Geodata Report 2008

Public Geospatial Data Committee

• Period covered by report: Jan-Dec 2008
• Contact name: David Bitner

Summary

The Public Geospatial Data Committee has been fairly dormant committee of OSGeo over the course of 2008. The primary role of the committee has been as a forum for geodata related activities through the use of the mailing list. Early efforts at strategic planning and creation of catalog have become stagnant due to lack of engagement by a large enough group to really make a difference. In order to grow beyond the current committee activities, the Geodata Committee needs volunteers to lead individual activities such as getting an operable catalog and repository off the ground.

Key Accomplishments

• Representation at FOSS4G2008
• Support of Open Street Map, Open Aerial Map, and the Flight Gear Scenery Project
• Forum for Geodata related discussions through the year

Areas for Improvement

• More engagement by members of the community
• Clear mission and direction that make it clear to members and outsiders who we are and what we do
• Work with others with similar goals so as not to reinvent the wheel
• Partner with those who need support of our resources
• Work more closely with Education Committee and education datasets
• Define clear areas where volunteers can be engaged

Opportunities to Help

• Leadership
• Strategic Planning -- without clear direction, it is hard to know where we can put peoples efforts to work
• Cataloguing work - both on software setup side (GeoNetwork) and collecting metadata for public data sets
• Open Geodata Licensing success stories - writing about how your organization or project has moved to an open licensing approach, sharing decisions with others

Outlook for 2009

• Continued forum for public geodata related issues