Geodata Report 2008
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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