Oceania
Organisation
OSGeo Oceania's purpose is to support and grow the open geospatial community in the Oceania region, including the oversight and stewardship of the FOSS4G SotM Oceania conference series.
The Oceania region includes countries listed in the United Nations Geoscheme for Oceania. We have also included Timor-Leste in our Travel Grant Program. We recognise the important cultural and social connections with other countries in the broader region, such as the Philippines.
We recognise the long-established Pacific Islands Chapter of OSGeo, and work closely with them to build a strong community across our region.
How to learn more & get involved
The best way to stay up to date on what we're doing is to join our mailing lists:
- oceania - discussion about the regional open geospatial community and OSGeo Oceania
- foss4g-oceania - FOSS4G SotM Oceania conference planning
- oceania-board - OSGeo Oceania board discussion (public)
There's also a lot of informal chatter on the Maptime Oceania Slack group: join here
And you can head to the conference website (link below) and join the conference updates mailing list there.
If you want to talk about how you can get involved, feel free to post on any of these channels, or drop us a line at admin@osgeo-oceania.org.
OSGeo Oceania Calendar
Membership
Membership of OSGeo Oceania is an opportunity to engage more actively with the support of open geospatial software & data in Oceania. Members can support OSGeo Oceania in a variety of ways:
- Helping to organise the annual FOSS4G SotM Oceania conference series
- Organising local geospatial events
- Editing in OpenStreetMap
- Active discussions in Oceania related mailing lists
- Writing developer documentation for open source geospatial projects
- Contributing to open source geospatial repositories
Membership is free, and you can apply for membership at any time. Becoming a member allows you to run for the board of OSGeo Oceania and/or vote in the election process.
Applications are reviewed by the Membership Working Group. Generally memberships are approved within a few weeks.
Public Member list: (only includes those who have agreed to be listed).
Community support
Grants Program: OSGeo Oceania provides grants in support of the open geospatial community across Oceania. Details here.
Documents & policies
| Document | Date |
|---|---|
| Founding Terms of Reference | 2018-12-17 |
| Constitution | 2019-11-07 |
| Membership Policy | 2020-03-25 |
| Finance Policy | 2020-12-15 |
| Sponsorship Policy | 2022-08-10 |
| Finance Committee Terms of Reference | 2019-10-03 |
| Communications & Outreach Working Group Terms of Reference | 2020-03-16 |
| Special Interest Group Guidelines | 2020-10-21 |
| Microgrants program | 2021-02-19 |
| OSGeo Oceania Annual Report 2019-2020 | 2020-12-14 |
| OSGeo Oceania Annual Report 2020-2021 | 2021-12-14 |
| OSGeo Oceania Annual Report 2021-2022 | 2022-11-01 |
| OSGeo Oceania Annual Report 2022-2023 | 2023-11-11 |
| Budget 2019-2020 | 2019-10-03 |
| Budget 2020-2021 | 2020-06-30 |
| Budget 2021-2022 | 2021-07-07 |
| Budget 2022-2023 | 2022-06-20 |
| Budget 2023-2024 | 2022-06-20 |
| Budget 2024-2025 | 2024-06-07 |
Board of Directors
OSGeo Oceania is governed and managed by a board of directors. The board delegates responsibilities to committees as needed. As per the constitution, directors are elected by the membership in annual elections. Details of process, current and historical election records can be found on Oceania_Elections.
Responsibilities The primary responsibilities of the board are to:
- govern and manage OSGeo Oceania, with regard to finance, risk, and sustainability of the organisation
- provide oversight of the conference committee, and ongoing stewardship of the conference series
- coordinate other related outreach activities, including local FOSS4G and State of the Map events
- maintain a relationship with OSGeo and the OpenStreetMap Foundation, and maintain OSGeo & OSMF chapters in good standing
- hold accounts, domain names, and other administrative tools, data, and assets as needed
- enter into agreements with other parties as needed.
Motions/decisions Motions of the board are recorded in Loomio here.
2024
Directors
- Elisa Puccioni [1] (Chair)
- John Bryant [1] (former Deputy Chair) (resigned Sep 2024)
- Jonah Sullivan[2] (Treasurer)
- Renee Manser [1] (Secretary)
- Alex Leith [2]
- Ewen Hill [2] (current Deputy Chair)
- Alan Cheung [2]
- Rafael Kargren [2]
- Dorothy D. Pion [1]
Meeting minutes
2023
Directors
- Alex Leith [1] (Chair and Treasurer)
- Tishampati Dhar [2] (Deputy Chair)
- Ewen Hill [1] (Secretary)
- Jonah Sullivan[1]
- Alan Cheung [1]
- Rafael Kargren [1]
- To'oa Brown [2]
- Greg Lauer[2]
- Edoardo Neerhut[2]
Meeting minutes
- 2023-09-13
- 2023-08-10
- 2023-07-14 Due to illness, travel and work commitments, a quorum was not raised to hold the July meeting.
- 2023-06-08
- 2023-05-18
- 2023-04-13
- 2023-03-10
- 2023-02-10
- 2023-01-13
- 2022-12-16
2022
Directors
- Jonah Sullivan[2] (Chair)
- Elisa Puccioni[2] (Deputy Chair)
- Alex Leith[2] (Treasurer)
- Ewen Hill[2] (Secretary)
- To'oa Brown[1]
- Carrol Chan[2]
- Tishampati Dhar[1]
- Greg Lauer[1]
- Edoardo Neerhut[1]
Meeting minutes
2021
Directors
- Edoardo Neerhut[1] (Chair)
- Dionne Hansen[2] (Deputy Chair)
- Alex Leith[3] (Treasurer)
- Jonah Sullivan[1] (Secretary)
- Carrol Chan[1]
- Elisa Puccioni[1]
- Emma Hain[2]
- Ewen Hill[1]
- Greg Lauer[2]
Dionne, Greg and Emma are concluding their two-year term.
Meeting minutes
2020
Directors
- Alex Leith (Chair and Treasurer)
- Trisha Moriarty (Deputy Chair)
- Greg Lauer (Secretary)
- Adam Steer (resigned 27 Nov 2020)
- Daniel Silk (resigned 24 Nov 2020)
- Dionne Hansen
- Emma Hain
- Martin Tomko
- John Bryant (was Chair; resigned 29 May 2020)
As per this thread, Adam, Alex, John, Martin, and Trisha have a 1 year term and their seats will be open at the next election. All other directors have a standard 2 year term.
Meeting minutes
2019
Objectives In order to guide the organisation towards a mature state, in 2019 this board will aim to:
- determine a process for recruiting and managing an appropriate general membership
- determine a process for renewal of board membership, including accountability to the general membership, and clarify such items as term limits and staggering of terms
- determine a process for inviting expressions of interest and selecting groups wishing to host the annual FOSS4G SotM Oceania event
- determine and formalise an appropriate non-profit structure
- submit an official expression of interest to the OSGeo board to form an OSGeo local chapter
- apply to the OpenStreetMap Foundation board to form an OpenStreetMap local chapter
Directors
- John Bryant - President
- Alex Leith - Treasurer
- Greg Lauer - Secretary
- Daniel Silk
- Edoardo Neerhut
- Jonah Sullivan
- Kerry Smyth
- Martin Tomko
- Trisha Moriarty
Meeting minutes
Committees & Working Groups
- Finance Committee: Jonah Sullivan, Alex Leith
- Communications Working Group: Ewen Hill, Joy Papao, Dawn Hendrick, Pierre Kurth, Rua Puka, Emma Hain, Lani Rokotuiwakaya, Elina Matarara, Elisa Toroca
- Membership Working Group: Graeme Fitzpatrick, Jonah Sullivan, Carrol Chan
- Grants Working Group: Elisa Puccioni (Chair), Jonah Sullivan, Carrol Chan, Nemaia Koto
Special Interest Groups
Special Interest Groups (SIG) are ad-hoc groups that have been established to support a specific topic. Their narrow, topic specific focus is what distinguishes them from the functionally focused working groups. Any member of OSGeo Oceania can propose the creation of a new SIG by following the SIG Guidelines outlined here.
OpenStreetMap Oceania
OSGeo Oceania has been recognised by the OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF) as the official local chapter in the region.
As the official local chapter, we are able to support the development of the OpenStreetMap community in Oceania while making sure our diverse range of interests are represented, supported, and promoted.
In 2020, a prospective working group was convened to focus specifically on OpenStreetMap and our role as a local chapter. Minutes from the inaugural meeting can be found here. The working group discussed long term priorities, so feel free to contribute to the discussion here.
The SIG is not currently active (as of February 2024).
Note, while OSGeo Oceania is currently the recognised local chapter in the region, we are fully supportive of other groups that may form in Oceania with the intent of becoming a local chapter. One example would be a national entity that determines their interests would better represented as an independent local chapter. If this was to occur, OSGeo Oceania would be fully supportive and will not claim to speak for groups who do not wish to be represented.
Events
- FOSS4G SotM Oceania 2024
- FOSS4G SotM Oceania 2023
- Pacific Geospatial Conference 2022
- FOSS4G SotM Oceania 2021
- FOSS4G SotM Oceania 2020
- FOSS4G SotM Oceania 2019
- FOSS4G SotM Oceania 2018
History
See the Aust-NZ wiki page for an earlier incarnation of this chapter. OSGeo Oceania picks up where Aust-NZ left off, and aims to build on that foundation.
Some notable open geospatial events in the region:
- 20 November 2020: FOSS4G SotM Oceania, Apia/Auckland/Cairns/Canberra/Christchurch/Hobart/Melbourne/Perth/Rarotonga/Suva/Wellington/online [1]
- 12-15 November 2019: FOSS4G SotM Oceania, Wellington [2]
- 20-23 November 2018: FOSS4G SotM Oceania, Melbourne [3]
- 17 November 2017: Australian QGIS user group meetup, Sydney [4]
- May 2017: QGIS Noosa Hackfest [5]
- 1 March 2017: NZ QGIS User Forum, Wellington [6]
- 23 September 2015: NZ QGIS User Conference, Wellington [7]
- 22 September 2015: NZ GeoNetwork Users Meetup, Wellington
- 12 May 2015: QGIS Forum, Perth
- 14 May 2015: QGIS Forum, Melbourne[8]
- 18 April 2013: Melbourne QGIS User Conference [9][10]
- 14 March 2013: Perth QGIS User Forum/Group [11]
- 15-16 November 2012: FOSS4G-AU 'unconference', Brisbane [12][13][14]
- 20-23 October 2009: FOSS4G international conference, Sydney [15]
Also see the Pacific Islands Chapter page for history of events and developments in the Pacific Islands.