OSGeo - User contributions [en]

LIDAR Format Letter

2015-04-22T02:46:16Z

Wiki-Bdiscoe: /* Signed */ Ben Discoe

=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], Researcher and software developer, 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
# Pericles Nacionales, RS/GIS Specialist and OSGeo Charter member.
# Vasile Crăciunescu, Researcher at Romanian National Meteorological Administration and OSGeo Board member.
# [http://geo.tuwien.ac.at/staff/andreas-roncat/ Andreas Roncat] PostDoc Researcher, Research Groups Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, [http://www.geo.tuwien.ac.at/ Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation], Vienna University of Technology, Austria. In full agreement with [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Maximdubinin Maxim Dubinin]: Another 'standard' proprietary format? No, thank you.
# [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:remanuele Rob Emanuele], Software Developer, Azavea Inc.
# Codrina Ilie, Researcher at the Groundwater Engineering Research Center, Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest and OSGeo Charter Member
# [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Djay Gérald Fenoy], Software Developer, OSGeo Charter Member.
# [http://www.aston.ac.uk/eas/staff/a-z/dr-lucy-bastin/ Lucy Bastin], Software Developer at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission / Computer Science lecturer, UncertML developer, Member of OGC SWG on User Feedback.
# Matt Wilkie, Geomatics Analyst at [http://www.gov.yk.ca/ Yukon Government], [http://www.env.gov.yk.ca/geomatics Department of Environment]. A practising GIS Professional for 20+ years. Throughout that time, the process of manipulating data into, through and out of proprietary formats has been the most aggravating source of inefficiency and wasted time. Things are hard enough without adding unnecessary barriers.
# [[User:Annakrat|Anna Petrasova]], OSGeo Charter Member, GRASS GIS developer
# [https://www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-seibel-gisp/45/517/942 Mark Seibel], Geospatial Hacker. Long live open Geo data & software.
# Ben Discoe, [http://vterrain.org/ Virtual Terrain Project] and [http://www.leica-geosystems.us/en/HDS-Laser-Scanners-SW_5570.htm Leica Geosystems HDS], I wrangle point clouds every day. Semi-open E57 is bad enough. No more closed formats!

=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 Refuting ESRI's response and claim to be good Open Standards citizens]

News coverage:
# [http://www.itnews.com.au/News/402914,open-source-devs-in-uproar-over-esri-las-lock-in-plans.aspx IT News]
# [http://news.slashdot.org/story/15/04/21/1624219/osgeo-foundation-up-in-arms-over-esri-las-lock-in-plans Slashdot]
# [http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/LIDAR-offenes-Dateiformat-LAS-in-Bedraengnis-2609710.html Heise Online] - German speaking IT news.
# [http://www.spatialsource.com.au/2015/04/21/os-developers-concerned-over-new-esri-lidar-format/ Spatial Source]

=References=

<references />

Virtual Terrain Project

2013-02-05T03:31:24Z

Wiki-Bdiscoe: fill in details

== Basic Project Data ==
*'''Project Name:''' VTP
*'''Project Status Condition:''' Active
*'''Project Web Site:''' http://vterrain.org/
*'''Project Contact:''' ben@vterrain.org
*'''Short Project Description:''' Realtime 3D visualization of geodata

== Project Infrastructure ==
*'''Project Source Code:''' http://code.google.com/p/vtp/source/
*'''Project Mailing List:''' http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vtp/
*'''Project Version Control Repository:''' http://code.google.com/p/vtp/source/browse/
*'''Project Bug Tracker:'''
*'''Project Feature Request Tracker:'''

== Project Governance ==
*'''Source Code License:''' MIT/X License
*'''Documentation License:'''
*'''Copyright Assignment Policy:'''
*'''Decision Making Procedure:'''
*'''Coding Standards:'''
*'''Release Procedure:'''

== Project Deliverables ==
*'''Latest Project Release:''' 1.49 (2012.02.02)

[[Category: OSGeo Labs]]

Live GIS Disc Packages

2013-01-29T19:32:41Z

Wiki-Bdiscoe: /* Package wishlist */

==Packages status==

The list of Live GIS packages is now in a [http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Al9zh8DjmU_RdGIzd0VLLTBpQVJuNVlHMlBWSDhKLXc&hl=en_GB Google doc spreadsheet]

== Package wishlist ==
(for the next version; ''please volunteer to write an install script and overview/quickstart documentation!'')

; OGC's CITE Team Engine
: http://sourceforge.net/projects/teamengine/
: The OGC's Conformance and Testing Engine for web services.
: Contact: Luis Bermudez

; VTP
: http://vterrain.org/
: A set of libraries and apps for site-level terrain visualization.
: Contact: Ben Discoe

;Starspan (Java)
: http://starspan.projects.atlas.ca.gov/doku/doku.php
: Contact: Jonathan Greenberg?'
: concerns: is the project established yet?

;NASA World Wind: (Java; maybe too toolkitish and not enough of an end user app?)
: http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov
: concerns: [http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.gis.osgeo.livedemo/1698] [http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.gis.osgeo.livedemo/1695]

;XCSoar
: http://www.xcsoar.org
:* [http://www.xcsoar.org/trac/wiki/Features Tactical Glider navigation software for a handheld PDA]
:* ''Awaiting native linux release'''
: Contact: Scott Penrose

;qlandkartegt
: http://www.qlandkarte.org
: supports GPS maps in GeoTiff format as well as Garmin's img vector map format. Aims to be a great geodata viewer like QGIS, but without all the expert tools.
:* ''Already an Ubuntu 10.04 package''
: Contact: ?

; Opticks
: http://opticks.org/
: Opticks is a remote sensing and imagery analysis software platform
: [http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/ticket/666 applied for OSGeo incubation]
: Contact: Dustan Adkins

; THREDDS
: [http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/projects/THREDDS/ THREDDS]
: for cataloging netCDF data
: Contact: Ethan Davis

; ncWMS
: [http://www.resc.rdg.ac.uk/trac/ncWMS/ ncWMS]
: for serving netCDF as a WMS
: Contact: Jon Blower

; Leaflet
: A Modern, Lightweight Open-Source JavaScript Library for Interactive Maps by CloudMade
: http://leaflet.cloudmade.com/
: Contact: Vladimir Agafonkin

; GeoTrellis
: An open source geographic data processing engine for high performance applications.
: http://www.azavea.com/products/geotrellis

; Tilemill
: Tile building designer
: Contact: Dane Springmeyer

; FDO
: http://fdo.osgeo.org/
: Feature Data Object (FDO) is an OSGeo graduated library.
: Contact: ?

; Localwiki
: a local place based wiki software.
: http://www.localwiki.org
: Contact: Philip Neustrom

; Geodjango
: a python framework for building geo websites, it's what localwiki is built on. Maybe we can copy the existing tutorial which in RST.
: '''''note''' that geodjango is part of python-django package now, in django/contrib/gis''
: ''python-django-doc package supplies /usr/share/doc/python-django-doc/html/ref/contrib/gis''
: http://geodjango.org/
: Contact: Justin Bronn

; GeoNode
: http://geonode.org/
: A packaged stack of PostGIS/GeoServer/GeoNetwork. It's primary goal is to let users upload data sets, fill out minimal metadata, then allow it all to be remixed in web maps and shared out viaWMS, WFS, Tiles, etc.
: As of May 2012, requires a custom GeoServer
: Contact: Ariel Nunez

; EasySDI
: http://www.easysdi.org/
: EasySDI is a simple and ready-to-use solution to deploy a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) based on ISO/OGC standards. The solution is particularly designed for setting up discovery, view and download services in a securized environement with rights management and multilingual support.
: Contact: Xavier Merour

; GisClient
: http://www.gisclient.org
: web authoring tool configurator for GIS projects, based on Mapserver/OpenLayers. Applied for OSGeo incubation, http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/ticket/910
: Contact: Roberto Starnini

; i3Geo
: https://gvsig.org/web/projects/i3Geo
: i3Geo is a Web Based Geoportal with Geoprocessing, Analisys, Consult and Editing Tools that allows: the creation of interactive maps on the Web, the dissemination of data through OGC services, connect to social networks and download of data. i3Geo organizes data in a catalog of themes. The administrator can allow themes can be provided as a OGC service or for be download. Uses MapServer to provide OGC Services and OpenLayers Libraries for connect maps services. Stable from 2.006, now have more than 9.000 users registred and is part of Software Publico Brasil, official repository of the Brazil Federal Government
: Contact: Valenty Gonzalez

; Cartaro GIS CMS
: Geospatial CMS based upon Drupal, PostGIS, GeoServer, GeoWebCache and OpenLayers.
: http://cartaro.org/overview
: Contact: Patric Hafner

; OpenGeoPortal
: Working to develop an open source, federated web application to discover, preview, and retrieve geospatial data.
: http://opengeoportal.org/
: Contact: Patrick Florance

; MapIgniter
: Geospatial Content Management System based upon Postgis, MapServer and OpenLayers.
: http://mapigniter.com/wiki/
: Contact: Marco Afonso

=== Current OSGeo-Live Web Portals ===
; GeoMOOSE
: A browser based mapping framework for displaying distributed cartographic data. It is particularly useful for managing spatial and non-spatial data within county, city and municipal offices (from which GeoMoose originated).
: http://live.osgeo.org/en/overview/geomoose_overview.html
: Contact: Bob Basques

; GeoMajas
: Geomajas is an extensible web mapping framework which seamlessly integrates powerful server side algorithms into the web browser.
: http://live.osgeo.org/en/overview/geomajas_overview.html
: Contact: Pieter De Graef

; MapBender
: Web based geoportal framework to publish, register, view, navigate, monitor and grant secure access to spatial data infrastructure services.
: http://live.osgeo.org/en/overview/mapbender_overview.html
: Contact: Astrid Emde

[[Category: Software Stack]]
[[Category: Live-demo]]

User:Bdiscoe

2007-08-21T00:58:09Z

Wiki-Bdiscoe:

== Ben Discoe ==
Manager / Lead Developer / Benevolent Dictator,
the [http://vterrain.org Virtual Terrain Project]

=== VTP statistics: ===
* Active since: 2001
* Open-source library dependencies: >15
* Registered recipients: 6625 in 135 countries.
* Mailing list: 634
* Bus number: 1

''Likely candidate for OSGeo incubation''

User:Bdiscoe

2007-08-21T00:54:57Z

Wiki-Bdiscoe:

Ben Discoe
Manager / Lead Developer / Benevolent Dictator, the [http://vterrain.org Virtual Terrain Project]

VTP stats:
Active since: 2001
Open-source library dependencies: >15
Registered recipients: 6625 in 135 countries.
Mailing list: 634
Bus number: 1

FOSS4G2007 Information for Instructors

2007-08-20T23:54:16Z

Wiki-Bdiscoe: added L04

Back to [[FOSS4G2007]]...

= Introduction =
This page provides Information for the Instructors of the [http://www.foss4g2007.org/workshops/ Workshops] and [http://www.foss4g2007.org/labs/ Labs] at the [http://www.foss4g2007.org/ FOSS4G2007 conference] in Victoria, BC, Canada (September 24-27, 2007).

= Deadlines =
More information about all of these deadlines and tasks is available on this page.
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"
! Deadline
! Task
|-
|August 24
|update software list to indicate required software
|-
|August 24
|provide notes re software install/config
|-
|August 27
|upload of data to FTP server
|-
|August 31
|provide image of LiveCD/DVD for testing
|-
|August 31
|provide Virtual Machine
|-
|September 7
|upload of materials for printing
|-
|}

== Status ==
This section will be updated for each significant change to the content of this page.
* 2007/08/20
** move Workshop and Lab sections to a new page
* 2007/08/13
** Classroom PCs Configuration
*** Hardware - Nanaimo PCs
**** add onboard video info
*** Network
**** update information
*** Application and Utility Software
**** update information
* 2007/08/09
** FOSS4G 2007 FTP server
*** add information about the FTP server
** Data
*** confirm '''deadline'''
*** update, including note about Canadian Geodata
** Classroom PCs Configuration
*** Operating System
**** confirm '''deadline''' for testing of LiveCD/DVD
**** confirm '''deadline''' for providing Virtual Machine
*** Application and Utility Software
**** add '''deadlines''', and update information
* 2007/08/07
** Classroom Materials
*** specify formats for documents containing materials to be printed
** Data
*** add clarification about students creating/downloading data
** Classroom PCs Configuration
*** Application and Utility Software
**** revise information, in preparation for updates by Instructors
* 2007/08/03 Update #2
** Workshop Classroom Details
*** reflect increase in room capacity for Saanich
* 2007/08/03
** Classroom PCs Configuration
*** add more details
** LiveCD/DVD
*** '''tentative deadline''' added for testing
* 2007/08/02 Update #2
** Data
*** '''tentative deadline''' added
** Workshop Classroom Details
*** update Workshop room allocations
** Lab Dates, Times, and Rooms
*** add Lab room allocations and time slots
* 2007/08/02 Update #1
** Pre-Conference communication
*** clarify how to communicate with the Workshop Committee
** Classroom PCs Configuration - Network
*** update the information, including '''deadline'''
** Classroom PCs Configuration - Operating System
*** update the information
*** '''deadline''' for providing request to use LiveDVD or Virtual Machine
** Classroom PCs Configuration - Application and Utility Software
*** update the information, including clarification about not installing software
** Classroom PCs Configuration - Other
*** update the information
** Workshop Classroom Access
*** update the information
** Lab Classroom Access
*** update the information
* 2007/08/01
** Classroom Materials
*** '''deadline''' for submitting printed materials for copying
*** more information about non-printed materials
** Workshop number of attendees
*** update/clarify the information
** Workshop Classroom Details
*** add room names and sizes, and Workshop room allocations
** Lab number of attendees
*** update/clarify the information
** Lab Classroom Details
*** add room names and sizes
* 2007/07/23 Initial version of page

= General Information =

== Pre-Conference communication ==
'''All Instructors are expected to join the [http://lists.refractions.net/mailman/listinfo/foss4g2007-workshops FOSS4G2007-Workshops] mailing list.'''

For Workshops or Labs with multiple Instructors, all the Instructors should join the mailing list, even if one of the Instructors is handling all the pre-conference organizing for the group.

If you are an Instructor, and have any questions that are not answered by this page, please send an email to the [http://lists.refractions.net/mailman/listinfo/foss4g2007-workshops FOSS4G2007-Workshops] mailing list.

If you need to communicate with the FOSS4G 2007 Workshop Committee, please send an email to the [http://lists.refractions.net/mailman/listinfo/foss4g2007-workshops FOSS4G2007-Workshops] mailing list.

As this page gets updated, periodic reminders may be sent to the [http://lists.refractions.net/mailman/listinfo/foss4g2007-workshops FOSS4G2007-Workshops] mailing list.

== Communication during the conference ==
The package you receive when you arrive at the conference will contain information explaining who to contact, and how, if you have any questions or need any assistance during the conference.

== FOSS4G 2007 FTP server ==
Workshop/Lab Instructors who need to provide files to the Workshop Committee prior to the conference may do so via the use of the FOSS4G 2007 FTP server.

You will need to use the FTP server if:
* you want the conference organizers to print Classroom Material for you
* you want to provide data that will be used for your Workshop/Lab
* you want to provide an image of a LiveCD/DVD for testing
* you want to use a Virtual Machine for your Workshop/Lab
* you want to provide information about Application and Utility software installation/configuration

All Instructors have been sent an email with the information about how to connect to the FTP server.

# Classroom Material for printing
#* Upload your Microsoft Word document, Open Office document, or PDF document to the ''/printing/'' folder for your Workshop/Lab.
# Data
#* Upload your data files to the ''/data/'' folder for your Workshop/Lab.
#* If no README file is supplied, the files will be loaded onto the classroom PCs under the ''C:\FOSS4G07\'' folder for your Workshop/Lab. For example, for Lab-01, if you upload a file ''/Lab-01/data/lab1files.zip'' it will end up as ''C:\FOSS4G07\Lab-01\lab1files.zip''
#* If you need your files loaded onto the PCs with a specific directory structure, use that directory structure for the files you upload to the FTP server
#* If your data files need anything done to them other than being placed onto the classroom PCs, include a plain text README file in your ''/data/'' folder with specific instructions as to what needs to be done. For example, if you have provided a ZIP file containing a dump of database tables, we will load that data into your own database instance, provided you supply us with a README file containing the required database information, such as the database name, login ID, etc.
# LiveCD/DVD image
#* If you want us to test your LiveCD/DVD, upload an image of it to the ''/software/'' folder for your Workshop/Lab.
#* If no README file is supplied, the testing will consist of burning the image to a CD/DVD, and booting that CD/DVD in one of the classroom PCs.
#* If you would like any additional testing done, include a plain text README file in your ''/software/'' folder with specific instructions as to what needs to be done.
# Virtual Machine
#* If you are going to use a Virtual Machine, upload it to the ''/software/'' folder for your Workshop/Lab.
#* If no README file is supplied, the testing of your Virtual Machine will consist of loading the Virtual Machine in VMWare Player on one of the classroom PCs, and booting it.
#* If you would like any additional testing done, include a plain text README file in your ''/software/'' folder with specific instructions as to what needs to be done.
# Application and Utility Software
#* If you are suppling information about software installation and/or configuration, upload a plain text README file in your ''/software/'' folder with specific instructions as to what needs to be done.
#* Use a separate file for each piece of software.
#* Include the name of the software as part of the README file name. For example, if your Workshop/Lab uses FileZilla, and you would like a specific FTP server added to it's configuration once installed, you would create a file called README-FileZilla, add to it information on the hostname, port, server type, logon information, etc., and then upload that file. If you also had some requirements for how FileZilla is installed, you would add them to the same file.

== Classroom Materials ==
Materials are things that you may need to hand out in your Workshop or Lab, such as printed handouts, workbooks, quizzes, CDROM, etc. We ask that you do not hand out business cards, however, attendees are free to ask you for your business card.
# Bringing your own materials
#* you may bring your own materials to hand out in your Workshop/Lab
#* you may bring those materials to the Registration desk when you arrive at the conference, and we will store them and deliver them to your classroom for your Workshop or Lab
# Having your materials delivered prior to the conference
#* you may arrange to have your materials delivered to Victoria ahead of your arrival
#* the preferred method would be for you to make such arrangements yourself (e.g. have the materials delivered to your hotel)
#* we can put you in touch with a company that the conference is using, who can assist you with making shipping arrangements
# Having your printed materials printed by the conference organizers
#* '''DEADLINE:''' September 7, 2007
#* the conference committee will provide the option of printing your printed Workshop/Lab materials
#* printed materials need to be formated for printing on 8.5"x11" paper
#* printed materials must be supplied using one of the following formats: Microsoft Word document, Open Office document, PDF document
#* information about how to get the materials to the conference organizers will be available in the near future
# Non-printed materials
#* the conference organizers will not be providing services such as CDROM duplication
#* if you need something such as a copy of a LiveCD/DVD for each PC in your classroom:
#** you can bring those copies with you
#** as indicated above, you can ship them ahead of time
#** you can make the copies once you arrive in Victoria, however, you will be 'on your own' as far as getting this done. The conference organizers are not providing media, or PCs for duplication use(conference PCs may have only CDROM/DVDROM drives). You can purchase media at local stores, and use your own equipment to do the duplication.

== Data ==
'''Instructors will not be able to load data for their Workshops/Labs onto the classroom PCs during the conference'''.

Attendees in the Workshops/Labs will be able to create and download files during their Workshop/Lab. See the ''Classroom PCs Configuration, Other'' section for more information.

If you have any data that you will need for your Workshop/Lab, you must provide it to the conference organizers prior to the conference. You provide your data by uploading it to the FOSS4G 2007 FTP server. See the ''FOSS4G 2007 FTP server'' section for more information.

'''DEADLINE:''' the deadline for providing your data is Monday August 27, 2007.

We had previously told you that there would be a server at the conference that would be hosting some Canadian Geodata, and that you would have access to that server for use in your Workshops/Labs. Unfortunately, while the server will still be used for the Integration Showcase, access for Workshops/Labs will not be possible, due to performance concerns.

If you need to have some data available on the PCs for your Workshop/Lab (regardless of whether it is Canadian data or from some other sources) here is what you need to do:
# Acquire the data
#* If you want to use some of the Canadian Geodata, the [[Canadian_Geodata|Canadian Geodata]] wiki page has links you can use to download the free Canadian data
# Process the data
#* If needed, "massage" the data as needed for your Workshop/Lab. For example, if you have a raster image, and for use with Mapserver it needs to be tiled, you will need to do that yourself.
# Package the data
#* Gather together the data into a format, or formats, that you can use to share the data with the Workshop Committee. For example, export database tables, combine files together into ZIP files or tarballs, etc.
# Upload the data
#* Using SFTP, upload your data to our FTP server. See the ''FOSS4G 2007 FTP server'' section for more information.

== Classroom PCs Configuration ==
The hardware configurations shown below are subject to change.
=== Hardware - Rental PCs ===
* these PCs will be used for Workshops in the Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Saanich, Sidney, and View Royal rooms
* these PCs will be used for Labs in the Esquimalt room
* all PCs will be substantially the same, with slight variations in the hardware
* a typical PC will have:
** P4/2.8GHZ CPU
** 768 or 1024MB RAM
** 40GB Hard Drive
** CDROM Drive
** 3.5" Floppy Drive
** Onboard Video
** 10/100 Network connection
** 17" LCD Monitor
** Standard Windows keyboard
** Mouse (possibly with scroll wheel)
=== Hardware - Nanaimo PCs ===
* these PCs will be used for Workshops and Labs, and will be in the Colwood room
* PCs will be DELL Optiplex 745 Desktop:
** Core2Duo 6300 CPU
** 2GB RAM
** 80GB SATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive
** DVD Drive
** No Floppy Drive
** Onboard Video
*** Intel GMA 3000
*** Q965/Q963 Express Chipset Family
*** tested with Google Earth in OpenGL mode
*** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_GMA#Table_of_GMA_graphics_cores_and_chipsets Table of GMA graphics cores and chipsets]
** 10/100 Network connection
** 19" LCD Monitor
** Standard Windows keyboard
** Mouse with scroll wheel

=== Network ===
* All classroom PCs will be connected to the conference LAN
* Although the Conference Center will have WiFi access to the conference LAN, it is expected that classroom attendees will use the classroom PCs for the Workshops and Labs, not their own Laptops
* Classroom PCs will have access to the Internet.
** Login via a Web Browser to a gateway server is required to activate Internet access for each PC.
** There is no 'session timeout', but login to the gateway server has to be done each day.
** There is no proxy server.
** NAT is used for Internet access.
* Some Instructors who make use of Internet-based resources for their Workshop/Lab may want to provide their own 'backup server'(e.g. a notebook) to be connected to the conference LAN. '''DEADLINE:''' If you want to do this, you must let the the Workshop Committee know by August 6, 2007

=== Software ===
The majority of the PCs used for the classrooms are being rented, with the rest being on loan from the City of Nanaimo. The PCs will be prepared by installing and configuring various software onto a small number of 'master PCs'. Those 'master PCs' will then be "cloned" to create the full complement of classroom PCs. The timetable for preparing the classroom PCs will cause there to be certain deadlines, such as a deadline for when the conference organizers must have data that you will need for your Workshop/Lab. As soon as the timetable is finalized, any such deadlines will be announced on the [http://lists.refractions.net/mailman/listinfo/foss4g2007-workshops FOSS4G2007-Workshops] mailing list.
==== Operating System ====
* All PCs will have Windows XP installed, with the latest service pack and patches (as of mid-September)
* LiveCD
** Instructors who wish to use a LiveCD for their Workshop/Lab must provide the LiveCD
** If you want your LiveCD tested on a classroom PC, the '''DEADLINE''' for providing your LiveCD image to the Workshop Committee is Friday August 31, 2007. See the ''FOSS4G2007 FTP server'' section for more information.
* LiveDVD
** There will be limited availability of classroom PCs that have a DVD drive
** '''DEADLINE:''' If you plan to use a LiveDVD, you must let the Workshop Committee know by August 6, 2007
** Instructors who wish to use a LiveDVD for their Workshop/Lab must provide the LiveDVD
** If you want your LiveDVD tested on a classroom PC, the '''DEADLINE''' for providing your LiveDVD image to the Workshop Committee is Friday August 31, 2007. See the ''FOSS4G2007 FTP server'' section for more information.
* Virtual Machines
** Most Workshops/Labs will be using either Windows XP or booting from a LiveCD/DVD
** If neither of those options is suitable for your Workshop/Lab, you may use a Virtual Machine
*** '''DEADLINE:''' If you wish to use a Virtual Machine, you must let the Workshop Committee know by August 6, 2007
*** '''DEADLINE:''' You must upload your Virtual Machine to the FTP server by Friday August 31, 2007. See the ''FOSS4G2007 FTP server'' section for more information.

==== Application and Utility Software ====
This section applies to the software that will be installed under Windows XP.

If your Workshop/Lab deals with software installation, it is expected that will be explained by the Instructor (e.g. via slides), and will '''not''' involve actual installation of the software.

The English-language version of software will be installed.

Web Browsers will have their homepage set to [http://www.foss4g2007.org/ http://www.foss4g2007.org/]

If there is any software that is needed for your Workshop/Lab that is not listed below, add it to the list, including a version number, and a link to where it can be downloaded

# For each piece of software in the list that you require for your Workshop/Lab, you ''' must edit this page''' and add your Workshop/Lab "ID number" to the line below the software. Software which is not identified as being required for any Workshops/Labs will not be installed.
#* '''DEADLINE:''' the deadline for updating the software list with your Workshop/Lab "ID number" is August 24, 2007.
#* use "Wnn" for Workshops (e.g. W01,W02,W10) and "Lnn" for Labs (e.g. L01,L02,L10)
#* If the software doesn't list a specific version number, or only a major version number is shown:
#** if a version number is not listed, or only a major version number is shown, the version that is installed will be the latest non-beta release that is available when the 'master PCs' are being built
#** if you require a specific version for your Workshop/Lab add the specific version number after the software's name, and add a link to where it can be downloaded
#** If the software has a version number listed, and it is different than the version that is required for your Workshop/Lab, then please send an email to the [http://lists.refractions.net/mailman/listinfo/foss4g2007-workshops FOSS4G2007-Workshops] mailing list so that you and the other Instructors who need that software can resolve what version will be loaded onto the 'master PCs'
# The Workshop Committee needs your help in making sure that the software is installed and configured as needed for your Workshops/Labs
#* '''DEADLINE:''' the deadline for supplying us with any specific information about the software installation and/or configuration for software that is required for your Workshop/Lab is August 24, 2007.
#* While we will be installing all the required Application and Utility Software that is listed below, make the assumption that we know nothing about the software.
#* If there are specific options or settings that need to be made during the software's installation, we need to know what you want.
#* If there are specific instructions as to how to configure the software once it is installed, we need to know what you want.
#* The way you tell us what you want is to create a plain text README file for each piece of software that you need to provide information for, and upload those files to the ''/software/'' folder under your Workshop/Lab's folder on the FTP server. See the ''FOSS4G2007 FTP server'' section for more information.

Software that will be installed under Windows XP on the 'master PCs':
* 52n
** -
* 7-Zip 4.42
** - W06
* Acrobat Reader
** -
* Ant
** -
* CartoWeb
** -
* [http://www.deegree.org/downloads/releases/2.1-rc1/deegree-wms_v2_1_rc1.zip deegree 2.1 RC1 WMS] (depends on Java 5.x and Tomcat 5.5)
** - L16
* [http://www.deegree.org/downloads/releases/2.1-rc1/igeoportal_v2_1_rc1.zip deegree 2.1 RC1 iGeoPortal standard edition] (depends on Java 5.x and Tomcat 5.5)
** - L16
* [http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/download.php?file=/technology/epp/downloads/release/20070702/eclipse-rcp-europa-win32.zip&r=1&protocol=http Eclipse 3.3 RCP Europa] from [http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/ here]
** -
* Filezilla 2.2.32
** -
* Firefox 2.0.0.6
** - W05, W06, L04
* Flash Browser Plugin
** - W04
* FME
** -
* FWTools
** -
* Gadwin PrintScreen 4.2
** -
* GeoNetwork
** -
* GeoServer
** -
* GeoTools (Is this needed? maven repository should hold us)
** -
* gettext
** -
* Google Earth
** - W06
* Internet Explorer 7
** -
* IrfanView 4.00
** -
* Java Runtime Environment 6 update 2 with [https://jai.dev.java.net/binary-builds.html JAI 1.1.3]and [https://jai-imageio.dev.java.net/binary-builds.html ImageIO 1.1]
** -
* Java Software Develoment Kit 6 update 2 with Java Advanced Imaging and ImageIO extentions
** -
* [http://java.sun.com/ Java (Sun) JDK 5.x]
** - L16
* [http://maven.apache.org/download.html Maven 2.0.5]
** -
* Mapbender
** -
* MapBuilder (SVN trunk version, or recent release if available by deadline)
** - L02
* Mapguide
** -
* MapStorer
** -
* MS4W 2.2.4
** - W05, W06
* OpenLayers
** -
* [http://download.openoffice.org/index.html OpenOffice]
** - W04
* pgAdmin III
** - W06
* PostgreSQL (8.2.X)
** - W04, W06
* PostGIS (1.3.1)
** - W04, W06
* [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=048DC840-14E1-467D-8DCA-19D2A8FD7485&displaylang=en PowerPoint Viewer 2007]
** - W04
* PuTTY
** -
* Quantum GIS 0.8.1
** - W02
* [http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/ Quicktime]
** - W04
* [http://tomcat.apache.org/download-55.cgi Tomcat 5.5]
** - L16
* uDig 1.1 (includes JRE 5)
** -
* [http://www.vmware.com/products/player/ VMWare Player 2.0]
** - W12, L14, L16
* VTP
** - L04
* Windows Media Player
** -

=== Other ===
* Every PC will have a ''C:\FOSS4G07'' folder, and under that will be one folder for each Workshop and Lab. For example, for Lab-01, ''C:\FOSS4G07\LAB-01''. This is the location you should use for any files that the attendees will be creating/downloading during your Workshop / Lab.
* If using a webserver on the PC, configure it to have it's root directory under your Workshop/Lab's main folder (e.g. C:\FOSS4G07\LAB-01\webroot\).
* The Default Input Language, and installed Keyboard, will be English (United States)
* The Windows XP userid will be the same on all PCs, and will have Administrator access
* Most (perhaps all) of the classroom PCs will have CDROM or DVDROM drives, so attendees will not be able to burn copies of Workshop/Lab materials. If your students should have such material, you will have to arrange to provide it as a handout, or make it available for download from the Internet.
* Some Workshop/Lab Instructors may make some of their classroom material available via a handout, or via the Internet, including packaged with software. The conference organizers will not be supplying a CD/DVD of the software that is loaded onto the classroom PCs.

= Workshops =

The information about Workshops is now on the [[FOSS4G2007_Information_for_Instructors_part2|Information for Instructors part 2]] page.

= Labs =

The information about Labs is now on the [[FOSS4G2007_Information_for_Instructors_part2|Information for Instructors part 2]] page.

[[Category:FOSS4G2007]]

All Members

2007-03-27T11:22:15Z

Wiki-Bdiscoe: added Ben Discoe

{| border="1" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; border-collapse: collapse;"
! style="background:#efefef;" | Name
! style="background:#ffdead;" | Affiliations
! style="background:#efefef;" | OSGeo Projects
! style="background:#ffdead;" | (Lat,Lon)
! style="background:#efefef;" | About
|-
| Add yourself
| Everyone is welcome
| In which OSGeo Projects and Committees are you involved
| Input lat/long here
| Copy and paste this entry, put it last, and add your information
|-
| Chris Holmes
| [http://topp.openplans.org The Open Planning Project], [http://geoserver.org GeoServer]
| [http://incubator.osgeo.org Incubator], [http://board.osgeo.org Board], [http://geotools.org GeoTools]
| (40.72,-74.00)
| I come from the Java side of the OSGeo fence, getting my start in GeoServer, where I was lead developer for a couple years, and GeoTools, where I still serve on the PMC. My time is made possible by [http://topp.openplans.org The Open Planning Project (TOPP)], a great non-profit in New York that has been the lead supporter of GeoServer for years now. I spent the last year in Zambia on a Fulbright Scholarship, looking at the potential for open source software to help implement spatial data infrastructures in developing countries. It was a bit of a failure, but I learned a ton, and I see a lot of potential for open source in developing countries, towards truly open spatial data infrastructures. I'm back at TOPP, in a new role as VP of Strategic Development, helping to grow the organization, and figuring out how to make our geospatial stuff self sustaining. Once that's rolling, I hope to reinvest extra revenue in to figuring out and building a truly open geospatial web. And just like apache and linux are the bedrock that the World Wide Web rests on, so too do I believe that the geospatial web necessarily must be built on a foundation of OS Geo software. My continuing thoughts on all of this can be found at http://cholmes.wordpress.com
|-
| Michael P. Gerlek
| [http://www.lizardtech.com LizardTech]
| [http://visibilitycommittee.osgeo.org Promotion and Visibility Committee] (chair)
| (47.673166,-122.530143)
| Manager of LizardTech's Engineering department, where we do MrSID and JPEG 2000 stuff and play with with the next generation of technologies for supporting raster data GIS workflows. No, our products are not open source -- but we do very much support and use open source and open standards. (I think there is room in the world for both the open and closed development models, and I have a strong interest in helping "closed" companies understand the value of, and contribute to, the open software world.) [[User:mpg]]
|-
| Frank Warmerdam
| Independent
| [http://www.gdal.org GDAL/OGR], [http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu MapServer], [http://incubator.osgeo.org Incubator], [http://board.osgeo.org Board]
| (45.45,-77.25)
| Lead developer of GDAL/OGR and freelance geospatial software developer.
|-
| Jason Birch
| [http://www.nanaimo.ca/ City of Nanaimo]
| [http://webcommittee.osgeo.org Web Site], [http://visibilitycommittee.osgeo.org Promotion & Visibility]
| (49.155, -124.005)
| I am a long-time GIS/IT/'Net junkie, and am currently working for the City of Nanaimo's IT department as a Sr. Applications Analyst (GIS Specialist). I am excited about what I see happening in the open source geospatial world, with OSGeo as a catalyst. [[User:Jasonbirch]]
|-
|Howard Butler
| [http://www.hobu.biz/ Hobu, Inc]
| [http://webcommittee.osgeo.org Web Site Committee],
| (42.00, -93.00)
| MapServer hacker, MTSC member. GDAL hacker. ESRI ArcSDE hack. Purveyor of Windows binary builds [[User:hobu]]
|-
| Markus Neteler
| [http://mpa.itc.it ITC-irst], [http://www.cealp.it CEA], [http://www.gdf-hannover.de GDF Hannover]
| [http://grass.itc.it GRASS GIS], [http://board.osgeo.org Board], [http://geodata.osgeo.org Public Geodata Com.], [http://edu.osgeo.org Education Com.], [http://visibilitycommittee.osgeo.org Promotion & Visibility Com.]
| (46.06714, 11.15113)
| Developer of GRASS GIS, researcher at ITC-irst + CEA, Trento, Italy and co-founder of GDF Hannover [[User:neteler]]
|-
| R. Paul Warriner
| [http://www.orchardparkny.org/ Town of Orchard Park]
| [http://fundraising.osgeo.org Fundraising Committee], [http://webcommittee.osgeo.org Web Site Committee]
| (43.17, -78.69)
| Network Coordinator, old oil field hand (really, I do know what a christmas tree is).
[[User:RPaulW]]
|-
|Bart van den Eijnden
| [http://www.osgis.nl/ OSGIS]
| [http://chameleon.maptools.org Chameleon],
| (52.0768396070808, 5.12454)
| Freelancer working with several open source GIS tools, mainly Chameleon, Mapserver and Geoserver.
[[User:bartvde]]
|-
|Simone Giannecchini
| [http://simboss.wordpress.com/ blog] ,[http://www.geo-solutions.it GeoSolutions]
| [http://geoserver.org GeoServer], [http://http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOTOOLS/Home GeoTools]
| (gotta look for it :-))
| I have been working as a freelance consultant in the GIS and Image Processing field since early 2004, mainly in scientific and military environment. I am PMC member of [http://http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOTOOLS/Home GeoTools] and active developer of [http://geoserver.org GeoServer]. I am also providing some patches for the [https://jai.dev.java.net/ JAI] and [https://jai-imageio.dev.java.net/ ImageIO] SUN libraries for image processing in Java.

I am a big GDAL fan, I have been involved in the last year in an effort for putting GDAL behind ImageIO
for widening the number of supported formats. The goal is to make this formats avalaible through GeoTools to the GeoServer. If you are interested in supporting or joining this effort, please, drop me a few lines at simone.giannecchini-at-geo-solutions.it or simboss1-at-gmail.com
[[User:simboss]]
|-
| Helena Mitasova
| [http://skagit.meas.ncsu.edu/~helena/ North Carolina State University]
| [http://grass.itc.it GRASS GIS], [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Core_Curriculum_Project Curriculum project]
| (35.77, -78.69)
| Researcher at NCSU (geospatial technology, environmental modeling, sustainable development), Developer of GRASS GIS. [[User:Helena]]
|-
| Daniel Morissette
| [http://www.mapgears.com/ Mapgears]
| [http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/ MapServer], [http://www.gdal.org GDAL/OGR]
| (48.42, -71.04)
| Involved in MapServer, GDAL/OGR and most [http://maptools.org/ MapTools.org] projects, mostly around webmapping and data access and distribution. [[User:dmorissette]]
|-
| Tamas Szekeres
| [http://www.hmeirt.hu/ MoD ED Co.]
| [http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/ MapServer]
| (47.56, 19.08)
| M.Sc.El.Engineer, Head of Development Department, GPS Division , MapServer contributor/hacker, mapscript C# maintainer, involved in various WEB mapping and desktop applications, GPS navigation and tracking systems. [[User:szekerest]]
|-
| Ari Jolma
| [http://users.tkk.fi/~jolma/index.html TKK]
| [http://www.gdal.org GDAL/OGR], [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Core_Curriculum_Project Curriculum project]
| (60° 16' , 24° 47' 4'')
| Professor at TKK, Finland (geoinformatics, environmental information systems, water resources systems), [http://map.hut.fi/PerlForGeoinformatics/ just another Perl hacker] [[User:ajolma]]
|-
| Jeff McKenna
| [http://www.dmsolutions.ca DM Solutions Group]
| [http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/ MapServer]
| (45.401397610, -75.725861625)
| MapServer documentation, [http://www.maptools/ms4w MS4W] maintainer, [http://www.maptools.org maptools] co-maintainer. [[User:jmckenna]]
|-
| Ian Turton
| [http://www.geovista.psu.edu/members/turton/index.html work][http://pennspace.blogspot.com/ blog]
| [http://www.geotools.org GeoTools]
| (40.7932, -77.847)
| [http://www.geotools.org GeoTools] founder and developer, [http://www.geovistastudio.psu.edu GeoVistaStudio] benevolent dictator, [http://geoserver.org GeoServer] user. [[User:ianturton]]
|-
| David Blasby
| [http://topp.openplans.org The Open Planning Project], [http://geoserver.org GeoServer], [http://geotools.org GeoTools]
| [http://geotools.org GeoTools]
| (varies)
| Currently, I'm the Project Lead for Geoserver and am on the GeoTools Project Management Committee. I'm just starting a GeoWiki (Public Participation GIS) (please contact me if you're interested). I was the orginal creator of PostGIS, and have contributed to several OS GIS projects, including JTS, JUMP, and Mapserver.
|-
| Andrey Kiselev
| "Radar" R&D Centre (Russia)
| GDAL/OGR
| (60.04,30.33)
| Freelance developer and contributor to GDAL/OGR project.
|-
| Helton Uchoa
| [http://www.geolivre.org.br Geolivre Community], [http://www.open3dgis.org Open 3D GIS Project]
| [http://webcommittee.osgeo.org Web Site Committee] and [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Public_Geospatial_Data_Project Public Geospatial Data Project]
| (-22.96, -43.11)
| I'm a Geomatics Enginner and I work at [http://www.opengeo.com.br OpenGEO Company] as a GIS Specialist. I'm responsible for many GIS projects using FOSS and the OpenGIS Specifications in Brazil and I have some relevant papers and scientific articles presented in Brazilian and Latin-American conferences and published in scientific magazines. In last year, I have helped, as a teacher, introduce the GNU/FSF philosophy at the Transportation Engineering Department of IME ([http://www.ime.eb.br Military Institute of Engineering - IME], Brazil). I have worked in Geolivre Rio 2004 and 2005 as member of organization commitee. Now I'm working in [http://www.geolivre.org Geolivre Conference 2007]. [[User:Uchoa]]
|-
| Toru Mori
| [http://www.orkney.co.jp/english Orkney, Inc.]
| [http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/ MapServer], [http://grass.itc.it GRASS GIS]
| (35.448, 139.642)
| President of Orkney, Inc. Advocate of Open Geospatial tools in Japan and Asia. Promote open geospatial data. [[User:moritoru]]
|-
| Allan Doyle
| [http://www.eogeo.org EOGEO],[http://museum.mit.edu/cmp MIT Museum],[http://spg.gsfc.nasa.gov/ NASA Earth Science Data Systems Standards Process Group]
| [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Public_Geospatial_Data_Project Public Geospatial Data Project]
| (42.28, -71.24)
| President of [http://www.eogeo.org EOGEO] and [http://www.intl-interfaces.com International Interfaces], long-time geo-interoperability interests, opensourced (is that a verb?) [http://openmap.bbn.com OpenMap], originator of OGC testbed idea, Web Mapping Testbed, WMS spec editor, worked on WMS Context, [http://www.georss.org GeoRSS]. [http://www.eogeo.org/Members/adoyle more details]. [http://think.random-stuff.org Blog][[User:adoyle]]
|-
| Ned Horning
| [http://cbc.amnh.org/ Center for Biodiversity and Conservation], [http://www.amnh.org/ American Museum of Natural History]
| [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Core_Curriculum_Project Curriculum project]
|(43.9933, -73.0407)
|Program manager for [http://geospatial.amnh.org/ remote sensing/GIS]. Promoter of open source geospatial tools in the global conservation community.
|-
| Paul Spencer
| [http://www.dmsolutions.ca DM Solutions Group]
| [http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/ MapServer], [http://chameleon.maptools.org Chameleon], [http://ka-map.maptools.org kaMap], [http://maptools.org/maplab/index.phtml MapLab], [http://maptools.org/ms4w/index.phtml MS4W], [http://openev.sourceforge.net/ OpenEV]
| (45.401397610, -75.725861625)
| CTO of DM Solutions Group, designer/developer/contributor to many open source packages, especially based on MapServer. Recent interest/focus is on AJAX clients for mapping applications. [[User:pagameba]]
|-
| Mark Lucas
| remotesensing.org
| [http://www.remotesensing.org remotesensing.org] and [http://www.ossim.org ossim]
| (27.9690219N, 080.5590534W altitude sea level + 5m)
| CTO, original founder of ImageLinks and remotesensing.org. Board of Directors [http://www.oss-institute.org/ Open Source Software Institute] and the [http://www.ncospr.org/ National Center for Open Source Policy and Research]. Member of [http://www.opentechdev.org Open Technology Development] Tiger team for the Department of Defense (USA). Lead a team of talented developers on the OSSIM and [http://www.ossim.org/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=3 osgPlanet] projects. Previously spent 22 years in the United States Air Force and [http://www.nro.gov/ National Reconnaissance Office] and the [http://www.fas.org/irp/nro/hall3.htm Secretary of the Air Force Special Projects] organization working with various classified programs. Prior to Radiant Blue Technologies, was a Lead Scientist for Intelligence Data Systems, Titan Corporation, and L3-Communciations. [http://web.mac.com/mlucas17/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html Personal Web site]. [[User:mlucas17]]
|-
| Jo Walsh
| [http://okfn.org/geo/ Open Knowledge Foundation],[http://mappinghacks.com/ Mapping Hacks], [http://publicgeodata.org Public Geodata]
| Open Geodata committee
| (42.368297,-71.108696)
| Came to geospatial software through collaborative mapping on the semantic web work. Organising events to get geospatial hackers together with data-creating people and promote public access to state collected geodata. If you are in Europe please see [http://publicgeodata.org Public Geodata] and consider writing to an MEP about public domain data and "intellectual property rights" issues. If you collect GPS tracks, please consider uploading them to [http://openstreetmap.org/ OpenStreetmap] - my only real contribution to this project is to talk about it a lot. I co-wrote "Mapping Hacks" with Schuyler Erle and Rich Gibson, with a lot of contributions from OSGeo type of people. Last year wrote a lot of software using OSM and [http://openguides.org/ OpenGuides] with [[Mapserver]] to provide a basis for collaborative local "portal" type services on community wireless networks. Now more interested in doing collaborative writing and research projects. [[User:JoWalsh]]
|-
| Dave McIlhagga
| [http://www.dmsolutions.ca DM Solutions Group]
| [http://visibilitycommittee.osgeo.org Promotion and Visibility Committee]
| (45.401397610, -75.725861625)
| President & CEO of DM Solutions Group. Active promoter of open source geospatial technologies. Led DM Solutions Group to become a major contributor and advocate of MapServer and development of key open source MapServer utilities including [http://chameleon.maptools.org Chameleon], [http://ka-map.maptools.org kaMap], [http://maptools.org/maplab/index.phtml MapLab], [http://maptools.org/ms4w/index.phtml MS4W]. Provided financial and resource support for setup of a key home for open source geospatial projects at [http://www.maptools.org MapTools]. Led the organizing committee for [http://www.omsug.ca/osgis2004/index.html OSGIS], the first Open Source Geospatial conference in North America which coincided with the second MapServer User Meeting. Spearheaded the integration of the two major open source geospatial conferences from North America and Europe/Asia, as the [http://www.foss4g2006.org/ Free and Open Source Software for Geoinformations] single international event to be held in Lausanne Switzerland. [[User:davemac]]
|-
| Pericles (Perry) Nacionales
| [http://land.umn.edu University of Minnesota]
| [http://webcommittee.osgeo.org Web Site Committee]
| (44.9873167, -93.1851500)
| Promoter of open source geospatial technologies specially in the field of natural resources management and conservation, advocate of open and interoperability standards, MTSC member, author of [http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/docs/tutorial/tutorial/tutorial MapServer Tutorial].
|-
| Norman Vine
| Independent
|
| (41:31:38N, 70:39:43W)
| Independent software developer [[User:Nhv]]
|-
| Mike Adair
| [http://www.geoconnections.org/CGDI.cfm Natural Resources Canada/GeoConnections]
| [http://communitymapbuilder.org MapBuilder]
| (45.27, -75.75)
| Contributor and member of MapBuilder PMC. Interested primarily in AJAX client technology for mapping, but also in the whole SDI stack. [[User:madair]]
|-
| Stefan F. Keller
| University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil (HSR), [http://www.ifs.hsr.ch Institute for Software]
| [http://webgis.hsr.ch/javawps JavaWPS]
| (47.2240, 8.8181)
| Promotor of open source and commercial technologies specially in the field of information retrieval, databases, GIS and visualization. Advocate of open and interoperability standards, member of national GIS standardization (e-geo, SNV) and umbrella (SOGI) organizations. Creator of [http://wwww.geometa.info geometa.info], one of the first search engines for geospatial services (WMS), metadata and online maps (Lucene-based); contributor of geo-webservices for german Wikipedia. [[User:Sfkeller]]
|-
| [[User:Arnulf Christl | Arnulf Christl]]
| [http://www.ccgis.de CCGIS], [http://www.geo-consortium.de Geo-Consortium]
| [http://www.mapbender.org Mapbender], [http://www.umn-mapserver.de UMN MapServer (Germany)], [http://board.osgeo.org Board], [http://visibilitycommittee.osgeo.org Promotion and Visibility Committee]
| (7.0707, 50.7342)
| Mapbender PSC, Promoter of [http://www.gnu.org Free Software] and [http://www.osi.org Open Source] :-) Business (...and Open Source Software!)
|-
|V.RaviKumar
|Geologist
|OSGeo member [http://freegis.gnu.org.in/grass_geosciencedataset.pdf],[''GRASS Indian exmple'']
| 17° N 79° E
| A Geologist from India who is interested in FOSS software. GRASS in particular. Conducted a FOSS workshop at Hyderabad, India in May 2005. The workshop boosted our spirits with a large participation and good articles on various FOSS software. An entire session was for GRASS, Qgis software. Presently lecturing in various forums on the capability of GRASS and allied FOSS GIS. With the help of Free Software Foundation India, trying to spread awareness of GRASS GIS, GNU-Linux and FOSS. Countries like India have a lot to gain with the spread of FOSS.
|-
|David Hastings
|UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok
|Member of original Grass Interagency Steering Committee, etc.
| 13.75°N 100.5°E
| A physicist/geophysicist/geological engineer who has used GRASS since 1987, and on the GRASS Interagency Steering Committee for the original public-domain package. I wrote the Linux Mini-HOWTO on GRASS-GIS (which is now woefully out of date); and taught short courses in scientific (as opposed to cartographic) GIS since 1980. In 1994 I moved my teaching to the Web, developing the CyberInstitute Short-Course on GIS. Currently, I'm at UN ESCAP. Open-Source is a great capacity- building environment for software communities worldwide. In developing countries, rather than being stuck merely teaching people to cut and paste stuff within a proprietary office suite, you can be part of the full development team, customizing the software to your community's needs, helping your country to have its own software development community - and hopefully making a satisfying living in the process.
|-
| Gary Sherman
| [http://mrcc.com Micro Resources], [http://qgis.org Quantum GIS]
| OSGeo Member
| (-149.567, 61.32138)
| Consultant, "Father" of Quantum GIS, long-time Linux user and Open Source proponent.
|-
| Astrid Emde
| [http://www.mapbender.org Mapbender], MapServer, PostgreSQL/PostGIS
| Mapbender Development
| (7.0707, 50.7342)
| Projects with MapServer, PostgreSQL/PostGIS, Mapbender. Part of the Mapbender Developer Team. Courses for Mapbender, UMN MapServer, PostgreSQL/PostGIS and WMS, WFS
|-
| Jeroen Ticheler
| [http://geonetwork.sourceforge.net GeoNetwork opensource], [http://sourceforge.net/projects/intermap InterMap opensource], [http://www.fao.org/geonetwork Food and Agriculture Organization GeoNetwork]
| OSGeo member
| 42.07420°N, 12.34343°E
| I've initiated the development of the GeoNetwork opensource Spatial Data Catalog software and its embedded InterMap opensource Map Viewer. I hope to contribute possitively to the creation of a comprehensive, FOSS based toolkit for Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) that help people share and use geospatial data and information in an easy and cost effective way. I focus especially on the data sharing within the United Nations system and in countries under development. I promote free and open source software as an excellent option for more sustainable development in these countries, proving it works by applying and further developing it in my day to day work. [http://lists.eogeo.org/mailman/listinfo/opensdi OpenSDI] is a forum to discuss foss and cots integration.
|-
| Dirceu Machado
| [http://www.pti.org.br Itaipu Tecnology Park]
| OSGeo member,GRASS
| 59°S, -24°E
| I'm a brazilian developer of open source GIS/WEB_GIS applications using PHP, JAVA and Python with Mapserver and PostGIS and also a user and enthusiast of Linux and BSD's OS. I'm excited with the idea of a community like this one and i wish to help in any way i can with development's (if necessary) and/or documentation translations to portuguese language. Actualy i'm working in a project to develop a GIS viewer and map generator (for printing purposes) in Python based on the idea of the JUMP Project.
|-
| Kevin Yam
| [http://www.ene.gov.on.ca Ontario Ministry of the Environment], [http://www.lio.mnr.gov.on.ca, Land Information Ontario]
| OSGeo member
| 43.709, -79.544
| Program coordinator for information management within the Provinicial Ministry of the Environment. I focus especially on data sharing between government agencies, departments and local stakeholders, and I am a promoter of open source geospatial tools applicable to environmental monitoring and observing [[User:kevinyam]]
|-
| Colin Gowens
| Geographer, GIS Professional
| OSGeo member
| 33.7518, -84.3920
| User of GRASS, GDAL, OGR, PostGIS and Mapserver since 2002. The open source GIS software and community have proven tremendously valuable to my GIS endeavors.
|-
| David Bitner
| [http://maps.macnoise.com/interactive/ Metropolitan Airports Commission], [http://dbspatial.com/ dbSpatial]
| OSGeo member, Geodata Committee
| 44.844, -93.560
| Active PostGIS and MapServer user. GIS application developer for airport authority and other freelance projects. Serve on Regional/State committees (Minnesota) for Data Sharing and Enterprise Geospatial Architecture. Member of Twin Cities Mapserver Users Group.
|-
| Tyler Mitchell
| [http://spatialguru.com, Spatialguru.com]
| OSGeo Executive Director, [http://visibilitycommittee.osgeo.org Promotion and Visibility Committee], [http://edu.osgeo.org Education Committee]
| 52.13, -121.13 (lat/lon)
| MapServer, PostGIS, GRASS, GDAL user. [http://oreilly.com/catalog/webmapping, O'Reilly Author], writer, promoter of Open Source GIS.
|-
| Rafael Medeiros Sperb
| [http://www.univali.br, G10 - UNIVALI]
| OSGeo Member
| -26.60, -48.70 (lat/lon)
|-
| Steven M. Ottens
| [http://www.geodan.com/ Geodan]
| [http://communitymapbuilder.org MapBuilder]
| 52.34, 4.91 (lat/lon)
| Contributor and member of MapBuilder PMC. [[User:stvn]]
|-
| Stefano Maffulli
| Politecnico di Milano
| [http://visibilitycommittee.osgeo.org Promotion and Visibility Committee], [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/International_Outreach International Outreach], [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Public_Geospatial_Data_Project Public Geospatial Data]
| 45, 9 (Lat,Lon)
| Architect, worked within the GIS_Lab at University of Florence on research about sustainable development of historical cities. At Joint Research Center (Ispra) worked within the EU funded project [http://commongis.org CommonGIS]. Currently working with Politecnico di Milano as consultant on [http://www.corila.it/ Methodologies and technologies for conservation and restoration of historical Venetian buildings]
|-
| Dave Patton
| [http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/ CIS Canadian Information Systems]
| helping the Website Committee
| 49.27N 123.15W
| Self-employed computer consultant. Co-lead developer for [http://punt.sourceforge.net/ Punt], an Open Source multi-language Windows desktop application that allows the user to view the terrain of any world in 3D. Canadian Coordinator and co-administrator of [http://www.confluence.org/index.php the Degree Confluence Project] [[User:Dpatton]]
|-
| Jody Garnett<br>[[User:Jive]]
| [http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOTOOLS/Home GeoTools]
| Iccubation and limited Website Committee
| missing
| It seems all I do is email, must be due to [http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOTOOLS/Home GeoTools], [http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOS/Home GeoServer], [http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEO/Home GeoAPI] and [http://udig.refractions.net uDig]. I am working at [http://www.refractions.net/ Refractions Research, Inc], a small consulting company with an open source habit.
|-
| Justin Deoliveira
| [http://topp.openplans.org The Open Planning Project], [http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOTOOLS/Home GeoTools], [http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOS/Home GeoServer]
| [http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOTOOLS/Home GeoTools]
| undeterministic
| [http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOTOOLS/Home GeoTools] module maintainer, [http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOS/Home GeoServer] developer, and [http://udig.refractions.net uDig] committer. I have been kicking around the Java GIS world for approximately 3 years contributing as an active developer on said projects. For the last year or so I have been working for a non-profit company known as [http://topp.openplans.org The Open Planning Project].
|
|-
| Dylan Beaudette
| [http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/drupal/node/38 UCD]
| GRASS
| Input lat/long here
| Soils and Biogeochemistry M.S. student at University of California, Davis. Interested in the use and proliferation of OSS in the sciences, particularly soil science. GIS and geomorphologic analysis; presentation of USDA-NCSS digital soil survey information / soils education through visual example.
|-
| Stuart Eve
| [http://www.lparchaeology.com L - P : Archaeology]
| Mapserver (user), GRASS (user)
| Input lat/long here
| Involved in using web-based Open Source technologies to make archaeological data accessible to a wider audience. We use Mapserver in a number of applications, including [http://www.fastionline.org Fasti Online]
|-
| [[User:Pmarc | Paulo Marcondes]]
| [http://www.marcondes.org marcondes.org], [http://hamstuff.blogspot.com Blog]
| [http://grass.itc.it GRASS] (translator), OSGeo Member (?), [[Brasil | OSGeo Brasil]] (proponent)
| (-22.915,-42.229), Maidenhead: GG87vc
| Working in the GRASS translation to portuguese (pt_br), somewhat involved (at least intelecutally) with Debian-GIS, involved in the local Debian User Group. My interests range from everything spatial to everything geospatial, GIS, GPS, Ham Radio, wardriving, etc. I have a B.S. in Geology (2001) Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil. I do R&D in the oil industry in a non GIS arena, but plan migrating to the GIS arena in the near future. I'm also planning a M.S. in GIS sometime in the future (accepting suggestions).
I would like to see free software adopted everywhere. I don't dislike proprietary software per se, but the attitude it usually inspires.
|-
| [[User:anselm | Anselm Hook]]
| [http://hook.org hook.org], [http://maps.civicactions.net maps.civicactions.net] [http://placedb.org placedb]
|
| (-122.673,-45.5371), Portland Oregon
| Both commercial and open source developer. Led engineering for platial.com and wrote placedb.org - also wrote maps.civicactions.net (an ajax tile map engine with a dataset behind it). Also wrote a small java spinny globe at [http://hook.org/headmap headmap]. Interested in providing fully open source map data (not simply applications or tools but actual content). Primarily interested in social and environmental issues with an eye towards modelling near term outcomes of decision making.
|-
| Oscar Cantán
| University of Zaragoza, Spain
| Member
| (41.666,-0.888)
| Currently working on the development and implementation of geospatial interoperability standards. Specially interested in OGC catalog services specification (CSW, SRW) and metadata content standards (ISO 19119-19139).
|-
| Lorenzo Becchi
| http://www.ominiverdi.org
| OSGeo Member
| moving
| ka-Map developer. User:[[User:Ominiverdi|Ominiverdi]]
|-
| Christoph Baudson
| http://www.mapbender.org
| OSGeo Member
| here, there and everywhere
| Mapbender developer. See [[User:christoph|Christoph]]
|-
| Georg Lösel
| http://www.grass-verein.de GRASS-Anwender-Vereinigung
| User (GRASS, QGIS); Free Geodata
| 52,3625/9,7481
| [[User:Georgloesel|Georg Lösel]]
|-
| Reinhard Simon
| [http://www.cipotato.org [International Potato Center, Lima, Peru]
| Project lead: [http://research.cip.cgiar.org/confluence/display/divagis/Home DIVA-GIS]
| NA
| [[User:rsimon|Reinhard Simon]]
|-
| Todd Jamison
| http://www.observera.com
| OSGEO Member; User: OSSIM, GDAL, MapServer; Contributor: OSSIM
| (38.898489, -77.500484)
| Chief Image Scientist and CEO of Observera, Inc. Observera worked on the original OSSIM library with ImageLinks and we have developed several projects using the OSSIM library and MapServer, including ALLEGRO (Land-cover / Land-use Classification) and the Change Detection WorkStation (CDWS), both for the US Army. Expertise includes spectral, thermal, microwave sensors, photogrammetry, image registration, image processing, morphology, resolution enhancement, workflow automation, machine learning (e.g., neural nets, support vector machines, genetic algorithms), Geologic GIS and bunches of other stuff. Glad to be a part of OSGEO.
|-
| Laurent Jégou
| [http://www.univ-tlse2.fr/geoprdc UTM Dept. Géo], [http://www.forumsig.org Forum SIG], [http://www.portailsig.org Portail SIG]
| User and wanabee [http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Core_Curriculum_Project Curriculum project] contributor.
| (43.6N, 1.4E)
| Cartographer (conception, production, integration), cartography and GIS teacher for masters degrees, open source mapping software developper (.Net and Java), technology developpement monitoring.
|-
| Gary Watry
| [http://www.coaps.fsu.edu[Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies - Florida State University]
| NA
| (30.42277,-84.32370)
| [[User:Gary Watry]]
|-
| Hardeep Singh Rai
| [http://www.gndec.ac.in/ Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, Punjab]
| -
| (30.55N,75.54E)
| Willing to see growth of GPL/OpenSource softwares in every field. Civil Engineer, in teaching profession since 1989. Presently Professor and Head of Civil Engineering Department.
|-
| Paolo Cavallini
| [http://www.faunalia.it Faunalia]
|
|
|
|-
| M. Agus Salim
| [http://gislab.cifor.cgiar.org/fsic Forest Spatial Information Catalog]
| User
| Bogor, Indonesia [106.752E,6.5533S]
| Working as GIS Assistant in Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). Currently i am interested in exploring geospatial open source software capabilities and hope to involved more than a user in the future
|-
| Janusz Michalak
| [http://www.ptip.org.pl/ Polish Association for Spatial Information]
[http://netgis.geo.uw.edu.pl/ Warsaw University, Dept. of Geology]
| GRASS user
| Warsaw, Poland (52.2118,20.9864)
| Will be added later
|-
| Chris Tweedie
| [http://www.dli.wa.gov.au/ Dept. of Land Information]
| OSGeo Lurker
| Perth, Australia [116.0043,-31.8869]
| Deploying a statewide SDI for WA using largely OSGeo projects. General lurker i'm afraid, lots of ideas, not enough time~
|-
| The Sunburned Surveyor (A.K.A. - Landon Blake)
| [http://openjump.blogspot.com/index.html My Blog]
| OSGeo Lurker
| Stockton, California
| Project administrator and developer for The JUMP Pilot Project and the SurveyOS Project.
|-
| Rob Atkinson
| [http://online.socialchange.net.au]
| Geoserver PSC, Geotools
| Wollongong,Australia
| SDI Architect. Involved in data standards and tools to deploy them, registry design, standards development (mainly OGC and ISO, INSPIRE.) Generally, enabling Observations and Measurements patterns in OS tools and other consistency/productivity/scalability requirements.
|-
| Mateusz Loskot
| [http://mateusz.loskot.net/ http://mateusz.loskot.net]
| [http://www.gdal.org/ GDAL/OGR] hacker, [http://fdo.osgeo.org FDO] PSC and hacker, [http://wl.sggw.waw.pl/ Warsaw Agricultural University]
| Warsaw,Poland (52.2373 21.0834)
| A freelance geospatial software developer and contributor to various FOSS/GIS projects. Interested in [http://mobile.maptools.org/ mobile GIS solutions]. Active member of various Open Source Software communities. [[User:mloskot]]
|-
| Asif Ahmed
| http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/orise
| Osgeo Member
| Toronto, Canada
| Mapserver user, Chameleon user, Coldfusion, .NET, C and Perl experience. Open source enthusiast.
|-
|-
| Dongpo Deng
| [http://www.iis.sinica.edu.tw/~dongpo/cv.html About me]
| OSGeo Lurker
| Taipei, Taiwan(25.041N 121.614E)
| A researcher for open geospatial techniques and data.
|-
| Ian Ibbotson
| http://developer.k-int.com
| Osgeo Lurker
| Sheffield, UK (37.0625,-95.677068)
| Information Retrieval / Information Repository Developer. Worked with USGS on combining text and spatial IR systems, on the GEO Z3950 profile, and on exposing GEO access points in the SRW/SRU protocol. Developer on UK Peoples Network cultural heritage / digital preservation amongst other projects with public information / spatial faceted data.
|-
| Josef Assad
| Independent (for now)
| Still figuring out where I can be most useful as an OSGEO slave
| Cairo, Egypt (30.070877;31.220312)
| Free software, open standards are my primary areas of interest.
|-
| Ben Discoe
|
| [http://vterrain.org Virtual Terrain Project (VTP)]
| Ahualoa, Hawai'i (20.0532,-155.5085)
| After some years in the virtual reality field, i got the geospatial religion. With some support from Intel, i began what later grew into the VTP. 7 years after public launch, it is now a thriving community, educational website, and suite of open-source geovisualization software, which is likely to become an official OSGeo project at some point.
|-
[[Category:Membership]]