2008-04-27T19:45:14Z

Wiki-Pcreso: /* People interested in participating */

There is an official [[Public Geospatial Data Committee|official foundation committee]] page which provides more detail on meetings and discussions.

== Mission ==

=== Promote the use of open geospatial formats ===
Providing best-practise guidelines and examples for use of open and free standards for data (GML, WMS, WFS-T) and metadata (Dublin Core, RDF, ISO19115 through ISO19139).

=== Promote public access to state-collected geodata ===

Lead by example in demonstrating economic value and research activity generated by open access to public geographic information.

=== Run a repository of open geodata ===
A [[Geodata_Repository]] shall be hosted by the PGDP.
Additionally, links to other open data repostories shall be collected.

=== Present and explain licenses for public geodata ===
The PGDP aims to collect licenses suitable for the publishing of public geodata. The license shall be presented along with a summary of its benefits and focus.

== Approach ==

After a [[Public Geospatial Data Committee Definition Phase|Definition phase]] this has become an official [[Committees|committee]] within [[Main Page|OSGeo]].

=== Working Groups ===

At the [[Geodata Committee Meeting 20060322|first meeting of the geodata committee]] we decided to focus interest through three [[Working Groups]]:

* A [[Geodata Discovery Working Group]] which would focus on indexing and search of data and metadata repositories.
* A [[Geodata Packaging Working Group]] to look at creation and maintanance of really high quality and rich data packages to offer for educational purposes with software packages, with [[GRASS GIS]] in particular.
* A [[Geodata Licensing Working Group]] to look into parallel licensing developments and to consult on guidelines for open licenses for geodata.

=== Mailing List ===

There is a public mailing list and [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/geodata/ archive] for discussion of geodata activities within OSGeo at http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/geodata.

=== Meetings ===

This group is having regular meetings on IRC on the #osgeo channel on irc.freenode.net. At the moment this is happening on Thursdays at 16:00 UTC. [http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?year=2006&month=4&hour=16&min=0&sec=0 fixed time]

See the [[Public Geospatial Data Committee|Geodata Committee]] page for more details on past meetings and upcoming agendas.

=== People interested in participating ===

* David Bitner
* Allan Doyle
* Florian Kindl
* Pericles S. Nacionales
* Markus Neteler
* [[User:JoWalsh|Jo Walsh]]
* [[User:Uchoa|Helton Uchoa]]
* Aaron Racicot - Ecotrust - aaronr at ecotrust.org
* Daniel Brookshier
* Schuyler Erle
* Jeff McKenna (DM Solutions)
* Steve Coast
* Mikel Maron
* Alessandro Frigeri
* David Blasby
* [[User:kevinyam| Kevin Yam]]
* [[User:putler|Dan Putler]]
* [[User:Arnulf Christl|Arnulf Christl]]
* Ned Horning
* [[User:Nhv|Norman Vine]]
* Colin Gowens
* [[User:smaffulli|Stefano Maffulli]]
* [[User:fbiasi|Frank Biasi]]
* [[User:Ticheler|Jeroen Ticheler]]
* Stefan Keller
* [[User:Dsampson|Dave Sampson]]
* [[User:kablukiw|Kevin Ward]]
* [[User:JoCook|Jo Cook]]
* Nick Black
* [[User:Mloskot|Mateusz Loskot]]
* [[User:Mspott|Martin Spott]]
* David Jonglez
* [[User:dandye|Daniel Dye]]
* [[User:MaksimS|Maksim Sestic]]
* [[User:milovanderlinden|Milo van der Linden]]
* [[User:ominiverdi|Lorenzo Becchi]]
* [[User:rduivenvoorde|Richard Duivenvoorde]]
* Artem Pavlenko
* [[User:kgjenkins|Keith Jenkins]]
* [[User:chorner|Cory Horner]]
* [[User:vdb|François Van Der Biest]]
* [[User:Fsc7|Felipe Costa]]
* Brent Wood
* ''Please add yourself''

=== Organizations to beneficially connect with ===

* [http://www.eogeo.org EOGEO]
* [http://www.openstreetmap.org/ OpenStreetMap Project]
* [http://www.gsdi.org GSDI Association]
* [http://topp.openplans.org The Open Planning Project]
* [http://www.fgdc.gov Federal Geographic Data Committee]
* [http://www.opengeospatial.org Open Geospatial Consortium]
* [http://www.upct.org/ Un point c'est tout]
* [http://civicaccess.ca/ CivicAccess]

=== Events ===

Events where we can either promote our positions or are likely to run into like-minded individuals.

* [http://www.asia-commons.net/ Asian Conference on the Digital Commons - April 18-20, 2006, Bangkok, Thailand]
* [http://conferences.oreillynet.com/where2006/ Where 2.0 - June 13-14, 2006, San Jose, California, USA]
* [http://www.foss4g2006.org/ FOSS4G2006 - Free And Open Source Software for Geoinformatics - September 12-15, 2006, Lausanne, Switzerland]

== References ==

=== Geo Data Repositories / Group Collection Projects ===
* [http://www.findgis.com FindGIS - Florida City, County & Goverment Agency GIS Data Download & FTP Sites]
* [http://www.openstreetmap.org/ OpenStreetMap Project]
* [http://freeearthfoundation.com/ Free Earth Foundation]
* [http://geobase.ca/ Canadian Base Data]
* [http://geotorrent.org/ Various Free Datasets via Bittorrent]
* [http://geodatacommons.umaine.edu/ GeodataCommons project at U. Maine]
* [http://www.iscgm.org/cgi-bin/fswiki/wiki.cgi Global Map] - International Steering Committee for Global Mapping
* [http://www.geonames.org Geonames.org] - Geonames is integrating geographical data such as names, altitude, population and others from various sources
* [http://www.geo-one-stop.gov/ Geospatial One Stop]
* [http://gcmd.nasa.gov/index.html Global Change Master Directory]
* [http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/cons.geo.portal Conservation GeoPortal]
* [http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/ USDA:NRCS Geospatial Data Gateway] - Lots of good imagery
* [http://www.fao.org/geonetwork FAO-UN GeoNetwork portal to spatial data and information]
* [http://geodata.grid.unep.ch UNEP GEO Data Portal] - more than 500 different variables, as national, subregional, regional and global statistics or as geospatial data sets

=== Geo Data Repository & Policy Research ===

* [http://www.findgis.com FindGIS - Florida City, County & Goverment Agency GIS Data Download & FTP Sites]
* [http://geodatacommons.umaine.edu/CGDPlone University of Maine Commons for Geographic Data]
* [http://www.metrogis.org MetroGIS] [http://datafinder.org Datafinder] Twin Cities, MN Metro Area Public Agency Data Sharing Effort (includes section on benefits/testimonials from public geodata)
* [http://www.gis.state.mn.us MN Governor's Council on Geographic Information]
* [http://www.oasisnyc.org New York City Open Accessible Space Information System]
* [http://www.mass.gov/mgis Massachusetts GIS]

On the [[Geodata Repository]] page, a draft outline for OSGeo's own repository project is being prepared.

=== Geo Data Policy Advocacy ===
* [http://www.publicgeodata.org/ Public Geodata Project] (IRC: [irc://freenode/publicgeodata publicgeodata]) with the support of the Open Knowledge Foundation
* [http://okfn.org/geo/manifesto.php Open Access to State-Collected Geospatial Data Manifesto]
* [http://www.freeourdata.org.uk/ Free Our Data: Make taxpayers' data available to them] (United Kingdom)

=== Open Access ===
There are also more general open access movements, often aimed at scientific data, that could provide a venue for broadening awareness of the geo-specific issues.

* [http://oa.mpg.de/openaccess-golm/index.html Berlin 4 Open Access - From Promise to Practice - March 29-31, 2006 Golm, Germany]
* [http://oa.mpg.de/openaccess-berlin/berlindeclaration.html Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities]
* [http://www.conservationcommons.org/ Conservation Commons] - "The Conservation Commons is characterized by an underlying set of Principles which supports open access to, and in particular the fair use of, data and information related to the conservation of biodiversity."
* [http://www.locusforums.org/forum/ The Locus Forum] - "The Locus Association is a trade association of private organisations working to increase opportunities and reduce barriers to fair trade between the public and private sector, particularly in the use of Public Sector Information."
* [http://ppgis.iapad.org/ Public Participation GIS] - "

=== Geodata formats ===
* [[Geodata formats]] Discussion

== Further Reading ==
* [http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1736751,00.html Ordnance Survey challenged to open up] - 2006-03-23 article in the Guardian
* [http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1726229,00.html Give us back our crown jewels] - 2006-03-09 article in the Guardian
* [http://www.directionsmag.com/article.php?article_id=2107&trv=1 Why Europe Needs to Provide its Own Public Geodata ] by Jo Walsh (Feb 15, 2006)
* [http://www.systemed.net/blog/entry060311122655.html ShareAlike considered harmful for geodata] by Richard Fairhurst, a critique of GPL-like licensing situations with suggested LGPL-like model for distribution.
* "Open Source Software for Spatial Data Infrastructure (FOSSDI)". SDIC submitted 2005 to INSPIRE/EU. [http://mpa.itc.it/markus/papers/sdic_call_fossdi.pdf PDF with layout] | [http://inspire.jrc.it/ir/sdic_view_step1_only.cfm?id=2163 HTML without layout]
* [http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/270/ Open Networks and Open Society: The Relationship between Freedom, Law, and Technology] - MIT World video featuring Hal Abelson, John Wilbanks, Creative Commons
* [http://www.metrogis.org/documents/articles/index.shtml Articles] [http://www.metrogis.org/benefits/testimonials/index.shtml Testimonials] [http://www.metrogis.org/benefits/studies/index.shtml Studies] [http://www.metrogis.org/benefits/perf_measure/index.shtml Performance Measures] about [http://www.metrogis.org Metrogis], a collaboration for GIS data sharing in the Twin Cities, MN, USA

[[Category:Public Geospatial Data Committee]]

Public Geospatial Data Project

2008-04-27T19:44:03Z

Wiki-Pcreso: /* People interested in participating */

There is an official [[Public Geospatial Data Committee|official foundation committee]] page which provides more detail on meetings and discussions.

== Mission ==

=== Promote the use of open geospatial formats ===
Providing best-practise guidelines and examples for use of open and free standards for data (GML, WMS, WFS-T) and metadata (Dublin Core, RDF, ISO19115 through ISO19139).

=== Promote public access to state-collected geodata ===

Lead by example in demonstrating economic value and research activity generated by open access to public geographic information.

=== Run a repository of open geodata ===
A [[Geodata_Repository]] shall be hosted by the PGDP.
Additionally, links to other open data repostories shall be collected.

=== Present and explain licenses for public geodata ===
The PGDP aims to collect licenses suitable for the publishing of public geodata. The license shall be presented along with a summary of its benefits and focus.

== Approach ==

After a [[Public Geospatial Data Committee Definition Phase|Definition phase]] this has become an official [[Committees|committee]] within [[Main Page|OSGeo]].

=== Working Groups ===

At the [[Geodata Committee Meeting 20060322|first meeting of the geodata committee]] we decided to focus interest through three [[Working Groups]]:

* A [[Geodata Discovery Working Group]] which would focus on indexing and search of data and metadata repositories.
* A [[Geodata Packaging Working Group]] to look at creation and maintanance of really high quality and rich data packages to offer for educational purposes with software packages, with [[GRASS GIS]] in particular.
* A [[Geodata Licensing Working Group]] to look into parallel licensing developments and to consult on guidelines for open licenses for geodata.

=== Mailing List ===

There is a public mailing list and [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/geodata/ archive] for discussion of geodata activities within OSGeo at http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/geodata.

=== Meetings ===

This group is having regular meetings on IRC on the #osgeo channel on irc.freenode.net. At the moment this is happening on Thursdays at 16:00 UTC. [http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?year=2006&month=4&hour=16&min=0&sec=0 fixed time]

See the [[Public Geospatial Data Committee|Geodata Committee]] page for more details on past meetings and upcoming agendas.

=== People interested in participating ===

* David Bitner
* Allan Doyle
* Florian Kindl
* Pericles S. Nacionales
* Markus Neteler
* [[User:JoWalsh|Jo Walsh]]
* [[User:Uchoa|Helton Uchoa]]
* Aaron Racicot - Ecotrust - aaronr at ecotrust.org
* Daniel Brookshier
* Schuyler Erle
* Jeff McKenna (DM Solutions)
* Steve Coast
* Mikel Maron
* Alessandro Frigeri
* David Blasby
* [[User:kevinyam| Kevin Yam]]
* [[User:putler|Dan Putler]]
* [[User:Arnulf Christl|Arnulf Christl]]
* Ned Horning
* [[User:Nhv|Norman Vine]]
* Colin Gowens
* [[User:smaffulli|Stefano Maffulli]]
* [[User:fbiasi|Frank Biasi]]
* [[User:Ticheler|Jeroen Ticheler]]
* [[User:pcreso|Brent Wood]]
* Stefan Keller
* [[User:Dsampson|Dave Sampson]]
* [[User:kablukiw|Kevin Ward]]
* [[User:JoCook|Jo Cook]]
* Nick Black
* [[User:Mloskot|Mateusz Loskot]]
* [[User:Mspott|Martin Spott]]
* David Jonglez
* [[User:dandye|Daniel Dye]]
* [[User:MaksimS|Maksim Sestic]]
* [[User:milovanderlinden|Milo van der Linden]]
* [[User:ominiverdi|Lorenzo Becchi]]
* [[User:rduivenvoorde|Richard Duivenvoorde]]
* Artem Pavlenko
* [[User:kgjenkins|Keith Jenkins]]
* [[User:chorner|Cory Horner]]
* [[User:vdb|François Van Der Biest]]
* [[User:Fsc7|Felipe Costa]]
* ''Please add yourself''

=== Organizations to beneficially connect with ===

* [http://www.eogeo.org EOGEO]
* [http://www.openstreetmap.org/ OpenStreetMap Project]
* [http://www.gsdi.org GSDI Association]
* [http://topp.openplans.org The Open Planning Project]
* [http://www.fgdc.gov Federal Geographic Data Committee]
* [http://www.opengeospatial.org Open Geospatial Consortium]
* [http://www.upct.org/ Un point c'est tout]
* [http://civicaccess.ca/ CivicAccess]

=== Events ===

Events where we can either promote our positions or are likely to run into like-minded individuals.

* [http://www.asia-commons.net/ Asian Conference on the Digital Commons - April 18-20, 2006, Bangkok, Thailand]
* [http://conferences.oreillynet.com/where2006/ Where 2.0 - June 13-14, 2006, San Jose, California, USA]
* [http://www.foss4g2006.org/ FOSS4G2006 - Free And Open Source Software for Geoinformatics - September 12-15, 2006, Lausanne, Switzerland]

== References ==

=== Geo Data Repositories / Group Collection Projects ===
* [http://www.findgis.com FindGIS - Florida City, County & Goverment Agency GIS Data Download & FTP Sites]
* [http://www.openstreetmap.org/ OpenStreetMap Project]
* [http://freeearthfoundation.com/ Free Earth Foundation]
* [http://geobase.ca/ Canadian Base Data]
* [http://geotorrent.org/ Various Free Datasets via Bittorrent]
* [http://geodatacommons.umaine.edu/ GeodataCommons project at U. Maine]
* [http://www.iscgm.org/cgi-bin/fswiki/wiki.cgi Global Map] - International Steering Committee for Global Mapping
* [http://www.geonames.org Geonames.org] - Geonames is integrating geographical data such as names, altitude, population and others from various sources
* [http://www.geo-one-stop.gov/ Geospatial One Stop]
* [http://gcmd.nasa.gov/index.html Global Change Master Directory]
* [http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/cons.geo.portal Conservation GeoPortal]
* [http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/ USDA:NRCS Geospatial Data Gateway] - Lots of good imagery
* [http://www.fao.org/geonetwork FAO-UN GeoNetwork portal to spatial data and information]
* [http://geodata.grid.unep.ch UNEP GEO Data Portal] - more than 500 different variables, as national, subregional, regional and global statistics or as geospatial data sets

=== Geo Data Repository & Policy Research ===

* [http://www.findgis.com FindGIS - Florida City, County & Goverment Agency GIS Data Download & FTP Sites]
* [http://geodatacommons.umaine.edu/CGDPlone University of Maine Commons for Geographic Data]
* [http://www.metrogis.org MetroGIS] [http://datafinder.org Datafinder] Twin Cities, MN Metro Area Public Agency Data Sharing Effort (includes section on benefits/testimonials from public geodata)
* [http://www.gis.state.mn.us MN Governor's Council on Geographic Information]
* [http://www.oasisnyc.org New York City Open Accessible Space Information System]
* [http://www.mass.gov/mgis Massachusetts GIS]

On the [[Geodata Repository]] page, a draft outline for OSGeo's own repository project is being prepared.

=== Geo Data Policy Advocacy ===
* [http://www.publicgeodata.org/ Public Geodata Project] (IRC: [irc://freenode/publicgeodata publicgeodata]) with the support of the Open Knowledge Foundation
* [http://okfn.org/geo/manifesto.php Open Access to State-Collected Geospatial Data Manifesto]
* [http://www.freeourdata.org.uk/ Free Our Data: Make taxpayers' data available to them] (United Kingdom)

=== Open Access ===
There are also more general open access movements, often aimed at scientific data, that could provide a venue for broadening awareness of the geo-specific issues.

* [http://oa.mpg.de/openaccess-golm/index.html Berlin 4 Open Access - From Promise to Practice - March 29-31, 2006 Golm, Germany]
* [http://oa.mpg.de/openaccess-berlin/berlindeclaration.html Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities]
* [http://www.conservationcommons.org/ Conservation Commons] - "The Conservation Commons is characterized by an underlying set of Principles which supports open access to, and in particular the fair use of, data and information related to the conservation of biodiversity."
* [http://www.locusforums.org/forum/ The Locus Forum] - "The Locus Association is a trade association of private organisations working to increase opportunities and reduce barriers to fair trade between the public and private sector, particularly in the use of Public Sector Information."
* [http://ppgis.iapad.org/ Public Participation GIS] - "

=== Geodata formats ===
* [[Geodata formats]] Discussion

== Further Reading ==
* [http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1736751,00.html Ordnance Survey challenged to open up] - 2006-03-23 article in the Guardian
* [http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1726229,00.html Give us back our crown jewels] - 2006-03-09 article in the Guardian
* [http://www.directionsmag.com/article.php?article_id=2107&trv=1 Why Europe Needs to Provide its Own Public Geodata ] by Jo Walsh (Feb 15, 2006)
* [http://www.systemed.net/blog/entry060311122655.html ShareAlike considered harmful for geodata] by Richard Fairhurst, a critique of GPL-like licensing situations with suggested LGPL-like model for distribution.
* "Open Source Software for Spatial Data Infrastructure (FOSSDI)". SDIC submitted 2005 to INSPIRE/EU. [http://mpa.itc.it/markus/papers/sdic_call_fossdi.pdf PDF with layout] | [http://inspire.jrc.it/ir/sdic_view_step1_only.cfm?id=2163 HTML without layout]
* [http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/270/ Open Networks and Open Society: The Relationship between Freedom, Law, and Technology] - MIT World video featuring Hal Abelson, John Wilbanks, Creative Commons
* [http://www.metrogis.org/documents/articles/index.shtml Articles] [http://www.metrogis.org/benefits/testimonials/index.shtml Testimonials] [http://www.metrogis.org/benefits/studies/index.shtml Studies] [http://www.metrogis.org/benefits/perf_measure/index.shtml Performance Measures] about [http://www.metrogis.org Metrogis], a collaboration for GIS data sharing in the Twin Cities, MN, USA

[[Category:Public Geospatial Data Committee]]

Australia

2007-01-30T09:28:24Z

Wiki-Pcreso:

== Australian Chapter Mailing List ==
Go to http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/australia to subscribe or change subscription options. Discussion of OSGeo issues specific to Australia will be done on this list.

== Brainstorming ==
This page is meant as a place to put down ideas for the formation of an Australian OSGeo chapter.

== Interested? ==
''Put you name / wiki account down below to show support moving forward,

Chris Tweedie [[User:ctweedie |(ctweedie)]] 
Geospatial Specialist 
Department of Land Information, WA 

Tim Bowden 
Mapforge Geospatial 
Perth, WA 

Angus Scown [[User:Angusscown | (Angusscown)]] 
Spatial Data eXchange 
Brisbane, QLD 

Shoaib Burq [[User:sab| (sab)]] 
nomad labs Pty. Ltd. 
Melbourne, VIC 

Cameron Shorter [[User:camerons| (camerons)]] 
Geospatial Portals Manager, http://terrapages.com.au/ 
Sydney, NSW 

Jacob Delfos [[User:jacob_delfos|(jacob_delfos)]] 
GIS Analyst 
Maunsell Australia Pty Ltd 
Perth, Australia 

Brendon Ward [[User:bward|(bward)]] 
GIS Analyst 
CSIRO Marine 
Hobart, Australia 

Rob Atkinson [[User:Roba|(bward)]] 
Principal Consultant 
Social Change Online 
Sydney, Australia 

Rad Lazic [[User:SpatialCivil|(SpatialCivil)]] 
Principal Consultant 
Spatial Civil 
Melbourne, Australia 

Milton Lofberg [[User:lofberm|(lofberm)]] 
GIS Technical Consultant 
Autodesk 
Sydney, Australia 

Antti Roppola [[User:antti|(antti)]] 
IT Architect 
Bureau of Rural Sciences 
Canberra, Australia 

Kimberlee Weatherall [[User:kim|(kim)]] 
Law Lecturer/Intellectual Property Specialist 
Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture 
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia 

Kim Hawtin[[User:ahoc|(adhoc)]] 
University of Adelaide 
Adelaide, Australia

Brent Wood[[User:pcreso|(pcreso)]] 
NIWA 
Wellington, New Zealand 

== Steps to create an Australian OSGeo Chapter ==
Here are my thoughts [[User:tbowden | (Tim Bowden)]] on what has to be done to get an Australian Chapter of OSGeo up and running. Feel free to edit ferociously where needed;

Following the [http://osgeo.org/content/chapters/guidelines.html Local Chapter Guidelines] we need to address the following
issues;
* '''''Chapter Roles'''''
# ''Provide member networking opportunities for support and job opportunities''
#* An active mailing list, chapter wiki and occasional face to face events should answer this need
#* Forums also provide an excellent source of community support
#* Documentation pages where you can share you experiences, tips and traps installing/running OSGeo software
# ''Software Internationalization and Localization''
#* Anything to be done here for Australia (& NZ?)
#* Some resources could be useful here, for example proj4 parameters for local projections (NAD grids for NZMG/NZTM)[http://wiki.nomad-labs.dyndns.org/melbmap/published/Australian+Projections (e.g. from Melb. Mapserver User Group's Wiki]
# ''Development of prototype applications to demonstrate Open Source geospatial capabilities to local and regional audiences''
#* There are already a number of publicly available applications (wms/wfs mainly?) that are using osgeo software. Perhaps a web page pointing to them that details what software is being used in each would be a good start.
# ''Software Packaging and Customization for local and regional needs''
#* I can't see a need for Packaging or customisation for Australia. Possibly one of the biggest regional needs I can think of is pointers to free local geospatial data. Anyone got anything else?
#* LiveCD's with FOSS GIS tools & local data?
# ''Training, Support and Development of e-Learning Contents in local languages''
#* English local enough <grin>? As far as hands on training goes, that's firmly in the hands of local contractors responding to client demand.
# ''Support Open standards and Open access to geospatial data in region''
#* Supporting Open Standards and Open acces to geospatial data is a sine qua non for OSGeo, so our chapter should publicly support this position. Previous comments about lack of formal OSGeo policy on the issue of open access to geospatial data are incorrect (thanks Arnulf).
# ''Promoting OSGeo and enhancing visibility in various forums''
#* We could look at getting an article in the local GIS print media from time to time. This should probably be driven by the contractors earning a living off GeoFOSS.
* '''''Chapter Responsibilities'''''
# ''"OSGeo Chapter" officially represents OSGeo and is formally recognized as OSGeo Project.''
# ''"OSGeo Chapter" must support the OSGeo Mission and Objectives of OSGeo.''
#* 1 & 2 require that we conduct our business with the appropriate level of equanimity and circumspection with regard to the stated goals of OSGeo. We should have a formal system of oversight of positions publicly held or stated by our chapter; Perhaps as simple as ensuring that any statements/ web content are checked by several committee members before being made "public" or official.
# ''"OSGeo Chapter" must hold regular meetings (at least annual) and provide annual report of activities to chapter membership and OSGeo Board.''
#* Australia being what it is, I'm expecting that most meetings will be virtual; probably irc with an annual face to face meeting of some sort.
# ''"OSGeo Chapter" will not entail any financial commitment from or on-behalf of OSGeo. OSGeo will also not provide any budget assistance to the "OSGeo Chapter".''
#* So if we want to spend money we have to find it ourselves. Isn't that always the way of the world? I don't think we're going to need much anyway, at least until we get enough members to look at hosting our own conf, but that's a long way off.
# ''"OSGeo Chapter" is encouraged develop and maintain "Directory Listing" of companies, people, universities and organizations involved with or using OSGeo projects.''
#* Easy to start, hard to keep up to date but worthwile anyway. At the very least a wiki page should get us started here.
# ''"OSGeo Chapter" must strive at networking with organizations to enlist participation and support for OSGeo.''
#* So what organisations should we network with? [http://www.spatialsciences.org.au/ SSI], [http://www.gita.org.au/ GITA], any others?
#* University Departments (members with close ties to their local Uni's can encourage the use of OSS in GIS/Geomatics/Surveying/Geography/Archeology courses). Melbourne guys could talk to [http://www.gs.rmit.edu.au/ RMIT] & [http://www.geom.unimelb.edu.au/ MelbUni]
#* Other collaborative OSGeo based initiatives like [http://www.seegrid.csiro.au/ Seegrid]
#* Are we restricted to links only to OSGEO related sites, or other FOSS GIS related sites? [eg: PostGIS is not (yet) OSGEO, neither is QGIS, etc]
# ''OSGeo reserves the right to terminate its relation with an "OSGeo Chapter" if OSGeo has reasons to believe that the activities of the "OSGeo Chapter" are contrary or detrimental to the Mission and Objectives of OSGeo.''
#* Can't see that we'll have a problem here.
* '''''Chapter Benefits'''''
# ''"OSGeo Chapter" is permitted to use OSGeo Logo and other branded resources for promoting the Mission and Objectives of OSGeo.''
#* To what extent can chapter members use the OSGeo Logo and branding? As far as I'm aware, that's still an open issue of OSGeo. I'd like to see it resolved sooner rather than later.
# ''OSGeo will provide necessary infrastructure to promote communication and visibility of "OSGeo Chapter". The infrastructure will include mailing list, hosting of wiki pages, domain service for "OSGeo Chapter".''
#* Should suit us. I don't think we're going to need anything too fancy. The simpler the better. Let's not set ourselves up with anything that will lead to an onerous maintenance burden. After all, no one's paying the bills; It's all volunteer work.
* '''''Chapter Formation'''''
# ''"OSGeo Chapter" should self-organize (for instance in the OSGeo wiki, via OSGeo mailing list, etc), seeking to determine if a critical mass of interest exists to justify a chapter.''
#* Well, the self-organisation is happening, let's see how many put their hands up to do the hard yards. I'd like to think we will have a critical mass of interest and activity.
# ''"OSGeo Chapter" should prepare a mission and objectives indicating the scope of the planned chapter (geographic or linquistic extent for instance).''
#* Can't we just lift the OSGeo Mission statement and add "... for Australia" to the end?
# ''"OSGeo Chapter" should propose an official representative to liaise with the OSGeo Board. If accepted by the board, the representative will be an officer of OSGeo. ''
#* Shouldn't be a problem.
# ''"OSGeo Chapter" should submit an official expression of interest to form a chapter to the OSGeo board, listing initial members, mission, representative, legal form (incorporated?) and other supporting information. ''
#* As far as legal form is concerned, until we look at running a conf of our own, we can probably get away with some sort of non-profit club type association. Anyone have any experience/recommendations here?
# ''The OSGeo board shall then consider passing a motion forming the chapter, and designating the liason officer.''
#* If we do our bit, we shouldn't have a problem.
* '''''Other issues to consider'''''
# ''Does the mandate (geographically or linguistically) conflict with other existing chapters or chapters-in-formation?''
#* No.
# ''Does the chapter appear to have sufficient interest to justify official formation''?
#* It's starting to look that way.
# ''Does the chapter appear to be open to broad membership, and representative of the target geographic or linguistic community? (eg. if a chapter had the objective to cover all Spanish speakers, it would be inappropriate if the only interest demonstrated was from one country)''
#* Given our Geographic focus we have interest from across the country. We need to work out what form our membership takes. Is there any reason we can't just duplicate the OSGeo membership model for our chapter?
# Any other issues?

== Startup Meeting ==

An Informal meeting will be held in Sydney on the evening of Tuesday 2nd Jan. 
Drinks at Phillips Foote 7.30pm 
101 George St 
The Rocks 
http://www.phillipsfoote.com.au/ 
(Meeting cancelled as per post to list)

Call Tim Bowden on 04 2316 7272 if you have any questions

=== Proposed informal meeting for Perth ===
Venue: Moon & Sixpence, Murray St (near William St), Perth 
Date: Wednesday 24th January, 7.00pm (Changed from 17th) 
All welcome. If you would like to come but the date is a problem, let me know (tim.bowden_at_westnet.com.au or 04 2316 7272); It's not fixed in concrete.

== LCA Open Day ==

We have been invited by the lca organisers (http://linux.conf.au) to hold an OSGeo stand at the lca open day on Thursday 18 Jan.
It runs from 3pm till 8pm. We need to organise some demos, and will have the opportunity for a 10 minute talk. There are expected to be about 400 people attending the open day. If you're interested in helping out, put your name down or contact tim.bowden_at_westnet.com.au

* Tim Bowden
* Cameron Shorter
* Milton Lofberg
* Pieter Steetsel

Details here: [[LCA Open Day]]

= outcome of discussions =
There was a lot of discussion at LCA2007 about the roles and functions that an Australian OSGeo chapter might provide. I will eventually try integrate them into the thoughts listed above:
* Facilitation - OSGeo Au has a role in linking people with common interests and issues. This includes people, technology and projects.
** Including broader contacts such as ASK-OSS, AGIMO, OSDM and others
* Strategy - OSGeo Au might formulate a strategy to progress the adoption of FOSS geospatial solutions (aka notes further up this page)
* Projects - Identify and progress discrete projects to promote and enhance the attractiveness of FOSS solutions
** Demonstration projects
** Reference Implementations & architectures. i.e. secure WFS proxy for corporate DMZ environments
** Contributions to existing software projects i.e. funding of further Geoserver enhancements
* Documentation - Collect and create case studies, reference implementations, business cases and other documentation required to implement FOSS solutions
** technical
** business/adminstrative

[[Category: Local_Chapters]]