FOSS4G
The upcoming FOSS4G 2012 will take place from the 10th to the 15th September in Beijing, China. (2012-09-10 to 2012-09-15)
Find all information of the last FOSS4G 2011 conference in Denver, Colorado.
Introduction
FOSS4G is the acronym for Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial. It is the annual recurring global event hosted by OSGeo since it's inception in 2006. Its predecessors were rooted in the GRASS and MapServer communities and can be traced back to the beginning of this millennium. Find all recent conference web sites under the year followed by foss4g.org as in http://2011.foss4g.org/
Organizing FOSS4G
The OSGeo Conference Committee is the steadying factor of FOSS4G over the years. Organization of FOSS4G starts roughly 2 years in advance as the venue rotates around the world when a call for bids is sent out.
Local Organizing Committee
All the hands-on ground work is done by a volunteering Local Organizing Committees that form each year and have so far always excelled themselves at putting together a great conference. OSGeo is very thankful and excited to see this much effort going into each conference. As of 2007 all conference web sites can be found under the generic OSGeo URL by replacing the year as in http://2010.foss4g.org/
Overview of past conferences and attendances
| Event | Location | Number of Attendees |
|---|---|---|
| FOSS4G 2011 | Denver, USA | 914 |
| FOSS4G 2010 | Barcelona, Spain | 869 |
| FOSS4G 2009 | Sydney, Australia | 436 |
| FOSS4G 2008 | Cape Town, South Africa | 550 |
| FOSS4G 2007 | Victoria, Canada | 721 |
| FOSS4G 2006 | Lausanne, Switzland | 560 |
| 2005 OSG conference | Minneapolis, MN | 350 |
| OSGIS 2004 | Ottawa, Canada | ~200 |
| FOSS4G 2004 - Free/Libre and Open Source Software for Geoinformatics: GIS-GRASS Users Conference | Bangkok, Thailand | ~150 |
| 2003 Mapserver Users Meeting | St Paul, MN, United States | 125 |
| Open Source Free Software GIS - GRASS users conference 2002 | Trento, Italy | 140 |
More detailed metrics of the more recent conferences are here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al9zh8DjmU_RdEZoOUtSeVZRVWtKQzV6R2N5ekdSdlE&hl=en_GB#gid=3
Localized FOSS4G Conferences
Some Local Chapters put on localized FOSS4G conferences, for example:
- Japan in Tokyo and Osaka.
- Germany has the FOSSGIS conferences in German language.
- (please add your own event)
Roll Your Own Conference
If you are interested in organizing "your own" conference please contact the Conference Committee and advertize on the Discuss Mailing List. OSGeo is always interested in lending a helping hand to seed organize local events.
Using the Name FOSS4G
FOSS4G is not registered as a trademark but has a long tradition of being used in the context of Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial. The domain was originally registered by Venka who later graciously donated it to OSGeo - under the condition that using the name should stay open to anybody who does something reasonably related to Free and Open Source Geospatial. If you are not sure, simply ask on the main mailing list.