Election 2024 Candidate Manifestos

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A space for the candidates for election to the Board to share some information about themselves, their aspirations for OSGeo, what they would like to change, improve or introduce and what role they would like to play on the board.

You are welcome to follow the template, and add further relevant info as you need:

Michael Smith - United States (msmitherdc/ OSGeo profile)

About me

For those of you that don't know me, I'm Michael Smith, a physical scientist at the US Army Corps of Engineers. I've been involved with the MapServer community since 2001 and OSGeo since its inception. For the last 10 years, I've been honored to be a OSGeo Board member and the OSGeo treasurer. It’s been quite a learning experience and I greatly thank Daniel Morissette, the previous OSGeo treasurer for so much support in handling the transition.

My vision

In my time on the board and as treasurer, my focus has been on encouraging governments (in general) and the US in particular, especially the Department of Defense which, personally I know makes extensive use of OSGeo projects, to more actively participate is OSGeo and the projects beyond just use and occasional commits. Long term, we do need to work on the sustainability of the OSGeo Foundation financial health.

What you have done within the community in the past

In general, I work a lot with the project managers of the various OSGeo projects as well as the Code Sprint and Event coordinators.

What your interests are in terms of the board

If reelected, I plan to continue as OSGeo Treasurer. It's been a bit of a learning experience handling the funds from OSGeo, learning how to do the non profit tax filings for the US Government (where OSGeo is incorporated) and handling distributions of funds to Code Sprints and Events. It has also been a lot of fun to work directly with groups and individuals all over the world with OSGeo. Its been a very rewarding experience.

Any things that you would like to change or introduce

The next board will begin to look at how other foundations approach their long term sustainability and look to work closer with the regional events and our sponsors.

What role you would wish to fulfill on the board (if any)

If reelected, I plan to continue as OSGeo Treasurer.

It’s really wonderful to see a great group of new candidates to the board. It is wonderful to see the diversity and multiple regions of the world represented in the candidates. Thank you for the nomination, OSGeo Community!

Tom Kralidis, Canada (OSGeo profile)

About me

I've been involved in FOSS4G since the 1990s. Starting as a user with no open source or development experience, I was drawn to the principles and inclusiveness of FOSS and the rest (as they say) is history. I develop, use and advocate for FOSS4G/OSGeo tools both in a volunteer capacity as well as my role at the Meteorological Service of Canada as a Senior Geospatial Architect.

Best of luck to all candidates! It is an honour and a privilege to be nominated again for the Board. Thank you!

My vision

For Geospatial Open Source to always be a strong viable option for implementation by anyone, anywhere, anytime. FOSS4G is neither too big or too small for any requirement, project or activity.

This is realized by a balanced, interoperable, sustainable and healthy OSGeo.

What you have done within the community in the past

  • OSGeo member since inception
  • Board member 2018-present. Contributions include:
    • OGC MoU renewal (2022)
    • Chair of OSGeo Standards Committee (2022)
    • Update of policies and procedures (budget, bylaws)
    • Helping onboard numerous new community projects
    • Creation of Board member onboarding checklist
    • Charter member onboarding
    • Sponsorship communications
    • OSGeo Annual Budget and Money guidance for projects, committees, initiatives and events
    • OGC coordination
    • ISO TC211 liaison setup
  • long term dedicated effort on user, development and advocacy of FOSS4G / OSGeo in support of interoperability
  • Charter member since 2007
  • user training and workshops
  • Incubation Committee
  • Project mentor for OSGeo incubation of PyWPS (graduated 2018)
  • Project mentor for OSGeo incubation of ZOO-Project (graduated 2023)
Software leadership
project core committer PSC membership Founder
pygeoapi x Chair x
pycsw x Chair x
MapServer x x
QGIS x x
GeoHealthCheck x x
PyWPS x
MapProxy x
GeoNode x
pygeometa x x
OWSLib x

What your interests are in terms of the Board

During my time with the Board thus far I have been lucky to work with a strong and diverse team and was exposed to many facets of OSGeo. I also realized the significant part that standards play in numerous OSGeo projects. As a firm believer of do-ocracy and collaboration, if re-elected I will continue to advocate on lowering the barrier to geospatial tools for anyone across numerous organizations and jurisdictions. This includes strengthening our position on standards requirements and implementation (OGC, ISO).

Any things that you would like to change or introduce

Recent activities at the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have resulted in a new frontier: a WMO position and framework of Free and Open Source Software. If re-elected, as Chair of the new WMO Task Team on Open Source Software, my goal is to help build the relationship between WMO and OSGeo to help cross pollination (MOUs, code sprints, etc.), and to help solidify open source geospatial and open standards in support of weather/climate/water data.

As well, if re-elected, with the OSGeo/OGC MoU having been renewed in 2022, as well as the creation of the OSGeo Standards Committee, I look forward to continuing to help shape OSGeo's story for OGC collaboration.

Since 2018, the OGC has embarked on significant efforts on modernizing their API suite of standards via OGC API. The OGC API movement is proving to lower the barrier to implementation more than ever before. This, combined with OSGeo's TC211 liaison membership in 2020, provides our community a huge opportunity to lead and direct the future of international standards, either by providing requirements/feedback, writing software as well as providing reference implementations. OSGeo's standards efforts need to undergo a similar review and renewal activity so we can participate more efficiently, have our voice heard and have FOSS4G projects be a key contributor and option to users.

This will not happen by accident. Continuous improvement on our Certification services, OSGeo participation in OGC events, CITE compliance and infrastructure, and OGC threads at OSGeo sprints will all contribute to adding value for FOSS4G as the best option for standards based implementations.

What role you would wish to fulfill on the board (if any)

To continue as a trusted voice as part of a strong leadership team and community to help steer OSGeo in achieving its goals for the long term.

Name - Country (name/ OSGeo profile)

Joana Simoes, Portugal (OSGeo profile)

About me

I am a Portuguese/Spanish data engineer and data scientist, who fell in love with programming with a ZX Spectrum 128k. After acquiring a PhD in Geographic Information Systems at the University College of London (2007), my drive to solve real-world problems has taken me to SMEs, a UN agency, a research foundation and a start-up, across three different European countries.

I have been very involved in the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community, in particular in what concerns geospatial technologies, standards and data. This has led me to become a charter member of the Open Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) in 2017, and the vice-president of the Portuguese chapter of OSGeo. During 2017 I also took a leading role at the board of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association (GSDI), as a board director of the Industry Advisory Council.

Currently I lead developer relations at the Open Geospatial Consortium and run ByteRoad, an R&D company in the field of Spatial Data Infrastructures. I am also a reviewer for the European Commission, and have been deeply involved in education, teaching the next generation of full-stack developers and data analysts.


My vision

I envision a world where geospatial information is a first class citizen in mainstream tech, and spatial functionality is no longer a niche, but native in most applications. I also think that the growing interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) highlights the need of F.A.I.R data; I am deeply committed to making geospatial information, Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and reusable, and avoid the growing of data swamps or data cemeteries.


What you have done within the community in the past

  • Contributed to different Free and Open Source projects, like: pygeoapi, geonetwork, GDAL, QGIS and docker.
  • Attended several OSGeo project code sprints (QGIS, pygeoapi, GeoNetwork).
  • Participated in several FOSS4G regional and World conferences and presented a keynote in FOSS4G UK 2017.
  • Participated in the organization of FOSS4GE2017 in Guimaraes as marketing lead.
  • Participated in the Portuguese and Spanish chapters of OSGeo.
  • Joined the OSGeo Standards Committee and jointly organized the Joint OGC-OSGeo-ASF Code Sprints in 2022, 2023, 2024.
  • Contact person at OGC for the OSGeo and OGC Memorum of Understanding (MoU).
  • Regular guest at the Podcast of the Portuguese Ubuntu Community.

What your interests are in terms of the board

  • Increase the uptake of geospatial Standards within OSGeo projects and increase OSGeo participation within OGC.
  • Bring the point of view of industry, in particular of SMEs of the FOSS ecosystem.
  • Increase collaboration/alliances with other Free and Open Software communities like Apache or Ubuntu.
  • Increase diversity and inclusion within OSGeo.

Any things that you would like to change or introduce

If I am elected, I would like to introduce concrete actions that would drive us to achieve the goals layed out on the previous point.

What role you would wish to fulfill on the board (if any)

I am happy to take any role that is assigned to me, other than treasurer.

Name - Country (name/ OSGeo profile)

About me

My vision

What you have done within the community in the past

What your interests are in terms of the board

Any things that you would like to change or introduce

What role you would wish to fulfill on the board (if any)

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