Working-Group.html LAS Working Group (LWG)], who are part of [http://www.asprs.org/ American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS)], request the term "LAS" not to be included in the name of a proprietary format, as it makes such a proprietary format appear to be an approved derivative of LAS.

=Signed=
Name, Affiliation(s), Optional comment on interest in Open LiDAR format

# Suchith Anand, Geo for All, committed to Open Principles in Geo Education and Policy.
# Martin Isenburg, founder of [http://rapidlasso.com rapidlasso GmbH] and creator of [http://rapidlasso.com/LASzip LASzip], [http://rapidlasso.com/LAStools LAStools], and [http://rapidlasso.com/PulseWaves PulseWaves].
# Cameron Shorter, GeoSpatial Director at [http://lisasoft.com LISAsoft]. Core contributor and coordinator of [http://live.osgeo.org OSGeo-Live]. Contributor to numerous OGC testbeds, technical lead on a range of previous Australian and New Zealand Open Government initiatives.
# Stefan Keller, founder and director of [http://www.hsr.ch/geometalab Geometa Lab]; Professor in GIS, databases, open (government) data and interoperability; maintainer of GeoConverter; contributor to open source software (GDAL/OGR, QGIS).
# Patrick Hogan, NASA World Wind Project Manager, committed to the US National Spatial Data Infrastructure principles, one being "to make geographic data more accessible to the public" [http://www.fgdc.gov/nsdi/nsdi.html NSDI]. Open standards are essential for this.
# Lene Fischer, Associate Professor, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen. User of Open and free Data from The Danish Geodata Agency - Using LAZ and LAS http://download.kortforsyningen.dk/content/dhmpunktsky.
# [http://www.ege-como.polimi.it/index.php?content=maria_brovelli Maria Antonia Brovelli], Full Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano. Geo For All, committed to Open Principles in Geo Education and Policy and to Open Principles in Research.
# Ron Fortunato, President of [http://www.trilliumlearning.com/AmericaBridge/ Trillium Learning] LLC. Committed to open data standards that are necessary for education and all levels of communication.
# [http://www.geodatawiz.com/armin-schmidt Armin Schmidt], Chief Developer at [http://www.GeodataWIZ.com GeodataWIZ Ltd] and Chairman of [http://www.archprospection.org ISAP], committed to better science through Open Data.
# [http://www.linkedin.com/in/gconti Giuseppe Conti], CTO Trilogis Srl, Italy. Committed to open data standards that maximize opportunity for innovative solutions, unencumbered by artificial obstacles to data exchange.
# [http://pt.linkedin.com/pub/jorge-rocha/1b/560/499 Jorge Gustavo Rocha], Professor, Computer Science Department, University of Minho, Portugal, committed to better science through [http://www.gistam.org/EventChairs.aspx?y=2016 Open Data].
# [http://people.eecs.ku.edu/~miller/ Jim Miller], University of Kansas, Professor, Computer Science. Open standards for data exchange are essential for education and research.
# [http://www.linkedin.com/pub/brandt-melick/22/869/261 Brandt Melick], Information Technology Department Director, Springfield Oregon USA. The need to promote open solutions is paramount.
# Alex Paza Makini, National University Solomon Islands, Natural Resources and Applied Science. Committed to open data standards for education and research, and everything beyond.
# Jorg M. Hacker, Professor, Director/Chief Scientist of [http://www.airborneresearchaustralia.com Airborne Research Australia], Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. Open formats have always been a great benefit to airborne LiDAR.
# Didier Richard, Head of IS Training Dept. in Education and Research Directorate of [http://www.ign.fr Institut National de l'Information Géographique et Forestière], France. OGC user, Contributor to OSGeO projects like GDAL.
# [http://www.linkedin.com/pub/adryane-gorayeb/74/517/96a Adryane Gorayeb], [http://www.ufc.br/ Federal University of Ceará Brazil], Geography Department. Open standards for data exchange are essential for education and research.
# [http://www.linkedin.com/in/yuryryabov Yury Ryabov], PhD, Senior researcher at [http://www.istc.ru/istc/db/inst.nsf/wsu/i0001823 Russian Scientific-Research Centre for Ecological Safety], [http://www.interacademies.net/Academies/ByRegion/CentralEasternEurope/13383.aspx Russian Academy of Sciences], Saint Petersburg, Russia. Open data formats are essential for successful and reproducible scientific research.
# [http://www.linkedin.com/pub/teresa-lamelas-gracia/40/4a7/20b María Teresa Lamelas], [http://cud.unizar.es/ Centro Universitario de la Defensa Zaragoza], [http://geoforest.unizar.es/es/index.php GeoForest-IUCA]. Committed to open data standards for education and research.
# [http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidherries David Herries], [http://www.interpine.co.nz/SitePages/Home.aspx Using LiDAR for forest yield modelling at Interpine Innovation]. Establishing open data standards provide scope for exponential growth in innovation. This is key to a rapidly developing technology like LiDAR.
# [[User:Ivansanchez|Iván Sánchez Ortega]], [http://www.mazemap.no Mazemap]. OSGeo Charter member and Open Data nerd.
# [[User:AnitaGraser|Anita Graser]], GIS specialist with AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, OSGeo Charter member and QGIS team member. Committed to open data standards for education and research.
# [[User:vehrka|Pedro-Juan Ferrer]], [http://www.geomaticblog.net Geomaticblog]. OSGeo Charter member and member of the Open Knowledge Foundation.
# [http://www.linkedin.com/pub/karl-donert/3/160/571 Professor Karl Donert], President European Association of Geographers (http://www.eurogeo.nl/ EUROGEO)
# Drew Fenton, Boulder Creek, CA [http://www.savetheredwoods.org/redwoods/coast-redwoods/ Countdown to the Last Coast Redwood]. Please protect Open Standards for geospatial data!
# [[User:Bolosig|Wladimir Szczerban]], [http://www.geoinquiets.cat Geoinquiets] Geogeek & OSGeo Spanish Local Chapter Member, Spain
# [http://vmx.cx Volker Mische], OSGeo Charter member and creator of GeoCouch
# [http://www.linkedin.com/in/clquintanilla Carlos López Quintanilla], [http://www.psig.es PSIG] [http://www.geoinquiets.cat Geoinquiets] GIS consultant, Spain
# [[User:woodbri|Stephen Woodbridge]], [http://imaptools.com iMaptools], OSGeo Charter member.
# [[User:odoepner|Oliver Doepner]], [http://oliver.doepner.net doepner.net], Software Engineer (Java,Linux), Open Standards and Open Source advocate
# [[User:Lucadelu|Luca Delucchi]], [http://gis.cri.fmach.it Fondazione Edmund Mach], OSGeo Charter member, FOSS4G and Open Data developer, advocate, contributor and user.
# Antoine Cottin, CTO of [http://www.carbomap.com Carbomap Ltd.] and creator of [http://github.com/carbomap/Fleurdelas Fleurdelas], Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
# [http://strk.keybit.net Sandro Santilli], [http://strk.keybit.net/services.html NetLab], Free Software Hacker. There are already too many users slave to their tools, let's stop that!
# [http://www.itopen.it Alessandro Pasotti], [http://www.itopen.it ItOpen], GIS Free Software Developer.
# [http://www.roccatello.com Eduard Roccatello], [http://www.3dgis.it 3DGIS], 3DGIS CTO and co-Founder
# [[User:moovida|Andrea Antonello]], [http://www.hydrologis.com HydroloGIS], OSGeo Charter member, Open Source GIS developer, HydroloGIS co-founder.
# [http://www.associazionegfoss.it Stefano Campus], President of [http://www.associazionegfoss.it GFOSS.it] Association (Associazione Italiana per l'Informazione Geografica Libera), Italian Local Chapter of OSGeo Foundation.
# [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Madi Margherita Di Leo], OSGeo Charter Member
# [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Sacosta Sergio Acosta y Lara], OSGeo Charter Member
# [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Maximdubinin Maxim Dubinin], CEO at NextGIS, OSGeo Charter Member. Another 'standard' proprietary format? No, thank you.
# [[User:Steko|Stefano Costa]], Soprintendenza Archeologia della Liguria, Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo, Italy
# [http://www.geog.illinois.edu/people/jgrn Jonathan Greenberg], Assistant Professor, [http://publish.illinois.edu/jgrn/ GEARS Laboratory], Department of Geography and Geographic Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
# Bob Basques, Saint Paul, Mn., Technical Director for SharedGeo.
# [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Maning Maning Sambale], OSGeo Charter Member
# [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Pcav Paolo Cavallini], QGIS PSC
# [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Dr Phillip Davis], Member OSGeo Geo For All education advisory board, Director @ GeoAcademy
# [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Nbozon Nicolas Bozon], [http://zoo-project.org ZOO-Project PSC], OSGeo Charter Member
# [http://www.linkedin.com/in/ruslanrainis Ruslan Rainis], Professor, Director, [http://www.research.usm.my/default.asp?tag=36 Centre for Research Initiatives in Liberal Arts & Social Sciences](CRI-LASS). Open GeoInformation for a Sustainable Tomorrow and the Bottom Billions.
# [[User:Silli|Silvia Franceschi]], [http://www.hydrologis.com HydroloGIS], OSGeo Charter member, Environmental Engineer Open Source GIS power user, HydroloGIS co-founder.
# Oscar Martinez Rubi [http://esciencecenter.nl Netherlands eScience Center] eScience engineer.
# Werner Macho, QGIS team member. Committed to open data standards for education and research.
# Giuseppe Patti, Geologist and Freelance Geospatial Advisor, GFOSS supporter.
# [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Drappo Daniel Rappo], Professor, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, School of Business and Engineering Vaud.
# [[User:nachouve|Juan Ignacio Varela]], Freelance Geospatial Advisor and OSGeo Local Chapter Member.
# [[User:dmorissette|Daniel Morissette]], President at [http://mapgears.com Mapgears], OSGeo Charter member.
# [http://www.linkedin.com/in/raulnanclares Raul Nanclares], RS&GIS Specialist
# [http://www.ing.unitn.it/dica/hp/index_eng.php?user=rigon Riccardo Rigon], Professor at University of Trento (Italy)
# [[User:Siki| Zoltan Siki]] Budapest University of Technology and Economics (Hungary), OSGeo Charter member.
# [http://lefsky.org Michael Lefsky], Professor of Remote Sensing Science, Colorado State University and Director, Center for Ecological Applications of Lidar.
# [http://www.linkedin.com/pub/lucas-c-villa-real/7/a0b/b06 Lucas Villa Real], Research software engineer at IBM Research - Brazil.
# [http://terraremote.com Loren Dawe], GIS Manager at Terra Remote Sensing Inc. Lidar Supplier and Open Standards Advocate
# [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Warmerda Frank Warmerdam], Software Developer, OSGeo Charter member
# [http://ch.linkedin.com/pub/jens-ingensand/0/836/6b0 Jens Ingensand], Professor, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, [http://www.heig-vd.ch/international School of Business and Engineering Vaud].
# [http://nsidc.org/research/bios/khalsa.html Siri Jodha Khalsa], Research Scientist, National Snow and Ice Data Center, [http://cires.colorado.edu/ Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences], University of Colorado, Boulder, USA
# [http://gis.uster.ch/ Andreas Neumann], GIS manager, City of Uster, Kanton Zurich, Switzerland
# [http://www.iwmi.org/ Yann Chemin], Researcher - Remote Sensing, International Water Management Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka
# [http://www.linkedin.com/in/etiennebracine Etienne B. Racine], Geomatics and remote sensing project manager, WSP, Canada
# [http://www.linkedin.com/pub/alejandro-hinojosa/7/33b/342 Alejandro Hinojosa], [http://cicese.mx CICESE Research Center], Earth Sciences Division, GIS & Remote Sensing Lab, Ensenada, Mexico
# [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:epifanio Massimo Di Stefano], OSGeo Charter Member
# [http://clas.ucdenver.edu/directory/faculty-staff/Rafael-Moreno Rafael Moreno], University of Colorado Denver, [http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/CLAS/Departments/ges/Pages/Geography.aspx Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences]. Openness is fundamental to progress.
# Peter Drexel, GIS manager, [http://www.vorarlberg.at/vorarlberg/bauen_wohnen/bauen/vermessung_geoinformation/start.htm State of Vorarlberg (State Survey Office)], Austria
# [http://www.linkedin.com/pub/marco-minghini/a8/3b6/198 Marco Minghini], Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, [http://www.polimi.it Politecnico di Milano]. Committed to Open Principles in Geo Education and Research.
# [http://www.linkedin.com/pub/candan-eyl%C3%BCl-kilsedar/65/380/976 Candan Eylül Kilsedar], WebGIS Developer, Research Fellow at [http://www.polimi.it Politecnico di Milano].
# [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:AlastairMcKinstry Alastair McKinstry], Debian Linux meteorology/GIS developer, Ireland
# [http://people.unibo.it/it/elena.mezzini2 Elena Mezzini], Remote-sensing in forest ecology, Research Fellow, Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
# [http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=43566064 Mihai A. Tanase], Honorary fellow, Dept. of Forest and Ecosystem Science, The University of Melbourne, Australia
# [http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dave-murray/10/742/3a2 Dave Murray], GIS Coordinator at [http://www.ci.westminster.co.us/ City of Westminster]
# Ayesa Martínez Serrano, Estudiante de Doctorado en [http://www.ciga.unam.mx/ Geografía del Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental de la UNAM-México]
# [http://www.linkedin.com/pub/christopher-crosby/15/b7/114 Christopher Crosby], co-founder, [http://www.opentopography.org/ OpenTopography]
# [http://sg.linkedin.com/in/sgganesh Shanmugam Ganeshkumar], Vice President - Consulting, [http://www.geoicon.com GeoICON]
# [[User:Chaitanya|Chaitanya Kumar CH]], GIS Developer with [http://www.egis-geoplan.com/ Egis Geoplan - India] and OSGeo Charter member.
# KS Rajan, Associate Professor and Head, [http://lsi.iiit.ac.in/ Lab for Spatial Informatics, IIIT Hyderabad] and Chairman, [http://www.kaiinos.com/ KAIINOS Geospatial Technologies]; Promoter and Supported of Open Source, Open Data, Open Standards and e-Governance in India

=Background=
==About LiDAR==

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar LiDAR] (Light Detection And Ranging) is a form of high precision range measurement, much like a radar system, that uses laser light instead of electromagnetic waves. The standard LiDAR product is a 3D point cloud that can be conceptualized as a series of point measurements representing distance between the sensor to a returned emission.

For over a decade (since 2003), there has been a common format for storing LiDAR data, the [http://www.asprs.org/Committee-General/LASer-LAS-File-Format-Exchange-Activities.html “LAS” format], and open source libraries have been developed to read, write and process these LAS files: [http://live.osgeo.org/en/overview/liblas_overview.html libLAS] and [http://github.com/LASlib/LASlib LASlib]. These libraries have been incorporated within many LiDAR applications, allowing read/write access to a common exchange format, and resulting in full interoperability between the applications. There is also an open source compression algorithm for the LAS format called [http://laszip.org LASzip] that many LiDAR data portals use to compress LAS into smaller LAZ files for faster download. Many LiDAR software packages have added [http://laszip.org/#software-with-native-laz-support native support] for these compressed LAZ files.

==LAS Limitations==

Quoting [http://boundlessgeo.com/2014/01/lidar-format-wars/ Paul Ramsey]:

: LAS format is not without its drawbacks:

:* While it is a binary format and does not waste any space unnecessarily, neither does it apply any compression to the data it stores. That’s not good for archival use.
:* Also, LAS stores points in scan order, so accessing any particular chunk of points involves reading the whole file. That’s not good for random access.
: Clearly there is a little more work to be done. Can LAS be improved? In fact, it already has been:
:* An open source compression library, LASzip can apply 20''':'''1 lossless compression to LAS files, making them great for archival purposes.
:* Other LAS users have experimented with re-ordering points in a LAS or LASzip file to allow random access to internal chunks of the LIDAR point cloud.
: Basically, making LAS smaller and faster is not rocket science, and if the work were incorporated into libLAS then the whole LIDAR community could leverage it together, and the user community would only have one file type to interchange.

=="Optimized LAS" A ''' ''Proprietary'' ESRI Format'''==
ESRI announced, 12 January 2014, the release of an [http://www.lidarnews.com/content/view/10214 "Optimized LAS"] format which is claimed to provide faster access and smaller file sizes (similar to the open [http://laszip.org LASzip] format). This announcement created a outburst of vocal protest in the LiDAR community [[http://rapidlasso.com/2013/12/30/new-compressed-las-format-by-esri/ 1] [http://boundlessgeo.com/2014/01/lidar-format-wars/ 2] [http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2014/01/15/las-laz-lazzip-zlas-and-you/ 3] [http://www.northrivergeographic.com/archives/lidar-software 4] [http://boundlessgeo.com/2014/01/lidar-format-wars-2/ 5] [http://boundlessgeo.com/2014/02/lidar-format-wars-3/ 6]].

The implementation of the "Optimized LAS" format is not available as Open Source and the format and algorithm details itself are undocumented, which means nobody can currently create alternate implementations, neither closed nor Open Source. This causes both technical as well as legal barriers for other applications reading and/or writing to this proprietary format. It creates a vendor lock-in scenario which is contrary to the principles of the Open Geospatial Consortium, the OSGeo Foundation, and many government IT procurement policies.

One year after releasing the "Optimized LAS" format, ESRI released a Windows only library (DLL) as a free-of-charge (gratis) download that is claimed to convert between LAS and "Optimized LAS". Note there is a distinct difference between a "free-of-charge" binary distribution of DLLs and publishing something as "Open Source". Unless the source code of the library is released as Open Source under an Open Source license, libLAS and related products will be legally prevented from incorporating ESRI's reader/writer code into their codebase, or from fixing any underlying bugs or performance limitations which may exist in ESRI's product.

Ironically, ESRI later placed their '''binary''' library files [http://github.com/Esri/esri-zlas-io-library on github] accompanied by an Apache License, but no source code was published. The distribution of binaries without source code is allowed by Apache License, but very uncommon and misleading, to say the least. The practice goes against the basic idea of “Open Source” and the Open Source Initiative (OSI) even has an FAQ entry on the obvious contradiction of [http://opensource.org/faq#non-distribution “Open Source” without source code].

==OGC's Efforts For An ''' ''Open'' LiDAR Standard'''==

The [http://www.opengeospatial.org/ Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)] has indicated their interest in developing a standard LiDAR format.

Carl Reed (formerly on OGC staff) provided the following information on OGC's previous efforts to work toward enabling Open Standards in LiDAR:

: "Over the last 8 or so years, the OGC approached ASPRS at least twice regarding LAS and worked with ASPRS to bring LAS into the OGC for consideration as both a Best Practice and an OGC standard. OGC member Rick Pearsall worked diligently on this. Rick worked for NGA, was active in the OGC, and was also the Standards Committee chair at ASPRS. Rick and Carl tried and failed. These attempts go back to [http://www.asprs.org/a/society/divisions/ppd/ppd_meetings/2007springppdreport.pdf at least 2007]. More recently, Carl Reed had an email dialogue with Lewis Graham to bring LAS into OGC as an OGC Best Practice. Carl thought progress was being made, but then for some reason all communication stopped."

[http://www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/organization/staff/ssimmons Scott Simmons] (Executive Director, Standards Program) has explained the OGC's continuing interest in pursuing point cloud encoding standards, including a member-initiated mechanism to extend LAS data with OGC-standard XML content.
: The OGC invites interested members who wish to work on this effort to please contact Scott Simmons (Executive Director, Standards Program E-mail : ssimmons@opengeospatial.org) to register their interest and discuss details. OGC will also be holding an ad hoc session at the OGC's next [http://www.opengeospatial.org/event/1506tc Technical Committee meeting in Boulder, CO, USA in early June] to bring together all interested parties from all sectors (government, industry, academia) for this and plan next steps.

==History: LAS and ESRI's "Optimized LAS"==

Martin Isenburg, one of the leading experts in LIDAR formats, and creator of [http://rapidlasso.com/LASzip LASzip], [http://rapidlasso.com/LAStools LAStools] and [http://rapidlasso.com/PulseWaves PulseWaves], explains the history of LAS and "Optimized LAS":

: '''Summary:'''

:* The LAS format has been used successfully for over a decade.
:* Within last couple of years, ESRI has added native LAS support into ESRI products.
:* ESRI discussed embracing the open [http://laszip.org LAZ] format and simultaneously developed a proprietary "Optimized LAS" format.
:* The open geospatial community offered, on numerous occasions, to work with ESRI to avoid format fragmentation.
:* ESRI's proprietary "Optimized LAS" format is very similar in design and performance to the open [http://laszip.org LASzip] format.

: '''1998: Original LAS format definition'''

: The original development of the LAS format started in 1998 according to [http://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/lasroom/zKqchDj1JL4/discussion Lewis Graham]. The effort was at first led by pioneers of the LiDAR industry until the format was donated to the [http://www.asprs.org/Committee-General/LASer-LAS-File-Format-Exchange-Activities.html ASPRS]. Since then ASPRS's [http://www.asprs.org/LD-Division/LAS-Working-Group.html LAS Working Group (LWG)] has been maintaining the LAS format, guiding it from the initial LAS 1.0 version until today's LAS 1.4 version. This effort successfully created an open data exchange format for discrete LiDAR points that is currently supported by practically every LiDAR-related software program.

: '''2011: ESRI joins LAS Working Group'''

: ESRI did not join the LWG of the ASPRS until rather late, the 24th of August in 2011. At that time ESRI was not a significant "player" in the LiDAR market given they did not have much support for LiDAR in any of their products. That was to change soon as they were planning to add LAS as a native data type in ArcGIS 10.1.

: Shortly before that, in June 2011, Martin Isenburg received a personal message from the ESRI development team: "I have a question about LAS compression. I’m evaluating some potential enhancements and support for [LAS and] LAZ is one of them. Compression time and amount is impressive." When inquiring two months later about the status of [http://laszip.org LAZ] integration Martin was told: "We’re in beta and working to finish the current release. I very much doubt LAZ will make it in because it’s too big a change at this time. So, we’ll be considering, for the following release, [for] what we want to do regarding compression and spatial indexing."

: '''June 2012: ArcGIS 10.1 includes [proprietary] LAS Dataset file'''

: In June 2012 ESRI released ArcGIS 10.1 and introduced the proprietary "LAS Dataset file (*.lasd)" that groups collections of files into one logical unit. This format of this useful LAS container file was not shared with others despite several private and eventually [http://groups.google.com/d/topic/lastools/jwHpi0efUgA/discussion public] requests.

: '''2012/2013: Collaboration Discussions'''

: There were encouraging follow-ups from the ESRI team about adopting the open LAZ format in January 2012: "I would be interested in having a more in depth meeting with you to better understand the great work you are doing with LAS and how we can possibly better partner on this." and again in December 2012: "If you have time, I'd like to set some time aside Tuesday afternoon to meet with <an important person> at the ESRI booth. Does 2pm sound okay?" The meeting went well and it looked as if ESRI was going to embrace the LAZ format because shortly after the meeting Martin got word that: "I hear from <an important person> that it was a success and that he had a good meeting with you. I wanted to see if we can have a telephone discussion on Wednesday or Thursday this week related to the potential of incorporating LAZ into ArcGIS."

: Then the first signs of hesitation showed. First there were legal issues raised in February 2013: "Currently the legal aspects are being reviewed. They were having some issues separating the LPGL aspects from LASzip from the remainder of LAStools etc." and then in April 2013 concerns about the code were made: "We have started to look into the integration of LAZ, but came across some issues. We don’t want to copy files from the other package, mix and match or hack around. We were hoping for an API to stream points out of a LAZ file as well as write LAZ files. There should be a simple code sample for that?" and - following up on that - in June 2013 Martin was told "I see value in LASzip becoming a de-facto standard that provides compression to the LAS format. If this is to happen then it needs to be bundled together with appropriate reference implementations, examples and documentation as a standard and so ensure that issues as defined earlier in email do not occur."

: '''June 2013: ESRI asked to sponsor clean LASzip DLL'''

: At that time [http://laszip.org LASzip] was an open source project without sponsorship. The original funding from [http://www.erdc.usace.army.mil/Locations/ColdRegionsResearchandEngineeringLaboratory.aspx USACE] that had turned [http://laszip.org LASzip] from an academic prototype into an industry strength compression engine had long run out. So Martin asked ESRI to become a sponsor to create the clean [http://laszip.org LASzip] API that ESRI was after. The answer was: "ESRI often helps in the financing of Open Source projects and I could foresee ESRI possibly helping in LASzip. [...] If you are interested in promoting LASzip as such a standard and doing the required work then I would recommend you put together a proposal and I can look to get ESRI as a sponsor."

: Immediately Martin proposed to ESRI: "I hereby propose to write an easy to use open source DLL wrapper for LASzip that will make it easier to integrate LASzip in a standardized manner into other software products such as ArcGIS, LP 360, or Terrasolid. This will come with example code on how to use the DLL for reading and writing LAZ files and include a few compressed example files. I hereby ask ESRI to provide funding for this effort without imposing any limitations on the produced DLL API."

: '''July 2013: ArcGIS 10.2 includes [proprietary] LAS indexing '''

: With the release of ArcGIS 10.2 in July 2013, ESRI introduced spatial indexing to speed up area-of-interest queries. Their new proprietary *.lasx files were seemingly identical in functionality to the open *.lax files that had been [http://groups.google.com/d/topic/lastools/j0qA8NBMHJs/discussion announced] two years earlier - in May 2011 - and were [http://rapidlasso.com/2012/12/03/lasindex-spatial-indexing-of-lidar-data/ presented] at ELMF in November 2012.

: '''July 2013: Open LASzip API released'''

: After more requests for an easier interface to [http://laszip.org LASzip] (in particular for [http://forsys.cfr.washington.edu/fusion/fusionlatest.html USDA's FUSION]), Martin [http://groups.google.com/d/topic/lastools/oplsDhhnhDQ/discussion released] a clean, well-documented, and easy-to-use LASzip DLL (without ESRI funding). Martin expected that developers at ESRI would now use it to add read and write support for [http://laszip.org LAZ] to their next release of ArcGIS.

: '''December 2013 : ESRI discovered to be secretly developing proprietary LAS format'''

: In December of 2013, several LAStools users contacted Martin with suspicions that ESRI may be creating a proprietary LAS compression. Martin [http://rapidlasso.com/2013/12/30/new-compressed-las-format-by-esri/ broke the news] as soon as it became evident that ESRI had used the time it needed to resolve "legal issues" and "code problems" to put together their own proprietary compressed format with near-identical performance and functionality to [http://laszip.org LASzip]. A few days later ESRI released an [http://www.lidarnews.com/content/view/10214/ official FAQ] to confirming this was the case.

: From day one, Martin has worked with stakeholders, including ESRI, to avoid format fragmentation. Martin's core argument for resolving this to everybody's benefit was that - coincidentally - a natural break was happening in the LAS format with the introduction of the new LAS 1.4 point types. Martin outlined a detailed plan for how a joint development of [http://laszip.org LASzip] for LAS 1.4 between rapidlasso and ESRI could exploit this natural break in the LAS format to accomplish two things at once:
:# Add the unspecified technical additions that ESRI had hinted at desiring, and
:# Extend the [http://laszip.org LASzip] compression scheme to handle the new point types introduced with the LAS 1.4 specification. As there was no pressing need at the time to handle LAS 1.4 Martin had delayed the extension of [http://laszip.org LASzip] to the new LAS 1.4 point types to make sure a cooperation with ESRI would remain a viable option.

: '''1 April 2014: Positive reception to "Optimized LAS" / LASzip collaboration April Fools announcement'''

: In an attempt to convince ESRI management of the community desire for an open standard, Martin released an April Fools' Day [http://rapidlasso.com/2014/04/01/esri-and-rapidlasso-develop-joint-lidar-compressor/ prank press release] pretending that ESRI had already agreed to the envisioned collaboration to develop a joint LiDAR compressor. Community [http://rapidlasso.com/2014/04/01/esri-and-rapidlasso-develop-joint-lidar-compressor/ jubilant reactions (see comments)] left no doubt about the sentiment on this issue within the LiDAR community.

: '''October 2014: Announcement of [open] LAS Compatibility mode'''

: [http://www.csc.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/ Digital Coast, NOAA Coastal Services Center] became a Gold Sponsor of [http://laszip.org LASzip] for the development of the [http://rapidlasso.com/2014/10/06/rapidlasso-announces-laszip-compatibility-mode-for-las-1-4/ LAS 1.4 compatibility mode] that was [http://groups.google.com/d/topic/lastools/nUFMkKSz53g/discussion beta-released] in November 2014. This allowed support for the new point types in [http://laszip.org LASzip] without closing the door on a potential cooperation with ESRI for a joint LAS 1.4 compressor.

: '''November 2014: ESRI announces proprietary extension to LAS 1.4'''

: In November 2014 [http://blog.lidarnews.com/esri-las-optimizer-updated ESRI announced] that they had added their [http://blog.lidarnews.com/esri-las-optimizer-updated own extension] for the new LAS 1.4 point types to "Optimized LAS", dismissing the opportunity to develop a joint compressor and avoid format fragmentation by exploiting this "natural break" in the LAS format as Martin had suggested.

: Since then, ESRI has been [http://rapidlasso.com/2014/11/06/keeping-esri-honest/ promoting] "Optimized LAS". By including the term "LAS" in "Optimized LAS" and "zLAS", the distinction between the open LAS format and proprietary format is blurred. This is likely to mislead novice and future users, thereby endangering many years of standardization work. To date, [April 2014], the [http://www.asprs.org/a/society/committees/standards/LAS_1_4_r13.pdf custodians of the LAS format], the LAS Working Group (LWG) of the ASPRS has [http://rapidlasso.com/2015/02/22/lidar-las-asprs-esri-and-the-laz-clone/ yet to make an official statement] regarding use of the "LAS" name in promoting a proprietary LiDAR format.

=Value of Standards=

The importance of Open Standards is described in most government IT policies. For instance, the United Kingdom policy states:
: … Government assets should be interoperable and open for re-use in order to maximise return on investment, avoid technological or supplier lock-in, reduce operational risk in ICT projects and provide responsive services for citizens and business. This should also lower barriers to entry for more diverse sources of IT services, including citizens and SMEs. <ref>All about Open Source – [http://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78959/All_About_Open_Source_v2_0.pdf An Introduction to Open Source Software for Government IT], Version 2.0, United Kingdom Cabinet Office</ref>

The value of Open Standards has been described in numerous national studies on the effects of standards on economic growth.

: ... the national studies demonstrate that standards have a positive influence on economic growth due to the resulting improved diffusion of knowledge. The contribution of standards to the growth rate in each country is equivalent to 0.9% in Germany, 0.8% in 0.3% in the UK and 0.2% in Canada. <ref>Prof. Dr. Knut Blind, Prof. Dr. Andre Jungmittag, Dr. Axel Mangelsdorf [http://www.din.de/sixcms_upload/media/2896/DIN_GNN_2011_engl_akt_neu.pdf "The Economic Benefits of Standardization"], ''DINN, 2000''. Retrieved March 2015.</ref>

=Further Reading=

# [http://boundlessgeo.com/2014/01/lidar-format-wars/ Paul Ramsey provides background to LAS vs Optimised LAS]
# [http://rapidlasso.com/2015/02/22/lidar-las-asprs-esri-and-the-laz-clone/ Running commentary by Martin Isenburg, author of LASlib]
# [http://rapidlasso.com/2014/11/06/keeping-esri-honest/ Earlier comment from Martin Isenburg]
# [http://rapidlasso.com/2013/12/30/new-compressed-las-format-by-esri/ First call-to-action by Martin Isenburg]
# [http://blog.lidarnews.com/esri-announces-las-compression/ ESRI Announces "Optimised LAS"]
# [http://www.lidarnews.com/content/view/10214 ESRI description of "Optimised LAS"]
# [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/ica-osgeo-labs/2015-March/001225.html Discussion background on this topic at Geo for All list]
# [http://cameronshorter.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/esris-claim-at-being-good-standards.html Esri's claim at being good "Standards" citizens is questionable]

=References=

<references />

Edu current initiatives

2013-09-27T04:04:26Z

Rajan: /* 2) Continue to expand the ICA-OSGeo Network */

== 2012-2013 OSGeo Education and Curriculum Current Initiatives ==

=== 1) Continue to build up our educational material federated content databases ===

[http://www.osgeo.org/educational_content OSGeo edu's educational content metadatabase] -- a place for metadata and links to external material we are posting on our own websites 
[http://elogeo.nottingham.ac.uk/xmlui/ University of Nottingham's educational content database] (ELOGeo) -- a place for us to store education content (the source code) to share

[[Webinar Series ]]

===2) Continue to expand the ICA-OSGeo Network ===

This effort is led by Suchith Anand at the University of Nottingham, UK.

In September 2011, the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) and the International Cartographic Association (ICA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the aim of developing on a global basis collaboration opportunities for academia, industry and government organizations in open source GIS software and data. The MoU aims to provide expertise and support for the establishment of Open Source Geospatial Laboratories and Research Centres across the world for supporting development of open-source geospatial software technologies, training and expertise. It also aims to provide support for building-up and supporting development of open source GIS teaching and training materials, joint organization of open source GIS events, workshops through the ICA network for wider participation globally etc. Details at [[MOU_ICA]].

[http://gis.ncsu.edu/osgeorel/index.php#labsmap Updated Leaflet Map of the ICA-OSGeo Network Nodes by Vasek and Anna]

[http://lucadelu.org/ica-osgeo-lab/ Leaflet Map of the ICA-OSGeo Network Nodes by Luca Delucchi, June 2013],
and the related
[http://lucadelu.org/ica-osgeo-lab/ica-osgeo-lab.tar.gz application]


It is really good to see our rapidly expanding global spread.

Feel free to join the mailing list http://lists.osgeo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ica-osgeo-labs to follow the discussions among the participants of this initiative.

The current members of the ICA-OSGeo Network are (please add '''WGS84 decimal coordinates longitude,latitude''', if you don't add the coordinate following this simple rules your institution will not show on the ICA-OSGeo Map) :

{|class="wikitable sortable" border="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" rules="all" style="margin:1em 1em 1em 0; border:solid 1px #AAAAAA; border-collapse:collapse; background-color:#edf9c7; font-size:95%; empty-cells:show;"
!
! Laboratory name and institution
! City
! Country
! Continent
! Coordinates (longitude, latitude)
! Announced
! Notes (collaborations, etc)
|-
| 1.
| [http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/ngi/research/geospatial-science/geospatial-science.aspx University of Nottingham]
| Nottingham
| UK
| Europe
| -1.250296, 52.831497
|
|
|-
| 2.
| [http://www.sigte.udg.edu/ University of Girona]
| Girona
| Spain
| Europe
| 2.837305, 41.967426
| 2012-09-10
|
|-
| 3.
| [http://www.osgl.soton.ac.uk/ University of Southampton]
| Southampton
| UK
| Europe
| -1.396873, 50.936974
| 2013-04-30
|
|-
| 4.
| [http://geo.fsv.cvut.cz/gwiki/osgeorel Czech Technical University in Prague]
| Prague
| Czech Republic
| Europe
| 14.390363, 50.10183
| 2012-11-23
|
|-
| 5.
| [http://research.ncl.ac.uk/osgeolab/ Newcastle University]
| Newcastle
| UK
| Europe
| -1.611536, 54.980656
| 2013-01-17
|
|-
| 6.
| [http://geomatica.como.polimi.it/ Politecnico di Milano - Polo Territoriale di Como]
| Como
| Italy
| Europe
| 9.095939, 45.803516
| 2013-02-25
|
|-
| 7.
| [http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/lifesci/research/facilities/geolab/ University of Warwick]
| Warwick
| UK
| Europe
| -1.56273, 52.380531
| 2013-03-23
|
|-
| 8.
| [http://www.gridw.pl UNEP/GRID-Warsaw Centre]
| Warsaw
| Poland
| Europe
| 21.039473, 52.198849
| 2013-03-18
|
|-
| 9.
| [http://www.supsi.ch/ist_en/settori-attivita/geomatica.html University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland] (SUPSI)
| Lugano
| Switzerland
| Europe
| 8.961098, 46.028362
| 2013-09-03
|
|-
| 10.
| [http://karlinapp.ethz.ch/osgl/ ETH Zurich]
| Zurich
| Switzerland
| Europe
| 8.5481, 47.3764
| 2013-09-20
| [http://www.ikg.ethz.ch/about/index_EN Institute of Cartography and Geoinformation, ETH Zurich]
|-
| 11.
| University of Molise
| Molise
| Italy
| Europe
|
|
| in process of being established
|-
| 12.
| [http://www.igik.edu.pl/en Institute of Geodesy and Cartography] (IGiK)
| Warsaw
| Poland
| Europe
|
|
| in process of being established
|-
| 13.
| [http://opengis.unibuc.ro/ University of Bucharest]
| Bucharest
| Romania
| Europe
| 26.103889, 44.432500
|
| in process of being established; new website under development
|-
| 14.
| [http://www.geo.info.hu/english/index.php Faculty of Geoinformatics,University of West Hungary]
| Székesfehérvár
| Hungary
| Europe
| 18.418833, 47.188778
|
| in process of being established
|-
| 15.
| [http://www.geomatica.ufpr.br/index.html Federal University of Paraná]
| Paraná
| Brazil
| South America
| -49.26141, -25.427074
| 2012-05-23
|
|-
| 16.
| [http://www.unesp.br/ São Paulo State University] (UNESP)
| São Paulo
| Brazil
| South America
| -46.654129, -23.576574
|
|
|-
| 17.
| National Amazonian University of Madre de Dios (UNAMAD)
| Puerto Maldonado
| Peru
| South America
| -73.245789, -3.745845
| 2013-02-01
| in process of being established
|-
| 18.
| [http://ltaat.fcien.edu.uy Universidad de la República]
| Montevideo
| Uruguay
| South America
| -56.176441, -34.902405
| 2013-03-01
| new website under development
|-
| 19.
| University of Campinas
| Campinas
| Brazil
| South America
|
|
| in process of being established
|-
| 20.
| Federal University of Alagoas
| Maceió
| Brazil
| South America
|
|
| in process of being established
|-
| 21.
| [http://gis.ncsu.edu/osgeorel/ Center for Earth Observation, North Carolina State University]
| Raleigh, NC
| USA
| North America
| -78.66468, 35.789413
| 2012-10-18
|
|-
| 22.
| [http://www.umass.edu/ University of Massachusetts Amherst]
| Amherst
| USA
| North America
| -72.524696, 42.393578
| 2012-10-18
| website: coming soon....
|-
| 23.
| University of Kansas
| Lawrence, KS
| USA
| North America
| -95.251311, 38.958578
| 2013-08-23
| in process of being established
|-
| 24.
| [https://geospatial.ucdavis.edu/resources/open-source University of California, Davis]
| Davis
| USA
| North America
| -121.766945, 38.548801
| 2013-02-04
| in process of being established
|-
| 25.
| [http://www.cozcyt.gob.mx/labsol/ Laboratorio de Software Libre]
| Zacatecas
| Mexico
| North America
| -102.5791, 22.7608
| 2013-04-05
| in process of being established
|-
| 26.
| Kent State University
| Kent, Ohio
| USA
| North America
|
| 2013-08-30
|
|-
| 27.
| [https://gis.uncc.edu/ Center for Applied GIScience, University of North Carolina, Charlotte ]
| Charlotte, NC
| USA
| North America
| -80.730000, 35.306944
| 2013-09-05
|
|-
| 28.
| [http://www.nottingham.edu.my/Geography/Newsitems/Establishing-Open-Source-Geospatial-Lab.aspx University of Nottingham, Malaysia campus]
| Semenyih
| Malaysia
| Asia
| 101.721298, 3.172932
| 2012-01-09
| website in development
|-
| 29.
| [http://www.utm.my/ Universiti Teknologi Malaysia] (UTM)
| Johor Bahru
| Malaysia
| Asia
| 101.874222, 2.943748
|
| in process of being established
|-
| 30.
| National College of Public Administration and Governance(NCPAG), University of the Philippines
| Manila
| Philippines
| Asia
| 121.059875, 14.656005
|
| in process of being established
|-
| 31.
| Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC)
| Quezon City
| Philippines
| Asia
| 121.062241, 14.64372
|
| in process of being established
|-
| 32.
| [http://lsi.iiit.ac.in/labinfo/ Lab for Spatial Informatics], IIIT Hyderabad
| Hyderabad
| India
| Asia
| 78.3503, 17.4454
| 2011-08-22
|
|-
| 33.
| [http://grel.ist.edu.pk/ Geospatial Research and Education Lab](GREL), Institute of Space Technology (IST)
| Islamabad
| Pakistan
| Asia
| 73.175045, 33.520060
|
| in process of being established
|-
| 34.
| [http://www.up.ac.za/cgis University of Pretoria]
| Pretoria
| South Africa
| Africa
| 28.22847, -25.75429
| 2012-05-15
|
|-
| 35.
| [http://www.rcmrd.org/ Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development] (RCMRD)
| Nairobi
| Kenya
| Africa
| 36.858574, -1.249038
|
| in process of being established
|-
| 36.
| University of Ghana
| Accra
| Ghana
| Africa
| -0.191617, 5.650366
|
| in process of being established
|-
| 37.
| University of Melbourne
| Melbourne
| Australia
| Australia
| 144.962006, -37.797932
| 2013-07-22
|
|-
| 38.
| [http://gisc.tamucc.edu Texas A&M University]
| Corpus Christi
| USA
| North America
| -97.328799, 27.714506
| 2013-09-09
| in process of being established
|-
| 39.
| CEPT University
| Ahmedabad
| India
| Asia
|
| 2012-07-18
| in process of being established
|-
| 40.
| National University of San Juan
| San Juan
| Argentina
| South America
|
| 2012-06-15
| in process of being established
|}

== Interested in adding your own node into the ICA-OSGeo Labs network? ==

As the lab network is expanding fast ,we have also setup nodal contacts for each regions

# Anne Ghisla - Asia & Australia
# Helena Mitasova - North America
# Charlie Schweik - South America
# Suchith Anand - Europe & Africa

Email Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk and cc Helena Mitasova ‎[hmitaso at ncsu.edu]‎, Charlie Schweik ‎[cschweik at pubpol.umass.edu]‎, Anne Ghisla [a.ghisla at gmail.com] to start the conversation and they will be happy to discuss details and guide you through the process.

The key requirements for establishing a local OSGL are:

(A) Both parties should work for the vision of the [[MOU_ICA|ICA-OSGeo MoU]] to develop collaboration opportunities for academia, industry and government organizations in open source GIS software and data in the future.

(B) Someone at your institution or organization should have a strong Geospatial knowledge and vision to lead this activity and build a team of people, locally.

(C) There should be a website established for your Open Source Geospatial Laboratory listing current research, people, and training information. This web presence will allow the other nodes in the network and others to understand and promote your local efforts around research and teaching of open source geospatial technologies and approaches.

From our end, we will promote the initiative widely through both OSGeo and ICA channels to help build up collaboration opportunities for the future. We will also do a joint press release to announce the initiative and start building collaborations. A primary collaborative initiative continues to be the creation and maintenance of shared open access educational resources (for example [http://elogeo.nottingham.ac.uk/ the ELOGeo platform]). We will also add the info of all labs in the Open Geospatial Lab network node site within OSGeo website so that all participating labs urls are added and linked.

We especially welcome applications from universities, educational institutes, government organisations in developing countries to help develop capacity building in geospatial education by establishing Open Source Geo Labs.

== Meetings ==
; Next meeting:
* '''[[ICA OSGeo Lab Network 2013-09-05]] 18.00 UTC'''

; Past Meetings:
* [[ICA OSGeo Lab Network 2013-07-29]] 14.00 UTC
* [[ICA OSGeo Lab Network 2013-05-02]] 14.00 UTC
* [[ICA OSGeo Lab Network 2013-06-06]] 14.00 UTC

[[Category: Education]]
[[Category: ICA OSGeo Lab Network]]

India

2012-04-16T07:42:38Z

Rajan: /* India OSGeo Chapter Officers */

Find more information on the '''[http://osgeo.in India Chapter of OSGeo]''' web site.

== '''About India OSGeo Chapter''' ==

Geographical Information Systems were seen as very special and very complex domain in India. There is a lot of hype attached with it and with that obviously high cost. So far such systems were seen as something to be used for high level planning and complex scientific operations by large corporates and Govt research agencies or departments only. Also the older mapping policy of India prevented virtually anybody except governments to possess any map data.
Some people are interested in mapdata as ]such licenced softwares remain unutilized in various government offices because they require either extensive training or easy availability on multiple locations. All this can be changed by the use of Free/Opensource software tools. There is hardly any proprietory GIS software that can show text in Unicode standard in maps . This is significant since all governmet data and most educational institutions work in local language media . FOSS GIS has already shown this solution. Thus, Free/Opensource Geospatial softwares which are much more powerful and usable can be used for developing systems where more and more public participation is sought.

The India OSGeo Chapter is formed to fulfill the mission
and objectives described in this document. India OSGeo Chapter will earnestly follow the Local Chapter Guidelines stipulated by OSGeo and cooperate closely with OSGeo Board in promoting the use and development of OSGeo projects in India. The India OSGeo Chapter will strive to serve anyone interested in Open Source Geospatial Solutions and related issues, and to cover all the activities associated with the application, development and promotion of Open Source Geospatial solutions in India.

=== Mission ===

* Promoting Free/Opensource GIS tools and publicly available Geodata
* Advocacy of and promoting Localized GIS
* Act as a bridge between various [http://www.forfait-mobile.infoforfait mobile]
groups like Developers, Application Users, NGOs, Government departments
* mentor various FOSS GIS miniprojects by providing resources such as technical guidence, webspace etc.

=== Objectives ===

Development:
* follow up on indian language support in various free/opensource GIS tools like GRASS, MapServer etc.
* initiative for standardisation of publicly available geodata
* setting up WMS/WFS based geodata servers using publicly available geodata
* toolkit for localised GIS including with special focus on schools, governments , public causes such as [http://www.rentalprotectionagency.com/tenant-screening.php/ background check] child malnutririon, mass education.

POCs ('''P'''roof '''O'''f '''C'''oncept demos):
* free/opensource based GIS demos
* localized GIS (interface and maps)
* Collaborative platforms for participatory governance

Regional Events:
* Workshops and Training sessions for
** comp science students/teachers
** geo-informatics/geology/geography/civil engineering students and teachers
** others
* Special Lectures
* Demonstrations

Communication:
* Networking Local Communities related to geo-issues
* Mailing Lists
* Wiki

=== Legal status ===

OSGeo India Chapter is, presently, a voluntary organization, and has not been registered as a legal body. At present, OSGeo legal status is similar to other Open Source related organizations in India such as "Linux India" (http://www.linux-india.org/), "gnomebangalore"(http://www.gnomebangalore.org/) or "KDE India" (http://in.kde.org/). Recently, "Free Software Foundation India" (FSF India) was registered as company and been granted the 80G status under Income Tax Act. India OSGeo Chapter is still a
nascent voluntary organization and will consider the modalities to
register as a legal body at some stage in the future. The India OSGeo Chapter will consult a certified tax cosultant when necessary to ensure compliance with the Indian tax laws.

The activities are managed by the '''Office''' located at 
International Institute of Information Technology 
Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500032, Andhra Pradesh, India 
Contact E-mail: rajan at iiit dot ac dot in

== '''India OSGeo Chapter Officers''' ==

India OSGeo Representative 
Dr P.S.Roy 
Director 
Indian Institute of Remote Sensing 
(ISRO, Deptartment of Space, Government of India) 
4, Kalidas Road, Dehradun, UTTARAKHAND 
PIN -248001 INDIA 
Telephone :(+91)0135-2744583 
Fax : (+91)0135-2741987 
E-Mail: psr at iirs dot gov dot in

India OSGeo Chapter Coordinator 
Dr. Yashodhan Joshi 
CEO Relatioware 
Pune, India 
yyj at relationware dot in 

India OSGeo Treasurer 
Dr K.S.Rajan 
Associate Professor 
International Institute of Information Technology 
Gachibowli, Hyderabad-500 032, India 
E-Mail: rajan at iiit dot ac dot in

OSGeo Software Development Committee 
Chairpersons 
(Prototyping, Localization, Proof of Concepts etc.) 
Prof. Jitendra Shah 
VJTI Mumbai, India 
jituviju at gmail dot com 

Dr. T.V. Ramachandra 
Indian Institute of Science 
Bangalore, India 
cestvr at ces dot iisc dot ernet dot in 

Regional Events Committee 
Chairpersons 
Mr. V. Ravi Kumar* 
Joint Secretory of the OSGeo India registered body and 
Director (Retired*) 
Centre for Geoinformation Management and Training 
Training Inistitute 
Geological Survey of India 
Bandalaguda,
Hyderabad 500068 
India 
ravivundavalli at yahoo dot com 

Mr. Neeraj Dixit 
Product Manager
Autodesk India Pvt. Ltd. 
Infrastructure Solutions Division (ISD) 
Neeraj dot Dixit at autodesk dot com 

Education and Training Committee 
Chairpersons 
Dr. N.J. Pawar 
Department of Geology,
Pune University 
Ganeshkhind Road 
Pune 411007, India 
njpawar at unipune dot ernet dot in

Dr. S.N. Prasad 
Sàlim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) 
Deccan Regional Station,
Secunderabad - 500 017, India 
Email: narendra_prasad at yahoo dot com 

Dr. H.S.Rai 
Professor of Civil Engineering 
Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College 
Ludhiana - 141006 
India 
Email: hardeep.rai at gmail dot com 
Web: [http://hs.raiandrai.com HS.RaiAndRai.com] 

Advisors 

Dr. S.S. Thigale (spathigale at rediffmail dot com) 
Dr. Rajendra Jagdale (rajendra dot jagdale at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Vishwas S.Kale (vskale at unipune dot ernet dot in) 
Mr. Ashok Saraf (saraf dot ashok at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Venkatesh Raghavan (venkat at osgeo dot org) 
Mr. Kiran Chandra (kiranfsf at gmail dot com) 
Mr. Achuthan Mohan (achuthanmohan at gmail dot com) 
..Add more Advisors here

== '''Initial Membership''' ==
* Dr. Gautam Talukdar
* Dr. Awase Khirni Syed
* Dr. Tarun P. Singh
* Amol A. Sale
* Anand Akmanchi
* Aneel Kumar.V
* Anil Kumar.K.V
* Anivar Aravind
* Ankur Mehrotra
* Gangavane
* Indrajit Patil
* Jayant Kirtane
* Kanhaiya K. Kale
* Mahalakshmi Narayanan
* Mahesh Jeevane
* Maneesh Prasad
* Mohan Patil
* N.R. Karmarkar
* Rahul Kaura
* Sajith
* Saroj Akiojam
* Shekhar Krishnan
* Swapnil K. Hajare
* Uttam Kumar
* B.N. Umrikar
* Vrishali Deosthali
* A.V.Satya Kumar
* Praveen Kumar Sinha
* [http://www.wetlandsofindia.org/santosh/index.html Santosh Gaikwad]
* C. Pattanaik
* [http://www.gndec.ac.in/~hsrai/ Hardeep Singh Rai]
* M.Surendranath
* Ditty Mathew
* N.Rajendran
* Srinivasan K
* Nageswaran B
* N.R.S.Reddy
* L.P.Singh
* [http://www.geocities.com/ajpnaveen/index.htm A.J.Prakash Naveen]
* S.Ramamurthy
* B.K. Sahu
* J.Simhachalam
* V.Hanumantha Rao
* S.Ananda Murty
* K.Seshayya
* N.Padmayya
* N.R.Ramesh
* U.S.N.Reddy
* R.M.Sundaram
* [http://5map.in Vimal Kumar]
* Narayana Aroori
* P M Bala Manikavelu
* RVN Srinivas
* M Arulraj
* Satya Prasad Sarilla
* Suresh Verma
* Kumar Parakram
* Pranav Kumar
* Harish Kumar Solanki

Temporary mailing list - http://wgrass.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/mailman/listinfo/osgeo_discuss

== '''Meetings of India OSGeo Chapter ''' ==

* 4th Oct 2006, Hyderabad [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Talk:India Meeting Minutes]

* 24th Jan 2006, Hyderabad 
We are Happy to ANNOUNCE that we had a very successful OSGeo Workshop at
Map World Forum 2007 today, and thank all the participants for the same. We are also very grateful to our Sponsors OSGeo.org and our Donors thru GNOME Foundation for the financial support in hosting this event. 
Later in the day, the first meeting of the newly constituted Executive Council (Board) of OSGeo-India was held. 
Details will be posted soon.

== '''Links''' ==
* India OSGeo Chapter - http://osgeo.in/
* National Remote Sensing Agency - http://www.nrsa.gov.in/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra (Hosting Courtsey : Media Center, Osaka City) - http://gisws.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/maha_map.dev/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.dev/
* Human Development Index (Jalna, Maharashtra)- http://www.indictrans.in/?q=projects/gis/ghdi
* Maharashtra Coverage - Neighbourhood Village - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.coverage/village_search_k.php
* Tamil Nadu Census 2001 - http://www.huzurevdeneve.com/mecidiyekoy-evden-eve-nakliyat.html
* GIS based Slum Information System (Korba Slum, Mumbai) - http://indictrans.in/demos/chameleon/samples/htdocs/korba.phtml
* Mumbai Free Map - http://mumbai.freemap.in/ | http://www.crit.org.in/projects/gis
* Bangalore Free Map - http://bangalore.freemap.in/
* Vasai Virar Subregion Freemap - http://vvsr.freemap.in/
jaisuvyas
* Tamil Nadu Maps Online - http://tnmaps.tn.nic.in/?info1.htm
* Tamil Nadu Census 2001 - http://www.census.tn.nic.in/
* Tamil Nadu Animal Disease Infformation - http://www.animaldiseaseinfo.tn.nic.in
* Bangalore Free Map - http://www.megacambalkon.com/ http://www.prizmacambalkon.com/
* GRASS GIS mirror India - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grass/index.php
* GRDSS (GRASS GUI) - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/foss
* FOSS at IISc - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/foss http://www.hayda.net/
* Bangalore Free Map - http://www.hasaluminyum.com/ http://www.cambalkon.gen.tr
* Visualisation of resource maps of Cheruvannur Grama Panchayat. Panchayats are 3rd stratum of administration in India. [Bilingual: English and Malayalam] - http://cheruvannur.web4all.in/resources/
* Free GIS India - http://freegis.gnu.org.in/
* Tamil Nadu Census 2001 - http://www.huzurevdeneve.com/avcilar-evden-eve-nakliyat.html
* ENVIS Wetland Ecosystems India - http://www.wetlandsofindia.org:8080/sacon/aboutus.jsp/
* Tamil Nadu Census 2001 - http://www.huzurevdeneve.com/florya-evden-eve-nakliyat.html
* GIS & Language Technology related Applications - http://indictrans.in/demos/GIS_Presentation_20061004.pdf

Contacts

2012-04-16T07:37:54Z

Rajan: /* Local Chapters */

OSGeo Projects are freestanding entities, handled by their own Project Steering Committees. Each project has been asked to provide a representative [http://erinazar.org/ erin azar] to help coordinate OSGeo involvement. These volunteers are listed by project below:

== General ==
* General Foundation Info - info@osgeo.org - [mailto:info@osgeo.org]
* [[Board of Directors]] - [[Arnulf Christl]] - arnulf at osgeo.org
* Treasurer (AC/AP) - Daniel Morissette - treasurer at osgeo.org

== Software Projects ==
'''Web Mapping'''
* [http://www.degree.org/ deegree]: [http://wiki.deegree.org/deegreeWiki/StructuresAndProcedures PSC] - Contact: [[User:JensFitzke | Jens Fitzke]]
* [http://geomajas.org Geomajas]: [http://www.geomajas.org/community/project-steering-committee PSC] - Chair: Pieter De Graef (pieter.degraef at geosparc.com)
* [http://geoserver.org GeoServer]: [http://docs.geoserver.org/latest/en/developer/policies/psc.html PSC] - Chair: Jody Garnett (jody.garnett at gmail.com)
* [http://www.mapbender.org Mapbender]: [http://www.mapbender.org/index.php/Category:PSC PSC] - Chair: [[User:Christoph | Christoph Baudson]]
* [http://www.mapfish.org MapFish]: [http://trac.mapfish.org/trac/mapfish/wiki/Community/PSC PSC] - Chair: [[User:Elem | Eric Lemoine]]
* [http://mapguide.osgeo.org/ MapGuide Open Source]: [http://mapguide.osgeo.org/psc.html PSC] - Chair: Robert Bray (robert.bray at autodesk.com)
* [http://mapserver.org/ MapServer]: [http://mapserver.org/development/rfc/ms-rfc-23.html PSC] - Chair: Stephen Lime (sdlime at comcast.net)
* [http://openlayers.org/ OpenLayers]: [http://trac.openlayers.org/wiki/SteeringCommittee PSC] - Chair: [[User:Tschaub | Tim Schaub]]

'''Desktop Applications'''
* [http://grass.osgeo.org/ GRASS GIS]: [http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/PSC PSC] - Chair: [[Markus Neteler]]
* [http://www.ossim.org/ OSSIM]: [http://trac.osgeo.org/ossim/wiki/ossimgovernance PSC] - Chair: Garrett Potts
* [http://www.qgis.org/ Quantum GIS]: [http://wiki.qgis.org/qgiswiki/Project_Organigram PSC] - Chair: Gary Sherman (sherman at mrcc.com)
* [http://www.gvsig.org/ gvSIG]: - [[GvSIG Technical Project Committee|PSC]] - Chair: [[Jorge Sanz]]

'''Geospatial Libraries'''
* [http://fdo.osgeo.org/ FDO]: [http://fdo.osgeo.org/psc.html PSC] - Chair: Greg Boone (greg.boone at autodesk.com)
* [http://www.gdal.org/ GDAL/OGR]: [http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/GovernanceAndCommunity PSC] - Chair: Frank Warmerdam (warmerdam@pobox.com)
* [http://www.geotools.org/ GeoTools]: [http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOT/4+Project+Management+Committee PSC] - Chair: Jody Garnett (jody.garnett at gmail.com)
* [http://geos.osgeo.org/ GEOS]: [http://trac.osgeo.org/geos/wiki/PSC PSC] - Chair: Sandro Santilli (strk at keybit.net)
* [http://metacrs.osgeo.org/ MetaCRS]: [http://metacrs.osgeo.org PSC] - Chair: Frank Warmerdam (warmerdam@pobox.com)
* [http://postgis.org/ PostGIS]: [http://postgis.org/documentation/manual-svn/ch01.html#psc PSC] - Chair: [[User:Pwramsey3 | Paul Ramsey]]

'''Metadata Catalog'''
* [http://geonetwork-opensource.org GeoNetwork opensource]: [http://trac.osgeo.org/geonetwork/wiki/PSC PSC] - Chair: Jeroen Ticheler (Jeroen.Ticheler at geocat.net)

== Committees ==
* [[Education and Curriculum Committee]] - Charlie Schweik - cschweik at pubpol.umass.edu
* [[Finance Committee]] - Daniel Morissette - dmorissette at mapgears.com
* [[Incubation Committee]] - Jody Garnett - jody.garnett at gmail.com
* [[Public Geospatial Data Committee]] - David William Bitner - bitner at dbspatial.com
* [[Marketing Committee]] -
* [[SAC|System Administration Committee]] - Alex Mandel - tech_dev at wildintellect.com
* [[Website Committee]] - Christopher Schmidt - crschmidt at metacarta.com
* [[Conference Committee]] - Jeff McKenna - jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com
* OSGeo [[Journal]]
== Local Chapters ==

* [[Ottawa Chapter]] - Scott Mitchell - smitch at mac.com
* [[China]] - Chen Rongguo - chenrg at lreis.ac.cn
* [[Japan]] - Mr. Mori Toru - moritoru at orkney.co.jp
* [[KSA Chapter]] - Awase Khirni Syed - awasekhirni at gmail.com
* [[India]] - P.S. Roy - psroy13 at gmail.com
* [[Brazil]] - Helton Uchoa - engenheiro.uchoa at gmail.com
* [[Taiwan]] - Sander Borghuis - s.borghuis at geo.uu.nl
* [[Spanish]] - [[Pedro-Juan Ferrer]] - vehrka at gmail.com
* [[Aust-NZ]] - Australia and New Zealand Chapter- tim.bowden _at_ westnet.com.au
* [[Finland]] - Ari Jolma - ajolma at osgeo.org
* [[Francophone]] - [[User:Yjacolin|yjacolin]]
* [[D-A-CH]] (German language) - [[User:Mlechner|Marco Lechner]]
* [[Dutch]] - Jeroen Ticheler - Jeroen.Ticheler at geocat.net
* [[California]] - Landon Blake - sunburned.surveyor at gmail dot com
* [[Quebec]] - Daniel Morissette - dmorissette at mapgears dot com

== Infrastructure ==

* [[SAC:Primary Administrators]]

[[Category:Board]]
[[Category:Education]]
[[Category:Incubation]]
[[Category:Infrastructure]]
[[Category:PSC]]

India

2007-01-31T14:40:55Z

Rajan: /* Legal status */

'''India Chapter of OSGeo'''

== '''About India OSGeo Chapter''' ==

Geographical Information Systems were seen as very special and very complex domain in India. There is a lot of hype attached with it and with that obviously high cost. So far such systems were seen as something to be used for high level planning and complex scientific operations by large corporates and Govt research agencies or departments only. Also the older mapping policy of India prevented virtually anybody except governments to possess any map data. The picture is however changing fast.

With recent developments in the areas of right-to-information and National Map Policy (http://dst.gov.in/whats_new/press_releases05/cabinet-approves.htm), there is a sudden increased awareness towards GIS based information systems. National Urban Renewal Mission (http://pmindia.nic.in/lspeech.asp?id=235), a well funded initiative has made use of GIS in urban local bodies mandatory. A large portion of geodata will now be freely available.All goverement departments are now trying to find easier ways to manage, update and publish information for the public. There are also large number of NGOs and citizen organisation which are working in areas like ubran poverty, town planning, solid waste management,rural development, school education,environmental issues etc. and they have started understanding and appreciating the importance of community GIS systems.

However growth of GIS is hindered by highly priced proprietory softwares and unavailability of public geodata. Many of such licenced softwares remain unutilized in various government offices because they require either extensive training or easy availability on multiple locations. All this can be changed by the use of Free/Opensource software tools. There is hardly any proprietory GIS software that can show text in Unicode standard in maps . This is significant since all governmet data and most educational institutions work in local language media . FOSS GIS has already shown this solution. Thus, Free/Opensource Geospatial softwares which are much more powerful and usable can be used for developing systems where more and more public participation is sought.

The India OSGeo Chapter is formed to fulfill the mission
and objectives described in this document. India OSGeo Chapter will earnestly follow the Local Chapter Guidelines stipulated by OSGeo and cooperate closely with OSGeo Board in promoting the use and development of OSGeo projects in India. The India OSGeo Chapter will strive to serve anyone interested in Open Source Geospatial Solutions and related issues, and to cover all the activities associated with the application, development and promotion of Open Source Geospatial solutions in India.

=== Mission ===

* Promoting Free/Opensource GIS tools and publicly available Geodata
* Advocacy of and promoting Localized GIS
* Act as a bridge between various groups like Developers, Application Users, NGOs, Government departments
* mentor various FOSS GIS miniprojects by providing resources such as technical guidence, webspace etc.
=== Objectives ===

Development:
* follow up on indian language support in various free/opensource GIS tools like GRASS, MapServer etc.
* initiative for standardisation of publicly available geodata
* setting up WMS/WFS based geodata servers using publicly available geodata
* toolkit for localised GIS including with special focus on schools, governments , public causes such as child malnutririon, mass education.

POCs ('''P'''roof '''O'''f '''C'''oncept demos):
* free/opensource based GIS demos
* localized GIS (interface and maps)
* Collaborative platforms for participatory governance

Regional Events:
* Workshops and Training sessions for
** comp science students/teachers
** geology/geography/civil engineering students and teachers
** others
* Special Lectures
* Demonstrations

Communication:
* Networking Local Communities related to geo-issues
* Mailing Lists
* Wiki

=== Legal status ===

OSGeo India Chapter is, presently, a voluntary organization, and has not been registered as a legal body. At present, OSGeo legal status is similar to other Open Source related organizations in India such as "Linux India" (http://www.linux-india.org/), "gnomebalgalore"(http://www.gnomebangalore.org/) or "KDE India" (http://in.kde.org/). Recently, "Free Software Foundation India" (FSF India) was registered as company and been granted the 80G status under Income Tax Act. India OSGeo Chapter is still a
nascent voluntary organization and will consider the modalities to
register as a legal body at some stage in the future. The India OSGeo Chapter will consult a certified tax cosultant when necessary to ensure compliance with the Indian tax laws.

The activities are managed by the '''Office''' located at 
International Institute of Information Technology 
Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500032, Andhra Pradesh, India 
Contact E-mail: rajan at iiit dot ac dot in

== '''India OSGeo Chapter Officers''' ==

India OSGeo Representative 
Dr P.S.Roy 
Deputy Director (RS&GIS-AA) 
National Remote Sensing Agency 
(Deptartment of Space, Government of India) 
Balanagar, Hyderabad-500 037 
Telephone :+91-40-23884255
Fax: +91-40-23875932 
E-Mail: psr at nrsa dot gov dot in

India OSGeo Chapter Coordinator 
Dr. Yashodhan Joshi 
CEO Relatioware 
Pune, India 
yyj at relationware dot in 

India OSGeo Treasurer 
Dr K.S.Rajan 
Associate Professor 
International Institute of Information Technology 
Gachibowli, Hyderabad-500 032, India 
E-Mail: rajan at iiit dot ac dot in

OSGeo Software Development Committee 
Chairpersons 
(Prototyping, Localization, Proof of Concepts etc.) 
Prof. Jitendra Shah 
VJTI Mumbai, India 
jituviju at gmail dot com 

Dr. T.V. Ramachandra 
Indian Institute of Science 
Bangalore, India 
cestvr at ces dot iisc dot ernet dot in 

Regional Events Committee 
Chairpersons 
Mr. V. Ravi Kumar* 
Director 
Geodata Division,
Southern Region 
Geological Survey of India 
Bandalaguda,
Hyderabad 500068 
India 
ravivundavalli at yahoo dot com 
(*Ravi is involved in India OSGEO Chapter in a purely personal capacity) 

Mr. Neeraj Dixit 
Product Manager
Autodesk India Pvt. Ltd. 
Infrastructure Solutions Division (ISD) 
Neeraj dot Dixit at autodesk dot com 

Education and Training Committee 
Chairpersons 
Dr. N.J. Pawar 
Department of Geology,
Pune University 
Ganeshkhind Road 
Pune 411007, India 
njpawar at unipune dot ernet dot in

Dr. S.N. Prasad 
Sàlim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) 
Deccan Regional Station,
Secunderabad - 500 017, India 
wetlands at sancharnet dot in 

Advisors 

Dr. S.S. Thigale (spathigale at rediffmail dot com) 
Dr. Rajendra Jagdale (rajendra dot jagdale at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Vishwas S.Kale (vskale at unipune dot ernet dot in) 
Mr. Ashok Saraf (saraf dot ashok at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Venkatesh Raghavan (venkat at osgeo dot org) 
Dr. K S Rajan (rajan at iiit dot ac dot in) 
Mr. Kiran Chandra (kiranfsf at gmail dot com) 
Mr. Achuthan Mohan (achuthanmohan at gmail dot com) 
..Add more Advisors here

== '''Initial Membership''' ==

* Amol A. Sale
* Anand Akmanchi
* Ankur Mehrotra
* Gangavane
* Indrajit Patil
* Jayant Kirtane
* Kanhaiya K. Kale
* Mahalakshmi Narayanan
* Mahesh Jeevane
* Maneesh Prasad
* Mohan Patil
* N.R. Karmarkar
* Rahul Kaura
* Sajith
* Saroj Akiojam
* Shekhar Krishnan
* Swapnil K. Hajare
* Uttam Kumar
* B.N. Umrikar
* Vrishali Deosthali
* A.V.Satya Kumar
* Praveen Kumar Sinha
* Santosh Gaikwad
* C. Pattanaik
* [http://www.gndec.ac.in/~hsrai/ Hardeep Singh Rai]
* M.Surendranath
* N.Rajendran
* Srinivasan K
* Nageswaran B
* N.R.S.Reddy
* L.P.Singh
* S.Ramamurthy
* B.K. Sahu
* J.Simhachalam
* V.Hanumantha Rao
* S.Ananda Murty
* K.Seshayya
* N.Padmayya
* N.R.Ramesh
* U.S.N.Reddy
* R.M.Sundaram

Temporary mailing list - http://wgrass.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/mailman/listinfo/osgeo_discuss

== '''Meetings of India OSGeo Chapter ''' ==

* 4th Oct 2006, Hyderabad [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Talk:India Meeting Minutes]

* 24th Jan 2006, Hyderabad 
We are Happy to ANNOUNCE that we had a very successful OSGeo Workshop at Map World Forum 2007 today, and thank all the participants for the same. We are also very grateful to our Sponsors OSGeo.org and our Donors thru GNOME Foundation for the financial support in hosting this event. 
Later in the day, the first meeting of the newly constituted Executive Council (Board) of OSGeo-India was held. 
Details will be posted soon.

== '''Links''' ==
* India OSGeo Chapter - https://india.osgeo.org/
* National Remote Sensing Agency - http://www.nrsa.gov.in/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra (Hosting Courtsey : Media Center, Osaka City) - http://gisws.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/maha_map.dev/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.dev/
* Human Development Index (Jalna, Maharashtra)- http://www.indictrans.in/?q=projects/gis/ghdi
* Maharashtra Coverage - Neighbourhood Village - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.coverage/village_search_k.php
* GIS based Slum Information System (Korba Slum, Mumbai) - http://indictrans.in/demos/chameleon/samples/htdocs/korba.phtml
* Mumbai Free Map - http://mumbai.freemap.in/ | http://www.crit.org.in/projects/gis
* Bangalore Free Map - http://bangalore.freemap.in/
* Vasai Virar Subregion Freemap - http://vvsr.freemap.in/
* Tamil Nadu Maps Online - http://tnmaps.tn.nic.in/?info1.htm
* Tamil Nadu Census 2001 - http://www.census.tn.nic.in/
* Tamil Nadu Animal Disease Infformation - http://www.animaldiseaseinfo.tn.nic.in
* GRASS GIS mirror India - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grass/index.php
* GRDSS (GRASS GUI) - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grdss/index.php
* Free GIS India - http://freegis.gnu.org.in/
* ENVIS Wetland Ecosystems India - http://www.wetlandsofindia.org:8080/sacon/aboutus.jsp/
* GIS & Language Technology related Applications - http://indictrans.in/demos/GIS_Presentation_20061004.pdf

India

2007-01-31T14:35:46Z

Rajan: /* Legal status */

'''India Chapter of OSGeo'''

== '''About India OSGeo Chapter''' ==

Geographical Information Systems were seen as very special and very complex domain in India. There is a lot of hype attached with it and with that obviously high cost. So far such systems were seen as something to be used for high level planning and complex scientific operations by large corporates and Govt research agencies or departments only. Also the older mapping policy of India prevented virtually anybody except governments to possess any map data. The picture is however changing fast.

With recent developments in the areas of right-to-information and National Map Policy (http://dst.gov.in/whats_new/press_releases05/cabinet-approves.htm), there is a sudden increased awareness towards GIS based information systems. National Urban Renewal Mission (http://pmindia.nic.in/lspeech.asp?id=235), a well funded initiative has made use of GIS in urban local bodies mandatory. A large portion of geodata will now be freely available.All goverement departments are now trying to find easier ways to manage, update and publish information for the public. There are also large number of NGOs and citizen organisation which are working in areas like ubran poverty, town planning, solid waste management,rural development, school education,environmental issues etc. and they have started understanding and appreciating the importance of community GIS systems.

However growth of GIS is hindered by highly priced proprietory softwares and unavailability of public geodata. Many of such licenced softwares remain unutilized in various government offices because they require either extensive training or easy availability on multiple locations. All this can be changed by the use of Free/Opensource software tools. There is hardly any proprietory GIS software that can show text in Unicode standard in maps . This is significant since all governmet data and most educational institutions work in local language media . FOSS GIS has already shown this solution. Thus, Free/Opensource Geospatial softwares which are much more powerful and usable can be used for developing systems where more and more public participation is sought.

The India OSGeo Chapter is formed to fulfill the mission
and objectives described in this document. India OSGeo Chapter will earnestly follow the Local Chapter Guidelines stipulated by OSGeo and cooperate closely with OSGeo Board in promoting the use and development of OSGeo projects in India. The India OSGeo Chapter will strive to serve anyone interested in Open Source Geospatial Solutions and related issues, and to cover all the activities associated with the application, development and promotion of Open Source Geospatial solutions in India.

=== Mission ===

* Promoting Free/Opensource GIS tools and publicly available Geodata
* Advocacy of and promoting Localized GIS
* Act as a bridge between various groups like Developers, Application Users, NGOs, Government departments
* mentor various FOSS GIS miniprojects by providing resources such as technical guidence, webspace etc.
=== Objectives ===

Development:
* follow up on indian language support in various free/opensource GIS tools like GRASS, MapServer etc.
* initiative for standardisation of publicly available geodata
* setting up WMS/WFS based geodata servers using publicly available geodata
* toolkit for localised GIS including with special focus on schools, governments , public causes such as child malnutririon, mass education.

POCs ('''P'''roof '''O'''f '''C'''oncept demos):
* free/opensource based GIS demos
* localized GIS (interface and maps)
* Collaborative platforms for participatory governance

Regional Events:
* Workshops and Training sessions for
** comp science students/teachers
** geology/geography/civil engineering students and teachers
** others
* Special Lectures
* Demonstrations

Communication:
* Networking Local Communities related to geo-issues
* Mailing Lists
* Wiki

=== Legal status ===

OSGeo India Chapter is, presently, a voluntary organization, and has not been registered as a legal body. At present, OSGeo legal status is similar to other Open Source related organizations in India such as "Linux India" (http://www.linux-india.org/), "gnomebalgalore"(http://www.gnomebangalore.org/) or "KDE India" (http://in.kde.org/). Recently, "Free Software Foundation India" (FSF India) was registered as company and been granted the 80G status under Income Tax Act. India OSGeo Chapter is still a
nascent voluntary organization and will consider the modalities to
register as a legal body at some stage in the future. The India OSGeo Chapter will consult a certified tax cosultant when necessary to ensure compliance with the Indian tax laws.

The activities are currently managed by the '''Office''' located at 
International Institute of Information Technology 
Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500032, Andhra Pradesh, India 
Contact E-mail: rajan at iiit dot ac dot in

== '''India OSGeo Chapter Officers''' ==

India OSGeo Representative 
Dr P.S.Roy 
Deputy Director (RS&GIS-AA) 
National Remote Sensing Agency 
(Deptartment of Space, Government of India) 
Balanagar, Hyderabad-500 037 
Telephone :+91-40-23884255
Fax: +91-40-23875932 
E-Mail: psr at nrsa dot gov dot in

India OSGeo Chapter Coordinator 
Dr. Yashodhan Joshi 
CEO Relatioware 
Pune, India 
yyj at relationware dot in 

India OSGeo Treasurer 
Dr K.S.Rajan 
Associate Professor 
International Institute of Information Technology 
Gachibowli, Hyderabad-500 032, India 
E-Mail: rajan at iiit dot ac dot in

OSGeo Software Development Committee 
Chairpersons 
(Prototyping, Localization, Proof of Concepts etc.) 
Prof. Jitendra Shah 
VJTI Mumbai, India 
jituviju at gmail dot com 

Dr. T.V. Ramachandra 
Indian Institute of Science 
Bangalore, India 
cestvr at ces dot iisc dot ernet dot in 

Regional Events Committee 
Chairpersons 
Mr. V. Ravi Kumar* 
Director 
Geodata Division,
Southern Region 
Geological Survey of India 
Bandalaguda,
Hyderabad 500068 
India 
ravivundavalli at yahoo dot com 
(*Ravi is involved in India OSGEO Chapter in a purely personal capacity) 

Mr. Neeraj Dixit 
Product Manager
Autodesk India Pvt. Ltd. 
Infrastructure Solutions Division (ISD) 
Neeraj dot Dixit at autodesk dot com 

Education and Training Committee 
Chairpersons 
Dr. N.J. Pawar 
Department of Geology,
Pune University 
Ganeshkhind Road 
Pune 411007, India 
njpawar at unipune dot ernet dot in

Dr. S.N. Prasad 
Sàlim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) 
Deccan Regional Station,
Secunderabad - 500 017, India 
wetlands at sancharnet dot in 

Advisors 

Dr. S.S. Thigale (spathigale at rediffmail dot com) 
Dr. Rajendra Jagdale (rajendra dot jagdale at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Vishwas S.Kale (vskale at unipune dot ernet dot in) 
Mr. Ashok Saraf (saraf dot ashok at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Venkatesh Raghavan (venkat at osgeo dot org) 
Dr. K S Rajan (rajan at iiit dot ac dot in) 
Mr. Kiran Chandra (kiranfsf at gmail dot com) 
Mr. Achuthan Mohan (achuthanmohan at gmail dot com) 
..Add more Advisors here

== '''Initial Membership''' ==

* Amol A. Sale
* Anand Akmanchi
* Ankur Mehrotra
* Gangavane
* Indrajit Patil
* Jayant Kirtane
* Kanhaiya K. Kale
* Mahalakshmi Narayanan
* Mahesh Jeevane
* Maneesh Prasad
* Mohan Patil
* N.R. Karmarkar
* Rahul Kaura
* Sajith
* Saroj Akiojam
* Shekhar Krishnan
* Swapnil K. Hajare
* Uttam Kumar
* B.N. Umrikar
* Vrishali Deosthali
* A.V.Satya Kumar
* Praveen Kumar Sinha
* Santosh Gaikwad
* C. Pattanaik
* [http://www.gndec.ac.in/~hsrai/ Hardeep Singh Rai]
* M.Surendranath
* N.Rajendran
* Srinivasan K
* Nageswaran B
* N.R.S.Reddy
* L.P.Singh
* S.Ramamurthy
* B.K. Sahu
* J.Simhachalam
* V.Hanumantha Rao
* S.Ananda Murty
* K.Seshayya
* N.Padmayya
* N.R.Ramesh
* U.S.N.Reddy
* R.M.Sundaram

Temporary mailing list - http://wgrass.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/mailman/listinfo/osgeo_discuss

== '''Meetings of India OSGeo Chapter ''' ==

* 4th Oct 2006, Hyderabad [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Talk:India Meeting Minutes]

* 24th Jan 2006, Hyderabad 
We are Happy to ANNOUNCE that we had a very successful OSGeo Workshop at Map World Forum 2007 today, and thank all the participants for the same. We are also very grateful to our Sponsors OSGeo.org and our Donors thru GNOME Foundation for the financial support in hosting this event. 
Later in the day, the first meeting of the newly constituted Executive Council (Board) of OSGeo-India was held. 
Details will be posted soon.

== '''Links''' ==
* India OSGeo Chapter - https://india.osgeo.org/
* National Remote Sensing Agency - http://www.nrsa.gov.in/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra (Hosting Courtsey : Media Center, Osaka City) - http://gisws.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/maha_map.dev/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.dev/
* Human Development Index (Jalna, Maharashtra)- http://www.indictrans.in/?q=projects/gis/ghdi
* Maharashtra Coverage - Neighbourhood Village - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.coverage/village_search_k.php
* GIS based Slum Information System (Korba Slum, Mumbai) - http://indictrans.in/demos/chameleon/samples/htdocs/korba.phtml
* Mumbai Free Map - http://mumbai.freemap.in/ | http://www.crit.org.in/projects/gis
* Bangalore Free Map - http://bangalore.freemap.in/
* Vasai Virar Subregion Freemap - http://vvsr.freemap.in/
* Tamil Nadu Maps Online - http://tnmaps.tn.nic.in/?info1.htm
* Tamil Nadu Census 2001 - http://www.census.tn.nic.in/
* Tamil Nadu Animal Disease Infformation - http://www.animaldiseaseinfo.tn.nic.in
* GRASS GIS mirror India - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grass/index.php
* GRDSS (GRASS GUI) - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grdss/index.php
* Free GIS India - http://freegis.gnu.org.in/
* ENVIS Wetland Ecosystems India - http://www.wetlandsofindia.org:8080/sacon/aboutus.jsp/
* GIS & Language Technology related Applications - http://indictrans.in/demos/GIS_Presentation_20061004.pdf

India

2007-01-31T14:33:44Z

Rajan: /* Legal status */

'''India Chapter of OSGeo'''

== '''About India OSGeo Chapter''' ==

Geographical Information Systems were seen as very special and very complex domain in India. There is a lot of hype attached with it and with that obviously high cost. So far such systems were seen as something to be used for high level planning and complex scientific operations by large corporates and Govt research agencies or departments only. Also the older mapping policy of India prevented virtually anybody except governments to possess any map data. The picture is however changing fast.

With recent developments in the areas of right-to-information and National Map Policy (http://dst.gov.in/whats_new/press_releases05/cabinet-approves.htm), there is a sudden increased awareness towards GIS based information systems. National Urban Renewal Mission (http://pmindia.nic.in/lspeech.asp?id=235), a well funded initiative has made use of GIS in urban local bodies mandatory. A large portion of geodata will now be freely available.All goverement departments are now trying to find easier ways to manage, update and publish information for the public. There are also large number of NGOs and citizen organisation which are working in areas like ubran poverty, town planning, solid waste management,rural development, school education,environmental issues etc. and they have started understanding and appreciating the importance of community GIS systems.

However growth of GIS is hindered by highly priced proprietory softwares and unavailability of public geodata. Many of such licenced softwares remain unutilized in various government offices because they require either extensive training or easy availability on multiple locations. All this can be changed by the use of Free/Opensource software tools. There is hardly any proprietory GIS software that can show text in Unicode standard in maps . This is significant since all governmet data and most educational institutions work in local language media . FOSS GIS has already shown this solution. Thus, Free/Opensource Geospatial softwares which are much more powerful and usable can be used for developing systems where more and more public participation is sought.

The India OSGeo Chapter is formed to fulfill the mission
and objectives described in this document. India OSGeo Chapter will earnestly follow the Local Chapter Guidelines stipulated by OSGeo and cooperate closely with OSGeo Board in promoting the use and development of OSGeo projects in India. The India OSGeo Chapter will strive to serve anyone interested in Open Source Geospatial Solutions and related issues, and to cover all the activities associated with the application, development and promotion of Open Source Geospatial solutions in India.

=== Mission ===

* Promoting Free/Opensource GIS tools and publicly available Geodata
* Advocacy of and promoting Localized GIS
* Act as a bridge between various groups like Developers, Application Users, NGOs, Government departments
* mentor various FOSS GIS miniprojects by providing resources such as technical guidence, webspace etc.
=== Objectives ===

Development:
* follow up on indian language support in various free/opensource GIS tools like GRASS, MapServer etc.
* initiative for standardisation of publicly available geodata
* setting up WMS/WFS based geodata servers using publicly available geodata
* toolkit for localised GIS including with special focus on schools, governments , public causes such as child malnutririon, mass education.

POCs ('''P'''roof '''O'''f '''C'''oncept demos):
* free/opensource based GIS demos
* localized GIS (interface and maps)
* Collaborative platforms for participatory governance

Regional Events:
* Workshops and Training sessions for
** comp science students/teachers
** geology/geography/civil engineering students and teachers
** others
* Special Lectures
* Demonstrations

Communication:
* Networking Local Communities related to geo-issues
* Mailing Lists
* Wiki

=== Legal status ===

OSGeo India Chapter is, presently, a voluntary organization, and has not been registered as a legal body. At present, OSGeo legal status is similar to other Open Source related organizations in India such as "Linux India" (http://www.linux-india.org/), "gnomebalgalore"(http://www.gnomebangalore.org/) or "KDE India" (http://in.kde.org/). Recently, "Free Software Foundation India" (FSF India) was registered as company and been granted the 80G status under Income Tax Act. India OSGeo Chapter is still a
nascent voluntary organization and will consider the modalities to
register as a legal body at some stage in the future. The India OSGeo Chapter will consult a certified tax cosultant when necessary to ensure compliance with the Indian tax laws.

The activities are currently managed with the office located at 
International Institute of Information Technology 
Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500032, Andhra Pradesh, India 
Contact E-mail: rajan at iiit dot ac dot in

== '''India OSGeo Chapter Officers''' ==

India OSGeo Representative 
Dr P.S.Roy 
Deputy Director (RS&GIS-AA) 
National Remote Sensing Agency 
(Deptartment of Space, Government of India) 
Balanagar, Hyderabad-500 037 
Telephone :+91-40-23884255
Fax: +91-40-23875932 
E-Mail: psr at nrsa dot gov dot in

India OSGeo Chapter Coordinator 
Dr. Yashodhan Joshi 
CEO Relatioware 
Pune, India 
yyj at relationware dot in 

India OSGeo Treasurer 
Dr K.S.Rajan 
Associate Professor 
International Institute of Information Technology 
Gachibowli, Hyderabad-500 032, India 
E-Mail: rajan at iiit dot ac dot in

OSGeo Software Development Committee 
Chairpersons 
(Prototyping, Localization, Proof of Concepts etc.) 
Prof. Jitendra Shah 
VJTI Mumbai, India 
jituviju at gmail dot com 

Dr. T.V. Ramachandra 
Indian Institute of Science 
Bangalore, India 
cestvr at ces dot iisc dot ernet dot in 

Regional Events Committee 
Chairpersons 
Mr. V. Ravi Kumar* 
Director 
Geodata Division,
Southern Region 
Geological Survey of India 
Bandalaguda,
Hyderabad 500068 
India 
ravivundavalli at yahoo dot com 
(*Ravi is involved in India OSGEO Chapter in a purely personal capacity) 

Mr. Neeraj Dixit 
Product Manager
Autodesk India Pvt. Ltd. 
Infrastructure Solutions Division (ISD) 
Neeraj dot Dixit at autodesk dot com 

Education and Training Committee 
Chairpersons 
Dr. N.J. Pawar 
Department of Geology,
Pune University 
Ganeshkhind Road 
Pune 411007, India 
njpawar at unipune dot ernet dot in

Dr. S.N. Prasad 
Sàlim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) 
Deccan Regional Station,
Secunderabad - 500 017, India 
wetlands at sancharnet dot in 

Advisors 

Dr. S.S. Thigale (spathigale at rediffmail dot com) 
Dr. Rajendra Jagdale (rajendra dot jagdale at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Vishwas S.Kale (vskale at unipune dot ernet dot in) 
Mr. Ashok Saraf (saraf dot ashok at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Venkatesh Raghavan (venkat at osgeo dot org) 
Dr. K S Rajan (rajan at iiit dot ac dot in) 
Mr. Kiran Chandra (kiranfsf at gmail dot com) 
Mr. Achuthan Mohan (achuthanmohan at gmail dot com) 
..Add more Advisors here

== '''Initial Membership''' ==

* Amol A. Sale
* Anand Akmanchi
* Ankur Mehrotra
* Gangavane
* Indrajit Patil
* Jayant Kirtane
* Kanhaiya K. Kale
* Mahalakshmi Narayanan
* Mahesh Jeevane
* Maneesh Prasad
* Mohan Patil
* N.R. Karmarkar
* Rahul Kaura
* Sajith
* Saroj Akiojam
* Shekhar Krishnan
* Swapnil K. Hajare
* Uttam Kumar
* B.N. Umrikar
* Vrishali Deosthali
* A.V.Satya Kumar
* Praveen Kumar Sinha
* Santosh Gaikwad
* C. Pattanaik
* [http://www.gndec.ac.in/~hsrai/ Hardeep Singh Rai]
* M.Surendranath
* N.Rajendran
* Srinivasan K
* Nageswaran B
* N.R.S.Reddy
* L.P.Singh
* S.Ramamurthy
* B.K. Sahu
* J.Simhachalam
* V.Hanumantha Rao
* S.Ananda Murty
* K.Seshayya
* N.Padmayya
* N.R.Ramesh
* U.S.N.Reddy
* R.M.Sundaram

Temporary mailing list - http://wgrass.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/mailman/listinfo/osgeo_discuss

== '''Meetings of India OSGeo Chapter ''' ==

* 4th Oct 2006, Hyderabad [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Talk:India Meeting Minutes]

* 24th Jan 2006, Hyderabad 
We are Happy to ANNOUNCE that we had a very successful OSGeo Workshop at Map World Forum 2007 today, and thank all the participants for the same. We are also very grateful to our Sponsors OSGeo.org and our Donors thru GNOME Foundation for the financial support in hosting this event. 
Later in the day, the first meeting of the newly constituted Executive Council (Board) of OSGeo-India was held. 
Details will be posted soon.

== '''Links''' ==
* India OSGeo Chapter - https://india.osgeo.org/
* National Remote Sensing Agency - http://www.nrsa.gov.in/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra (Hosting Courtsey : Media Center, Osaka City) - http://gisws.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/maha_map.dev/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.dev/
* Human Development Index (Jalna, Maharashtra)- http://www.indictrans.in/?q=projects/gis/ghdi
* Maharashtra Coverage - Neighbourhood Village - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.coverage/village_search_k.php
* GIS based Slum Information System (Korba Slum, Mumbai) - http://indictrans.in/demos/chameleon/samples/htdocs/korba.phtml
* Mumbai Free Map - http://mumbai.freemap.in/ | http://www.crit.org.in/projects/gis
* Bangalore Free Map - http://bangalore.freemap.in/
* Vasai Virar Subregion Freemap - http://vvsr.freemap.in/
* Tamil Nadu Maps Online - http://tnmaps.tn.nic.in/?info1.htm
* Tamil Nadu Census 2001 - http://www.census.tn.nic.in/
* Tamil Nadu Animal Disease Infformation - http://www.animaldiseaseinfo.tn.nic.in
* GRASS GIS mirror India - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grass/index.php
* GRDSS (GRASS GUI) - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grdss/index.php
* Free GIS India - http://freegis.gnu.org.in/
* ENVIS Wetland Ecosystems India - http://www.wetlandsofindia.org:8080/sacon/aboutus.jsp/
* GIS & Language Technology related Applications - http://indictrans.in/demos/GIS_Presentation_20061004.pdf

India

2007-01-26T16:29:12Z

Rajan: /* '''Meetings of India OSGeo Chapter ''' */

'''India Chapter of OSGeo'''

== '''About India OSGeo Chapter''' ==

Geographical Information Systems were seen as very special and very complex domain in India. There is a lot of hype attached with it and with that obviously high cost. So far such systems were seen as something to be used for high level planning and complex scientific operations by large corporates and Govt research agencies or departments only. Also the older mapping policy of India prevented virtually anybody except governments to possess any map data. The picture is however changing fast.

With recent developments in the areas of right-to-information and National Map Policy (http://dst.gov.in/whats_new/press_releases05/cabinet-approves.htm), there is a sudden increased awareness towards GIS based information systems. National Urban Renewal Mission (http://pmindia.nic.in/lspeech.asp?id=235), a well funded initiative has made use of GIS in urban local bodies mandatory. A large portion of geodata will now be freely available.All goverement departments are now trying to find easier ways to manage, update and publish information for the public. There are also large number of NGOs and citizen organisation which are working in areas like ubran poverty, town planning, solid waste management,rural development, school education,environmental issues etc. and they have started understanding and appreciating the importance of community GIS systems.

However growth of GIS is hindered by highly priced proprietory softwares and unavailability of public geodata. Many of such licenced softwares remain unutilized in various government offices because they require either extensive training or easy availability on multiple locations. All this can be changed by the use of Free/Opensource software tools. There is hardly any proprietory GIS software that can show text in Unicode standard in maps . This is significant since all governmet data and most educational institutions work in local language media . FOSS GIS has already shown this solution. Thus, Free/Opensource Geospatial softwares which are much more powerful and usable can be used for developing systems where more and more public participation is sought.

The India OSGeo Chapter is formed to fulfill the mission
and objectives described in this document. India OSGeo Chapter will earnestly follow the Local Chapter Guidelines stipulated by OSGeo and cooperate closely with OSGeo Board in promoting the use and development of OSGeo projects in India. The India OSGeo Chapter will strive to serve anyone interested in Open Source Geospatial Solutions and related issues, and to cover all the activities associated with the application, development and promotion of Open Source Geospatial solutions in India.

=== Mission ===

* Promoting Free/Opensource GIS tools and publicly available Geodata
* Advocacy of and promoting Localized GIS
* Act as a bridge between various groups like Developers, Application Users, NGOs, Government departments
* mentor various FOSS GIS miniprojects by providing resources such as technical guidence, webspace etc.
=== Objectives ===

Development:
* follow up on indian language support in various free/opensource GIS tools like GRASS, MapServer etc.
* initiative for standardisation of publicly available geodata
* setting up WMS/WFS based geodata servers using publicly available geodata
* toolkit for localised GIS including with special focus on schools, governments , public causes such as child malnutririon, mass education.

POCs ('''P'''roof '''O'''f '''C'''oncept demos):
* free/opensource based GIS demos
* localized GIS (interface and maps)
* Collaborative platforms for participatory governance

Regional Events:
* Workshops and Training sessions for
** comp science students/teachers
** geology/geography/civil engineering students and teachers
** others
* Special Lectures
* Demonstrations

Communication:
* Networking Local Communities related to geo-issues
* Mailing Lists
* Wiki

=== Legal status ===

OSGeo India Chapter is, presently, a voluntary organization, and has not been registered as a legal body. At present, OSGeo legal status is similar to other Open Source related organizations in India such as "Linux India" (http://www.linux-india.org/), "gnomebalgalore"(http://www.gnomebangalore.org/) or "KDE India" (http://in.kde.org/). Recently, "Free Software Foundation India" (FSF India) was registered as company and been granted the 80G status under Income Tax Act. India OSGeo Chapter is still a
nascent voluntary organization and will consider the modalities to
register as a legal body at some stage in the future. The India OSGeo Chapter will consult a certified tax cosultant when necessary to ensure compliance with the Indian tax laws.

== '''India OSGeo Chapter Officers''' ==

India OSGeo Representative 
Dr P.S.Roy 
Deputy Director (RS&GIS-AA) 
National Remote Sensing Agency 
(Deptartment of Space, Government of India) 
Balanagar, Hyderabad-500 037 
Telephone :+91-40-23884255
Fax: +91-40-23875932 
E-Mail: psr at nrsa dot gov dot in

India OSGeo Chapter Coordinator 
Dr. Yashodhan Joshi 
CEO Relatioware 
Pune, India 
yyj at relationware dot in 

India OSGeo Treasurer 
Dr K.S.Rajan 
Associate Professor 
International Institute of Information Technology 
Gachibowli, Hyderabad-500 032, India 
E-Mail: rajan at iiit dot ac dot in

OSGeo Software Development Committee 
Chairpersons 
(Prototyping, Localization, Proof of Concepts etc.) 
Prof. Jitendra Shah 
VJTI Mumbai, India 
jituviju at gmail dot com 

Dr. T.V. Ramachandra 
Indian Institute of Science 
Bangalore, India 
cestvr at ces dot iisc dot ernet dot in 

Regional Events Committee 
Chairpersons 
Mr. V. Ravi Kumar* 
Director 
Geodata Division,
Southern Region 
Geological Survey of India 
Bandalaguda,
Hyderabad 500068 
India 
ravivundavalli at yahoo dot com 
(*Ravi is involved in India OSGEO Chapter in a purely personal capacity) 

Mr. Neeraj Dixit 
Product Manager
Autodesk India Pvt. Ltd. 
Infrastructure Solutions Division (ISD) 
Neeraj dot Dixit at autodesk dot com 

Education and Training Committee 
Chairpersons 
Dr. N.J. Pawar 
Department of Geology,
Pune University 
Ganeshkhind Road 
Pune 411007, India 
njpawar at unipune dot ernet dot in

Dr. S.N. Prasad 
Sàlim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) 
Deccan Regional Station,
Secunderabad - 500 017, India 
wetlands at sancharnet dot in 

Advisors 

Dr. S.S. Thigale (spathigale at rediffmail dot com) 
Dr. Rajendra Jagdale (rajendra dot jagdale at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Vishwas S.Kale (vskale at unipune dot ernet dot in) 
Mr. Ashok Saraf (saraf dot ashok at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Venkatesh Raghavan (venkat at osgeo dot org) 
Dr. K S Rajan (rajan at iiit dot ac dot in) 
Mr. Kiran Chandra (kiranfsf at gmail dot com) 
Mr. Achuthan Mohan (achuthanmohan at gmail dot com) 
..Add more Advisors here

== '''Initial Membership''' ==

* Amol A. Sale
* Anand Akmanchi
* Ankur Mehrotra
* Gangavane
* Indrajit Patil
* Jayant Kirtane
* Kanhaiya K. Kale
* Mahalakshmi Narayanan
* Mahesh Jeevane
* Maneesh Prasad
* Mohan Patil
* N.R. Karmarkar
* Rahul Kaura
* Sajith
* Saroj Akiojam
* Shekhar Krishnan
* Swapnil K. Hajare
* Uttam Kumar
* B.N. Umrikar
* Vrishali Deosthali
* A.V.Satya Kumar
* Praveen Kumar Sinha
* Santosh Gaikwad
* C. Pattanaik
* [http://www.gndec.ac.in/~hsrai/ Hardeep Singh Rai]
* M.Surendranath
* N.Rajendran
* Srinivasan K
* Nageswaran B
* N.R.S.Reddy
* L.P.Singh
* S.Ramamurthy
* B.K. Sahu
* J.Simhachalam
* V.Hanumantha Rao
* S.Ananda Murty
* K.Seshayya
* N.Padmayya
* N.R.Ramesh
* U.S.N.Reddy
* R.M.Sundaram

Temporary mailing list - http://wgrass.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/mailman/listinfo/osgeo_discuss

== '''Meetings of India OSGeo Chapter ''' ==

* 4th Oct 2006, Hyderabad [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Talk:India Meeting Minutes]

* 24th Jan 2006, Hyderabad 
We are Happy to ANNOUNCE that we had a very successful OSGeo Workshop at Map World Forum 2007 today, and thank all the participants for the same. We are also very grateful to our Sponsors OSGeo.org and our Donors thru GNOME Foundation for the financial support in hosting this event. 
Later in the day, the first meeting of the newly constituted Executive Council (Board) of OSGeo-India was held. 
Details will be posted soon.

== '''Links''' ==
* India OSGeo Chapter - https://india.osgeo.org/
* National Remote Sensing Agency - http://www.nrsa.gov.in/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra (Hosting Courtsey : Media Center, Osaka City) - http://gisws.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/maha_map.dev/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.dev/
* Human Development Index (Jalna, Maharashtra)- http://www.indictrans.in/?q=projects/gis/ghdi
* Maharashtra Coverage - Neighbourhood Village - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.coverage/village_search_k.php
* GIS based Slum Information System (Korba Slum, Mumbai) - http://indictrans.in/demos/chameleon/samples/htdocs/korba.phtml
* Mumbai Free Map - http://mumbai.freemap.in/ | http://www.crit.org.in/projects/gis
* Bangalore Free Map - http://bangalore.freemap.in/
* Vasai Virar Subregion Freemap - http://vvsr.freemap.in/
* Tamil Nadu Maps Online - http://tnmaps.tn.nic.in/?info1.htm
* Tamil Nadu Census 2001 - http://www.census.tn.nic.in/
* Tamil Nadu Animal Disease Infformation - http://www.animaldiseaseinfo.tn.nic.in
* GRASS GIS mirror India - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grass/index.php
* GRDSS (GRASS GUI) - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grdss/index.php
* Free GIS India - http://freegis.gnu.org.in/
* ENVIS Wetland Ecosystems India - http://www.wetlandsofindia.org:8080/sacon/aboutus.jsp/
* GIS & Language Technology related Applications - http://indictrans.in/demos/GIS_Presentation_20061004.pdf

India

2007-01-26T16:17:41Z

Rajan: /* '''Meetings of India OSGeo Chapter ''' */

'''India Chapter of OSGeo'''

== '''About India OSGeo Chapter''' ==

Geographical Information Systems were seen as very special and very complex domain in India. There is a lot of hype attached with it and with that obviously high cost. So far such systems were seen as something to be used for high level planning and complex scientific operations by large corporates and Govt research agencies or departments only. Also the older mapping policy of India prevented virtually anybody except governments to possess any map data. The picture is however changing fast.

With recent developments in the areas of right-to-information and National Map Policy (http://dst.gov.in/whats_new/press_releases05/cabinet-approves.htm), there is a sudden increased awareness towards GIS based information systems. National Urban Renewal Mission (http://pmindia.nic.in/lspeech.asp?id=235), a well funded initiative has made use of GIS in urban local bodies mandatory. A large portion of geodata will now be freely available.All goverement departments are now trying to find easier ways to manage, update and publish information for the public. There are also large number of NGOs and citizen organisation which are working in areas like ubran poverty, town planning, solid waste management,rural development, school education,environmental issues etc. and they have started understanding and appreciating the importance of community GIS systems.

However growth of GIS is hindered by highly priced proprietory softwares and unavailability of public geodata. Many of such licenced softwares remain unutilized in various government offices because they require either extensive training or easy availability on multiple locations. All this can be changed by the use of Free/Opensource software tools. There is hardly any proprietory GIS software that can show text in Unicode standard in maps . This is significant since all governmet data and most educational institutions work in local language media . FOSS GIS has already shown this solution. Thus, Free/Opensource Geospatial softwares which are much more powerful and usable can be used for developing systems where more and more public participation is sought.

The India OSGeo Chapter is formed to fulfill the mission
and objectives described in this document. India OSGeo Chapter will earnestly follow the Local Chapter Guidelines stipulated by OSGeo and cooperate closely with OSGeo Board in promoting the use and development of OSGeo projects in India. The India OSGeo Chapter will strive to serve anyone interested in Open Source Geospatial Solutions and related issues, and to cover all the activities associated with the application, development and promotion of Open Source Geospatial solutions in India.

=== Mission ===

* Promoting Free/Opensource GIS tools and publicly available Geodata
* Advocacy of and promoting Localized GIS
* Act as a bridge between various groups like Developers, Application Users, NGOs, Government departments
* mentor various FOSS GIS miniprojects by providing resources such as technical guidence, webspace etc.
=== Objectives ===

Development:
* follow up on indian language support in various free/opensource GIS tools like GRASS, MapServer etc.
* initiative for standardisation of publicly available geodata
* setting up WMS/WFS based geodata servers using publicly available geodata
* toolkit for localised GIS including with special focus on schools, governments , public causes such as child malnutririon, mass education.

POCs ('''P'''roof '''O'''f '''C'''oncept demos):
* free/opensource based GIS demos
* localized GIS (interface and maps)
* Collaborative platforms for participatory governance

Regional Events:
* Workshops and Training sessions for
** comp science students/teachers
** geology/geography/civil engineering students and teachers
** others
* Special Lectures
* Demonstrations

Communication:
* Networking Local Communities related to geo-issues
* Mailing Lists
* Wiki

=== Legal status ===

OSGeo India Chapter is, presently, a voluntary organization, and has not been registered as a legal body. At present, OSGeo legal status is similar to other Open Source related organizations in India such as "Linux India" (http://www.linux-india.org/), "gnomebalgalore"(http://www.gnomebangalore.org/) or "KDE India" (http://in.kde.org/). Recently, "Free Software Foundation India" (FSF India) was registered as company and been granted the 80G status under Income Tax Act. India OSGeo Chapter is still a
nascent voluntary organization and will consider the modalities to
register as a legal body at some stage in the future. The India OSGeo Chapter will consult a certified tax cosultant when necessary to ensure compliance with the Indian tax laws.

== '''India OSGeo Chapter Officers''' ==

India OSGeo Representative 
Dr P.S.Roy 
Deputy Director (RS&GIS-AA) 
National Remote Sensing Agency 
(Deptartment of Space, Government of India) 
Balanagar, Hyderabad-500 037 
Telephone :+91-40-23884255
Fax: +91-40-23875932 
E-Mail: psr at nrsa dot gov dot in

India OSGeo Chapter Coordinator 
Dr. Yashodhan Joshi 
CEO Relatioware 
Pune, India 
yyj at relationware dot in 

India OSGeo Treasurer 
Dr K.S.Rajan 
Associate Professor 
International Institute of Information Technology 
Gachibowli, Hyderabad-500 032, India 
E-Mail: rajan at iiit dot ac dot in

OSGeo Software Development Committee 
Chairpersons 
(Prototyping, Localization, Proof of Concepts etc.) 
Prof. Jitendra Shah 
VJTI Mumbai, India 
jituviju at gmail dot com 

Dr. T.V. Ramachandra 
Indian Institute of Science 
Bangalore, India 
cestvr at ces dot iisc dot ernet dot in 

Regional Events Committee 
Chairpersons 
Mr. V. Ravi Kumar* 
Director 
Geodata Division,
Southern Region 
Geological Survey of India 
Bandalaguda,
Hyderabad 500068 
India 
ravivundavalli at yahoo dot com 
(*Ravi is involved in India OSGEO Chapter in a purely personal capacity) 

Mr. Neeraj Dixit 
Product Manager
Autodesk India Pvt. Ltd. 
Infrastructure Solutions Division (ISD) 
Neeraj dot Dixit at autodesk dot com 

Education and Training Committee 
Chairpersons 
Dr. N.J. Pawar 
Department of Geology,
Pune University 
Ganeshkhind Road 
Pune 411007, India 
njpawar at unipune dot ernet dot in

Dr. S.N. Prasad 
Sàlim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) 
Deccan Regional Station,
Secunderabad - 500 017, India 
wetlands at sancharnet dot in 

Advisors 

Dr. S.S. Thigale (spathigale at rediffmail dot com) 
Dr. Rajendra Jagdale (rajendra dot jagdale at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Vishwas S.Kale (vskale at unipune dot ernet dot in) 
Mr. Ashok Saraf (saraf dot ashok at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Venkatesh Raghavan (venkat at osgeo dot org) 
Dr. K S Rajan (rajan at iiit dot ac dot in) 
Mr. Kiran Chandra (kiranfsf at gmail dot com) 
Mr. Achuthan Mohan (achuthanmohan at gmail dot com) 
..Add more Advisors here

== '''Initial Membership''' ==

* Amol A. Sale
* Anand Akmanchi
* Ankur Mehrotra
* Gangavane
* Indrajit Patil
* Jayant Kirtane
* Kanhaiya K. Kale
* Mahalakshmi Narayanan
* Mahesh Jeevane
* Maneesh Prasad
* Mohan Patil
* N.R. Karmarkar
* Rahul Kaura
* Sajith
* Saroj Akiojam
* Shekhar Krishnan
* Swapnil K. Hajare
* Uttam Kumar
* B.N. Umrikar
* Vrishali Deosthali
* A.V.Satya Kumar
* Praveen Kumar Sinha
* Santosh Gaikwad
* C. Pattanaik
* [http://www.gndec.ac.in/~hsrai/ Hardeep Singh Rai]
* M.Surendranath
* N.Rajendran
* Srinivasan K
* Nageswaran B
* N.R.S.Reddy
* L.P.Singh
* S.Ramamurthy
* B.K. Sahu
* J.Simhachalam
* V.Hanumantha Rao
* S.Ananda Murty
* K.Seshayya
* N.Padmayya
* N.R.Ramesh
* U.S.N.Reddy
* R.M.Sundaram

Temporary mailing list - http://wgrass.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/mailman/listinfo/osgeo_discuss

== '''Meetings of India OSGeo Chapter ''' ==

* 4th Oct 2006, Hyderabad [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Talk:India Meeting Minutes]

* 24th Jan 2007, Hyderabad 
We are Happy to ANNOUNCE that we had a very successful OSGeo Workshop at Map World Forum 2007 today, and thank all the participants for the same. We are also very grateful to our Sponsors OSGeo.org and our Donors thru GNOME Foundation for the financial support in hosting this event. 
Later in the day, the first meeting of the newly constituted Executive Council (Board) of OSGeo-India was held. 
Details will be posted soon.

== '''Links''' ==
* India OSGeo Chapter - https://india.osgeo.org/
* National Remote Sensing Agency - http://www.nrsa.gov.in/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra (Hosting Courtsey : Media Center, Osaka City) - http://gisws.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/maha_map.dev/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.dev/
* Human Development Index (Jalna, Maharashtra)- http://www.indictrans.in/?q=projects/gis/ghdi
* Maharashtra Coverage - Neighbourhood Village - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.coverage/village_search_k.php
* GIS based Slum Information System (Korba Slum, Mumbai) - http://indictrans.in/demos/chameleon/samples/htdocs/korba.phtml
* Mumbai Free Map - http://mumbai.freemap.in/ | http://www.crit.org.in/projects/gis
* Bangalore Free Map - http://bangalore.freemap.in/
* Vasai Virar Subregion Freemap - http://vvsr.freemap.in/
* Tamil Nadu Maps Online - http://tnmaps.tn.nic.in/?info1.htm
* Tamil Nadu Census 2001 - http://www.census.tn.nic.in/
* Tamil Nadu Animal Disease Infformation - http://www.animaldiseaseinfo.tn.nic.in
* GRASS GIS mirror India - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grass/index.php
* GRDSS (GRASS GUI) - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grdss/index.php
* Free GIS India - http://freegis.gnu.org.in/
* ENVIS Wetland Ecosystems India - http://www.wetlandsofindia.org:8080/sacon/aboutus.jsp/
* GIS & Language Technology related Applications - http://indictrans.in/demos/GIS_Presentation_20061004.pdf

India

2007-01-26T16:15:43Z

Rajan: /* '''Meetings of India OSGeo Chapter ''' */

'''India Chapter of OSGeo'''

== '''About India OSGeo Chapter''' ==

Geographical Information Systems were seen as very special and very complex domain in India. There is a lot of hype attached with it and with that obviously high cost. So far such systems were seen as something to be used for high level planning and complex scientific operations by large corporates and Govt research agencies or departments only. Also the older mapping policy of India prevented virtually anybody except governments to possess any map data. The picture is however changing fast.

With recent developments in the areas of right-to-information and National Map Policy (http://dst.gov.in/whats_new/press_releases05/cabinet-approves.htm), there is a sudden increased awareness towards GIS based information systems. National Urban Renewal Mission (http://pmindia.nic.in/lspeech.asp?id=235), a well funded initiative has made use of GIS in urban local bodies mandatory. A large portion of geodata will now be freely available.All goverement departments are now trying to find easier ways to manage, update and publish information for the public. There are also large number of NGOs and citizen organisation which are working in areas like ubran poverty, town planning, solid waste management,rural development, school education,environmental issues etc. and they have started understanding and appreciating the importance of community GIS systems.

However growth of GIS is hindered by highly priced proprietory softwares and unavailability of public geodata. Many of such licenced softwares remain unutilized in various government offices because they require either extensive training or easy availability on multiple locations. All this can be changed by the use of Free/Opensource software tools. There is hardly any proprietory GIS software that can show text in Unicode standard in maps . This is significant since all governmet data and most educational institutions work in local language media . FOSS GIS has already shown this solution. Thus, Free/Opensource Geospatial softwares which are much more powerful and usable can be used for developing systems where more and more public participation is sought.

The India OSGeo Chapter is formed to fulfill the mission
and objectives described in this document. India OSGeo Chapter will earnestly follow the Local Chapter Guidelines stipulated by OSGeo and cooperate closely with OSGeo Board in promoting the use and development of OSGeo projects in India. The India OSGeo Chapter will strive to serve anyone interested in Open Source Geospatial Solutions and related issues, and to cover all the activities associated with the application, development and promotion of Open Source Geospatial solutions in India.

=== Mission ===

* Promoting Free/Opensource GIS tools and publicly available Geodata
* Advocacy of and promoting Localized GIS
* Act as a bridge between various groups like Developers, Application Users, NGOs, Government departments
* mentor various FOSS GIS miniprojects by providing resources such as technical guidence, webspace etc.
=== Objectives ===

Development:
* follow up on indian language support in various free/opensource GIS tools like GRASS, MapServer etc.
* initiative for standardisation of publicly available geodata
* setting up WMS/WFS based geodata servers using publicly available geodata
* toolkit for localised GIS including with special focus on schools, governments , public causes such as child malnutririon, mass education.

POCs ('''P'''roof '''O'''f '''C'''oncept demos):
* free/opensource based GIS demos
* localized GIS (interface and maps)
* Collaborative platforms for participatory governance

Regional Events:
* Workshops and Training sessions for
** comp science students/teachers
** geology/geography/civil engineering students and teachers
** others
* Special Lectures
* Demonstrations

Communication:
* Networking Local Communities related to geo-issues
* Mailing Lists
* Wiki

=== Legal status ===

OSGeo India Chapter is, presently, a voluntary organization, and has not been registered as a legal body. At present, OSGeo legal status is similar to other Open Source related organizations in India such as "Linux India" (http://www.linux-india.org/), "gnomebalgalore"(http://www.gnomebangalore.org/) or "KDE India" (http://in.kde.org/). Recently, "Free Software Foundation India" (FSF India) was registered as company and been granted the 80G status under Income Tax Act. India OSGeo Chapter is still a
nascent voluntary organization and will consider the modalities to
register as a legal body at some stage in the future. The India OSGeo Chapter will consult a certified tax cosultant when necessary to ensure compliance with the Indian tax laws.

== '''India OSGeo Chapter Officers''' ==

India OSGeo Representative 
Dr P.S.Roy 
Deputy Director (RS&GIS-AA) 
National Remote Sensing Agency 
(Deptartment of Space, Government of India) 
Balanagar, Hyderabad-500 037 
Telephone :+91-40-23884255
Fax: +91-40-23875932 
E-Mail: psr at nrsa dot gov dot in

India OSGeo Chapter Coordinator 
Dr. Yashodhan Joshi 
CEO Relatioware 
Pune, India 
yyj at relationware dot in 

India OSGeo Treasurer 
Dr K.S.Rajan 
Associate Professor 
International Institute of Information Technology 
Gachibowli, Hyderabad-500 032, India 
E-Mail: rajan at iiit dot ac dot in

OSGeo Software Development Committee 
Chairpersons 
(Prototyping, Localization, Proof of Concepts etc.) 
Prof. Jitendra Shah 
VJTI Mumbai, India 
jituviju at gmail dot com 

Dr. T.V. Ramachandra 
Indian Institute of Science 
Bangalore, India 
cestvr at ces dot iisc dot ernet dot in 

Regional Events Committee 
Chairpersons 
Mr. V. Ravi Kumar* 
Director 
Geodata Division,
Southern Region 
Geological Survey of India 
Bandalaguda,
Hyderabad 500068 
India 
ravivundavalli at yahoo dot com 
(*Ravi is involved in India OSGEO Chapter in a purely personal capacity) 

Mr. Neeraj Dixit 
Product Manager
Autodesk India Pvt. Ltd. 
Infrastructure Solutions Division (ISD) 
Neeraj dot Dixit at autodesk dot com 

Education and Training Committee 
Chairpersons 
Dr. N.J. Pawar 
Department of Geology,
Pune University 
Ganeshkhind Road 
Pune 411007, India 
njpawar at unipune dot ernet dot in

Dr. S.N. Prasad 
Sàlim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) 
Deccan Regional Station,
Secunderabad - 500 017, India 
wetlands at sancharnet dot in 

Advisors 

Dr. S.S. Thigale (spathigale at rediffmail dot com) 
Dr. Rajendra Jagdale (rajendra dot jagdale at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Vishwas S.Kale (vskale at unipune dot ernet dot in) 
Mr. Ashok Saraf (saraf dot ashok at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Venkatesh Raghavan (venkat at osgeo dot org) 
Dr. K S Rajan (rajan at iiit dot ac dot in) 
Mr. Kiran Chandra (kiranfsf at gmail dot com) 
Mr. Achuthan Mohan (achuthanmohan at gmail dot com) 
..Add more Advisors here

== '''Initial Membership''' ==

* Amol A. Sale
* Anand Akmanchi
* Ankur Mehrotra
* Gangavane
* Indrajit Patil
* Jayant Kirtane
* Kanhaiya K. Kale
* Mahalakshmi Narayanan
* Mahesh Jeevane
* Maneesh Prasad
* Mohan Patil
* N.R. Karmarkar
* Rahul Kaura
* Sajith
* Saroj Akiojam
* Shekhar Krishnan
* Swapnil K. Hajare
* Uttam Kumar
* B.N. Umrikar
* Vrishali Deosthali
* A.V.Satya Kumar
* Praveen Kumar Sinha
* Santosh Gaikwad
* C. Pattanaik
* [http://www.gndec.ac.in/~hsrai/ Hardeep Singh Rai]
* M.Surendranath
* N.Rajendran
* Srinivasan K
* Nageswaran B
* N.R.S.Reddy
* L.P.Singh
* S.Ramamurthy
* B.K. Sahu
* J.Simhachalam
* V.Hanumantha Rao
* S.Ananda Murty
* K.Seshayya
* N.Padmayya
* N.R.Ramesh
* U.S.N.Reddy
* R.M.Sundaram

Temporary mailing list - http://wgrass.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/mailman/listinfo/osgeo_discuss

== '''Meetings of India OSGeo Chapter ''' ==

* 4th Oct 2006, Hyderabad [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Talk:India Meeting Minutes]

* 24th Jan 2007, Hyderabad 
We are Happy to ANNOUNCE that we had a very successful OSGeo Workshop at Map World Forum 2007 today, and thank all the participants for the same. We are also very grateful to our Sponsors OSGeo.org and our Donors thru GNOME Foundation for the financial support in hosting this event. 
Later in the day, the first meeting of the newly constituted Executive Council (Board) of OSGeo-India was held. 
Details will be posted soon.
[[Image:http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Image:Osgeo_participants_mwf2007.jpg]]

== '''Links''' ==
* India OSGeo Chapter - https://india.osgeo.org/
* National Remote Sensing Agency - http://www.nrsa.gov.in/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra (Hosting Courtsey : Media Center, Osaka City) - http://gisws.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/maha_map.dev/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.dev/
* Human Development Index (Jalna, Maharashtra)- http://www.indictrans.in/?q=projects/gis/ghdi
* Maharashtra Coverage - Neighbourhood Village - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.coverage/village_search_k.php
* GIS based Slum Information System (Korba Slum, Mumbai) - http://indictrans.in/demos/chameleon/samples/htdocs/korba.phtml
* Mumbai Free Map - http://mumbai.freemap.in/ | http://www.crit.org.in/projects/gis
* Bangalore Free Map - http://bangalore.freemap.in/
* Vasai Virar Subregion Freemap - http://vvsr.freemap.in/
* Tamil Nadu Maps Online - http://tnmaps.tn.nic.in/?info1.htm
* Tamil Nadu Census 2001 - http://www.census.tn.nic.in/
* Tamil Nadu Animal Disease Infformation - http://www.animaldiseaseinfo.tn.nic.in
* GRASS GIS mirror India - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grass/index.php
* GRDSS (GRASS GUI) - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grdss/index.php
* Free GIS India - http://freegis.gnu.org.in/
* ENVIS Wetland Ecosystems India - http://www.wetlandsofindia.org:8080/sacon/aboutus.jsp/
* GIS & Language Technology related Applications - http://indictrans.in/demos/GIS_Presentation_20061004.pdf

File:Osgeo participants mwf2007.jpg

2007-01-26T16:09:05Z

Rajan: Participants at the OSGeo Workshop at Map World Forum on 24th Jan 2007.

Participants at the OSGeo Workshop at Map World Forum on 24th Jan 2007.

India

2007-01-26T15:54:34Z

Rajan: /* '''Meetings of India OSGeo Chapter ''' */

'''India Chapter of OSGeo'''

== '''About India OSGeo Chapter''' ==

Geographical Information Systems were seen as very special and very complex domain in India. There is a lot of hype attached with it and with that obviously high cost. So far such systems were seen as something to be used for high level planning and complex scientific operations by large corporates and Govt research agencies or departments only. Also the older mapping policy of India prevented virtually anybody except governments to possess any map data. The picture is however changing fast.

With recent developments in the areas of right-to-information and National Map Policy (http://dst.gov.in/whats_new/press_releases05/cabinet-approves.htm), there is a sudden increased awareness towards GIS based information systems. National Urban Renewal Mission (http://pmindia.nic.in/lspeech.asp?id=235), a well funded initiative has made use of GIS in urban local bodies mandatory. A large portion of geodata will now be freely available.All goverement departments are now trying to find easier ways to manage, update and publish information for the public. There are also large number of NGOs and citizen organisation which are working in areas like ubran poverty, town planning, solid waste management,rural development, school education,environmental issues etc. and they have started understanding and appreciating the importance of community GIS systems.

However growth of GIS is hindered by highly priced proprietory softwares and unavailability of public geodata. Many of such licenced softwares remain unutilized in various government offices because they require either extensive training or easy availability on multiple locations. All this can be changed by the use of Free/Opensource software tools. There is hardly any proprietory GIS software that can show text in Unicode standard in maps . This is significant since all governmet data and most educational institutions work in local language media . FOSS GIS has already shown this solution. Thus, Free/Opensource Geospatial softwares which are much more powerful and usable can be used for developing systems where more and more public participation is sought.

The India OSGeo Chapter is formed to fulfill the mission
and objectives described in this document. India OSGeo Chapter will earnestly follow the Local Chapter Guidelines stipulated by OSGeo and cooperate closely with OSGeo Board in promoting the use and development of OSGeo projects in India. The India OSGeo Chapter will strive to serve anyone interested in Open Source Geospatial Solutions and related issues, and to cover all the activities associated with the application, development and promotion of Open Source Geospatial solutions in India.

=== Mission ===

* Promoting Free/Opensource GIS tools and publicly available Geodata
* Advocacy of and promoting Localized GIS
* Act as a bridge between various groups like Developers, Application Users, NGOs, Government departments
* mentor various FOSS GIS miniprojects by providing resources such as technical guidence, webspace etc.
=== Objectives ===

Development:
* follow up on indian language support in various free/opensource GIS tools like GRASS, MapServer etc.
* initiative for standardisation of publicly available geodata
* setting up WMS/WFS based geodata servers using publicly available geodata
* toolkit for localised GIS including with special focus on schools, governments , public causes such as child malnutririon, mass education.

POCs ('''P'''roof '''O'''f '''C'''oncept demos):
* free/opensource based GIS demos
* localized GIS (interface and maps)
* Collaborative platforms for participatory governance

Regional Events:
* Workshops and Training sessions for
** comp science students/teachers
** geology/geography/civil engineering students and teachers
** others
* Special Lectures
* Demonstrations

Communication:
* Networking Local Communities related to geo-issues
* Mailing Lists
* Wiki

=== Legal status ===

OSGeo India Chapter is, presently, a voluntary organization, and has not been registered as a legal body. At present, OSGeo legal status is similar to other Open Source related organizations in India such as "Linux India" (http://www.linux-india.org/), "gnomebalgalore"(http://www.gnomebangalore.org/) or "KDE India" (http://in.kde.org/). Recently, "Free Software Foundation India" (FSF India) was registered as company and been granted the 80G status under Income Tax Act. India OSGeo Chapter is still a
nascent voluntary organization and will consider the modalities to
register as a legal body at some stage in the future. The India OSGeo Chapter will consult a certified tax cosultant when necessary to ensure compliance with the Indian tax laws.

== '''India OSGeo Chapter Officers''' ==

India OSGeo Representative 
Dr P.S.Roy 
Deputy Director (RS&GIS-AA) 
National Remote Sensing Agency 
(Deptartment of Space, Government of India) 
Balanagar, Hyderabad-500 037 
Telephone :+91-40-23884255
Fax: +91-40-23875932 
E-Mail: psr at nrsa dot gov dot in

India OSGeo Chapter Coordinator 
Dr. Yashodhan Joshi 
CEO Relatioware 
Pune, India 
yyj at relationware dot in 

India OSGeo Treasurer 
Dr K.S.Rajan 
Associate Professor 
International Institute of Information Technology 
Gachibowli, Hyderabad-500 032, India 
E-Mail: rajan at iiit dot ac dot in

OSGeo Software Development Committee 
Chairpersons 
(Prototyping, Localization, Proof of Concepts etc.) 
Prof. Jitendra Shah 
VJTI Mumbai, India 
jituviju at gmail dot com 

Dr. T.V. Ramachandra 
Indian Institute of Science 
Bangalore, India 
cestvr at ces dot iisc dot ernet dot in 

Regional Events Committee 
Chairpersons 
Mr. V. Ravi Kumar* 
Director 
Geodata Division,
Southern Region 
Geological Survey of India 
Bandalaguda,
Hyderabad 500068 
India 
ravivundavalli at yahoo dot com 
(*Ravi is involved in India OSGEO Chapter in a purely personal capacity) 

Mr. Neeraj Dixit 
Product Manager
Autodesk India Pvt. Ltd. 
Infrastructure Solutions Division (ISD) 
Neeraj dot Dixit at autodesk dot com 

Education and Training Committee 
Chairpersons 
Dr. N.J. Pawar 
Department of Geology,
Pune University 
Ganeshkhind Road 
Pune 411007, India 
njpawar at unipune dot ernet dot in

Dr. S.N. Prasad 
Sàlim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) 
Deccan Regional Station,
Secunderabad - 500 017, India 
wetlands at sancharnet dot in 

Advisors 

Dr. S.S. Thigale (spathigale at rediffmail dot com) 
Dr. Rajendra Jagdale (rajendra dot jagdale at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Vishwas S.Kale (vskale at unipune dot ernet dot in) 
Mr. Ashok Saraf (saraf dot ashok at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Venkatesh Raghavan (venkat at osgeo dot org) 
Dr. K S Rajan (rajan at iiit dot ac dot in) 
Mr. Kiran Chandra (kiranfsf at gmail dot com) 
Mr. Achuthan Mohan (achuthanmohan at gmail dot com) 
..Add more Advisors here

== '''Initial Membership''' ==

* Amol A. Sale
* Anand Akmanchi
* Ankur Mehrotra
* Gangavane
* Indrajit Patil
* Jayant Kirtane
* Kanhaiya K. Kale
* Mahalakshmi Narayanan
* Mahesh Jeevane
* Maneesh Prasad
* Mohan Patil
* N.R. Karmarkar
* Rahul Kaura
* Sajith
* Saroj Akiojam
* Shekhar Krishnan
* Swapnil K. Hajare
* Uttam Kumar
* B.N. Umrikar
* Vrishali Deosthali
* A.V.Satya Kumar
* Praveen Kumar Sinha
* Santosh Gaikwad
* C. Pattanaik
* [http://www.gndec.ac.in/~hsrai/ Hardeep Singh Rai]
* M.Surendranath
* N.Rajendran
* Srinivasan K
* Nageswaran B
* N.R.S.Reddy
* L.P.Singh
* S.Ramamurthy
* B.K. Sahu
* J.Simhachalam
* V.Hanumantha Rao
* S.Ananda Murty
* K.Seshayya
* N.Padmayya
* N.R.Ramesh
* U.S.N.Reddy
* R.M.Sundaram

Temporary mailing list - http://wgrass.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/mailman/listinfo/osgeo_discuss

== '''Meetings of India OSGeo Chapter ''' ==

* 4th Oct 2006, Hyderabad [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Talk:India Meeting Minutes]

* 24th Jan 2007, Hyderabad 
We are Happy to ANNOUNCE that we had a very successful OSGeo Workshop at Map World Forum 2007 today, and thank all the participants for the same. We are also very grateful to our Sponsors OSGeo.org and our Donors thru GNOME Foundation for the financial support in hosting this event. 
Later in the day, the first meeting of the newly constituted Executive Council (Board) of OSGeo-India was held. 
Details will be posted soon.

== '''Links''' ==
* India OSGeo Chapter - https://india.osgeo.org/
* National Remote Sensing Agency - http://www.nrsa.gov.in/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra (Hosting Courtsey : Media Center, Osaka City) - http://gisws.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/maha_map.dev/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.dev/
* Human Development Index (Jalna, Maharashtra)- http://www.indictrans.in/?q=projects/gis/ghdi
* Maharashtra Coverage - Neighbourhood Village - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.coverage/village_search_k.php
* GIS based Slum Information System (Korba Slum, Mumbai) - http://indictrans.in/demos/chameleon/samples/htdocs/korba.phtml
* Mumbai Free Map - http://mumbai.freemap.in/ | http://www.crit.org.in/projects/gis
* Bangalore Free Map - http://bangalore.freemap.in/
* Vasai Virar Subregion Freemap - http://vvsr.freemap.in/
* Tamil Nadu Maps Online - http://tnmaps.tn.nic.in/?info1.htm
* Tamil Nadu Census 2001 - http://www.census.tn.nic.in/
* Tamil Nadu Animal Disease Infformation - http://www.animaldiseaseinfo.tn.nic.in
* GRASS GIS mirror India - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grass/index.php
* GRDSS (GRASS GUI) - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grdss/index.php
* Free GIS India - http://freegis.gnu.org.in/
* ENVIS Wetland Ecosystems India - http://www.wetlandsofindia.org:8080/sacon/aboutus.jsp/
* GIS & Language Technology related Applications - http://indictrans.in/demos/GIS_Presentation_20061004.pdf

India

2007-01-14T16:16:39Z

Rajan: /* '''India OSGeo Chapter Officers''' */

'''India Chapter of OSGeo'''

== '''About India OSGeo Chapter''' ==

Geographical Information Systems were seen as very special and very complex domain in India. There is a lot of hype attached with it and with that obviously high cost. So far such systems were seen as something to be used for high level planning and complex scientific operations by large corporates and Govt research agencies or departments only. Also the older mapping policy of India prevented virtually anybody except governments to possess any map data. The picture is however changing fast.

With recent developments in the areas of right-to-information and National Map Policy (http://dst.gov.in/whats_new/press_releases05/cabinet-approves.htm), there is a sudden increased awareness towards GIS based information systems. National Urban Renewal Mission (http://pmindia.nic.in/lspeech.asp?id=235), a well funded initiative has made use of GIS in urban local bodies mandatory. A large portion of geodata will now be freely available.All goverement departments are now trying to find easier ways to manage, update and publish information for the public. There are also large number of NGOs and citizen organisation which are working in areas like ubran poverty, town planning, solid waste management,rural development, school education,environmental issues etc. and they have started understanding and appreciating the importance of community GIS systems.

However growth of GIS is hindered by highly priced proprietory softwares and unavailability of public geodata. Many of such licenced softwares remain unutilized in various government offices because they require either extensive training or easy availability on multiple locations. All this can be changed by the use of Free/Opensource software tools. There is hardly any proprietory GIS software that can show text in Unicode standard in maps . This is significant since all governmet data and most educational institutions work in local language media . FOSS GIS has already shown this solution. Thus, Free/Opensource Geospatial softwares which are much more powerful and usable can be used for developing systems where more and more public participation is sought.

The India OSGeo Chapter is formed to fulfill the mission
and objectives described in this document. India OSGeo Chapter will earnestly follow the Local Chapter Guidelines stipulated by OSGeo and cooperate closely with OSGeo Board in promoting the use and development of OSGeo projects in India. The India OSGeo Chapter will strive to serve anyone interested in Open Source Geospatial Solutions and related issues, and to cover all the activities associated with the application, development and promotion of Open Source Geospatial solutions in India.

=== Mission ===

* Promoting Free/Opensource GIS tools and publicly available Geodata
* Advocacy of and promoting Localized GIS
* Act as a bridge between various groups like Developers, Application Users, NGOs, Government departments
* mentor various FOSS GIS miniprojects by providing resources such as technical guidence, webspace etc.
=== Objectives ===

Development:
* follow up on indian language support in various free/opensource GIS tools like GRASS, MapServer etc.
* initiative for standardisation of publicly available geodata
* setting up WMS/WFS based geodata servers using publicly available geodata
* toolkit for localised GIS including with special focus on schools, governments , public causes such as child malnutririon, mass education.

POCs ('''P'''roof '''O'''f '''C'''oncept demos):
* free/opensource based GIS demos
* localized GIS (interface and maps)
* Collaborative platforms for participatory governance

Regional Events:
* Workshops and Training sessions for
** comp science students/teachers
** geology/geography/civil engineering students and teachers
** others
* Special Lectures
* Demonstrations

Communication:
* Networking Local Communities related to geo-issues
* Mailing Lists
* Wiki

=== Legal status ===

OSGeo India Chapter is, presently, a voluntary organization, and has not been registered as a legal body. At present, OSGeo legal status is similar to other Open Source related organizations in India such as "Linux India" (http://www.linux-india.org/), "gnomebalgalore"(http://www.gnomebangalore.org/) or "KDE India" (http://in.kde.org/). Recently, "Free Software Foundation India" (FSF India) was registered as company and been granted the 80G status under Income Tax Act. India OSGeo Chapter is still a
nascent voluntary organization and will consider the modalities to
register as a legal body at some stage in the future. The India OSGeo Chapter will consult a certified tax cosultant when necessary to ensure compliance with the Indian tax laws.

== '''India OSGeo Chapter Officers''' ==

India OSGeo Representative 
Dr P.S.Roy 
Deputy Director (RS&GIS-AA) 
National Remote Sensing Agency 
(Deptartment of Space, Government of India) 
Balanagar, Hyderabad-500 037 
Telephone :+91-40-23884255
Fax: +91-40-23875932 
E-Mail: psr at nrsa dot gov dot in

India OSGeo Chapter Coordinator 
Dr. Yashodhan Joshi 
CEO Relatioware 
Pune, India 
yyj at relationware dot in 

India OSGeo Treasurer 
Dr K.S.Rajan 
Associate Professor 
International Institute of Information Technology 
Gachibowli, Hyderabad-500 032, India 
E-Mail: rajan at iiit dot ac dot in

OSGeo Software Development Committee 
Chairpersons 
(Prototyping, Localization, Proof of Concepts etc.) 
Prof. Jitendra Shah 
VJTI Mumbai, India 
jituviju at gmail dot com 

Dr. T.V. Ramachandra 
Indian Institute of Science 
Bangalore, India 
cestvr at ces dot iisc dot ernet dot in 

Regional Events Committee 
Chairpersons 
Mr. V. Ravi Kumar* 
Director 
Geodata Division,
Southern Region 
Geological Survey of India 
Bandalaguda,
Hyderabad 500068 
India 
ravivundavalli at yahoo dot com 
(*Ravi is involved in India OSGEO Chapter in a purely personal capacity) 

Mr. Neeraj Dixit 
Product Manager
Autodesk India Pvt. Ltd. 
Infrastructure Solutions Division (ISD) 
Neeraj dot Dixit at autodesk dot com 

Education and Training Committee 
Chairpersons 
Dr. N.J. Pawar 
Department of Geology,
Pune University 
Ganeshkhind Road 
Pune 411007, India 
njpawar at unipune dot ernet dot in

Dr. S.N. Prasad 
Sàlim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) 
Deccan Regional Station,
Secunderabad - 500 017, India 
wetlands at sancharnet dot in 

Advisors 

Dr. S.S. Thigale (spathigale at rediffmail dot com) 
Dr. Rajendra Jagdale (rajendra dot jagdale at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Vishwas S.Kale (vskale at unipune dot ernet dot in) 
Mr. Ashok Saraf (saraf dot ashok at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Venkatesh Raghavan (venkat at osgeo dot org) 
Dr. K S Rajan (rajan at iiit dot ac dot in) 
Mr. Kiran Chandra (kiranfsf at gmail dot com) 
Mr. Achuthan Mohan (achuthanmohan at gmail dot com) 
..Add more Advisors here

== '''Initial Membership''' ==

* Amol A. Sale
* Anand Akmanchi
* Ankur Mehrotra
* Gangavane
* Indrajit Patil
* Jayant Kirtane
* Kanhaiya K. Kale
* Mahalakshmi Narayanan
* Mahesh Jeevane
* Maneesh Prasad
* Mohan Patil
* N.R. Karmarkar
* Rahul Kaura
* Sajith
* Saroj Akiojam
* Shekhar Krishnan
* Swapnil K. Hajare
* Uttam Kumar
* B.N. Umrikar
* Vrishali Deosthali
* A.V.Satya Kumar
* Praveen Kumar Sinha
* Santosh Gaikwad
* C. Pattanaik
* [http://www.gndec.ac.in/~hsrai/ Hardeep Singh Rai]
* M.Surendranath
* N.Rajendran
* Srinivasan K
* Nageswaran B
* N.R.S.Reddy
* L.P.Singh
* S.Ramamurthy
* B.K. Sahu
* J.Simhachalam
* V.Hanumantha Rao
* S.Ananda Murty
* K.Seshayya
* N.Padmayya
* N.R.Ramesh
* U.S.N.Reddy
* R.M.Sundaram

Temporary mailing list - http://wgrass.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/mailman/listinfo/osgeo_discuss

== '''Meetings of India OSGeo Chapter ''' ==

* 4th Oct 2006, Hyderabad [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Talk:India Meeting Minutes]

== '''Links''' ==
* India OSGeo Chapter - https://india.osgeo.org/
* National Remote Sensing Agency - http://www.nrsa.gov.in/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra (Hosting Courtsey : Media Center, Osaka City) - http://gisws.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/maha_map.dev/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.dev/
* Human Development Index (Jalna, Maharashtra)- http://www.indictrans.in/?q=projects/gis/ghdi
* Maharashtra Coverage - Neighbourhood Village - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.coverage/village_search_k.php
* GIS based Slum Information System (Korba Slum, Mumbai) - http://indictrans.in/demos/chameleon/samples/htdocs/korba.phtml
* Mumbai Free Map - http://mumbai.freemap.in/ | http://www.crit.org.in/projects/gis
* Bangalore Free Map - http://bangalore.freemap.in/
* Vasai Virar Subregion Freemap - http://vvsr.freemap.in/
* Tamil Nadu Maps Online - http://tnmaps.tn.nic.in/?info1.htm
* Tamil Nadu Census 2001 - http://www.census.tn.nic.in/
* Tamil Nadu Animal Disease Infformation - http://www.animaldiseaseinfo.tn.nic.in
* GRASS GIS mirror India - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grass/index.php
* GRDSS (GRASS GUI) - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grdss/index.php
* Free GIS India - http://freegis.gnu.org.in/
* ENVIS Wetland Ecosystems India - http://www.wetlandsofindia.org:8080/sacon/aboutus.jsp/
* GIS & Language Technology related Applications - http://indictrans.in/demos/GIS_Presentation_20061004.pdf

India

2007-01-14T16:15:43Z

Rajan: /* '''India OSGeo Chapter Officers''' */

'''India Chapter of OSGeo'''

== '''About India OSGeo Chapter''' ==

Geographical Information Systems were seen as very special and very complex domain in India. There is a lot of hype attached with it and with that obviously high cost. So far such systems were seen as something to be used for high level planning and complex scientific operations by large corporates and Govt research agencies or departments only. Also the older mapping policy of India prevented virtually anybody except governments to possess any map data. The picture is however changing fast.

With recent developments in the areas of right-to-information and National Map Policy (http://dst.gov.in/whats_new/press_releases05/cabinet-approves.htm), there is a sudden increased awareness towards GIS based information systems. National Urban Renewal Mission (http://pmindia.nic.in/lspeech.asp?id=235), a well funded initiative has made use of GIS in urban local bodies mandatory. A large portion of geodata will now be freely available.All goverement departments are now trying to find easier ways to manage, update and publish information for the public. There are also large number of NGOs and citizen organisation which are working in areas like ubran poverty, town planning, solid waste management,rural development, school education,environmental issues etc. and they have started understanding and appreciating the importance of community GIS systems.

However growth of GIS is hindered by highly priced proprietory softwares and unavailability of public geodata. Many of such licenced softwares remain unutilized in various government offices because they require either extensive training or easy availability on multiple locations. All this can be changed by the use of Free/Opensource software tools. There is hardly any proprietory GIS software that can show text in Unicode standard in maps . This is significant since all governmet data and most educational institutions work in local language media . FOSS GIS has already shown this solution. Thus, Free/Opensource Geospatial softwares which are much more powerful and usable can be used for developing systems where more and more public participation is sought.

The India OSGeo Chapter is formed to fulfill the mission
and objectives described in this document. India OSGeo Chapter will earnestly follow the Local Chapter Guidelines stipulated by OSGeo and cooperate closely with OSGeo Board in promoting the use and development of OSGeo projects in India. The India OSGeo Chapter will strive to serve anyone interested in Open Source Geospatial Solutions and related issues, and to cover all the activities associated with the application, development and promotion of Open Source Geospatial solutions in India.

=== Mission ===

* Promoting Free/Opensource GIS tools and publicly available Geodata
* Advocacy of and promoting Localized GIS
* Act as a bridge between various groups like Developers, Application Users, NGOs, Government departments
* mentor various FOSS GIS miniprojects by providing resources such as technical guidence, webspace etc.
=== Objectives ===

Development:
* follow up on indian language support in various free/opensource GIS tools like GRASS, MapServer etc.
* initiative for standardisation of publicly available geodata
* setting up WMS/WFS based geodata servers using publicly available geodata
* toolkit for localised GIS including with special focus on schools, governments , public causes such as child malnutririon, mass education.

POCs ('''P'''roof '''O'''f '''C'''oncept demos):
* free/opensource based GIS demos
* localized GIS (interface and maps)
* Collaborative platforms for participatory governance

Regional Events:
* Workshops and Training sessions for
** comp science students/teachers
** geology/geography/civil engineering students and teachers
** others
* Special Lectures
* Demonstrations

Communication:
* Networking Local Communities related to geo-issues
* Mailing Lists
* Wiki

=== Legal status ===

OSGeo India Chapter is, presently, a voluntary organization, and has not been registered as a legal body. At present, OSGeo legal status is similar to other Open Source related organizations in India such as "Linux India" (http://www.linux-india.org/), "gnomebalgalore"(http://www.gnomebangalore.org/) or "KDE India" (http://in.kde.org/). Recently, "Free Software Foundation India" (FSF India) was registered as company and been granted the 80G status under Income Tax Act. India OSGeo Chapter is still a
nascent voluntary organization and will consider the modalities to
register as a legal body at some stage in the future. The India OSGeo Chapter will consult a certified tax cosultant when necessary to ensure compliance with the Indian tax laws.

== '''India OSGeo Chapter Officers''' ==

India OSGeo Representative 
Dr P.S.Roy 
Deputy Director (RS&GIS-AA) 
National Remote Sensing Agency 
(Deptartment of Space, Government of India) 
Balanagar, Hyderabad-500 037 
Telephone :+91-40-23884255
Fax: +91-40-23875932 
E-Mail: psr at nrsa dot gov dot in

India OSGeo Chapter Coordinator 
Dr. Yashodhan Joshi 
CEO Relatioware 
Pune, India 
yyj at relationware dot in 

India OSGeo Treasurer 
Dr K.S.Rajan 
Associate Professor 
International Institute of Information Technology 
Gachibowli, Hyderabad-500 032, India 
Telephone :+91-40-23001967
Fax: +91-40-23001413 
E-Mail: rajan at iiit dot ac dot in

OSGeo Software Development Committee 
Chairpersons 
(Prototyping, Localization, Proof of Concepts etc.) 
Prof. Jitendra Shah 
VJTI Mumbai, India 
jituviju at gmail dot com 

Dr. T.V. Ramachandra 
Indian Institute of Science 
Bangalore, India 
cestvr at ces dot iisc dot ernet dot in 

Regional Events Committee 
Chairpersons 
Mr. V. Ravi Kumar* 
Director 
Geodata Division,
Southern Region 
Geological Survey of India 
Bandalaguda,
Hyderabad 500068 
India 
ravivundavalli at yahoo dot com 
(*Ravi is involved in India OSGEO Chapter in a purely personal capacity) 

Mr. Neeraj Dixit 
Product Manager
Autodesk India Pvt. Ltd. 
Infrastructure Solutions Division (ISD) 
Neeraj dot Dixit at autodesk dot com 

Education and Training Committee 
Chairpersons 
Dr. N.J. Pawar 
Department of Geology,
Pune University 
Ganeshkhind Road 
Pune 411007, India 
njpawar at unipune dot ernet dot in

Dr. S.N. Prasad 
Sàlim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) 
Deccan Regional Station,
Secunderabad - 500 017, India 
wetlands at sancharnet dot in 

Advisors 

Dr. S.S. Thigale (spathigale at rediffmail dot com) 
Dr. Rajendra Jagdale (rajendra dot jagdale at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Vishwas S.Kale (vskale at unipune dot ernet dot in) 
Mr. Ashok Saraf (saraf dot ashok at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Venkatesh Raghavan (venkat at osgeo dot org) 
Dr. K S Rajan (rajan at iiit dot ac dot in) 
Mr. Kiran Chandra (kiranfsf at gmail dot com) 
Mr. Achuthan Mohan (achuthanmohan at gmail dot com) 
..Add more Advisors here

== '''Initial Membership''' ==

* Amol A. Sale
* Anand Akmanchi
* Ankur Mehrotra
* Gangavane
* Indrajit Patil
* Jayant Kirtane
* Kanhaiya K. Kale
* Mahalakshmi Narayanan
* Mahesh Jeevane
* Maneesh Prasad
* Mohan Patil
* N.R. Karmarkar
* Rahul Kaura
* Sajith
* Saroj Akiojam
* Shekhar Krishnan
* Swapnil K. Hajare
* Uttam Kumar
* B.N. Umrikar
* Vrishali Deosthali
* A.V.Satya Kumar
* Praveen Kumar Sinha
* Santosh Gaikwad
* C. Pattanaik
* [http://www.gndec.ac.in/~hsrai/ Hardeep Singh Rai]
* M.Surendranath
* N.Rajendran
* Srinivasan K
* Nageswaran B
* N.R.S.Reddy
* L.P.Singh
* S.Ramamurthy
* B.K. Sahu
* J.Simhachalam
* V.Hanumantha Rao
* S.Ananda Murty
* K.Seshayya
* N.Padmayya
* N.R.Ramesh
* U.S.N.Reddy
* R.M.Sundaram

Temporary mailing list - http://wgrass.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/mailman/listinfo/osgeo_discuss

== '''Meetings of India OSGeo Chapter ''' ==

* 4th Oct 2006, Hyderabad [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Talk:India Meeting Minutes]

== '''Links''' ==
* India OSGeo Chapter - https://india.osgeo.org/
* National Remote Sensing Agency - http://www.nrsa.gov.in/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra (Hosting Courtsey : Media Center, Osaka City) - http://gisws.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/maha_map.dev/
* GIS based Village Information System - Maharashtra - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.dev/
* Human Development Index (Jalna, Maharashtra)- http://www.indictrans.in/?q=projects/gis/ghdi
* Maharashtra Coverage - Neighbourhood Village - http://indictrans.in/demos/maha_map.coverage/village_search_k.php
* GIS based Slum Information System (Korba Slum, Mumbai) - http://indictrans.in/demos/chameleon/samples/htdocs/korba.phtml
* Mumbai Free Map - http://mumbai.freemap.in/ | http://www.crit.org.in/projects/gis
* Bangalore Free Map - http://bangalore.freemap.in/
* Vasai Virar Subregion Freemap - http://vvsr.freemap.in/
* Tamil Nadu Maps Online - http://tnmaps.tn.nic.in/?info1.htm
* Tamil Nadu Census 2001 - http://www.census.tn.nic.in/
* Tamil Nadu Animal Disease Infformation - http://www.animaldiseaseinfo.tn.nic.in
* GRASS GIS mirror India - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grass/index.php
* GRDSS (GRASS GUI) - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grdss/index.php
* Free GIS India - http://freegis.gnu.org.in/
* ENVIS Wetland Ecosystems India - http://www.wetlandsofindia.org:8080/sacon/aboutus.jsp/
* GIS & Language Technology related Applications - http://indictrans.in/demos/GIS_Presentation_20061004.pdf

India

2006-10-17T07:38:40Z

Rajan: /* '''Meetings of India OSGeo Chapter ''' */

Talk:India

2006-10-17T07:35:28Z

Rajan: /* '''Meetings of India Chapter ''' */

== '''Meetings of India Chapter ''' ==

* 4th Oct 2006, Hyderabad 
Venue: NRSA, Hyderabad 
Duration: 11:00AM to 01:30 PM 
Participation:20 members (12 from NRSA) 

A tentative agenda was put up by Dr Rajan, OSGEO Advisor. The meeting was initiated with Ravi Kumar explaining the philosophy of OSGEO, and FOSS GIS, by running info on the projector. 
There was an open discussion on what the Chapter would like to work on in the months and years ahead. Here is a Summary of the discussions -
# Request to all those present to join the mailing list and become members of the OSGeo India Chapter and actively contribute in its activities.
# Can the chapter become a platform to promote sharing of the data between different Geodata users. One suggestion was to digitize widely available datasets like tourist maps etc and make it more widely available
# Better documentation of not just on the software usage but also its algorithms, to the extent possible. This will primarily help those who want to link up different components of the Open source towards building a operational system. This will help carry these tools from the developers domain to the users domain.
# There should be an emphasis on the Development of Tutorials or Training Kits for three different kinds of audiences/users -
## Basic installation, setup and fundamentals
## Education and Training purposes
## for linking with other tools of domain expertise or thematic models
# Some amount of standardization of formats and conversion tools
# In the Indian context, how can we make it more participatory GIS, so that a wealth of data can be generated from users and supplemented to the current base layers. Can some filters/tools be developed for such efforts
# Metadata listing through a kind of a survey of the members in India to draw up a matrix/table of FOSS4G tools/softwares (GRASS, Q-GIS, POSTGIS, GEOtools, etc etc) and the main areas of application - this will be kind of a starting point for anyone to lookup when he starts out or needs help with a certain procedure or thematic application.
# Efforts at development of tools that are more suited to the Indian conditions and needs. In the discussions about coding for possible customisation was touched upon by Dr Pandian. He also expressed the problems of different platforms, Ex: Java and other.
# Demonstrate in our own ways how OpenSource can help build grassroot level GIS applications and interfaces - this will help increase the interest of other stakeholders.
# Free Software Foundation of Andhra Pradesh has agreed to provide support at the developmental level and are now involved in making GRASS available in Telugu
# Funding - both direct and indirect (voluntary) sources need to be explored and encouraged, with the primary philosophy being that the development or application will be based on FOSS.
# Mapworld Forum - we set up a team of about 4/5 volunteers to coordinate the efforts to this, planning both the logistics and the content for the Booth + Workshop. Some ideas on what can be demonstrated was discussed, both in terms of various FOSS4G tools and its sample applications. NRSA has also agreed to provide some sample datasets for this activity. One suggestion was, if we can ask Sanjay@GISDevelopment for a Keynote Speaker on OSGeo, then can it be possible for having an Indian Speaker to give an overview of the efforts begin here. Neeraj said that since Autodesk is a GoldSponsor of MapWorld, GaryLang will be coming and he might be speaking on OSGeo - not confirmed as yet. Reg. funding from Autodesk India for the booth, there was no commitment as such - we plan to write a letter asking Autodesk and other organisations in India to support us. The consensus was on asking for a 24sq.m booth area, and have about 6systems to demonstrate the activities, including a LCD projector - the costs are being worked out.
# Setting up an India based server for the Chapter - Dr.Rajan and Dr.Roy will explore the possibilities at their respective institutions and will report by next meeting.
# Next meeting is planned in first half of November. The meeting may be preceded with a few hours of work on setting up demonstrable systems and checking the knowledge levels. 
We would like to get the feedback/suggestion/ideas from the members of the community to build on these initial thoughts. 

[http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/India Back to India Chapter Main Page]

India

2006-10-12T16:22:42Z

Rajan: /* '''Meetings of India Chapter ''' */

'''India Chapter of OSGeo'''

== '''About India OSGeo Chapter''' ==

Geographical Information Systems were seen as very special and very complex domain in India. There is a lot of hype attached with it and with that obviously high cost. So far such systems were seen as something to be used for high level planning and complex scientific operations by large corporates and Govt research agencies or departments only. Also the older mapping policy of India prevented virtually anybody except governments to possess any map data. The picture is however changing fast.

With recent developments in the areas of right-to-information and National Map Policy (http://dst.gov.in/whats_new/press_releases05/cabinet-approves.htm), there is a sudden increased awareness towards GIS based information systems. National Urban Renewal Mission (http://pmindia.nic.in/lspeech.asp?id=235), a well funded initiative has made use of GIS in urban local bodies mandatory. A large portion of geodata will now be freely available.All goverement departments are now trying to find easier ways to manage, update and publish information for the public. There are also large number of NGOs and citizen organisation which are working in areas like ubran poverty, town planning, solid waste management,rural development, school education,environmental issues etc. and they have started understanding and appreciating the importance of community GIS systems.

However growth of GIS is hindered by highly priced proprietory softwares and unavailability of public geodata. Many of such licenced softwares remain unutilized in various government offices because they require either extensive training or easy availability on multiple locations. All this can be changed by the use of Free/Opensource software tools. There is hardly any proprietory GIS software that can show text in Unicode standard in maps . This is significant since all governmet data and most educational institutions work in local language media . FOSS GIS has already shown this solution. Thus, Free/Opensource Geospatial softwares which are much more powerful and usable can be used for developing systems where more and more public participation is sought.

The India OSGeo Chapter is formed to fulfill the mission
and objectives described in this document. India OSGeo Chapter will earnestly follow the Local Chapter Guidelines stipulated by OSGeo and cooperate closely with OSGeo Board in promoting the use and development of OSGeo projects in India. The India OSGeo Chapter will strive to serve anyone interested in Open Source Geospatial Solutions and related issues, and to cover all the activities associated with the application, development and promotion of Open Source Geospatial solutions in India.

=== Mission ===

* Promoting Free/Opensource GIS tools and publicly available Geodata
* Advocacy of and promoting Localized GIS
* Act as a bridge between various groups like Developers, Application Users, NGOs, Government departments
* mentor various FOSS GIS miniprojects by providing resources such as technical guidence, webspace etc.
=== Objectives ===

Development:
* follow up on indian language support in various free/opensource GIS tools like GRASS, MapServer etc.
* initiative for standardisation of publicly available geodata
* setting up WMS/WFS based geodata servers using publicly available geodata
* toolkit for localised GIS including with special focus on schools, governments , public causes such as child malnutririon, mass education.

POCs ('''P'''roof '''O'''f '''C'''oncept demos):
* free/opensource based GIS demos
* localized GIS (interface and maps)
* Collaborative platforms for participatory governance

Regional Events:
* Workshops and Training sessions for
** comp science students/teachers
** geology/geography/civil engineering students and teachers
** others
* Special Lectures
* Demonstrations

Communication:
* Networking Local Communities related to geo-issues
* Mailing Lists
* Wiki

=== Legal status ===

(to be added)

== '''India OSGeo Chapter Officers''' ==

India OSGeo Representative 
Dr P.S.Roy 
Deputy Director (RS&GIS-AA) 
National Remote Sensing Agency 
(Deptartment of Space, Government of India) 
Balanagar, Hyderabad-500 037 
Telephone :+91-40-23884255
Fax: +91-40-23875932 
E-Mail: psr at nrsa dot gov dot in

India OSGeo Chapter Coordinator 
Dr. Yashodhan Joshi 
CEO Relatioware 
Pune, India 
yyj at relationware dot in 

OSGeo Software Development Committee 
Chairpersons 
(Prototyping, Localization, Proof of Concepts etc.) 
Dr. Jitendra Shah 
VJTI Mumbai, India 
jituviju at gmail dot com 

Dr. T.V. Ramachandra 
Indian Institute of Science 
Bangalore, India 
cestvr at ces dot iisc dot ernet dot in 

Regional Events Committee 
Chairpersons 
Mr. V. Ravi Kumar* 
Director 
Geodata Division,
Southern Region 
Geological Survey of India 
Bandalaguda,
Hyderabad 500068 
India 
ravivundavalli at yahoo dot com 
(*Ravi is involved in India OSGEO Chapter in a purely personal capacity) 

Mr. Neeraj Dixit 
Product Manager
Autodesk India Pvt. Ltd. 
Infrastructure Solutions Division (ISD) 
Neeraj dot Dixit at autodesk dot com 

Education and Training Committee 
Chairpersons 
Dr. N.J. Pawar 
Department of Geology,
Pune University 
Ganeshkhind Road 
Pune 411007, India 
njpawar at unipune dot ernet dot in

Dr. S.N. Prasad 
Sàlim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) 
Deccan Regional Station,
Secunderabad - 500 017, India 
wetlands at sancharnet dot in 

Advisors 

Dr. S.S. Thigale (spathigale at rediffmail dot com) 
Dr. Rajendra Jagdale (rajendra dot jagdale at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Vishwas S.Kale (vskale at unipune dot ernet dot in) 
Mr. Ashok Saraf (saraf dot ashok at gmail dot com) 
Dr. Venkatesh Raghavan (venkat at osgeo dot org) 
Dr. K S Rajan (rajan at iiit dot ac dot in) 
Mr. Kiran Chandra (kiranfsf at gmail dot com) 
..Add more Advisors here

== '''Initial Membership''' ==

* Achuthan Mohan
* Amol A. Sale
* Anand Akmanchi
* Ankur Mehrotra
* Gangavane
* Indrajit Patil
* Jayant Kirtane
* Kanhaiya Kale
* Mahalakshmi Narayanan
* Mahesh Jeevane
* Maneesh Prasad
* Mohan Patil
* N.R. Karmarkar
* Rahul Kaura
* Sajith
* Saroj Akiojam
* Shekhar Krishnan
* Swapnil K. Hajare
* Uttam Kumar
* B.N. Umrikar
* Vrishali Deosthali
* A.V.Satya Kumar
* Praveen Kumar Sinha
* Santosh Gaikwad
* C. Pattanaik
* [http://www.gndec.ac.in/~hsrai/ Hardeep Singh Rai]
* M.Surendranath
* N.Rajendran
* Srinivasan K
* Add your name here

Temporary mailing list - http://wgrass.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/mailman/listinfo/osgeo_discuss

== '''Meetings of India Chapter ''' ==

* 4th Oct 2006, Hyderabad 
Venue: NRSA, Hyderabad 
Duration: 11:00AM to 01:30 PM 
Participation:20 members (12 from NRSA) 

A tentative agenda was put up by Dr Rajan, OSGEO Advisor. The meeting was initiated with Ravi Kumar explaining the philosophy of OSGEO, and FOSS GIS, by running info on the projector. 
There was an open discussion on what the Chapter would like to work on in the months and years ahead. Here is a Summary of the discussions -
# Request to all those present to join the mailing list and become members of the OSGeo India Chapter and actively contribute in its activities.
# Can the chapter become a platform to promote sharing of the data between different Geodata users. One suggestion was to digitize widely available datasets like tourist maps etc and make it more widely available
# Better documentation of not just on the software usage but also its algorithms, to the extent possible. This will primarily help those who want to link up different components of the Open source towards building a operational system. This will help carry these tools from the developers domain to the users domain.
# There should be an emphasis on the Development of Tutorials or Training Kits for three different kinds of audiences/users -
## Basic installation, setup and fundamentals
## Education and Training purposes
## for linking with other tools of domain expertise or thematic models
# Some amount of standardization of formats and conversion tools
# In the Indian context, how can we make it more participatory GIS, so that a wealth of data can be generated from users and supplemented to the current base layers. Can some filters/tools be developed for such efforts
# Metadata listing through a kind of a survey of the members in India to draw up a matrix/table of FOSS4G tools/softwares (GRASS, Q-GIS, POSTGIS, GEOtools, etc etc) and the main areas of application - this will be kind of a starting point for anyone to lookup when he starts out or needs help with a certain procedure or thematic application.
# Efforts at development of tools that are more suited to the Indian conditions and needs. In the discussions about coding for possible customisation was touched upon by Dr Pandian. He also expressed the problems of different platforms, Ex: Java and other.
# Demonstrate in our own ways how OpenSource can help build grassroot level GIS applications and interfaces - this will help increase the interest of other stakeholders.
# Free Software Foundation of Andhra Pradesh has agreed to provide support at the developmental level and are now involved in making GRASS available in Telugu
# Funding - both direct and indirect (voluntary) sources need to be explored and encouraged, with the primary philosophy being that the development or application will be based on FOSS.
# Mapworld Forum - we set up a team of about 4/5 volunteers to coordinate the efforts to this, planning both the logistics and the content for the Booth + Workshop. Some ideas on what can be demonstrated was discussed, both in terms of various FOSS4G tools and its sample applications. NRSA has also agreed to provide some sample datasets for this activity. One suggestion was, if we can ask Sanjay@GISDevelopment for a Keynote Speaker on OSGeo, then can it be possible for having an Indian Speaker to give an overview of the efforts begin here. Neeraj said that since Autodesk is a GoldSponsor of MapWorld, GaryLang will be coming and he might be speaking on OSGeo - not confirmed as yet. Reg. funding from Autodesk India for the booth, there was no commitment as such - we plan to write a letter asking Autodesk and other organisations in India to support us. The consensus was on asking for a 24sq.m booth area, and have about 6systems to demonstrate the activities, including a LCD projector - the costs are being worked out.
# Setting up an India based server for the Chapter - Dr.Rajan and Dr.Roy will explore the possibilities at their respective institutions and will report by next meeting.
# Next meeting is planned in first half of November. The meeting may be preceded with a few hours of work on setting up demonstrable systems and checking the knowledge levels. 
We would like to get the feedback/suggestion/ideas from the members of the community to build on these initial thoughts. 
Thanks.

== '''Links''' ==
* India OSGeo Chapter - https://india.osgeo.org/
* National Remote Sensing Agency - http://www.nrsa.gov.in/
* Mumbai Free Map - http://mumbai.freemap.in/ | http://www.crit.org.in/projects/gis
* Bangalore Free Map - http://bangalore.freemap.in/
* Vasai Virar Subregion Freemap - http://vvsr.freemap.in/
* Tamil Nadu Maps Online - http://tnmaps.tn.nic.in/?info1.htm
* Tamil Nadu Census 2001 - http://www.census.tn.nic.in/
* Tamil Nadu Animal Disease Infformation - http://www.animaldiseaseinfo.tn.nic.in
* GRASS GIS mirror India - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grass/index.php
* GRDSS (GRASS GUI) - http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grdss/index.php
* Free GIS India - http://freegis.gnu.org.in/
* ENVIS Wetland Ecosystems India - http://www.wetlandsofindia.org:8080/sacon/aboutus.jsp/
* GIS & Language Technology related Applications - http://indictrans.in/demos/GIS_Presentation_20061004.pdf

India

2006-10-11T06:55:23Z

Rajan: /* '''Meetings of India Chapter''' */

India

2006-10-10T08:03:35Z

Rajan: