Directions on Open Source

OpenGeo Announces Appointments to Senior Management

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:30:55 -0500

Juan Marin Named Chief Technology Officer New York, NY, May 20, 2013 — OpenGeo the world’s leading commercial open source geospatial company, is promoting key team members Juan Marin, Tim Schaub, and Justin Deoliveira to new roles within the company. Marin has been named chief technology officer, OpenGeo CEO Eddie Pickle said in making the...

Why Gartner’s Magic Quadrant Missed the Importance of Location Analytics to Business Intelligence

Mon, 13 May 2013 02:15:35 -0500

Location-based data and analysis are considered so critical to the understanding of a business’ operations that business analytics software companies routinely and prominently boast maps as part of their dashboard visualization toolkits. But Gartner, the market research company, gives scant mention of the importance of location intelligence. Editor in Chief Joe Francica looks at what’s...

AGI GeoCommunity ‘13: Conference Programme Announced

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:28:03 -0500

16th - 18th September 2013: East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham The AGI GeoCommunity '13 conference committee gathered for 2 days on the 25 and 26 April in order to agree and assemble this year's conference programme. We have ten streams running over the two days: BIM & 3D Business Innovation Cartography Case...

The Draft FOSS4G�13 Programme is released!

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:08:44 -0500

May 6, 2013 - The FOSS4G community has spoken! The open voting process (http://2013.foss4g.org/press-release-10th-april-2013/) closed with a record response of people sifting and reporting on their favourite submissions from a selection of over 320 abstracts. It clearly wasn’t always an easy choice, and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) had...

OpenStreetMap Launches New Editor and Funding Drive

Tue, 07 May 2013 10:30:13 -0500

As of today OpenStreetMap users with a modern browser will automatically use the new iD editor, the result of the Knight New Challenge grant. Users can switch between iD (open source, available on github) and the existing Flash-based Potlatch 2 editor (soon to be the intermediate tool). The Foundation is also launching a funding appeal to pay for additional server...

Open Source Geospatial Laboratory established at the University of Southampton, UK

Wed, 01 May 2013 08:04:38 -0500

Apr 30, 2013 - We are pleased to announce the establishment of the Open Source Geospatial Laboratory at the University of Southampton, United Kingdom. The laboratory is one of the members of a worldwide network developed under the auspices of the ICA-OSGeo Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). In 2011, the International Cartographic...

Double Diamond! Met Office join Ordnance Survey as FOSS4G Diamond Sponsors

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:57:36 -0500

April 2, 2013 - OSGeo are delighted to be able to announce a second Diamond sponsor for FOSS4G to accompany Ordnance Survey: The Met Office. The Met Office, like Ordnance Survey is a familiar name to many (and is in fact ranked in the top ten of 2012's Social Brands 100), but perhaps, like Ordnance Survey, few realise the full range of...

OpenGeo Presentations at FOSS4G North America 2013

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:13:48 -0500

FOSS4G Community Votes to see Multiple OpenGeo Sessions New York, NY, April 23, 2012 — OpenGeo, the commercial open source provider behind the OpenGeo Suite, will have a strong showing at the second annual FOSS4G North America conference. The gold level sponsor has had nine sessions and three workshops accepted onto the program. The Free and...

MapBox + Skybox for Closer to Real-Time Imagery Analysis

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:49:02 -0500

As TechCrunch just reported this morning, we are teaming up with Skybox, the microsatellite and analytics company, to design new interfaces for visualizing rapid satellite imagery collection. The timing of this collaboration is perfect - later this year, Skybox will be launching the first two microsatellites of a fleet of micro-satellites that will capture sub-meter...

FOSS4G North America Releases Program Schedule

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:11:53 -0500

FOSS4G-NA 2013 to be Held May 22-24, 2012 in Minneapolis, MN Minneapolis, MN, April 23, 2013 The Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial - North America (FOSS4G-NA) program committee has released the schedule for the upcoming 2013 conference. FOSS4G-NA 2013 will be held May 22-24, 2012 at the Marriott City Center in Minneapolis,...

Building the World’s First Geo-MOOC, Part 2

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 07:00:41 -0500

Dr. Anthony Robinson of Penn State is continuing development of the first geo-MOOC, a massive open online course titled Maps and the Geospatial Revolution, which begins in July. I spoke with Dr. Robinson in February, just after the course was announced. In part two of our conversation recorded April 16, he shares the challenges and opportunities after working with...

New final version of gvSIG available: gvSIG 2.0

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 08:07:36 -0500

April 15, 2013 - The gvSIG Association announces the publishing of the gvSIG 2.0 final version. The main novelty of this version is its new architecture. The way gvSIG manage the data sources has been redesigned with the objective of improving the reliability as well as the modularity, benefiting the users as well as the developers. Besides it...

The FOSS4G Community goes to the Polls!

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 08:13:36 -0500

-10th of April-The planning for the FOSS4G conference reaches a significant milestone with the closing of the Call for Presentations (12th April). Now the open source user community has the opportunity to review the abstracts submitted and vote for those that they want to hear at the conference. It’s perhaps not surprising that a conference...

OSGeo accepted in Google Summer of Code 2013

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:41:44 -0500

April 8, 2013 - OSGeo has been accepted as mentoring organisation at Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2013! This program provides funding for students to work on open source projects under the support of experienced mentors. All OSGeo projects are invited to propose ideas, and encourage would-be students to discuss their own ideas with the...

Ten Things GIS Users Need to Know about GitHub

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 01:43:16 -0500

GIS users, even those who don’t consider themselves programmers, may have heard of a mysterious location on the Web called GitHub. What is it and what do GIS users need to know about it?

TeachGIS: Resources for and by GIS Instructors

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:20:38 -0500

The TeachGIS website is online. TeachGIS.org is the brain-child of Diana Sinton and a posse of other GIS-teaching, map-loving, spatial-thinking folks, mostly from higher education. As a community of practice, we created this site as a venue where expert and novice instructors of geographic information systems (GIS), and related geospatial technologies, could feel...

All Change:State of the Map Conference returns to UK after 6 years

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 07:45:32 -0500

All Change:State of the Map Conference returns to UK after 6 years March 26, 2013 - OpenStreet Map's annual international conference will be in the UK after an absence of 6 years. Birmingham will host the event from 6th-8th September 2013 at Aston University's Business School. OpenStreetMap is transforming the way maps are made and used....

Key Deadlines are approaching for FOSS4G�13

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:11:13 -0500

It might feel like a long way off, but Maptember (the month formerly known as September: www.maptember.org) is fast approaching, and the key dates for ensuring your participation are perhaps nearer than you might think. As a community led event, the content for FOSS4G is driven by user submissions, which is then reviewed and voted on by the...

Open Source Geospatial Laboratory established at the University of Warwick, UK

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:27:39 -0500

23 Mar 2013 - We are pleased to announce the establishment of Open Source Geospatial Laboratory at the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. The laboratory is one of the members of a worldwide network developed under the auspices of the ICA-OSGeo Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). In 2011,...

OpenGeo’s Eddie Pickle to Speak at Open Analytics Summit

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:52:02 -0500

Presentation on The Value of Commercial Open Source Software New York, New York, March 21, 2013 — Eddie Pickle, CEO of OpenGeo is scheduled to speak at the Open Analytics DC Summit on March 25th. Mr. Pickle's presentation, entitled "The Value of Open Source Software" will discus how open source software offers substantial value to...

This Is Why Government Should Use Open Formats

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 05:04:48 -0500

The Sunlight Foundation chimed in on an Ohio Supreme Cout decision covered at All Points Blog last week. While the decision was about an open records law, Tom Lee believes the decision supports the use of open data formats.

FOSS4G keynote speakers are announced

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:31:20 -0500

11th March 2013 - The Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) conference, the premier international conference focused on open source geospatial software, is fast approaching. The conference will be taking place in Nottingham, UK from 17th – 21st September 2013). It is therefore with great pleasure that OSGeo is able to announce four...

Insurance Assocation Starts Up GIS for Holliston and other Government GIS News

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:33:57 -0500

The Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association has awarded Holliston, MA a $10,000 grant to implement a GIS. The Association provides the town with property and causuality insurance. PeopleGIS will do the implentation; I expect the company will use its open source-based SimpliCITY solution. - MetroWest Daily News Johnson County, WY Commissioners update local...

Pan-European open data available online from EuroGeographics

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 09:57:10 -0500

8th March 2013 New pricing and licensing package to improve access to authoritative data: Data compiled from national mapping supplied by 45 European countries and territories can now be downloaded for free at www.eurogeographics.org. From today (8 March 2013), the 1:1 million scale topographic dataset, EuroGlobalMap will be...

CIO Thinks like Startup CEO and other Government GIS News

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 08:39:18 -0600

Jonathan Feldman is the chief information officer for the city of Asheville, NC. He keeps computer networks and technology working for both staffers and citizens. And, he thinks of his team as a startup. He encourages testing and piloting to see what works. For instance, GIS analysts in his department tried a small pilot project with city brush truck drivers. Just by...

GIS and Geospatial Stories I’m Reading - 3/4/13

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 08:27:07 -0600

Keeping an Eye on Online Test-Takers Cost of online proctoring? $15-$90. A whole new biz! #edtech How Google And Bing Maps Control What You Can See The latest on satellite imagery/aerial imagery censorship A Real-Time Map of the Odds on Where the Next Pope Will Come From Why? My guess? "Because we can." Interactive Map: Voucher Schools Teaching...

LocalData: A Toolkit for Geodata Collection from Code for America

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 08:15:10 -0600

All sorts of formal and informal organizations need to collect location-related data including nonprofits, cities, and community groups. They might use the data to enhance environmental causes, support political campaigns, map local assets, or perform fundraising. But, the data collection itself can be a challenge. The Knight Foundation is supporting LocalData, a Code for...

FedGeoDay: Advocating for Open Source

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 03:07:22 -0600

FedGeoDay, held in Washington, D.C. this past week, can best be described as an advocacy forum for open source geospatial technology and data. Some of the leading organizations, government agencies and companies invested in open source tech sponsored the conference. Editor in Chief Joe Francica attended this first-time event, which drew over 250 people....

CloudMade Updates Offerings for the Next Four Years

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:51:00 -0600

In a detailed blog post at CloudMade lays out keys milestones frome the past four years and introduces three new mapping platform offerings. The last news I reported from Cloudmade was about its in-game sponsoring platform, Zigi in Oct 2012. That was, from what I understood, the plan for a pivot away from mapping. Either I misunderstood the plan or the plan changed. It sure...

GiS and Geospatial Stories I’m Reading - 2/25/13

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:29:37 -0600

Nokia opens up Here platform with an eye to the future Google Maps birdhouses provide shelter, navigational aid for winged travelers Wife wins divorce after map-reading row Nominate foss4g Projects for Open Source for America Awards; past winner: OpenLayers Physical keyboard bubbles up when needed on touch-screen device Researchers Pinpoint...