https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Wiki-Punkish 2026-04-12T07:46:28Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.35.9 https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=FOSS4G_2012_Lessons_Learned&diff=80116 2014-09-19T21:19:20Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Loosing key LOC members */</p> <hr /> <div>The international FOSS4G 2012 conference, which was scheduled to be held in Beijing in Sept 2012, [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2012-July/010519.html was cancelled]. This has been a disappointing setback for our OSGeo community, and here I capture some of the key events which lead up to this cancellation, and with our hind site perspective, identify areas we can change to make future conferences more resilient and successful.<br /> <br /> This conversation started on the [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2012-August/thread.html OSGeo Conference email list], then moved to the [[FOSS4G 2012 Lessons Learned]] wiki page as ideas consolidated.<br /> <br /> The following discussion ground rules applied:<br /> * Avoid letting the discussion break into a witch hunt, or blame game. Remember that almost all people involved in FOSS4G 2012 were volunteers, giving of their precious time freely.<br /> * Instead, identify an event or decision, discuss the implications of the event, and ideally follow up with some recommendations on what we can do in future.<br /> <br /> ==Host City Selection==<br /> Prior to 2012, OSGeo's Conference Committee had agreed to a 3 year rotation for the location of FOSS4G conferences, which went:<br /> * Europe (2010)<br /> * North America (2011)<br /> * Rest of the world (2012)<br /> * Europe ...<br /> <br /> The bid process involves cities providing a light, 2 page, &quot;Letter of Intent&quot;, followed by a comprehensive bid if the &quot;Letter of Intent&quot; was approved. However by Letter of Intent deadline for FOSS4G 2012 there were [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2011-July/001285.html no Letters of Intent]. The deadline was extended, and Letters of intent were [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2011-July/001295.html received] from Rome (Europe), Prague (Europe), Hanoi (Asia), and a [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2011-July/001319.html late entry] from Beijing (Asia).<br /> <br /> This was [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2011-July/001339.html summarised] by OSGeo Conference chair,<br /> <br /> : What happened is that we did not receive any submissions before the initial deadline, and then we opened the bidding to all areas, and then we received 1 submission from the desired region and 2 from Europe, and then a second late submission from the desired region.<br /> <br /> : My opinion is that the stated desired region is in fact still the desired region, and that all OSGeo conference committee members should keep this information in their head as they vote. (meaning: all 4 letters are an option for this voting stage, but the preferred region is 'anywhere other than NA or Europe')<br /> <br /> In the end, only Prague [Europe] and Beijing [desired region] submitted a full FOSS4G bid, and when it came to a final vote, the OSGeo Conference committee [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2011-August/001394.html was] [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2011-August/001398.html split] between a bid from a more experienced team in Prague, and following OSGeo's established rotation with Beijing. In retrospect, we should have put more emphasis on selecting the experienced FOSS4G team.<br /> <br /> European and North American international FOSS4G events have traditionally attracted more delegates and sponsors, which makes these conferences:<br /> # More financially profitable<br /> # Less financially risky<br /> # Reach more people (although not necessarily reaching more regions)<br /> <br /> As we move forward, we may wish to favour selection of committees and cities with prior experience of holding local or regional FOSS4G events before being awarded an international event.<br /> <br /> ==Competing regional conferences==<br /> In 2011, major regional conferences started in both Europe and North America, which competed for international FOSS4G attendance, along with some FOSS4G conferences from the region. It was debated whether OSGeo should support and encourage these new regional conferences, knowing that they would have an [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2012-January/010015.html impact] on attendance at Beijing.<br /> <br /> As explained in a [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2011-October/001540.html post] by the Chair of the OSGeo Board: <br /> : From all that I can tell, now FOSS4G Beijing will become a local conference with support from &quot;OSGeo international&quot;. This and no more. It will not be the Global or World conference that FOSS4G was before because we will have a FOSS4G CEE and FOSS4G North America event (plus the regular local ones) in the same year. There is no chance at all that Beijing can attract the same vibrant global participation that we had at the last global FOSS4G conferences.<br /> : The question is not whether we will have a FOSS4G in Beijing or CEE or North America. From all that I can tell we will have them all. There is no reason (and probably no way) to stop the North American or CEE initiative or both. Instead it is great to see so much interest and momentum - and we would be stupid to stifle it.<br /> <br /> The competing regional conferences are listed [http://www.osgeo.org/event/2012/01/01/list/all/all here] and [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_History here].<br /> <br /> ==Local Organising Committee experience==<br /> <br /> ===Lack of Professional Conference Organiser===<br /> <br /> The Local Organising Committee (LOC) had teamed with a Professional Conference Organiser (PCO), starting from the bidding for the FOSS4G 2011 conference. However, it seems that at some point the PCO stopped helping with FOSS4G. The LOC were then unsuccessful in trying to sign up a new [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/foss4g2012/2012-July/000083.html PCO]. This was a significant setback for FOSS4G 2011, as PCO's bring significant experience in running a conference. They have experience with local venues and business, and they manage many of the day-to-day tasks which takes workload off the LOC.<br /> <br /> From what I can gather, the PCO were not contractually engaged with the PCO up front, which allowed them to disengage later. What are the lessons? The LOC should contractually engage with the PCO very early in the conference cycle, and OSGeo oversight should ensure this happens.<br /> <br /> ===Losing key LOC members===<br /> One of the key Chinese OSGeo community members, Professor Yu, passed away shortly after Beijing was awarded the conference. This was very unfortunate, both on a personal level, and organisation level.<br /> <br /> Loss of key committee members is reasonably common (although usually people step down for various reasons, rather than pass away). For instance, a key FOSS4G-Sydney evangelist, who promoted the Sydney event at prior FOSS4G conferences, stepped back and didn't attend Sydney's FOSS4G 2009. The original FOSS4G-Devar 2011 chair had to [http://geothought.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html stand down] for personal reasons shortly after the bid was accepted. These examples highlight the need for organizing committees to have strength in depth, and in particular to have a backup plan if the conference chair has to step down. This was a question that was asked of the Nottingham FOSS4G 2013 contenders, who have two backups to the conference chair, as well as a committee with strength in depth overall.<br /> <br /> ===Decision Making===<br /> A conference chair is asked to make many decisions related to the conference, and the majority of the time, there is no clear understanding about the benefits or downsides of each option. Usually the only sure thing is that not making a decision will be detrimental to the conference. Consequently, it is important for LOCs to become quick and efficient at analyzing possibilities and then making decisions.<br /> <br /> From what I can gather, the Beijing LOC would have benefited from being more efficient in making decisions. For instance, in mid-November 2012 the [http://live.osgeo.org OSGeo-Live] community asked the LOC to commit to distributing OSGeo-Live DVDs at the Beijing conference. The LOC took almost 3 months to [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/foss4g2012/2012-February/000014.html confirm they would support this]. Other conferences usually provide such confirmation within a week, often within a day or two.<br /> <br /> I suspect delays related to decisions would have contributed to schedule slipages. The lesson here is that LOC's should be structured and resourced such that they can make decisions efficiently. A prior conference chair extended this observation to note the importance of the conference chair:<br /> : [A key lesson is the] importance of an active LOC and even more importantly an active CHAIR. Committees don't move, they can't communicate, they can't move. People can, so an active CHAIR is the single critical ingredient. And the more that person in invested in both organizing and communicating the event, the better it will be.<br /> <br /> ===Schedule slip===<br /> As the deadline for the FOSS4G conference approached, there was significant [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2012-May/001763.html schedule slip] on key milestones, such as the ability to accept conference papers. This was providing a visible indication of some of the other issues listed in this analysis.<br /> <br /> I think the lesson here is quite simple. Make sure there is an appropriately resourced project manager responsible for managing the conference schedule. (This task is usually provided by a PCO).<br /> <br /> ===OSGeo Oversight===<br /> A second issue is that although OSGeo had identified concerns with FOSS4G Beijing's progress reasonably early, intervention from OSGeo was late in coming. A prior FOSS4G chair noted:<br /> : We need to put harder stops in place to short circuit failure. If you don't have a call for workshops out by February, [serious questions are asked, such as should the conference be cancelled?]. If you don't have $30K in sponsorship in place by April, [serious questions]. If you don't have a call for papers out by May, [serious questions]. This [FOSS4G 2012 conference] dragged out longer than it should of because there were no hard stop points.<br /> <br /> During the build up to FOSS4G Beijing, one of the key volunteers on OSGeo conference committee, who had previously been very active for personal reasons contributed much less (see also &quot;Loosing key LOC members&quot; above). This left a noticeable hole in the OSGeo conference committee which was not filled by another volunteer. The OSGeo Conference committee had previously provided checks on conferences, such as reviewing and approving the conference's budget and submitting to the OSGeo board for approval, however this didn't happen for the FOSS4G Beijing conference. <br /> <br /> What are the lesson's here? It may be that the critical role of approving finances should be covered by a paid position, funded by profits of FOSS4G conferences. Something like this was considered as described under the [[#No_mentor|No mentor]] section below.<br /> <br /> ===Is Failure Acceptable?===<br /> There has been discussion over the level of OSGeo Oversight that should be applied to a LOC. An OSGeo board member [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2012-August/001891.html noted]:<br /> : It is still desirable to give the local organizers quite a bit of freedom and that we should accept that occasional failure is not a disaster.<br /> Which a prior FOSS4G chair [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2012-August/001892.html responded] with:<br /> : On the contrary, I'd say that random failures are a disaster and will actually contribute to more failures. ...The success of a conference is tied to the perceived expectations. Throwing a conference is like throwing a party. Do you want to go to a lame party? No, you want to go to a rocking party. If PartyPete throws awesome parties every Thursday, you'll clear your schedule as next Thursday rolls around. If LameLou throws passable parties sometimes, and sometimes cancels them, you'll start going to PartyPete's instead. Consistency is very important.<br /> : The same thing will go double for sponsors: are you going to commit to early sponsorship and send a cheque to an event that was cancelled last year? Or will you hold on to your cheque until the last minute just in case? The uncertainty effect is going to make the financial situation of future conferences more precarious as sponsors and registrants hedge their bets until later in the calendar. This will only get worse if we embrace failure as an occasionally acceptable mode.<br /> <br /> I'd argue that while it may be ok to experiment with some fringe elements of a FOSS4G program, occasional failure of the international FOSS4G conference should be considered unacceptable.<br /> <br /> ===No mentor===<br /> A [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2011-November/009180.html proposal] was put to the OSGeo board, which was eventually approved, to have an experienced FOSS4G mentor support the Beijing Local Organising Committee. (A funded mentor was not provided to previous conferences). This proposal [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2012-January/009364.html fell through], and although some prior FOSS4G chairs were approached (and others?), a replacement mentor was not found.<br /> <br /> This left the Beijing FOSS4G LOC committee without some key expertise which could have been very valuable.<br /> <br /> What is the lesson here? I think this was a good idea which fell through, and is worth pursuing again in future.<br /> <br /> == Communication ==<br /> <br /> ===Language barrier===<br /> From what I understand, Beijing LOC were most comfortable speaking in Chinese, and had varying levels of experience with English. I observed that finding the right English words to support a conversation and convey important messages was a time consuming task, often involving decisions being made in Chinese, then translated to English. This communication overhead would have produced a significant workload on the LOC, who were already working on the difficult and time consuming task of running a FOSS4G conference.<br /> <br /> I believe this communication gap also contributed to many of the other symptoms discussed here. Slow communication between the LOC and community would have:<br /> * Contributed toward slow responses to community queries, hindering the international community contributing prior experience toward the LOC,<br /> * Slowed decisions from the LOC resulting in schedule slip,<br /> * Caused difficulties getting the quality control of the website correct,<br /> * and reduced marketing and communication to potential international delegates.<br /> <br /> ===Cultural Differences===<br /> I question whether cultural differences contributed to communication shortfalls. From my observations, it seems Chinese are more circumspect about sending public communication, often using face-to-face meetings, and waiting for review from a superior before making a public statement. This contrasts with open source communities I've observed, where many opinions are discussed publicly, both amongst senior and junior developers, until a rough consensus is reached.<br /> <br /> The OSGeo board representative to FOSS4G 2011 [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2012-August/001896.html noted]:<br /> : For a while I attempted to play [the FOSS4G board representative] role ... Also, while I was nominally involved, in practice there was never any discussion on any mailing list I was on ...<br /> : To me, a lesson of the Beijing effort is that it is hard to be involved remotely if the LOC won't communicate by email/irc/etc. I presume all the discussions that did happen were done by private email or in person but I was left with no visibility or ability to assist.<br /> <br /> ===Collective Knowledge===<br /> <br /> I believe our experience with this conference highlights how much of our collective FOSS4G knowledge is stored in volunteers' heads, and is passed between different events through our various communication channels. When we constrict information flow by introducing a language barrier, we have also constricted access to our knowledge on how to run a conference.<br /> <br /> A few suggestions on ways to address this include:<br /> # Collect our conference running knowledge in a central source, that can be handed on without the high level of communication currently being used. In particular, I'm suggesting starting to collect our processes in a [[FOSS4G Cookbook]] or similar.<br /> # Set up a permanent FOSS4G coordinator role (one person, or an international PCO, or similar) who are responsible for coordinating conferences and personally remembering lessons learned between conferences. (Note the risk of this person resigning and loosing all collected knowledge)<br /> # Additionally, ensure key members in the LOC can communicate fluently with the rest of the OSGeo community. In most cases at the moment, this would mean speaking fluently in English.<br /> <br /> ===Response to emails===<br /> <br /> There were a number of comments that I was privately CCed on which indicated that the international community were not receiving responses after emailing the LOC. Here are some examples:<br /> : As I've told you before it has been frustrating to me to not receive any feedback from the LOC on my offer to sponsor the event. I basically had the plan to come with my whole team (5 people now), but can't afford such investment considering the state the conference and participation levels are at now. In fact we have moved focus to the Nottingham event just after Beijing because it appears to be (1) better organized (but that may just appear like it due to the lack of communication from Beijing, (2) an audience that is of interest to [company name] and (3) cheaper / closer to home.<br /> <br /> Another from the [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/foss4g2012/2012-January/000006.html academic lead], who later stepped down:<br /> : ... [regarding email responses] from two &quot;important players&quot; I have had no feedback, namely from the local organizers and from OSGeo.<br /> <br /> I think the lesson here is that the LOC and PCO should be suitably motivated and resourced, and be provided with enough delegation to respond to all community queries promptly. Every query should be responded to within one working day, even if the response is &quot;we will have an answer to you after the LOC meets next week&quot;.<br /> <br /> ===Website out of date===<br /> A conference's website is the primary form of communication with potential delegates. For FOSS4G 2012, the website took an excessively long time to be developed and brought online, and then when it was brought online, it contained [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/foss4g2012/2012-February/000016.html incorrect information and broken links] (mainly [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/foss4g2012/2012-March/000018.html cut and paste from the prior FOSS4G website]). People were having significant issues with submitting papers and [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2012-June/001843.html registering to attend].<br /> <br /> The FOSS4G LOC had hired an external web developer to create the website, who had done a poor job of development. It seemed that there was a lack of quality control from both the web developer, and LOC. In the past, development of the website has either been managed by technically experienced developers (as was the case in 2009), or by the PCO.<br /> <br /> The lesson here is that the website needs to be made a priority and suitably resourced. There is the potential for website management software to be passed on from one conference to the next. (We considered this option in 2009 but found the Open Source conference management software used by FOSS4G 2008 was not going to integrate easily with the software our PCO was using). It would be worth future FOSS4G conferences revisiting this question.<br /> <br /> ===Minimal &quot;buzz&quot;===<br /> To a certain extent, a conference is successful because the LOC says it is going to be successful (and potential attendees and sponsors believe the statement). Presenters and sponsors attend the conference because they believe there will be lots of delegates, and delegates attend because they believe there will be lots of quality presenters and sponsors. And one of the most effective ways for everyone to be convinced of the conference's success is to create lots of &quot;buzz&quot;. I.e., lots of press releases, articles, blogs, twitter discussion and more talking about how good the conference is going to be.<br /> <br /> FOSS4G 2009 possibly went a little too far by putting out [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_2009_Press_Releases 41 press releases]. However, FOSS4G Beijing could certainly have benefited from more &quot;Buzz&quot;, as the OSGeo Board Chair [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2012-May/001763.html noted]:<br /> : on the website at http://2012.foss4g.org/ there is still no option for submitting abstracts although the submission has been opened - apparently without notice to any of the regular OSGeo channels. Workshops submission ends in two weeks.<br /> : No international speakers have been announced and there are only Chinese sponsors listed (although interest by regulars was documented as early as December 2012).<br /> <br /> ===Engaging international organisers===<br /> Compared to prior international FOSS4G events, there was minimal international involvement in organising the FOSS4G event. Of particular concern was that the international academic track lead [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2012-February/001646.html resigned], saying:<br /> : ... I regret [the LOC] did not fully support the setup I proposed. Specifically, the LOC insists on using their own deadlines and reviewing and publication plan. Of course they have every right to do so, because it is in fact their conference...<br /> <br /> There is a significant amount of work involved in organising a conference, and it is very valuable to share tasks with the international community. This has two key benefits:<br /> * It allows the LOC to focus on the local issues (like sorting out the venue)<br /> * It facilitates knowledge transfer between years, as roles like the Academic track lead are often coordinated by the same core people over a number of years.<br /> <br /> So lesson here is look for opportunities to make use of the international community to coordinate specific areas of the conference.<br /> <br /> ===Weekly meetings===<br /> Less than 3 months before FOSS4G 2012 was due, [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/foss4g2012/2012-June/000077.html weekly meetings] were started between volunteers from the international community and the LOC. I understand that the LOC were having meetings internally, but there was little visibility of them from the international community. The extra meetings facilitated transparency from the international community into the progress of the LOC, which in turn provided opportunities for the international community to volunteer to help. Eventually, with the help of these weekly meetings it was assessed that the level of effort required to bring the conference back on track, along with the likely outcome, resulted in a decision to cancel the conference.<br /> <br /> In retrospect, these meetings should have started much earlier, ideally from the start of the conference planning a year or so earlier such that support from the international community could have made a better impact in the earlier stages. So lesson hear is start having periodic meetings from early in the planning cycle, and invite the international community to participate if you can.<br /> <br /> =Who wrote the original version of this Lesson's Learned?=<br /> The telling of history is always influenced by the perspective of the narrator, and as such it is useful to know who the narrator was. This narration was by myself, [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Advocate#Cameron_Shorter Cameron Shorter]. I was the chair of FOSS4G 2009, I'm a member of the OSGeo Conference Committee, and I voted for FOSS4G 2012 to be held in Beijing. I helped volunteers add Chinese translations to the OSGeo-Live DVD, and commit to handing the DVD out at FOSS4G Beijing. I later attended weekly meetings with FOSS4G Beijing's LOC and other international volunteers, until it was decided by the LOC that the conference should be cancelled.<br /> <br /> [[Category: FOSS4G]]</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=User:Punkish&diff=79256 2014-08-13T23:32:46Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>{{#umSetParam: -122.4183|37.7750|San Francisco, CA|punkish|Puneet Kishor}}<br /> <br /> I am in TZ GMT-8<br /> <br /> for more details, see<br /> * http://punkish.org<br /> <br /> Research interests --<br /> * open source (e)<br /> * GIS (e)<br /> * social computing<br /> * collective decision-making (participatory GIS in this context)<br /> * traditional knowledge<br /> * rural (international) development (e)<br /> * diffusion of technology (e)<br /> <br /> (e) includes professional experience<br /> <br /> Worked in (alphabetically) --<br /> * Bolivia (World Bank project)<br /> * India (rural dev NGO, WB projects)<br /> * Trinidad and Tobago (ECLAC/Land Tenure project, WB project)<br /> * USA (WB, private GIS company)<br /> <br /> Worked at --<br /> * Development Alternatives, New Delhi<br /> * World Bank, Washington DC<br /> * GeoAnalytics, Madison, WI<br /> * Conservation International, Washington DC<br /> * Independent Consultant<br /> * University of Wisconsin-Madison<br /> * Currently at [http://creativecommons.org/staff#puneetkishor Creative Commons]</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=User:Punkish&diff=71737 2013-06-07T14:51:16Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>{{#umSetParam: -122.4183|37.7750|San Francisco, CA|punkish|Puneet Kishor}}<br /> <br /> I am in TZ GMT-8<br /> <br /> for more details, see<br /> * http://punkish.org<br /> <br /> Research interests --<br /> * open source (e)<br /> * GIS (e)<br /> * social computing<br /> * collective decision-making (participatory GIS in this context)<br /> * traditional knowledge<br /> * rural (international) development (e)<br /> * diffusion of technology (e)<br /> <br /> (e) includes professional experience<br /> <br /> Worked in (alphabetically) --<br /> * Bolivia (World Bank project)<br /> * India (rural dev NGO, WB projects)<br /> * Trinidad and Tobago (ECLAC/Land Tenure project, WB project)<br /> * USA (WB, private GIS company)<br /> <br /> Visited on work (besides the above, of course) --<br /> * Brazil (INPE)<br /> * Santiago de Chile<br /> * Ireland (IDI, Trinity College)<br /> * Italy (FAO)<br /> * Netherlands (ITC, TOOL, TU Delft)<br /> * UK (WCMC)<br /> <br /> Worked with --<br /> * Development Alternatives, New Delhi<br /> * World Bank, Washington DC<br /> * GeoAnalytics, Madison, WI<br /> * Conservation International, Washington DC<br /> * Independent Consultant<br /> * University of Wisconsin-Madison<br /> * Creative Commons</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Geoservices_REST_API&diff=70948 2013-05-10T14:01:13Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Signed */</p> <hr /> <div>This wiki page aims to collate community concerns related to the proposed acceptance of the &quot;Geoservices REST API&quot; becoming an OGC standard. It is being collaboratively edited, targeting completion before the end of May 2013.<br /> <br /> = Cover Letter from the OSGeo Board =<br /> ''Please don't edit this &quot;Cover Letter&quot; statement, which has been approved by the OSGeo Board.'' <br /> <br /> The board of the [http://osgeo.org Open Source Geospatial Foundation] (OSGeo) is presenting this letter to the OGC, which highlights concerns about the &quot;GeoServices REST API&quot; from many people within the OSGeo community. As always, if there is anything the OSGeo board can do to help, then please let us know.<br /> <br /> Signed: Jeff McKenna (OSGeo president), <br /> Peter Batty,<br /> Jáchym Čepický,<br /> Michael Gerlek,<br /> Anne Ghisla,<br /> Mark Lucas,<br /> Daniel Morissette,<br /> Cameron Shorter,<br /> Frank Warmerdam<br /> <br /> = Open Letter to OGC and voting members =<br /> <br /> ''Please don't edit this &quot;Open Letter&quot; statement, comments and discussion should go below.'' <br /> <br /> May 2013<br /> <br /> We, the undersigned, have concerns that approving the &quot;Geoservices REST API&quot; as an OGC standard, would have detrimental impacts on interoperability within the spatial industry.<br /> <br /> We strongly urge that the proposed &quot;Geoservices REST API&quot;, as it stands in May 2013, be rejected as an OGC standard.<br /> <br /> People have listed different reasons for concern. They are described below.<br /> <br /> == Signed ==<br /> ''Please add your name here if you agree with the above statement. Include name, work title (if appropriate), very brief title/involvement in OSGeo if appropriate. (Link to OSGeo profile if appropriate). You may sign as a group, such as the Project Steering Committee of XXX project if you wish, or as Your Name on behalf of YYY company.''<br /> <br /> # [[User:camerons|Cameron Shorter]], Geospatial Solutions Director at [http://lisasoft.com LISAsoft], core contributor &amp; coordinator of [http://live.osgeo.org OSGeo-Live], OSGeo Board member<br /> # [[Mark Lucas]], Founding member and board of directors for OSGeo foundation, Prinicipal Scientist for RadiantBlue Technologies Inc.<br /> # [[User:Woodbri|Stephen Woodbridge]], Director of [http://imaptools.com iMaptools.com], Contributor and/or PSC of [http://mapserver.org Mapserver], [http://pgrouting.org/ pgRouting], [http://www.pagcgeo.org/ PAGC], and [http://www.postgis.org/ PostGIS]<br /> # [[User:rouault|Even Rouault]], Geospatial developer, OSGeo Charter Member, core contributor and PSC member of [http://gdal.org GDAL/OGR], contributor of [http://mapserver.org Mapserver], [http://trac.osgeo.org/proj/ PROJ.4], [http://trac.osgeo.org/geotiff/ libgeotiff], [http://shapelib.maptools.org/ shapelib], [http://www.remotesensing.org/libtiff/ libtiff]<br /> # Gerhard Triebnig, Managing Director at [http://eox.at EOX IT Services GmbH]<br /> # [[User:pcreso|Brent Wood]], Environmental Information Delivery Programme Leader, NIWA, New Zealand. OGC member, Aust/NZ OSGEO chapter member, NZOSS Council member<br /> # [[User:Schpidi|Stephan Meissl]], CTO at [http://eox.at EOX IT Services GmbH], contributor to [http://mapserver.org Mapserver], PSC chair of [http://eoxserver.org EOxServer]<br /> # [[User:ticheler|Jeroen Ticheler]], Director of [http://geocat.net GeoCat], project founder and PSC chair of [http://geonetwork-opensource.org GeoNetwork opensource]<br /> # [[User:Just|Just van den Broecke]], Director at [http://www.justobjects.nl Just Objects], contributor to [http://heron-mc.org Heron Mapping Client], secretary of [http://osgeo.nl OSGeo Dutch Local Chapter], member at [http://www.opengeogroep.nl OpenGeoGroep]<br /> # [[User:milovanderlinden|Milo van der Linden]], member at [http://www.opengeogroep.nl OpenGeoGroep]<br /> # [[User:surveyor|Landon Blake]], GIS Department Manager/Land Surveyor at [http://www.ksninc.com KSN], OSGeo California Chapter Board Representative.<br /> # [[User:dmorissette|Daniel Morissette]], President at [http://mapgears.com/ Mapgears], core contributor and PSC member of [http://mapserver.org Mapserver] and [http://gdal.org GDAL/OGR]. Former OGC TC member and involved in the implementation of several OGC WxS services specs in MapServer.<br /> # [[User:blammo|Bob Basques]], GIS Systems Developer at the City of Saint Paul, MN. [http://gis.ci.stpaul.mn.us Public Works GIS (GISmo)], Technical Director at [http://www.sharedgeo.org SharedGeo], OSGeo Charter Member, OSGeo TCMUG local chapter member, Co-founder and PSC member of [http://www.geomoose.org GeoMoose] project.<br /> # [[User:vehrka|Pedro-Juan Ferrer Matoses]], PM at Omnium Strategic Intelligence, Spain, OSGeo Charter Member, OSGeo Spanish Local Chapter Liaison officer.<br /> # Bevan Rudge, Director Lucion Limited, IT Advisor at Conservation Strategy Fund, Esri client<br /> # [[User:Delawen|María Arias de Reyna]], software engineer at [http://geocat.net GeoCat], Spain, member of OSGeo Spanish Local Chapter.<br /> # [[User:Aghisla|Anne Ghisla]], OSGeo Board Member, Italy, member of OSGeo Italian Local Chapter.<br /> # [[User:Michogar|Micho Garcia]], Freelance and member of [http://geomati.co geomati.co], Spain, member of Spanish Local Chapter<br /> # [[User:Madi|Margherita Di Leo]], OSGeo Charter Member, Post-doctoral researcher at the European Commission, JRC, Italy<br /> # [[Jorge Sanz]], GIS Consultant at [http://www.prodevelop.es Prodevelop], OSGeo Charter Member, OSGeo Spanish Local Chapter Member, Spain<br /> # [[Pablo Sanxiao]], CTO and co-founder at [http://www.icarto.es iCarto], OSGeo Spanish Local Chapter Member, Spain<br /> # [[User:Fsteggink|Frank Steggink]], GIS software developer at [http://www.vicrea.nl Vicrea], The Netherlands, member of the Dutch Local Chapter<br /> # [[User:Olivier.courtin|Olivier Courtin]], [http://www.oslandia.com Oslandia] co-founder, core contributor or/and PSC member of [http://mapserver.org Mapserver] and [http://www.postgis.org/ PostGIS]. OGC TC member.<br /> # [[User:Bolosig|Wladimir Szczerban]], OSGeo Spanish Local Chapter Member, Spain<br /> # [[User:AnitaGraser|Anita Graser]], GIS specialist with AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, OSGeo Charter member and QGIS team member.<br /> # [[User:Vmische|Volker Mische]], geospatial software engineer, creator of GeoCouch<br /> # [[User:Ivansanchez|Iván Sánchez]], OSGeo Spanish Local Chapter Member, head of [http://www.openstreetmap.es OpenStreetMap Spain], [http://osmfoundation.org OpenStreetMap Foundation] member, [http://hot.openstreetmap.org/ Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team] member, [http://www.idee.es/ Spanish SDI working group] member<br /> # [[User:Gabi|Gabriel Carrión]], Strategy Manager at [http://www.gvsig.com gvSIG association]<br /> # [http://strk.keybit.net Sandro Santilli], OSGeo Charter Member, [http://postgis.net PostGIS] and [http://trac.osgeo.org/geos GEOS] PSC member and core hacker.<br /> # [[User:Javiarch|Javier Diaz]], member of Geoinquietos Bs As [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Category:Geoinquietos_Buenos_Aires], member of the Organizing Committee FOSS4G Bs As 2013 [http://www.foss4g-ba.org/]<br /> # [[User: JoCook|Jo Cook]], Consultant at [http://isharemaps.com| Astun Technology], former Director of OSGeo, Charter Member, founder of UK Local Chapter, Deputy Chair of [http://2013.foss4g.org| FOSS4G 2013]<br /> # [[User: Fpenarru | Francisco José Peñarrubia]], CTO and co-founder at [http://www.scolab.es SCOLAB]. Members of [http://www.gvsig.com gvSIG Association]<br /> # [[User: Ganesh|Shanmugam Ganeshkumar]], Director of [http://www.geoicon.com GeoICON], member OSGeo Malaysia Chapter<br /> # [[User:Barryrowlingson|Barry Rowlingson]], Senior Researcher, Lancaster University and Software Sustainability Institute Fellow<br /> # [[User: Sfkeller|Stefan Keller]], University of Applied Sciences, Rapperswil (Switzerland), Member of Swiss OSM (SOSM) and QGIS association and of organizing committees of pgConf.DE and FOSSGIS 2013, and member of eCH (e-government standards of Switzerland)<br /> # [[User: AndyBMapMan|Andrew Bailey]], OSGeo member, Astun Technology<br /> # [[User: Sanand|Suchith Anand]], OSGeo Charter member, OSGeo Education member, FOSS4G 2013 LOC member<br /> # [[User: krefftc|Carlos Krefft]], GIS software developer at [http://www.cstars.miami.edu CSTARS - University of Miami], OGC and OSGeo Member.<br /> # [[User:Steko|Stefano Costa]], OSGeo member, GFOSS.it member and former board member, Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali (Italy)<br /> # [[User:pebau|Peter Baumann]], [http://www.jacobs-university.de/lsis Jacobs University], OGC member, WCS.SWG chair, editor of 10+ specs (disclaimer: this is an expression of my personal opinion and not in any way endorsed by OGC)<br /> # [[User:pmbatty|Peter Batty]], CTO of Geospatial Division at [http://www.ubisense.net Ubisense], OSGeo board member, former CTO of [http://intergraph.com Intergraph] and [http://www.gedigitalenergy.com/gis.htm GE Smallworld], Technical Committee member of OGC in its formative years c 1995-97<br /> # [[User: BarendKobben | Barend K&amp;ouml;bben]], OSGEO Chartered Member, OSGeo.nl Dutch chapter treasurer, Senior Lecturer at [http://www.itc.nl ITC-University of Twente]<br /> # [[User: pcav | Paolo Cavallini]], [http://www.faunalia.it Faunalia], OSGeo member, GFOSS.it member and former president, QGIS-PSC<br /> # [[User: fthamura| FRans Thamura]], [http://www.osgeo.or.id Indonesia], OSGeo Indonesia, organizer]<br /> # [[User: Endofcap| Sanghee Shin]], Founder and CEO of [http://www.gaia3d.com Gaia3D], OSGeo Charter Member, Representative of [http://www.osgeo.kr OSGeo Korean Chapter], Chairman of Open Source GIS Alliance Korea<br /> # [[User: rentairo| Benni Purwonegoro]],Indonesia, IT-Spatial Engineer @ Geospatial Information Agency .<br /> # [[User: jachym| Jachym Cepicky]], Czech Republic, member of OSGeo Board of Directors<br /> # [[User: cappelaere| Pat Cappelaere]], Vightel Corporation<br /> # [[User: JuergenFischer|Jürgen Fischer]], norBIT GmbH, QGIS core developer<br /> # [[User: Maria|Maria Antonia Brovelli]], OSGeo Charter member, OSGeo Education member, GIS Professor and Vice Rector for the Como Campus at [http://www.polimi.it/en Politecnico di Milano], Italy<br /> # [[User:Nachouve |Nacho Varela]], GIS Consultant, OSGeo Spanish Local Chapter Member, Spain<br /> # [[User:vasile |Vasile Craciunescu]], OSGeo Charter member, OSGeo Romania Local Chapter Leader, Researcher at Romanian National Meteorological Administration, Romania<br /> # [[User:badaveil |Abbas Abdul Wahab]], Asst. Director, Federal Department of Town &amp; Country Planning, Peninsular Malaysia<br /> # [[User:rbraam | Roy Braam]], Software Engineer @ [http://www.b3partners.nl | B3Partners]<br /> # [[User:peteris | Peteris Bruns]], Latvia, GIS Consultant &amp; Software Engineer @ [http://www.sungis.lv | SunGIS]<br /> # [[User:Lutra | Giovanni Manghi]], Portugal, [http://www.faunalia.pt Faunalia], OSGeo member, OSGeo-Portugal<br /> # [[User:Hfpmartins | Hugo Martins]], UK, [http://www.lutraconsulting.co.uk Lutra Consulting], WebGIS Developer, OSGeo-Portugal Member<br /> # [[User:SGijzen | Sidney Gijzen]], The Netherlands, Researcher GIS @ [http://www.wageningenur.nl/en/Expertise-Services/Research-Institutes/alterra.htm Alterra, Wageningen UR]<br /> # [[User:mfidelman | Miles Fidelman]], US, Principal, Protocol Technologies Group, LLC<br /> # [[User:punkish | Puneet Kishor]], OSGeo Charter Member; [http://www.geology.wisc.edu Geology, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison]; [http://creativecommons.org/staff#puneetkishor Creative Commons]<br /> <br /> = Summary =<br /> As at May 2013, OGC members have been asked to decide whether to accept the &quot;GeoServices REST API&quot; as an OGC standard. This is a contentious issue, with many people arguing that introduction of the “GeoServices REST API” will have costly, far reaching, negative impacts on interoperability, and significantly tarnish the OGC's reputation as a champion of interoperability.<br /> <br /> The key points of contention revolve around the fact that the proposed &quot;GeoServices REST API&quot; does not build upon or extend existing OGC standards, but rather addresses similar requirements using an alternative API. In particular, the overlap and/or duplication of existing standards is widespread: OGC's core standards of WMS, WMTS, WFS, SE/SLD, WCS, CS/W are all duplicated to a significant extent. This defeats the purpose of having standards in the first place.<br /> <br /> Duplication of standards will likely result in a combination of the following:<br /> # The cost to application developers, systems integrators, testers and sponsors to support all relevant OGC standards will be substantially increased.<br /> # Consequently, organisations and/or applications may choose to only support one standard, or only support one standard fully.<br /> # Sponsors (such as governments) who require compliance with OGC standards will discover that applications don't communicate together, due to applications supporting different OGC standards that essentially do the same thing.<br /> # This will result in a diminished importance of OGC, as the &quot;OGC standards&quot; stamp of approval will not equate interoperability.<br /> # After a while, in order to solve interoperability issues, a respected international organisation or program will likely take the initiative to mandate one standard as the preferred standard for all agencies to follow. To date, the OGC has provided this leadership.<br /> # One standard taking prominance over the other will likely lead to the other being neglected or deprecated, resulting in many OGC compliant systems becoming legacy systems in the process. This should be considered an undesirable outcome for a standards organisation.<br /> <br /> = Analysis =<br /> ''This section is derived from an email from Adrian Custer, and has been singled out as he has provided a good technical summary of concerns: http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2013-May/011667.html.''<br /> <br /> ''Please don't update this section. Instead, forward corrections or suggestions to Adrian.''<br /> <br /> == General overview ==<br /> <br /> ; The pros:<br /> :* The OGC should be in the business of developing good standards, not of choosing which standards should be implemented.<br /> :* The proposers of the document want to make a standard and have followed all the rules of the consortium. The work of any such group of members deserves serious, good faith consideration.<br /> :* The need for an integrated suite of services using simple data, which is addressed (partially) by the document, is real. The proposed document is pushing the OGC on this issue.<br /> :* The proposed document could be useful to a number of people.<br /> :* The proposed document is not significantly more broken than the existing standards of the OGC. As an author of standards at the OGC, I know how totally impossible it is to write a good standard, so the weaknesses in the existing document seem more acceptable.<br /> <br /> ; The cons:<br /> <br /> :* The OGC is, de-facto, in the position of recommending the interoperable standards for geospatial services. The proposed document is not good enough, not widely enough implemented, and not publicly supported enough, to be considered at the same level as existing standards.<br /> :* Adopting a standard implies a desire to maintain the standard, but the desire to support this approach by the OGC membership is limited. The lack of collaboration on this version bodes ill for the future.<br /> :* The overlap in functionality between the proposed services and the existing services, notably with the ongoing work to modularize the existing services, is almost 100 percent. However, compatibility is low.<br /> :* There is already a published document: http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/geoservices-rest-spec.pdf so there is no need for the document to be adopted as an OGC Standard merely for interoperability with the ESRI implemetation.<br /> :* The document, as a new, separate effort, repeats mistakes which were made and since solved by the other services.<br /> :* The document focuses on the past (notably with backwards compatibility and use of only GET/POST) not on the future.<br /> :* The document needs a comprehensive editorial rewrite. (see at end)<br /> <br /> The problem for me, is that both simple answers are bad.<br /> <br /> A simple acceptance of the standard would introduce a new set of 'OGC approved' open services. The OGC approval might enable governments to buy a XXXX-new-name-here-XXXX solution instead of a W*S or a S*S solution. (On that, I am inclined to let them make their own mistakes.) The path forwards towards harmonizing the services is unclear. There is little good will towards the standard on behalf of the membership. Fixing this document in addition to fixing the W*S services will be a pain.<br /> <br /> Simply rejecting the solution would be bad for the OGC. It would place the OGC in the position of picking winners and losers in the standards business. It would mean that the OGC is stuck on the project of fixing the W*S standards to meet some nebulous future functionality without having any path to get there. It would discourage innovation and progress.<br /> <br /> ;Is there a third way?<br /> <br /> Well, actually, there is. The natural consequence of either decision is a renewed commitment towards trying to build this thing that we want, an integrated suite of simple services built using simple, well defined resources, accessible and usable using the core HTTP verbs, and discoverable through following links. That's the way forwards and why I have wasted a chunk of my life on WMS-Next.<br /> <br /> ==A Quick Critique of the proposed standard document==<br /> <br /> ===The name===<br /> <br /> The document currently uses a name that is confusing in all discussions on the matter, both internally at the OGC and externally.<br /> <br /> (Postnote: the Standards Working Group proposing the document agreed to accept proposals for new names; if they can find a good alternative, they may adopt it.)<br /> <br /> ===The design===<br /> <br /> The document does not show an overall, coherent design to the service suite. This is mostly because the design reflects a suite that [initially] evolved piecemeal at ESRI rather than one designed from the start to meet the needs of a broad swath of users. This is also due because the experts at the OGC did not contribute to an improved design for a multitude of reasons.<br /> <br /> The design of the service which does exist is focused on yesteryear. As an apology for the existing design, section~6.2.2 of part 1, Core says that the only HTTP verbs used are GET and PUT because &quot;the API was originally developed several years ago&quot; but that's okay because it enables support for &quot;Microsoft Silverlight&quot; and &quot;Adobe Flex&quot; two standards which are dying rapidly. In 2013, a new standard ought to be focused on the next 10 years not the past ten.<br /> <br /> ===The writing===<br /> <br /> The document is poorly written.<br /> <br /> ====The document is poorly introduced====<br /> <br /> The document should start with a discussion of the overall design of the suite of services and what each individual service provides within that suite. This would make it easy for a user to understand the focus of the suite. (The note between requirements~3 and requirement~4, stating that the spec makes no requirements on clients, is really part of the scope of the document and should be front and center.)<br /> <br /> The document instead starts with a whole section on REST.<br /> <br /> : 1. Scope<br /> : The GeoServices REST API provides a standard way for web clients to communicate with geographic information system (GIS) servers based on Representational State Transfer (REST) principles.<br /> <br /> The scope claims that the document identifies resources and a way to use &quot;structured URLs&quot; to exchange those resources between clients and services. If that were true, I would expect<br /> : (1) a list of resources at least as an example, and<br /> : (2) an example of the structure and structuring principles of the URLs.<br /> <br /> Section~6 stats this process. Section~6.1 introduces the concept of a root URL for each service and mixes in that that root URL is also a catalog and that the hierarchy offers resources. This all happens in a single, overly compact paragraph. This section needs an editorial rewrite for clarity separating<br /> : (1) the end point,<br /> : (2) the catalog,<br /> : (3) the URL hierarchy,<br /> : (4) the resources, and<br /> : (5) interaction of clients with the URLs through the exchange (get/post) of the resources to the different URLs.<br /> <br /> Unfortunately, section~6 then decays into a meandering discussion of REST which mentions the buzzword a lot but does not discuss the aspects of REST design that have been met by the suite and those that have not. If REST is a form of design which offers certain benefits, OGC standards should be discussing the benefits achieved not the buzz word. To what extent are the resources cachable and how do clients and servers agree on that? To what extent are the endpoints and actions on those endpoints discoverable, and how? Those are the issues of RESTful design.<br /> <br /> Section~6.3 discusses Resources but immediately then states:<br /> <br /> : Each resource has a unique URL. Resources MAY support parameters.<br /> <br /> which is a discussion of the URL hierarchy. (And 'Resources' do not 'support parameters'! Services may 'handle requests containing parameters' if that is what is meant.) Then the standard introduces a new idea 'Controller Resources' which are able to 'edit' and 'query'!? A web search does not reveal any formal discussion of 'Controller Resource' so this new type of resource probably deserves some kind of formal introduction.<br /> <br /> Section~6.3.3 is not really about resources but the fact that the URL hierarchy is not discoverable from the Resources themselves.<br /> <br /> Section~6.3.4 does give a list of resources, but since 'image' is not part of it but will be used by the Service for Map Images, I surmise that the list is of the things 'we have designed a JSON representation for' rather than a list of 'the resources identified and exchanged in the service suite' which is what I expect in an introductory design.<br /> <br /> This introduction therefore needs a substantial editorial rewrite to be effective in its goal of explaining what the suite of standards actually does.<br /> <br /> This criticism is not limited to the core document.<br /> <br /> The Service for Maps document also starts without setting out the five core elements (end pt, catalog?, URL hierarchy, resources, and interactions).<br /> <br /> Section~6 of the Service for Maps part, in the middle of the second paragraph, introduces a new concept, with capitalized letters:<br /> <br /> : The Map Service Root resource includes a tables property ...<br /> <br /> without giving us any clue what this is. It &quot;provides basic information&quot; (perhaps it is a data structure?) but it also &quot;supports several operations&quot; (maybe it's a magical 'Controller Resource'). To me, this just reads as 'the authors of the spec are confused and imprecise in their written language'.<br /> <br /> Then, in the figure of 'Resources,' there is actually a resource called 'All layers and tables'. Sorry, but this reader needs some real help to understand what that resource might be.<br /> <br /> ==== The document requirements are poor ====<br /> <br /> The very first requirement, Requirement~1 of the Core document, states:<br /> <br /> : Req 1 If a request uses the HTTP GET method, the processing of the request by the service SHALL be safe and idempotent as specified by RFC 2616, 9.1.<br /> <br /> This is a *ridiculous* requirement, completely untestable, and explicitly what the Mod Spec should be preventing with its attempt to require all injunctive language to be accompanied by formal tests. The formal test indeed shows that the requirement is untestable.<br /> <br /> : Inspect the documentation of the implementation to identify, if requests specified in the GeoServices REST API standard that support the HTTP GET method, are all safe and idempotent, i.e. free of side- effects, as specified in HTTP (RFC 2616, section 9.1). Alternatively, ask the developer of the the service.<br /> <br /> : Note that it is not possible to run automated tests against a service to verify conformance with the requirement (and IETF provides no test for conformance with HTTP either). In the absence of such tests, a statement of the developers of the service is sufficient indication that the requirement was addressed.<br /> <br /> So essentially this requirement is met if the developers say 'yeah, we thought about it.' In other words, requirement 1 of the whole shebang is a recommendation. Contrast this with requirement 2 which has a nice test defined for it and is a good, solid requirement.<br /> <br /> Again, broadening the critique to the Services for Maps, its first requirement states:<br /> <br /> : Req 1 The Map Service Root resource SHALL accept requests that conform to the URI template in Table and use any HTTP method identified in the same table.<br /> <br /> but the test is then completely irrelevant. At the protocol level, all web services 'shall accept' request messages, so we are not discussing that. A functional test for this 'shall accept' is to construct all valid requests and see that the service never returns an exception to those requests. Even worse, the first test is a catch all 'please test the service here' test. This is *not* a well written specification of the tests for the injunctions of the Service for Maps.<br /> <br /> The requirements need a complete, systematic review to see that they work, they are testable, and have good tests.<br /> <br /> ==== The document has numerous other issues which need resolution ====<br /> <br /> * There is no discussion of the overlap of the f= parameter and of the HTTP format header. What happens if they conflict?<br /> * The lack of full integration of the four core HTTP verbs, notably DELETE and PUT, exists merely for backwards compatibility not for forwards progress.<br /> * Requirement~3 blocks forwards progress and experimentation with no explanation as to its importance.<br /> * This goes on and on. This is the work for an EDITOR. I am not interested in doing that work.<br /> <br /> = Further Concerns =<br /> --- DRAFT ____<br /> <br /> ''Please add concerns as bullet points below. Try to be concise. Where appropriate, link to external web pages (such as email achieves)''<br /> <br /> == Political Concerns ==<br /> <br /> * Adopting the standard will expose the OGC to a strong suspicion of acting as a rubber stamp organization under ESRI weight, and will be detrimental to its recognized position as a reference organization for geospatial standards.<br /> * It is a dubious practice that a standardization organisation promotes competing standards, without explicitely obsoleting (or at least recommending) some of them. How is a newcomer to the industry supposed to select the appropriate standard if several ones share the same scope : WFS or GeoServices REST API Feature Service, WMS or GeoServices REST API Map Service, etc. ?<br /> <br /> == Commercial Concerns ==<br /> <br /> * Promoting standards from an existing implementation made by a single vendor leads to an obvious bias in competition.<br /> * Supporting multiple overlapping standards greatly reduces usability while it increases complexity and cost of development and maintenance.<br /> * Many SME's have invested in supporting existing OGC standards in their products. They will be forced to choose the standards they support (and can explain), resulting in decreased interoperability, confusion and frustration for clients.<br /> * Confusing customers with new, overlapping OGC standards will lower the credibility of companies and of OGC, reducing business opportunities.<br /> <br /> == Technical Concerns ==<br /> <br /> * The Geoservices REST API overlaps in large proportion with existing OGC standards such as WMS, WCS, WFS, WMTS, CSW, with no effort made to reconcile with those standards.<br /> * The standardization of WKT for Spatial reference systems is unfortunately currently quite weak in OGC standards. Geoservices REST API is tied with ESRI's version of WKT, which is not properly specified in the Geoservices REST API documents, and is known to be incompatible with other OGC documents, which will lead to a larger confusion. See the following [http://lists.opengeospatial.org/pipermail/requests/2012-July/000166.html comment] for more details on this issue.<br /> * The Geoservices REST API is not particularly RESTful - it's a thinly disguised service call, not an address space for RESTful objects that can be operated on.<br /> * At least as far as &quot;imagery&quot; is concerned, OGC standards arguably are substantially more mature, powerful, flexible, and modular then the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; Part 6 (and some design principles suggest that scalability may be hampered as well):<br /> ** data model:<br /> *** the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; appears constrained to 2-D imagery, plus optional time stamps. OGC has established a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coverage_data unified coverage model] which fully supports n-D spatio-temporal data. It allows use and exchange of coverages between different services, such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Coverage_Service WCS], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Coverage_Processing_Service WCPS], WPS, and SWE.<br /> *** OGC coverages support both regular and irregular grids; the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; supports only regular grids, more specifically: only rectified grids with quadrilateral pixels.<br /> *** the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; lacks support for temporal data; it only offers timestamps, measured in milliseconds; this is inconvenient for users and immediately excludes, e.g., geological dates. OGC has established uniform handling of horizontal, vertical, and temporal coordinate reference systems (CRSs), following a deep consensus process with GIS science and backwards compatible with EPSG. The ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; specific way of handling coordinates is not known to support this, thereby excluding appropriate timeseries handling in remote sensing, air traffic, MetOcean, etc.<br /> *** OGC coverages provide a concise, versatile model for supporting different binary formats; the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; supports only very few selected 2-D formats, excluding, e.g., JPEG2000, NetCDF, HDF, etc.<br /> *** the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; lacks a clear model of their data structures, it can be deduced only implicitly from the operation mechanics.<br /> ** service model:<br /> *** The ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; Part 6 lacks conciseness, thereby opening up ways for implementations that are not interoperable. For developers of alternative implementations this may mean they have to acquire ESRI licenses for finding out the intended behavior.<br /> *** Functionality in the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; appears randomly chosen, with no clear concept visible; this burdens implementers while still leaving holes of functionality. For example, this functionality appears restricted to mapping applications and does not easily extend into other domains.<br /> *** It has been said that the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; can be seen as a &quot;wrapper around OGC W*S&quot; services. This is not true for WCS (and WCPS), at least: the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; Part 6 is too poor in functionality and too different in mechanics to accomplish this.<br /> ** In summary, the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; Imaging part is at a technological level where WCS departed from some 5 years ago. Inconciseness of the specification at large will make it difficult for third parties to come up with interoperable implementations. The components making up the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; provide natural blocks assignable to the matching SWGs. As for Part 6 of the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot;, if to become a standard it needs to be discussed in the WCS.SWG for harmonization, clarification, and improvement.<br /> <br /> == Methodological Concerns ==<br /> <br /> * No public response (nor private to the authors of the comments) has been made to the various comments sent on the OGC Requests mailing list in [[http://lists.opengeospatial.org/pipermail/requests/2012-July/date.html July 2012]] and [[http://lists.opengeospatial.org/pipermail/requests/2012-August/date.html August 2012]] during the 30 day public comments period.<br /> * The Geoservices REST API can not be amended (other than editorial changes in the specification document), because of a requirement of backward compatibility with ESRI implementation. Consequently, the standard is unlikely to improve, or its evolution will be only lead by ESRI.<br /> * OGC standards normally require interoperability experiments and a richer process to ratify a standard such as this one. No explanation has been forthcoming as to why a simplified process is appropriate in this case.<br /> * ESRI/OGC have specifically [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2013-May/011659.html rejected requests] to openly share their justifications document being selectively sent to OGC voters.<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> * Call for comments on GeoServices REST API: http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/requests/89<br /> * Email archive of OSGeo discussions about GeoServices REST API: http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2013-May/thread.html<br /> ** Adrian Custer's eloquent, unbiased, concise summary of the technical issues: http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2013-May/011667.html<br /> ** &quot;Is OGC Loosing its way?&quot;, letter to OGC Voters, from OGC Interoperability Movement Team Leaders, http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2013-May/011632.html<br /> <br /> [[Category: OGC]]<br /> [[Category: Standards]]</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Geoservices_REST_API&diff=70947 2013-05-10T13:59:35Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Signed */</p> <hr /> <div>This wiki page aims to collate community concerns related to the proposed acceptance of the &quot;Geoservices REST API&quot; becoming an OGC standard. It is being collaboratively edited, targeting completion before the end of May 2013.<br /> <br /> = Cover Letter from the OSGeo Board =<br /> ''Please don't edit this &quot;Cover Letter&quot; statement, which has been approved by the OSGeo Board.'' <br /> <br /> The board of the [http://osgeo.org Open Source Geospatial Foundation] (OSGeo) is presenting this letter to the OGC, which highlights concerns about the &quot;GeoServices REST API&quot; from many people within the OSGeo community. As always, if there is anything the OSGeo board can do to help, then please let us know.<br /> <br /> Signed: Jeff McKenna (OSGeo president), <br /> Peter Batty,<br /> Jáchym Čepický,<br /> Michael Gerlek,<br /> Anne Ghisla,<br /> Mark Lucas,<br /> Daniel Morissette,<br /> Cameron Shorter,<br /> Frank Warmerdam<br /> <br /> = Open Letter to OGC and voting members =<br /> <br /> ''Please don't edit this &quot;Open Letter&quot; statement, comments and discussion should go below.'' <br /> <br /> May 2013<br /> <br /> We, the undersigned, have concerns that approving the &quot;Geoservices REST API&quot; as an OGC standard, would have detrimental impacts on interoperability within the spatial industry.<br /> <br /> We strongly urge that the proposed &quot;Geoservices REST API&quot;, as it stands in May 2013, be rejected as an OGC standard.<br /> <br /> People have listed different reasons for concern. They are described below.<br /> <br /> == Signed ==<br /> ''Please add your name here if you agree with the above statement. Include name, work title (if appropriate), very brief title/involvement in OSGeo if appropriate. (Link to OSGeo profile if appropriate). You may sign as a group, such as the Project Steering Committee of XXX project if you wish, or as Your Name on behalf of YYY company.''<br /> <br /> # [[User:camerons|Cameron Shorter]], Geospatial Solutions Director at [http://lisasoft.com LISAsoft], core contributor &amp; coordinator of [http://live.osgeo.org OSGeo-Live], OSGeo Board member<br /> # [[Mark Lucas]], Founding member and board of directors for OSGeo foundation, Prinicipal Scientist for RadiantBlue Technologies Inc.<br /> # [[User:Woodbri|Stephen Woodbridge]], Director of [http://imaptools.com iMaptools.com], Contributor and/or PSC of [http://mapserver.org Mapserver], [http://pgrouting.org/ pgRouting], [http://www.pagcgeo.org/ PAGC], and [http://www.postgis.org/ PostGIS]<br /> # [[User:rouault|Even Rouault]], Geospatial developer, OSGeo Charter Member, core contributor and PSC member of [http://gdal.org GDAL/OGR], contributor of [http://mapserver.org Mapserver], [http://trac.osgeo.org/proj/ PROJ.4], [http://trac.osgeo.org/geotiff/ libgeotiff], [http://shapelib.maptools.org/ shapelib], [http://www.remotesensing.org/libtiff/ libtiff]<br /> # Gerhard Triebnig, Managing Director at [http://eox.at EOX IT Services GmbH]<br /> # [[User:pcreso|Brent Wood]], Environmental Information Delivery Programme Leader, NIWA, New Zealand. OGC member, Aust/NZ OSGEO chapter member, NZOSS Council member<br /> # [[User:Schpidi|Stephan Meissl]], CTO at [http://eox.at EOX IT Services GmbH], contributor to [http://mapserver.org Mapserver], PSC chair of [http://eoxserver.org EOxServer]<br /> # [[User:ticheler|Jeroen Ticheler]], Director of [http://geocat.net GeoCat], project founder and PSC chair of [http://geonetwork-opensource.org GeoNetwork opensource]<br /> # [[User:Just|Just van den Broecke]], Director at [http://www.justobjects.nl Just Objects], contributor to [http://heron-mc.org Heron Mapping Client], secretary of [http://osgeo.nl OSGeo Dutch Local Chapter], member at [http://www.opengeogroep.nl OpenGeoGroep]<br /> # [[User:milovanderlinden|Milo van der Linden]], member at [http://www.opengeogroep.nl OpenGeoGroep]<br /> # [[User:surveyor|Landon Blake]], GIS Department Manager/Land Surveyor at [http://www.ksninc.com KSN], OSGeo California Chapter Board Representative.<br /> # [[User:dmorissette|Daniel Morissette]], President at [http://mapgears.com/ Mapgears], core contributor and PSC member of [http://mapserver.org Mapserver] and [http://gdal.org GDAL/OGR]. Former OGC TC member and involved in the implementation of several OGC WxS services specs in MapServer.<br /> # [[User:blammo|Bob Basques]], GIS Systems Developer at the City of Saint Paul, MN. [http://gis.ci.stpaul.mn.us Public Works GIS (GISmo)], Technical Director at [http://www.sharedgeo.org SharedGeo], OSGeo Charter Member, OSGeo TCMUG local chapter member, Co-founder and PSC member of [http://www.geomoose.org GeoMoose] project.<br /> # [[User:vehrka|Pedro-Juan Ferrer Matoses]], PM at Omnium Strategic Intelligence, Spain, OSGeo Charter Member, OSGeo Spanish Local Chapter Liaison officer.<br /> # Bevan Rudge, Director Lucion Limited, IT Advisor at Conservation Strategy Fund, Esri client<br /> # [[User:Delawen|María Arias de Reyna]], software engineer at [http://geocat.net GeoCat], Spain, member of OSGeo Spanish Local Chapter.<br /> # [[User:Aghisla|Anne Ghisla]], OSGeo Board Member, Italy, member of OSGeo Italian Local Chapter.<br /> # [[User:Michogar|Micho Garcia]], Freelance and member of [http://geomati.co geomati.co], Spain, member of Spanish Local Chapter<br /> # [[User:Madi|Margherita Di Leo]], OSGeo Charter Member, Post-doctoral researcher at the European Commission, JRC, Italy<br /> # [[Jorge Sanz]], GIS Consultant at [http://www.prodevelop.es Prodevelop], OSGeo Charter Member, OSGeo Spanish Local Chapter Member, Spain<br /> # [[Pablo Sanxiao]], CTO and co-founder at [http://www.icarto.es iCarto], OSGeo Spanish Local Chapter Member, Spain<br /> # [[User:Fsteggink|Frank Steggink]], GIS software developer at [http://www.vicrea.nl Vicrea], The Netherlands, member of the Dutch Local Chapter<br /> # [[User:Olivier.courtin|Olivier Courtin]], [http://www.oslandia.com Oslandia] co-founder, core contributor or/and PSC member of [http://mapserver.org Mapserver] and [http://www.postgis.org/ PostGIS]. OGC TC member.<br /> # [[User:Bolosig|Wladimir Szczerban]], OSGeo Spanish Local Chapter Member, Spain<br /> # [[User:AnitaGraser|Anita Graser]], GIS specialist with AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, OSGeo Charter member and QGIS team member.<br /> # [[User:Vmische|Volker Mische]], geospatial software engineer, creator of GeoCouch<br /> # [[User:Ivansanchez|Iván Sánchez]], OSGeo Spanish Local Chapter Member, head of [http://www.openstreetmap.es OpenStreetMap Spain], [http://osmfoundation.org OpenStreetMap Foundation] member, [http://hot.openstreetmap.org/ Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team] member, [http://www.idee.es/ Spanish SDI working group] member<br /> # [[User:Gabi|Gabriel Carrión]], Strategy Manager at [http://www.gvsig.com gvSIG association]<br /> # [http://strk.keybit.net Sandro Santilli], OSGeo Charter Member, [http://postgis.net PostGIS] and [http://trac.osgeo.org/geos GEOS] PSC member and core hacker.<br /> # [[User:Javiarch|Javier Diaz]], member of Geoinquietos Bs As [http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Category:Geoinquietos_Buenos_Aires], member of the Organizing Committee FOSS4G Bs As 2013 [http://www.foss4g-ba.org/]<br /> # [[User: JoCook|Jo Cook]], Consultant at [http://isharemaps.com| Astun Technology], former Director of OSGeo, Charter Member, founder of UK Local Chapter, Deputy Chair of [http://2013.foss4g.org| FOSS4G 2013]<br /> # [[User: Fpenarru | Francisco José Peñarrubia]], CTO and co-founder at [http://www.scolab.es SCOLAB]. Members of [http://www.gvsig.com gvSIG Association]<br /> # [[User: Ganesh|Shanmugam Ganeshkumar]], Director of [http://www.geoicon.com GeoICON], member OSGeo Malaysia Chapter<br /> # [[User:Barryrowlingson|Barry Rowlingson]], Senior Researcher, Lancaster University and Software Sustainability Institute Fellow<br /> # [[User: Sfkeller|Stefan Keller]], University of Applied Sciences, Rapperswil (Switzerland), Member of Swiss OSM (SOSM) and QGIS association and of organizing committees of pgConf.DE and FOSSGIS 2013, and member of eCH (e-government standards of Switzerland)<br /> # [[User: AndyBMapMan|Andrew Bailey]], OSGeo member, Astun Technology<br /> # [[User: Sanand|Suchith Anand]], OSGeo Charter member, OSGeo Education member, FOSS4G 2013 LOC member<br /> # [[User: krefftc|Carlos Krefft]], GIS software developer at [http://www.cstars.miami.edu CSTARS - University of Miami], OGC and OSGeo Member.<br /> # [[User:Steko|Stefano Costa]], OSGeo member, GFOSS.it member and former board member, Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali (Italy)<br /> # [[User:pebau|Peter Baumann]], [http://www.jacobs-university.de/lsis Jacobs University], OGC member, WCS.SWG chair, editor of 10+ specs (disclaimer: this is an expression of my personal opinion and not in any way endorsed by OGC)<br /> # [[User:pmbatty|Peter Batty]], CTO of Geospatial Division at [http://www.ubisense.net Ubisense], OSGeo board member, former CTO of [http://intergraph.com Intergraph] and [http://www.gedigitalenergy.com/gis.htm GE Smallworld], Technical Committee member of OGC in its formative years c 1995-97<br /> # [[User: BarendKobben | Barend K&amp;ouml;bben]], OSGEO Chartered Member, OSGeo.nl Dutch chapter treasurer, Senior Lecturer at [http://www.itc.nl ITC-University of Twente]<br /> # [[User: pcav | Paolo Cavallini]], [http://www.faunalia.it Faunalia], OSGeo member, GFOSS.it member and former president, QGIS-PSC<br /> # [[User: fthamura| FRans Thamura]], [http://www.osgeo.or.id Indonesia], OSGeo Indonesia, organizer]<br /> # [[User: Endofcap| Sanghee Shin]], Founder and CEO of [http://www.gaia3d.com Gaia3D], OSGeo Charter Member, Representative of [http://www.osgeo.kr OSGeo Korean Chapter], Chairman of Open Source GIS Alliance Korea<br /> # [[User: rentairo| Benni Purwonegoro]],Indonesia, IT-Spatial Engineer @ Geospatial Information Agency .<br /> # [[User: jachym| Jachym Cepicky]], Czech Republic, member of OSGeo Board of Directors<br /> # [[User: cappelaere| Pat Cappelaere]], Vightel Corporation<br /> # [[User: JuergenFischer|Jürgen Fischer]], norBIT GmbH, QGIS core developer<br /> # [[User: Maria|Maria Antonia Brovelli]], OSGeo Charter member, OSGeo Education member, GIS Professor and Vice Rector for the Como Campus at [http://www.polimi.it/en Politecnico di Milano], Italy<br /> # [[User:Nachouve |Nacho Varela]], GIS Consultant, OSGeo Spanish Local Chapter Member, Spain<br /> # [[User:vasile |Vasile Craciunescu]], OSGeo Charter member, OSGeo Romania Local Chapter Leader, Researcher at Romanian National Meteorological Administration, Romania<br /> # [[User:badaveil |Abbas Abdul Wahab]], Asst. Director, Federal Department of Town &amp; Country Planning, Peninsular Malaysia<br /> # [[User:rbraam | Roy Braam]], Software Engineer @ [http://www.b3partners.nl | B3Partners]<br /> # [[User:peteris | Peteris Bruns]], Latvia, GIS Consultant &amp; Software Engineer @ [http://www.sungis.lv | SunGIS]<br /> # [[User:Lutra | Giovanni Manghi]], Portugal, [http://www.faunalia.pt Faunalia], OSGeo member, OSGeo-Portugal<br /> # [[User:Hfpmartins | Hugo Martins]], UK, [http://www.lutraconsulting.co.uk Lutra Consulting], WebGIS Developer, OSGeo-Portugal Member<br /> # [[User:SGijzen | Sidney Gijzen]], The Netherlands, Researcher GIS @ [http://www.wageningenur.nl/en/Expertise-Services/Research-Institutes/alterra.htm Alterra, Wageningen UR]<br /> # [[User:mfidelman | Miles Fidelman]], US, Principal, Protocol Technologies Group, LLC<br /> # [[User:punkish | Puneet Kishor]], OSGeo Charter Member; Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison; Creative Commons<br /> <br /> = Summary =<br /> As at May 2013, OGC members have been asked to decide whether to accept the &quot;GeoServices REST API&quot; as an OGC standard. This is a contentious issue, with many people arguing that introduction of the “GeoServices REST API” will have costly, far reaching, negative impacts on interoperability, and significantly tarnish the OGC's reputation as a champion of interoperability.<br /> <br /> The key points of contention revolve around the fact that the proposed &quot;GeoServices REST API&quot; does not build upon or extend existing OGC standards, but rather addresses similar requirements using an alternative API. In particular, the overlap and/or duplication of existing standards is widespread: OGC's core standards of WMS, WMTS, WFS, SE/SLD, WCS, CS/W are all duplicated to a significant extent. This defeats the purpose of having standards in the first place.<br /> <br /> Duplication of standards will likely result in a combination of the following:<br /> # The cost to application developers, systems integrators, testers and sponsors to support all relevant OGC standards will be substantially increased.<br /> # Consequently, organisations and/or applications may choose to only support one standard, or only support one standard fully.<br /> # Sponsors (such as governments) who require compliance with OGC standards will discover that applications don't communicate together, due to applications supporting different OGC standards that essentially do the same thing.<br /> # This will result in a diminished importance of OGC, as the &quot;OGC standards&quot; stamp of approval will not equate interoperability.<br /> # After a while, in order to solve interoperability issues, a respected international organisation or program will likely take the initiative to mandate one standard as the preferred standard for all agencies to follow. To date, the OGC has provided this leadership.<br /> # One standard taking prominance over the other will likely lead to the other being neglected or deprecated, resulting in many OGC compliant systems becoming legacy systems in the process. This should be considered an undesirable outcome for a standards organisation.<br /> <br /> = Analysis =<br /> ''This section is derived from an email from Adrian Custer, and has been singled out as he has provided a good technical summary of concerns: http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2013-May/011667.html.''<br /> <br /> ''Please don't update this section. Instead, forward corrections or suggestions to Adrian.''<br /> <br /> == General overview ==<br /> <br /> ; The pros:<br /> :* The OGC should be in the business of developing good standards, not of choosing which standards should be implemented.<br /> :* The proposers of the document want to make a standard and have followed all the rules of the consortium. The work of any such group of members deserves serious, good faith consideration.<br /> :* The need for an integrated suite of services using simple data, which is addressed (partially) by the document, is real. The proposed document is pushing the OGC on this issue.<br /> :* The proposed document could be useful to a number of people.<br /> :* The proposed document is not significantly more broken than the existing standards of the OGC. As an author of standards at the OGC, I know how totally impossible it is to write a good standard, so the weaknesses in the existing document seem more acceptable.<br /> <br /> ; The cons:<br /> <br /> :* The OGC is, de-facto, in the position of recommending the interoperable standards for geospatial services. The proposed document is not good enough, not widely enough implemented, and not publicly supported enough, to be considered at the same level as existing standards.<br /> :* Adopting a standard implies a desire to maintain the standard, but the desire to support this approach by the OGC membership is limited. The lack of collaboration on this version bodes ill for the future.<br /> :* The overlap in functionality between the proposed services and the existing services, notably with the ongoing work to modularize the existing services, is almost 100 percent. However, compatibility is low.<br /> :* There is already a published document: http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/geoservices-rest-spec.pdf so there is no need for the document to be adopted as an OGC Standard merely for interoperability with the ESRI implemetation.<br /> :* The document, as a new, separate effort, repeats mistakes which were made and since solved by the other services.<br /> :* The document focuses on the past (notably with backwards compatibility and use of only GET/POST) not on the future.<br /> :* The document needs a comprehensive editorial rewrite. (see at end)<br /> <br /> The problem for me, is that both simple answers are bad.<br /> <br /> A simple acceptance of the standard would introduce a new set of 'OGC approved' open services. The OGC approval might enable governments to buy a XXXX-new-name-here-XXXX solution instead of a W*S or a S*S solution. (On that, I am inclined to let them make their own mistakes.) The path forwards towards harmonizing the services is unclear. There is little good will towards the standard on behalf of the membership. Fixing this document in addition to fixing the W*S services will be a pain.<br /> <br /> Simply rejecting the solution would be bad for the OGC. It would place the OGC in the position of picking winners and losers in the standards business. It would mean that the OGC is stuck on the project of fixing the W*S standards to meet some nebulous future functionality without having any path to get there. It would discourage innovation and progress.<br /> <br /> ;Is there a third way?<br /> <br /> Well, actually, there is. The natural consequence of either decision is a renewed commitment towards trying to build this thing that we want, an integrated suite of simple services built using simple, well defined resources, accessible and usable using the core HTTP verbs, and discoverable through following links. That's the way forwards and why I have wasted a chunk of my life on WMS-Next.<br /> <br /> ==A Quick Critique of the proposed standard document==<br /> <br /> ===The name===<br /> <br /> The document currently uses a name that is confusing in all discussions on the matter, both internally at the OGC and externally.<br /> <br /> (Postnote: the Standards Working Group proposing the document agreed to accept proposals for new names; if they can find a good alternative, they may adopt it.)<br /> <br /> ===The design===<br /> <br /> The document does not show an overall, coherent design to the service suite. This is mostly because the design reflects a suite that [initially] evolved piecemeal at ESRI rather than one designed from the start to meet the needs of a broad swath of users. This is also due because the experts at the OGC did not contribute to an improved design for a multitude of reasons.<br /> <br /> The design of the service which does exist is focused on yesteryear. As an apology for the existing design, section~6.2.2 of part 1, Core says that the only HTTP verbs used are GET and PUT because &quot;the API was originally developed several years ago&quot; but that's okay because it enables support for &quot;Microsoft Silverlight&quot; and &quot;Adobe Flex&quot; two standards which are dying rapidly. In 2013, a new standard ought to be focused on the next 10 years not the past ten.<br /> <br /> ===The writing===<br /> <br /> The document is poorly written.<br /> <br /> ====The document is poorly introduced====<br /> <br /> The document should start with a discussion of the overall design of the suite of services and what each individual service provides within that suite. This would make it easy for a user to understand the focus of the suite. (The note between requirements~3 and requirement~4, stating that the spec makes no requirements on clients, is really part of the scope of the document and should be front and center.)<br /> <br /> The document instead starts with a whole section on REST.<br /> <br /> : 1. Scope<br /> : The GeoServices REST API provides a standard way for web clients to communicate with geographic information system (GIS) servers based on Representational State Transfer (REST) principles.<br /> <br /> The scope claims that the document identifies resources and a way to use &quot;structured URLs&quot; to exchange those resources between clients and services. If that were true, I would expect<br /> : (1) a list of resources at least as an example, and<br /> : (2) an example of the structure and structuring principles of the URLs.<br /> <br /> Section~6 stats this process. Section~6.1 introduces the concept of a root URL for each service and mixes in that that root URL is also a catalog and that the hierarchy offers resources. This all happens in a single, overly compact paragraph. This section needs an editorial rewrite for clarity separating<br /> : (1) the end point,<br /> : (2) the catalog,<br /> : (3) the URL hierarchy,<br /> : (4) the resources, and<br /> : (5) interaction of clients with the URLs through the exchange (get/post) of the resources to the different URLs.<br /> <br /> Unfortunately, section~6 then decays into a meandering discussion of REST which mentions the buzzword a lot but does not discuss the aspects of REST design that have been met by the suite and those that have not. If REST is a form of design which offers certain benefits, OGC standards should be discussing the benefits achieved not the buzz word. To what extent are the resources cachable and how do clients and servers agree on that? To what extent are the endpoints and actions on those endpoints discoverable, and how? Those are the issues of RESTful design.<br /> <br /> Section~6.3 discusses Resources but immediately then states:<br /> <br /> : Each resource has a unique URL. Resources MAY support parameters.<br /> <br /> which is a discussion of the URL hierarchy. (And 'Resources' do not 'support parameters'! Services may 'handle requests containing parameters' if that is what is meant.) Then the standard introduces a new idea 'Controller Resources' which are able to 'edit' and 'query'!? A web search does not reveal any formal discussion of 'Controller Resource' so this new type of resource probably deserves some kind of formal introduction.<br /> <br /> Section~6.3.3 is not really about resources but the fact that the URL hierarchy is not discoverable from the Resources themselves.<br /> <br /> Section~6.3.4 does give a list of resources, but since 'image' is not part of it but will be used by the Service for Map Images, I surmise that the list is of the things 'we have designed a JSON representation for' rather than a list of 'the resources identified and exchanged in the service suite' which is what I expect in an introductory design.<br /> <br /> This introduction therefore needs a substantial editorial rewrite to be effective in its goal of explaining what the suite of standards actually does.<br /> <br /> This criticism is not limited to the core document.<br /> <br /> The Service for Maps document also starts without setting out the five core elements (end pt, catalog?, URL hierarchy, resources, and interactions).<br /> <br /> Section~6 of the Service for Maps part, in the middle of the second paragraph, introduces a new concept, with capitalized letters:<br /> <br /> : The Map Service Root resource includes a tables property ...<br /> <br /> without giving us any clue what this is. It &quot;provides basic information&quot; (perhaps it is a data structure?) but it also &quot;supports several operations&quot; (maybe it's a magical 'Controller Resource'). To me, this just reads as 'the authors of the spec are confused and imprecise in their written language'.<br /> <br /> Then, in the figure of 'Resources,' there is actually a resource called 'All layers and tables'. Sorry, but this reader needs some real help to understand what that resource might be.<br /> <br /> ==== The document requirements are poor ====<br /> <br /> The very first requirement, Requirement~1 of the Core document, states:<br /> <br /> : Req 1 If a request uses the HTTP GET method, the processing of the request by the service SHALL be safe and idempotent as specified by RFC 2616, 9.1.<br /> <br /> This is a *ridiculous* requirement, completely untestable, and explicitly what the Mod Spec should be preventing with its attempt to require all injunctive language to be accompanied by formal tests. The formal test indeed shows that the requirement is untestable.<br /> <br /> : Inspect the documentation of the implementation to identify, if requests specified in the GeoServices REST API standard that support the HTTP GET method, are all safe and idempotent, i.e. free of side- effects, as specified in HTTP (RFC 2616, section 9.1). Alternatively, ask the developer of the the service.<br /> <br /> : Note that it is not possible to run automated tests against a service to verify conformance with the requirement (and IETF provides no test for conformance with HTTP either). In the absence of such tests, a statement of the developers of the service is sufficient indication that the requirement was addressed.<br /> <br /> So essentially this requirement is met if the developers say 'yeah, we thought about it.' In other words, requirement 1 of the whole shebang is a recommendation. Contrast this with requirement 2 which has a nice test defined for it and is a good, solid requirement.<br /> <br /> Again, broadening the critique to the Services for Maps, its first requirement states:<br /> <br /> : Req 1 The Map Service Root resource SHALL accept requests that conform to the URI template in Table and use any HTTP method identified in the same table.<br /> <br /> but the test is then completely irrelevant. At the protocol level, all web services 'shall accept' request messages, so we are not discussing that. A functional test for this 'shall accept' is to construct all valid requests and see that the service never returns an exception to those requests. Even worse, the first test is a catch all 'please test the service here' test. This is *not* a well written specification of the tests for the injunctions of the Service for Maps.<br /> <br /> The requirements need a complete, systematic review to see that they work, they are testable, and have good tests.<br /> <br /> ==== The document has numerous other issues which need resolution ====<br /> <br /> * There is no discussion of the overlap of the f= parameter and of the HTTP format header. What happens if they conflict?<br /> * The lack of full integration of the four core HTTP verbs, notably DELETE and PUT, exists merely for backwards compatibility not for forwards progress.<br /> * Requirement~3 blocks forwards progress and experimentation with no explanation as to its importance.<br /> * This goes on and on. This is the work for an EDITOR. I am not interested in doing that work.<br /> <br /> = Further Concerns =<br /> --- DRAFT ____<br /> <br /> ''Please add concerns as bullet points below. Try to be concise. Where appropriate, link to external web pages (such as email achieves)''<br /> <br /> == Political Concerns ==<br /> <br /> * Adopting the standard will expose the OGC to a strong suspicion of acting as a rubber stamp organization under ESRI weight, and will be detrimental to its recognized position as a reference organization for geospatial standards.<br /> * It is a dubious practice that a standardization organisation promotes competing standards, without explicitely obsoleting (or at least recommending) some of them. How is a newcomer to the industry supposed to select the appropriate standard if several ones share the same scope : WFS or GeoServices REST API Feature Service, WMS or GeoServices REST API Map Service, etc. ?<br /> <br /> == Commercial Concerns ==<br /> <br /> * Promoting standards from an existing implementation made by a single vendor leads to an obvious bias in competition.<br /> * Supporting multiple overlapping standards greatly reduces usability while it increases complexity and cost of development and maintenance.<br /> * Many SME's have invested in supporting existing OGC standards in their products. They will be forced to choose the standards they support (and can explain), resulting in decreased interoperability, confusion and frustration for clients.<br /> * Confusing customers with new, overlapping OGC standards will lower the credibility of companies and of OGC, reducing business opportunities.<br /> <br /> == Technical Concerns ==<br /> <br /> * The Geoservices REST API overlaps in large proportion with existing OGC standards such as WMS, WCS, WFS, WMTS, CSW, with no effort made to reconcile with those standards.<br /> * The standardization of WKT for Spatial reference systems is unfortunately currently quite weak in OGC standards. Geoservices REST API is tied with ESRI's version of WKT, which is not properly specified in the Geoservices REST API documents, and is known to be incompatible with other OGC documents, which will lead to a larger confusion. See the following [http://lists.opengeospatial.org/pipermail/requests/2012-July/000166.html comment] for more details on this issue.<br /> * The Geoservices REST API is not particularly RESTful - it's a thinly disguised service call, not an address space for RESTful objects that can be operated on.<br /> * At least as far as &quot;imagery&quot; is concerned, OGC standards arguably are substantially more mature, powerful, flexible, and modular then the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; Part 6 (and some design principles suggest that scalability may be hampered as well):<br /> ** data model:<br /> *** the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; appears constrained to 2-D imagery, plus optional time stamps. OGC has established a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coverage_data unified coverage model] which fully supports n-D spatio-temporal data. It allows use and exchange of coverages between different services, such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Coverage_Service WCS], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Coverage_Processing_Service WCPS], WPS, and SWE.<br /> *** OGC coverages support both regular and irregular grids; the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; supports only regular grids, more specifically: only rectified grids with quadrilateral pixels.<br /> *** the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; lacks support for temporal data; it only offers timestamps, measured in milliseconds; this is inconvenient for users and immediately excludes, e.g., geological dates. OGC has established uniform handling of horizontal, vertical, and temporal coordinate reference systems (CRSs), following a deep consensus process with GIS science and backwards compatible with EPSG. The ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; specific way of handling coordinates is not known to support this, thereby excluding appropriate timeseries handling in remote sensing, air traffic, MetOcean, etc.<br /> *** OGC coverages provide a concise, versatile model for supporting different binary formats; the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; supports only very few selected 2-D formats, excluding, e.g., JPEG2000, NetCDF, HDF, etc.<br /> *** the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; lacks a clear model of their data structures, it can be deduced only implicitly from the operation mechanics.<br /> ** service model:<br /> *** The ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; Part 6 lacks conciseness, thereby opening up ways for implementations that are not interoperable. For developers of alternative implementations this may mean they have to acquire ESRI licenses for finding out the intended behavior.<br /> *** Functionality in the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; appears randomly chosen, with no clear concept visible; this burdens implementers while still leaving holes of functionality. For example, this functionality appears restricted to mapping applications and does not easily extend into other domains.<br /> *** It has been said that the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; can be seen as a &quot;wrapper around OGC W*S&quot; services. This is not true for WCS (and WCPS), at least: the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; Part 6 is too poor in functionality and too different in mechanics to accomplish this.<br /> ** In summary, the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; Imaging part is at a technological level where WCS departed from some 5 years ago. Inconciseness of the specification at large will make it difficult for third parties to come up with interoperable implementations. The components making up the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot; provide natural blocks assignable to the matching SWGs. As for Part 6 of the ESRI &quot;Geoservice REST API&quot;, if to become a standard it needs to be discussed in the WCS.SWG for harmonization, clarification, and improvement.<br /> <br /> == Methodological Concerns ==<br /> <br /> * No public response (nor private to the authors of the comments) has been made to the various comments sent on the OGC Requests mailing list in [[http://lists.opengeospatial.org/pipermail/requests/2012-July/date.html July 2012]] and [[http://lists.opengeospatial.org/pipermail/requests/2012-August/date.html August 2012]] during the 30 day public comments period.<br /> * The Geoservices REST API can not be amended (other than editorial changes in the specification document), because of a requirement of backward compatibility with ESRI implementation. Consequently, the standard is unlikely to improve, or its evolution will be only lead by ESRI.<br /> * OGC standards normally require interoperability experiments and a richer process to ratify a standard such as this one. No explanation has been forthcoming as to why a simplified process is appropriate in this case.<br /> * ESRI/OGC have specifically [http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2013-May/011659.html rejected requests] to openly share their justifications document being selectively sent to OGC voters.<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> * Call for comments on GeoServices REST API: http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/requests/89<br /> * Email archive of OSGeo discussions about GeoServices REST API: http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2013-May/thread.html<br /> ** Adrian Custer's eloquent, unbiased, concise summary of the technical issues: http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2013-May/011667.html<br /> ** &quot;Is OGC Loosing its way?&quot;, letter to OGC Voters, from OGC Interoperability Movement Team Leaders, http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2013-May/011632.html<br /> <br /> [[Category: OGC]]<br /> [[Category: Standards]]</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=User:Punkish&diff=33179 2008-12-10T01:31:00Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>{{#umSetParam: -89.33|43.14|Madison, WI|punkish|Puneet Kishor}}<br /> <br /> I am in TZ GMT-6<br /> <br /> for more details, see<br /> * [http://www.punkish.org|www.punkish.org]<br /> <br /> Research interests --<br /> * open source (e)<br /> * GIS (e)<br /> * social computing<br /> * collective decision-making (participatory GIS in this context)<br /> * traditional knowledge<br /> * rural (international) development (e)<br /> * diffusion of technology (e)<br /> <br /> (e) includes professional experience<br /> <br /> Worked in (alphabetically) --<br /> * Bolivia (World Bank project)<br /> * India (rural dev NGO, WB projects)<br /> * Trinidad and Tobago (ECLAC/Land Tenure project, WB project)<br /> * USA (WB, private GIS company)<br /> <br /> Visited on work (besides the above, of course) --<br /> * Brazil (INPE)<br /> * Santiago de Chile<br /> * Ireland (IDI, Trinity College)<br /> * Italy (FAO)<br /> * Netherlands (ITC, TOOL, TU Delft)<br /> * UK (WCMC)<br /> <br /> Worked with --<br /> * Development Alternatives, New Delhi<br /> * World Bank, Washington DC<br /> * GeoAnalytics, Madison, WI<br /> * Conservation International, Washington DC<br /> * Independent Consultant</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=User:Punkish&diff=33178 2008-12-10T01:30:29Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>{{#umSetParam: -89.33|43.14|Madison, WI|punkish|Puneet Kishor}}<br /> <br /> I am in TZ GMT-6<br /> <br /> for more details, see<br /> * [http://www.punkish.org]<br /> <br /> Research interests --<br /> * open source (e)<br /> * GIS (e)<br /> * social computing<br /> * collective decision-making (participatory GIS in this context)<br /> * traditional knowledge<br /> * rural (international) development (e)<br /> * diffusion of technology (e)<br /> <br /> (e) includes professional experience<br /> <br /> Worked in (alphabetically) --<br /> * Bolivia (World Bank project)<br /> * India (rural dev NGO, WB projects)<br /> * Trinidad and Tobago (ECLAC/Land Tenure project, WB project)<br /> * USA (WB, private GIS company)<br /> <br /> Visited on work (besides the above, of course) --<br /> * Brazil (INPE)<br /> * Santiago de Chile<br /> * Ireland (IDI, Trinity College)<br /> * Italy (FAO)<br /> * Netherlands (ITC, TOOL, TU Delft)<br /> * UK (WCMC)<br /> <br /> Worked with --<br /> * Development Alternatives, New Delhi<br /> * World Bank, Washington DC<br /> * GeoAnalytics, Madison, WI<br /> * Conservation International, Washington DC<br /> * Independent Consultant</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Geodata_formats&diff=20733 2007-11-13T19:25:48Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>Placeholder for talking about geodata formats. Please create content.<br /> <br /> == New Open Geodata Format ==<br /> === Why ===<br /> Add details of why we need a new format<br /> === Scope ===<br /> * Describe Scope of new format<br /> === Willing Developers/Supporters ===<br /> * List developers willing to add interfaces to new format or people willing to fund this development<br /> <br /> === Preliminary Thoughts ===<br /> <br /> A dump of my email text to get things started. Please feel free to edit.<br /> <br /> The new format --<br /> <br /> * '''Should be fast.''' SQLite is plenty fast, and anything that simply &quot;extends&quot; the Shapefile format to inject relational capabilities should be pretty fast. It should definitely be faster than a geodatabase format (such as PostGIS/ArcSDE) and perhaps even faster than Shapefiles especially while accessing attribute data. DBF is sequential, and searching for textual information is particularly expensive. SQLite has been tuned to excellence. I have been working with it for a few years now, and it really is an amazing product, development community, support, and capabilities. That it is in public domain makes for a transfat-free icing on the cake.<br /> * '''Should be unencumbered by licenses and copyrights.''' Ideally, the new format could also be put back into public domain. We want to remove all encumbrances to encourage rapid and wide adoption.<br /> * '''Should be a single file'''. Well, some like multiple files and some like single files. We can achieve both objectives by using a tar-gzipped packaging such as Apple tends to use for much of its stuff (for example, its Pages wordprocessor uses a tgzipped xml file along with other resources for icons and pictures and stuff). Or, if speed is going to be affected because of gzipping and gunzipping, just a package format (I have no idea if this is a Unix thing or a Mac OS thing -- we, in the Mac world, call them packages... they appear like files in the Finder, and like directories in the shell).<br /> * '''Should be easy to transition to.''' By building the new format on the structure of the Shapefile format, and *in fact*, calling it &quot;open shapefiles&quot; or some such thing, we indicate from its name that the transition is not that revolutionary but is evolutionary. This, hopefully, will bring some name-familiarity, and make the transition less scary.<br /> * '''SQLite's lack of datatypes as an issue''' -- I guess that is a matter of preference. I personally quite like that freedom as it gives me, the application developer, complete control over what goes where. SQLite actually does have now a few datatypes that it respects, but doesn't complain about. Since all users will be accessing the data via an application, as long as the application is well defined, it should be fine.<br /> * SQLite excels at one thing that it has been entrusted to do -- retrieve data that it has been entrusted with at extremely fast speeds, and maintain ACID data integrity in case of a programmatic catastrophe. The transactions themselves are worth their price of admission, which, happily, happens to be zero.<br /> * '''Java support''' -- well, yes, use/work on SQLite JDBC. I have been using it for a few days now and find it to be a pretty competent conduit. Extend it, spatialize it. ANSI standard C is still that magic common denominator that compiles and works predictably on most number of systems. I have a lot against Java, but those who love Java should definitely work on tools for accessing and working with this new format as it would only make the format more widely used and adopted.</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Foundation_Calendar&diff=20357 2007-11-02T15:16:40Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>The following are the known meeting times of Foundation groups<br /> <br /> * [[Board of Directors]] - Every Friday at [http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?hour=15&amp;min=0&amp;sec=0 1500 UTC] - (watch out for daylight saving time) - via IRC [irc://irc.freenode.net#osgeo #osgeo] in irc.freenode.net and Skype<br /> * [[IncCom Wiki|Incubation Committee]] - Some Mondays via IRC in #osgeo at [http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?year=2006&amp;hour=19&amp;min=30&amp;sec=0 1930 UTC], 3:30pm EST, 12:30pm PST.<br /> * [[Website Committee]] - Every Wednesday via IRC #osgeo in irc.freenode.net 19:00 UTC 2:00 EST, 11:00am PST<br /> * [[Fundraising]] Committee - Tuesdays at [http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?year=2006&amp;hour=16&amp;min=0&amp;sec=0 1600 UTC] (12:00 noon EST). <br /> * [[Promotion and Visibility Committee]] - every other Thursday, starting [http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?month=4&amp;day=27&amp;year=2006&amp;hour=15&amp;min=0&amp;sec=0 15:00 UTC] on April 27th; via IRC and telecon<br /> * [[Public Geospatial Data Committee]] - Every second Thursday via [irc://irc.freenode.net/osgeo IRC] #osgeo in irc.freenode.net [http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?year=2006&amp;hour=16&amp;min=0&amp;sec=0 1600 UTC] <br /> * [[Education and Curriculum Committee]] - no regular meetings (yet), see [https://edu.osgeo.org/servlets/SummarizeList?listName=discuss EduCom mailing list] for announcements or fetch [http://punkish.eidesis.org/cal/conferences.ics iCal file].<br /> <br /> ----<br /> [http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedform.html?year=2006&amp;month=3&amp;day=24&amp;hour=16&amp;min=0&amp;sec=0 Fixed Time World Clock] can help tell your users when this event will happen in their local time zone. Please indicate (also) UTC.<br /> <br /> [irc://irc.freenode.net/osgeo IRC] #osgeo in irc.freenode.net (or via [http://irc.telascience.org Web based IRC client])</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=OSGeo_education_interested_participants&diff=20355 2007-11-02T15:14:34Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Contributors by Interest */</p> <hr /> <div>== Contributors by Interest ==<br /> The following are individuals who have self-identified themselves as interested in contributing or assisting with [[Education and Curriculum Committee]] projects. You are welcome to add yourself to the list and identify areas that you are particular familiar with or interested in contributing to.<br /> <br /> * [[User:Punkish | Puneet Kishor]] (TZ GMT-6)<br /> * [[User: ajolma | Ari Jolma]] (TZ GMT+2) (graduate level education MS, PhD; academic research; primary school education)<br /> * [[User:Neteler | Markus Neteler ]] (TZ GMT+1) (general training/education materials; educational datasets)<br /> * [[User:Venkat | Venkatesh Raghavan ]] (TZ GMT+9)(training/education material; educational datasets, software packaging, translation, e-learning Course Management Systems, Moodle,Certification Mechanisms, experience in international training) <br /> * [[User:Schweik | Charlie Schweik]] (Chair) (TZ GMT-5) (undergraduate and graduate level education; academic research on open source collaboration, public sector information technology, natural resource management)<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Pericles Nacionales]] (general training/education materials; conservation and natural resource management) <br /> * Ned Horning (Winter: GMT-5 Summer: GMT -4) (Interested in promoting open source software development and integrating open source into the conservation community)<br /> * [[User:Tmitchell | Tyler Mitchell]] (TZ GMT-8) (interested in workshop material and curriculum development for high school through to university)<br /> * [[User:Arnulf Christl | Arnulf Christl]] (TZ GMT+2) (Experience as GIS instructor for fulltime workshops, trainings and courses. Organization of commercial training courses with Open Source Geospatial Software. Preparation of course and presentation material, tutorials). (Interest in enhancing presentation material, publishing under Free license, in time hardcopy production, maintenance and update of content just as any OS dev project)<br /> * [[User:Scw | Shaun Walbridge]] (TZ GMT-8) (academic research on open source collaboration; general training/education materials; educational datasets)<br /> * [[User:Perrygeo | Matthew Perry]] (TZ GMT-8) (primarily interested in workshops/lab materials for university students, NGOs and using open source software to demonstrate all fundamental aspects of GIS (theory and practice). Also interested in seeing 'official' training courses and certification)<br /> * [[User:ianturton|Ian Turton]] : Penn State Uni, State College, developed Open Web Mapping course at Uni of Leeds, UK [http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/courses/postgrad/geog5780/] now modifying it for PennState. ianturton at gmail com [http://www.geovista.psu.edu/members/turton/index.html work] [http://pennspace.blogspot.com/ blog]<br /> * [[User:Aaronr | Aaron Racicot]] (TZ GMT-8) (Interested in fostering more collaboration with academia through the introduction of open source GIS in the curriculum. Mainly interested in Undergraduate and Graduate level education and industry (NGO's and for-profit) collaboration. Certification is also an interest.)<br /> * [[User:helena| Helena Mitasova]] (TZ GMT-5) NCSU, Raleigh,NC, GRASS PSC member, interested in graduate level education and research, development of tutorials and workshops, educational dataset, publishing books and journal articles<br /> * [[User:maria | Maria Antonia Brovelli]] (TZ GMT+1) (Polytechnic of Milan and Polytecnic of Zurich, interested in Undergraduate, Graduate and Doctorat level education; academic research on new algorithms developed within open source GIS, on public sector information technology and NSDI, on environment and territory management)<br /> * [[User:volaya| Victor Olaya]] (TZ GMT+1) Spanish Free GIS Book PSC Member. University of Extremadura, Spain. Sextante Proyect [http://www.sextantegis.com]. Interested in creating a free GIS book in spanish and english, and in finding out how both the spanish and the english teams can collaborate and help each other.<br /> * [[User:Maxi71| Massimiliano Cannata]] (TZ GMT+1) (Institute of Earth Sciences - University of Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland, Graduate and Continuing education; research and development in the field of Web-GIS and Environmental Modelling; consultant for the public administration authorities on environment, land and natural resources management)<br /> * [[User:rob.braswell | Bobby H. Braswell]] (TZ GMT-5) (developing documentation in the form of tutorial modules for training and education, especially related to earth science and remote sensing research)<br /> * [[User:VincentP | Vincent Picavet]] (TZ GMT+1) OSGeo Francophone local chapter and Makina Corpus, FLOSS company. Interested in workshops and courses for FOSS GIS web applications and infrastructures. Particular interest in French language material, translation, and coordination between multi-languages groups.<br /> * [[User:Bwoodall | Bill Woodall]] (TZ GMT-8) (Interested in workshops/labs for Youth, primarily for 4-H Youth Development Program )<br /> * [[User:Mleslie | Mark Leslie]] (TZ GMT+10) Interested in workshop and lab material for a general or technical audience.<br /> * [[User:mlennert | Moritz Lennert ]] (TZ GMT+1) (University undergraduate GIS teaching lab and training course for professionals from &quot;developing&quot; countries; e-learning)<br /> * [[User:ominiverdi | Lorenzo Becchi ]] (TZ GMT+1) (Web GIS developer, FAO cunsultant, interested in everything that can help reducing Digital Divide worldwide and support open knowledge, supporting the spanish GIS book)<br /> * [[User:Martinweis | Martin Weis]] (TZ GMT+1) Geodesy/GIS in the agricultural sector/university: I would like to prepare courses and material for the use of FOSS in precision farming. Desktop GIS and SDI are to be integrated for this. 2008 I will have a GIS course, let's see what can be done...<br /> * [[User:Smitch | Scott Mitchell ]] (TZ GMT-5) Courseware, tutorials and workshops for FOSS4G tools in general, but have been especially interested / involved in GRASS, GDAL/OGR (user perspective), QGIS, Mapserver; would be interested in contributing to books projects, but time commitments prevent much from me until 2008.<br /> * [[User:kevin1216 | Kevin Yam]] (TZ GMT-5) Primarily interested in promoting open source software training, workshop and lab materials for university students, NGOs, public sectors.<br /> * [[User: Marco | Marco Ciolli]] (TZ GMT+1) (University of Trento. General training/education materials; graduate level education MS, PhD; academic research; forestry; natural resource management and environmental hazard.)<br /> * [[User: Clara | Clara Tattni]] (TZ GMT+1) (University of Trento. General training/education materials; graduate level education MS; research; natural resource management; wildlife conservation and management.)<br /> <br /> == Contributors by Time Zones ==<br /> This should help in planning meetings. If you are not here yet, please add your info, or let me know and I will do so. Going from East to West, we have --<br /> <br /> * TZ GMT+9<br /> ** Venkatesh Raghavan<br /> * TZ GMT+2<br /> ** Ari Jolma<br /> ** Arnulf Christl<br /> * TZ GMT+1<br /> ** Markus Neteler<br /> ** Maria Antonia Brovelli<br /> ** Massimiliano Cannata<br /> ** Vincent Picavet<br /> ** Marco Ciolli <br /> ** Clara Tattni <br /> * TZ GMT-5<br /> ** Ian Turton<br /> ** Ned Horning<br /> ** Charlie Schweik, Maria Fernandez, Alexander Stepanov, Rob Braswell<br /> ** Scott Mitchell<br /> * TZ GMT-6<br /> ** Puneet Kishor<br /> ** Pericles Nacionales<br /> * TZ GMT-8<br /> ** Tyler Mitchell<br /> ** Shaun Walbridge<br /> ** Matthew Perry<br /> ** Aaron Racicot<br /> ** Bill Woodall<br /> <br /> [[Category:Education]]</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=User:Punkish&diff=14733 2007-05-24T20:35:04Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>I am in TZ GMT-6<br /> <br /> for more details, see<br /> * [http://www.eidesis.org/punkish punkish]<br /> * [http://www.wearymappers.org/ wearymappers]<br /> <br /> Research interests --<br /> * open source (e)<br /> * GIS (e)<br /> * social computing<br /> * collective decision-making (participatory GIS in this context)<br /> * traditional knowledge<br /> * rural (international) development (e)<br /> * diffusion of technology (e)<br /> <br /> (e) includes professional experience<br /> <br /> Worked in (alphabetically) --<br /> * Bolivia (World Bank project)<br /> * India (rural dev NGO, WB projects)<br /> * Trinidad and Tobago (ECLAC/Land Tenure project, WB project)<br /> * USA (WB, private GIS company)<br /> <br /> Visited on work (besides the above, of course) --<br /> * Brazil (INPE)<br /> * Santiago de Chile<br /> * Ireland (IDI, Trinity College)<br /> * Italy (FAO)<br /> * Netherlands (ITC, TOOL, TU Delft)<br /> * UK (WCMC)</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Puneet%27s_Visit_to_Brazil&diff=14639 2007-05-21T03:39:59Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>The second week of May I attended three different but related meetings of interest in Atibaia, Brazil (São Paulo). Here is a brief report.<br /> <br /> 1. The United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development launched a &quot;Global Alliance for Enhancing Access to and Application of Scientific Data in Developing Countries,&quot; or e-SDDC for short, on May 7 &lt;http://www.un-gaid.org/en/node/237&gt;. Besides representatives from UN-GAID, representatives from various national science academies, research foundations, and international agencies were present. I was a &quot;rapporteur&quot; at the meeting. Of particular interest is the plan for a series of online courses/workshops on data management, access, and repositories. The focus is on scientific data, but open geospatial is very germane to the underlying themes of disaster mitigation, poverty reduction, and public health. It would be worthwhile keeping an eye on this initiative and look for opportunities to contribute to it in the area of geospatial data management and access. <br /> <br /> 2. The second meeting was a 3-day workshop on &quot;Strategies for Permanent and Open Access to Scientific Information in Latin America and the Caribbean&quot; &lt;http://www.cria.org.br/eventos/codata2007/agenda&gt; sponsored by the International Council of Science's (ICSU) &lt;http://www.icsu.org/&gt; Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) &lt;http://www.codata.org/&gt;. The meeting was hosted by Brazil's Centro de Referência em Informação Ambiental (CRIA). I made a presentation on geospatial data and integration with biodiversity information. I received help from several people in putting together the presentation including Ned Horning and Markus Neteler of OSGeo. I had very fruitful discussions on licensing of geospatial data with Harlan Onsrud of the University of Maine, Orono, and John Wilbanks of Science Commons. John has promised to actively work on clarifying the issue of geospatial data licensing.<br /> <br /> 3. Finally, I attended a meeting of the Inter-Academy Panel (a panel of 94 national science academies from around the world) on International Issues focusing on the use of digital knowledge resources in developing countries. Of particular interest was a focus on the science academies of Latin America and the Caribbean promoted by the Brazilian, Chinese, Indian, and the US national science academies. There is likely to be a project on access to publicly funded geospatial data in the near future.<br /> <br /> 4. After 5 days of meetings, I visited Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espacias (INPE) &lt;http://www.inpe.br/ingles/index.php/&gt;, the premier Brazilian National Institute for Space Research at the invitation of its Image Processing Division (DPI) in nearyby São José dos Campos. Researchers from DPI are also developing a project called TerraLib &lt;http://www.terralib.org/&gt;, an open source set of GIS classes and functions library written in C++. Of particular interest is a program called TerraView &lt;http://www.dpi.inpe.br/terraview/index.php&gt; based on TerraLib. Also open source (GPL), TerraView can be described as a more scientifically and analytically oriented ArcView. I promptly downloaded TerraView, and within minutes, with a little help from the TerraView Development Manager, I had it running under Parallels/WinXP on my MacBook Pro, and had imported Shapefiles into its own data format. A very quick program, TerraView not only works with PostGres, MySQL, and Oracle, it natively manages geographic data in a relational format using ADO. TerraLib/TerraView are successors to INPE's earlier free, but not open source, project called SPRING &lt;http://www.dpi.inpe.br/spring/english/index.html&gt;. Because of historical reasons, SPRING is not open source, but is available to anyone and can be used on Windows or Linux. TerraLib/TerraView are currently under more active development, and are available as true open source programs. At my suggestion, INPE will be looking into joining OSGeo. The INPE researchers are doing amazing work, and the spirit of free access to data and software seemed to permeate everyone I met. Having active involvement and backing of an institute of INPE's prestige and caliber will be very beneficial to the open geospatial community.<br /> <br /> 5. I also had a long meeting with the director of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change &lt;http://www.iai.int/&gt;. Promoting open geospatial software and data is directly convergent with IAI's mission of science and capacity building, but there is a general lack of understanding of the issues related to open and free access to data and software, especially at the highest levels. OSGeo can once again play a significant role by providing software, educational material, and data sets in this.<br /> <br /> I wrote the following summary in an earlier email on the edu.osgeo list. I am reproducing most of it here as it sums up my findings --<br /> <br /> a. The scientific community as a whole wants open and permanent access to scientific data, and that includes raw research data, not just the publishable results of it;<br /> <br /> b. GeoSpatial data are a small but significant portion of the corpus of science data, so it is very important to continue to maintain an active and vocal presence in the dialong;<br /> <br /> c. A clear understanding of the licensing of geospatial data will be a big aid to everyone. Creative Commons/Science Commons has promised to help us in this;<br /> <br /> d. Following up on #c above, educating those at the highest levels in international organizations, funding agencies, and even the scientific community in the issues of open access to geospatial data and software is very important and needed;</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Puneet%27s_Visit_to_Brazil&diff=14638 2007-05-21T03:36:34Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>The second week of May I attended three different but related meetings of interest in Atibaia, Brazil (São Paulo). Here is a brief report.<br /> <br /> 1. The United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development launched a &quot;Global Alliance for Enhancing Access to and Application of Scientific Data in Developing Countries,&quot; or e-SDDC for short, on May 7 &lt;http://www.un-gaid.org/en/node/237&gt;. Besides representatives from UN-GAID, representatives from various national science academies, research foundations, and international agencies were present. I was a &quot;rapporteur&quot; at the meeting. Of particular interest is the plan for a series of online courses/workshops on data management, access, and repositories. The focus is on scientific data, but open geospatial is very germane to the underlying themes of disaster mitigation, poverty reduction, and public health. It would be worthwhile keeping an eye on this initiative and look for opportunities to contribute to it in the area of geospatial data management and access. <br /> <br /> 2. The second meeting was a 3-day workshop on &quot;Strategies for Permanent and Open Access to Scientific Information in Latin America and the Caribbean&quot; &lt;http://www.cria.org.br/eventos/codata2007/agenda&gt; sponsored by the International Council of Science's (ICSU) &lt;http://www.icsu.org/&gt; Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) &lt;http://www.codata.org/&gt;. The meeting was hosted by Brazil's Centro de Referência em Informação Ambiental (CRIA). I made a presentation on geospatial data and integration with biodiversity information. I received help from several people in putting together the presentation including Ned Horning and Markus Neteler of OSGeo. I had very fruitful discussions on licensing of geospatial data with Harlan Onsrud of the University of Maine, Orono, and John Wilbanks of Science Commons. John has promised to actively work on clarifying the issue of geospatial data licensing.<br /> <br /> 3. Finally, I attended a meeting of the Inter-Academy Panel (a panel of 94 national science academies from around the world) on International Issues focusing on the use of digital knowledge resources in developing countries. Of particular interest was a focus on the science academies of Latin America and the Caribbean promoted by the Brazilian, Chinese, Indian, and the US national science academies. There is likely to be a project on access to publicly funded geospatial data in the near future.<br /> <br /> 4. After 5 days of meetings, I visited Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espacias (INPE) &lt;http://www.inpe.br/ingles/index.php/&gt;, the premier Brazilian National Institute for Space Research at the invitation of its Image Processing Division (DPI). Researchers from DPI are also developing a project called TerraLib &lt;http://www.terralib.org/&gt;, an open source set of GIS classes and functions library written in C++. Of particular interest is a program called TerraView &lt;http://www.dpi.inpe.br/terraview/index.php&gt; based on TerraLib. Also open source (GPL), TerraView can be described as a more scientifically and analytically oriented ArcView. I promptly downloaded TerraView, and within minutes, with a little help from the TerraView Development Manager, I had it running under Parallels/WinXP on my MacBook Pro, and had imported Shapefiles into its own data format. A very quick program, TerraView not only works with PostGres, MySQL, and Oracle, it natively manages geographic data in a relational format using ADO. TerraLib/TerraView are successors to INPE's earlier free, but not open source, project called SPRING &lt;http://www.dpi.inpe.br/spring/english/index.html&gt;. Because of historical reasons, SPRING is not open source, but is available to anyone and can be used on Windows or Linux. TerraLib/TerraView are currently under more active development, and are available as true open source programs. At my suggestion, INPE will be looking into joining OSGeo. The INPE researchers are doing amazing work, and the spirit of free access to data and software seemed to permeate everyone I met. Having active involvement and backing of an institute of INPE's prestige and caliber will be very beneficial to the open geospatial community.<br /> <br /> 5. I also had a long meeting with the director of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change &lt;http://www.iai.int/&gt;. Promoting open geospatial software and data is directly convergent with IAI's mission of science and capacity building, but there is a general lack of understanding of the issues related to open and free access to data and software, especially at the highest levels. OSGeo can once again play a significant role by providing software, educational material, and data sets in this.<br /> <br /> I wrote the following summary in an earlier email on the edu.osgeo list. I am reproducing most of it here as it sums up my findings --<br /> <br /> a. The scientific community as a whole wants open and permanent access to scientific data, and that includes raw research data, not just the publishable results of it;<br /> <br /> b. GeoSpatial data are a small but significant portion of the corpus of science data, so it is very important to continue to maintain an active and vocal presence in the dialong;<br /> <br /> c. A clear understanding of the licensing of geospatial data will be a big aid to everyone. Creative Commons/Science Commons has promised to help us in this;<br /> <br /> d. Following up on #c above, educating those at the highest levels in international organizations, funding agencies, and even the scientific community in the issues of open access to geospatial data and software is very important and needed;</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=GeoForAll_History&diff=14637 2007-05-21T03:35:35Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Meetings */</p> <hr /> <div>Markus Neteler moved that a &quot;[https://edu.osgeo.org/ Education and Curriculum Committee]&quot; be designated to create and promote educational and curriculum material. This motion was accepted at the [[Fifth Board Meeting]]. See [[Education Contributors]] page for a list of contributors.<br /> <br /> == Mission ==<br /> <br /> The project aims at creating and promoting educational and curriculum material that supports the goals of the Foundation. The intent is to provide appropriately licensed material that is accessible by a broad audience including academia, professionals, and the general public. Material supported through this project should directly or indirectly build and strengthen the open source geospatial user and developer communities. This can be accomplished by integrating the use of FOSS4G tools in curricula that teach geospatial concepts and applications as well as the creating curricula to teach skills necessary for people to actively participate in FOSS4G and free geospatial data projects. The committee also seeks cooperation with academic research projects to promote the use of FOSS4G in research projects, to get FOSS4G used as a platform for research, and to present FOSS4G as a research subject.<br /> <br /> == Meetings ==<br /> <br /> * Meeting dates are available via iCal-compatible calendar. You can access it using any iCal-compatible client (Apple iCal on Mac OSX, or Sunbird/Lightning/Mozilla calendar extension on any platform, or any other suitable client) by subscribing to the [http://punkish.eidesis.org/cal_public/conferences.ics iCal URL].<br /> * [https://edu.osgeo.org/meetings.html Minutes of previous meetings]<br /> * [http://logs.qgis.org/osgeo/%23osgeo.2006-09-08.log Sep 9]<br /> * [[FOSS4G2006 minutes]] (Sept. 2006)<br /> * [[EduCom Meeting 1 March 2007]]<br /> * [[FOSS4G2007 meeting]] (Sept. 2007)<br /> * [[Puneet's Visit to Brazil]] (May 2007)<br /> <br /> == Work program ==<br /> <br /> [[Education Committee Work Program]]<br /> <br /> == Existing open educational geospatial materials ==<br /> <br /> * [http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/giscc/ The NCGIA Core Curriculum in GIScience]<br /> * [http://www.gitta.info/website/en/html/index.html GITTA - Geographic Information Technology Training Alliance] with material under Creative Commons license<br /> * [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia]<br /> * [[Open Source Training Providers]]</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Tools_of_Trade&diff=14161 2007-05-03T13:50:57Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: Tools of Trade moved to Tools for Creating Screencasts: disambiguation</p> <hr /> <div>#REDIRECT [[Tools for Creating Screencasts]]</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Tools_for_Creating_Screencasts&diff=14160 2007-05-03T13:50:57Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: Tools of Trade moved to Tools for Creating Screencasts: disambiguation</p> <hr /> <div>The following tools can be used by educators in creating screencasts.<br /> <br /> ''NOTE: why is proprietary software advertised in this wiki?''<br /> <br /> Yes, some of the tools listed below are commercial and proprietary. This list is not an endorsement of these tools but merely a convenient list for those looking for such tools. Since these tools are not geospatial, they don't conflict with the &quot;Geo&quot; portion of OSGeo. In any case, OSGeo should not be opposed to proprietary tools but should be a proponent for the best available tools. Please, by all means, use open source, libre tools for creating screencasts if they are available.<br /> <br /> {| border=&quot;1&quot;<br /> |+Tools of Trade<br /> |-<br /> !App !!License !!OS !!Url<br /> |-<br /> |iShowU ||Proprietary closed USD 20 ||M ||http://shinywhitebox.com/home/home.html<br /> |-<br /> |Captivate ||Proprietary closed USD 599 ||W ||http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/<br /> |-<br /> |vnc2swf ||GPL open||M, W, L ||http://www.unixuser.org/~euske/vnc2swf/<br /> |-<br /> |Screenography ||Proprietary closed USD 40 ||M ||http://www.verticalmoon.com/products/screenography/screenography.htm#screen_system<br /> |-<br /> |Snapz Pro ||Proprietary closed USD 69 ||M ||http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/<br /> |-<br /> |Camtasia ||Proprietary closed USD 40 ||W ||http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp?CMP=KgoogleCStm<br /> |-<br /> ! Supporting Utilities<br /> |-<br /> |Mouseposé ||Proprietary closed USD 15 ||M ||http://www.boinx.com/mousepose/<br /> |-<br /> |OmniDazzle ||Proprietary closed USD 15 ||M ||http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidazzle/<br /> |-<br /> |Backdrop ||Free closed ||M ||http://www.johnhaney.com/backdrop/<br /> |-<br /> |Copernicus||Free closed ||M ||http://danicsoft.com/projects/copernicus/<br /> |}</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Tools_for_Creating_Screencasts&diff=14159 2007-05-03T13:50:11Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>The following tools can be used by educators in creating screencasts.<br /> <br /> ''NOTE: why is proprietary software advertised in this wiki?''<br /> <br /> Yes, some of the tools listed below are commercial and proprietary. This list is not an endorsement of these tools but merely a convenient list for those looking for such tools. Since these tools are not geospatial, they don't conflict with the &quot;Geo&quot; portion of OSGeo. In any case, OSGeo should not be opposed to proprietary tools but should be a proponent for the best available tools. Please, by all means, use open source, libre tools for creating screencasts if they are available.<br /> <br /> {| border=&quot;1&quot;<br /> |+Tools of Trade<br /> |-<br /> !App !!License !!OS !!Url<br /> |-<br /> |iShowU ||Proprietary closed USD 20 ||M ||http://shinywhitebox.com/home/home.html<br /> |-<br /> |Captivate ||Proprietary closed USD 599 ||W ||http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/<br /> |-<br /> |vnc2swf ||GPL open||M, W, L ||http://www.unixuser.org/~euske/vnc2swf/<br /> |-<br /> |Screenography ||Proprietary closed USD 40 ||M ||http://www.verticalmoon.com/products/screenography/screenography.htm#screen_system<br /> |-<br /> |Snapz Pro ||Proprietary closed USD 69 ||M ||http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/<br /> |-<br /> |Camtasia ||Proprietary closed USD 40 ||W ||http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp?CMP=KgoogleCStm<br /> |-<br /> ! Supporting Utilities<br /> |-<br /> |Mouseposé ||Proprietary closed USD 15 ||M ||http://www.boinx.com/mousepose/<br /> |-<br /> |OmniDazzle ||Proprietary closed USD 15 ||M ||http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidazzle/<br /> |-<br /> |Backdrop ||Free closed ||M ||http://www.johnhaney.com/backdrop/<br /> |-<br /> |Copernicus||Free closed ||M ||http://danicsoft.com/projects/copernicus/<br /> |}</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=FOSS4G2007_eduCom_meeting&diff=13519 2007-04-05T17:48:19Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>The following eduCom members are planning to be at the FOSS4G2007 meeting in Victoria, BC. If you are planning to be there, and are not listed below, please add yourself. The plan is for eduCom members to meet in person, get to know each other, and hold a BOF/SIG type meeting somewhere/sometime in conjunction with the conference. Please use this page to plan out a location/time. Maybe one of the locals can help choose a conducive place.<br /> <br /> * [[VenkateshRaghavan]]<br /> * [[ArnulfChristl]]<br /> * [[ScottEmmons]]<br /> * [[AriJolma]]<br /> * [[AaronRacicot]]<br /> * [[DanielAmes]] and friends<br /> * [[HelenaMitasova]]<br /> * [[CharlieSchweik]]<br /> * [[ScottMitchell]]<br /> * [[TylerMitchell]]<br /> <br /> Please, one of you above, appoint yourself as the lead so you can herd up the edu members in attendance, choose a place and time, and even keep notes during the meeting so you can then post them here post facto. If one of you won't appoint yourself, I will appoint one of you using a weighted-random methodology I have developed. ;-)<br /> Many thanks, <br /> -- Puneet.</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=FOSS4G2007_meeting&diff=13518 2007-04-05T16:18:52Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: FOSS4G2007 meeting moved to FOSS4G2007 eduCom meeting: renamed to reflect purpose and focus more clearly.</p> <hr /> <div>#REDIRECT [[FOSS4G2007 eduCom meeting]]</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=FOSS4G2007_eduCom_meeting&diff=13517 2007-04-05T16:18:52Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: FOSS4G2007 meeting moved to FOSS4G2007 eduCom meeting: renamed to reflect purpose and focus more clearly.</p> <hr /> <div>The following eduCom members are planning to be at the FOSS4G2007 meeting in Victoria, BC. If you are planning to be there, and are not listed below, please add yourself. The plan is for eduCom members to meet in person, get to know each other, and hold a BOF/SIG type meeting somewhere/sometime in conjunction with the conference. Please use this page to plan out a location/time. Maybe one of the locals can help choose a conducive place.<br /> <br /> * [[VenkateshRaghavan]]<br /> * [[ArnulfChristl]]<br /> * [[ScottEmmons]]<br /> * [[AriJolma]]<br /> * [[AaronRacicot]]<br /> * [[DanielAmes]] and friends<br /> * [[HelenaMitasova]]<br /> * [[CharlieSchweik]]<br /> * [[ScottMitchell]]<br /> * [[TylerMitchell]]</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=FOSS4G2007_eduCom_meeting&diff=13512 2007-04-04T19:35:05Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>The following eduCom members are planning to be at the FOSS4G2007 meeting in Victoria, BC. If you are planning to be there, and are not listed below, please add yourself. The plan is for eduCom members to meet in person, get to know each other, and hold a BOF/SIG type meeting somewhere/sometime in conjunction with the conference. Please use this page to plan out a location/time. Maybe one of the locals can help choose a conducive place.<br /> <br /> * [[VenkateshRaghavan]]<br /> * [[ArnulfChristl]]<br /> * [[ScottEmmons]]<br /> * [[AriJolma]]<br /> * [[AaronRacicot]]<br /> * [[DanielAmes]] and friends<br /> * [[HelenaMitasova]]<br /> * [[CharlieSchweik]]<br /> * [[ScottMitchell]]<br /> * [[TylerMitchell]]</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=FOSS4G2007_eduCom_meeting&diff=13511 2007-04-04T19:34:17Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>The following eduCom members are planning to be at the FOSS4G2007 meeting in Victoria, BC. If you are planning to be there, and are not listed below, please add yourself. The plan is for eduCom members to meet in person, get to know each other, and hold a BOF/SIG type meeting somewhere/sometime in conjunction with the conference. Please use this page to plan out a location/time. Maybe one of the locals can help choose a conducive place.<br /> <br /> * VenkateshRaghavan<br /> * ArnulfChristl<br /> * ScottEmmons<br /> * AriJolma<br /> * AaronRacicot<br /> * DanielAmes and friends<br /> * HelenaMitasova<br /> * CharlieSchweik<br /> * ScottMitchell<br /> * TylerMitchell</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=GeoForAll_History&diff=13510 2007-04-04T19:29:47Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Meetings */</p> <hr /> <div>Markus Neteler moved that a &quot;[https://edu.osgeo.org/ Education and Curriculum Committee]&quot; be designated to create and promote educational and curriculum material. This motion was accepted at the [[Fifth Board Meeting]]. See [[Education Contributors]] page for a list of contributors.<br /> <br /> == Mission ==<br /> <br /> The project aims at creating and promoting educational and curriculum material that supports the goals of the Foundation. The intent is to provide appropriately licensed material that is accessible by a broad audience including academia, professionals, and the general public. Material supported through this project should directly or indirectly build and strengthen the open source geospatial user and developer communities. This can be accomplished by integrating the use of FOSS4G tools in curricula that teach geospatial concepts and applications as well as the creating curricula to teach skills necessary for people to actively participate in FOSS4G and free geospatial data projects. The committee also seeks cooperation with academic research projects to promote the use of FOSS4G in research projects, to get FOSS4G used as a platform for research, and to present FOSS4G as a research subject.<br /> <br /> == Meetings ==<br /> <br /> * Meeting dates are available via iCal-compatible calendar. You can access it using any iCal-compatible client (Apple iCal on Mac OSX, or Sunbird/Lightning/Mozilla calendar extension on any platform, or any other suitable client) by subscribing to the [http://punkish.eidesis.org/cal_public/conferences.ics iCal URL].<br /> * [https://edu.osgeo.org/meetings.html Minutes of previous meetings]<br /> * [http://logs.qgis.org/osgeo/%23osgeo.2006-09-08.log Sep 9]<br /> * [[FOSS4G2006 minutes]] (Sept. 2006)<br /> * [[EduCom Meeting 1 March 2007]]<br /> * [[FOSS4G2007 meeting]] (Sept. 2007)<br /> <br /> == Work program ==<br /> <br /> [[Education Committee Work Program]]<br /> <br /> == Existing open educational geospatial materials ==<br /> <br /> * [http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/giscc/ The NCGIA Core Curriculum in GIScience]<br /> * [http://www.gitta.info/website/en/html/index.html GITTA - Geographic Information Technology Training Alliance] with material under Creative Commons license<br /> * [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia]<br /> * [[Open Source Training Providers]]</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Tools_for_Creating_Screencasts&diff=12932 2007-03-20T17:20:44Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>The following tools can possibly help educators in creating education packages.<br /> <br /> {| border=&quot;1&quot;<br /> |+Tools of Trade<br /> |-<br /> !App !!License !!OS !!Url<br /> |-<br /> |iShowU ||Commercial closed USD 20 ||M ||http://shinywhitebox.com/home/home.html<br /> |-<br /> |Captivate ||Commercial closed USD 599 ||W ||http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/<br /> |-<br /> |vnc2swf ||GPL ||M, W, L ||http://www.unixuser.org/~euske/vnc2swf/<br /> |-<br /> |Screenography ||Commercial closed USD 40 ||M ||http://www.verticalmoon.com/products/screenography/screenography.htm#screen_system<br /> |-<br /> |Snapz Pro ||Commercial closed USD 69 ||M ||http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/<br /> |-<br /> |Camtasia ||Commercial closed USD 40 ||W ||http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp?CMP=KgoogleCStm<br /> |-<br /> ! Supporting Utilities<br /> |-<br /> |Mouseposé ||Commercial closed USD 15 ||M ||http://www.boinx.com/mousepose/<br /> |-<br /> |OmniDazzle ||Commercial closed USD 15 ||M ||http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidazzle/<br /> |-<br /> |Backdrop ||Free closed ||M ||http://www.johnhaney.com/backdrop/<br /> |-<br /> |Copernicus||Free closed ||M ||http://danicsoft.com/projects/copernicus/<br /> |}</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Tools_for_Creating_Screencasts&diff=12931 2007-03-20T17:20:20Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>The following tools can possibly help educators in creating education packages.<br /> <br /> {| border=&quot;1&quot;<br /> |+Tools of Trade<br /> |-<br /> !App !!License !!OS !!Url<br /> |-<br /> |iShowU ||Commercial closed USD 20 ||M ||http://shinywhitebox.com/home/home.html<br /> |-<br /> |Captivate ||Commercial closed USD 599 ||W ||http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/<br /> |-<br /> |vnc2swf ||GPL ||M, W, L ||http://www.unixuser.org/~euske/vnc2swf/<br /> |-<br /> |Screenography ||Commercial closed USD 40 ||M ||http://www.verticalmoon.com/products/screenography/screenography.htm#screen_system<br /> |-<br /> |Snapz Pro ||Commercial closed USD 69 ||M ||http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/<br /> |-<br /> |Camtasia ||Commercial closed USD 40 ||W ||http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp?CMP=KgoogleCStm<br /> |-<br /> ! Supporting Utilities<br /> |-<br /> |Mouseposé ||Commercial closed USD 15 ||M ||http://www.boinx.com/mousepose/<br /> |-<br /> |OmniDazzle ||Commercial closed USD 15 ||M ||http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidazzle/<br /> |-<br /> |Backdrop ||Free closed ||M ||http://www.johnhaney.com/backdrop/<br /> |Copernicus||Free closed ||M ||http://danicsoft.com/projects/copernicus/<br /> |}</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Tools_for_Creating_Screencasts&diff=12924 2007-03-20T15:31:16Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>The following tools can possibly help educators in creating education packages.<br /> <br /> {| border=&quot;1&quot;<br /> |+Tools of Trade<br /> |-<br /> !App !!License !!OS !!Url<br /> |-<br /> |iShowU ||Commercial closed USD 20 ||M ||http://shinywhitebox.com/home/home.html<br /> |-<br /> |Captivate ||Commercial closed USD 599 ||W ||http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/<br /> |-<br /> |vnc2swf ||GPL ||M, W, L ||http://www.unixuser.org/~euske/vnc2swf/<br /> |-<br /> |Screenography ||Commercial closed USD 40 ||M ||http://www.verticalmoon.com/products/screenography/screenography.htm#screen_system<br /> |-<br /> |Snapz Pro ||Commercial closed USD 69 ||M ||http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/<br /> |-<br /> |Camtasia ||Commercial closed USD 40 ||W ||http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp?CMP=KgoogleCStm<br /> |-<br /> ! Supporting Utilities<br /> |-<br /> |Mouseposé ||Commercial closed USD 15 ||M ||http://www.boinx.com/mousepose/<br /> |-<br /> |OmniDazzle ||Commercial closed USD 15 ||M ||http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidazzle/<br /> |-<br /> |Backdrop ||Free closed ||M ||http://www.johnhaney.com/backdrop/<br /> |}</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Education_Committee_Work_Program&diff=12918 2007-03-20T15:05:25Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>This section is intended as the main starting point for all [[Education and Curriculum Committee]] activities. The work program is divided into work on developing data packages; development of OSGeo educational materials; work on certification of external educational materials, courses and curricula; and on other matters.<br /> <br /> = Initiatives =<br /> * Prepare a project plan that can be presented to possible funding agencies: [[OSGeo Educational Project]]<br /> <br /> = Data =<br /> * Develop free educational geospatial datasets. Work with [[Geodata Packaging Working Group]].<br /> * First project: [[Edu Data Package North Carolina]]<br /> * Produce a data package for common use in tutorials: [[Edu Data Package]]<br /> <br /> = Education =<br /> == Books and tutorials ==<br /> There is a need to decide on a format for developing edu materials. The format should be text-based and thus suitable for use in SVN or CVS. Images should be stored separately from the text. We also need a server for hosting the projects. LaTeX?<br /> <br /> * Work on OSGeo Edu Book1: [[Using Open Source GIS]].<br /> * Work on OSGeo Edu Book2: [[Developing Geospatial Solutions using Open Source]].<br /> * Work on OSGeo Edu Book3: [[Developing Web Mapping Solutions Using Open Source]].<br /> * Produce and maintain the Free GIS Book started by EOGEO: [[Free GIS Book]]<br /> <br /> == Courseware ==<br /> These would preferably be backed up by free and open books.<br /> <br /> * Develop an '''Intro to open source GIS''' course that could be offered as a distance-learning class: [[Introduction to FOSS GIS]]<br /> * Develop an '''Intro to open source web GIS''' course that could be offered as a distance-learning class: [[Introduction to Web GIS]]<br /> * Collect links to and descriptions of free educational materials that advance the goals of OSGeo: [[Educational Resources]]<br /> * Create installation packages for class-room teaching and distance learning courses. Work with [[Distribution Special Interest Groups]]<br /> * Develop teaching materials (labs, tutorials, datasets, self-learning packages) that are aligned with existing curricula and courses.<br /> * Develop HOWTO's for educators and students, e.g., &quot;This task can be performed with GRASS this way, this one with mapserver this way&quot;, etc.<br /> * Develop pre-prepared curricula utilizing open coursework and tools that could be used by teachers in their own classes.<br /> * Compile a FAQ with answers for educators.<br /> * Develop phased coursework (short, medium, and long term). Note the work done by, e.g. [http://www.geo-consortium.de Geo-Consortium] and [http://www.gdf-hannover.de/literature GDF Hannover]<br /> <br /> == Translation portal ==<br /> <br /> * see OSGeo [[Translation Portal]]<br /> <br /> == Outreach ==<br /> * Promote the free and open source alternatives in education. Communicate educational needs to other OSGeo groups, such as [[Public Geospatial Data Committee]] and [[Promotion and Visibility Committee]].<br /> * Develop the appropriate pages in [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia].<br /> <br /> == Tools of Trade ==<br /> [[Tools of Trade]] that can help educators in creating eduational materials<br /> <br /> = Certification =<br /> * [[Teaching Material Evaluation Criteria]]<br /> * Develop required know-how for an OSGeo-CE (OSGeo Certified Engineer). Note the work being done by [http://www.gisci.org/ The GIS Certification Institute]. Work with [[Certification_Committee]]<br /> <br /> = Research =<br /> * Prepare and coordinate preparation of research papers about FOSS4G<br /> * Link to research projects using and developing GFOSS: [[OSGeo in Research]]<br /> * Support researchers in their usage of GFOSS<br /> * Start and support research projects that develop GFOSS<br /> * Start and support research projects that help GFOSS developers<br /> <br /> = Other matters =<br /> * Get involved in existing initiatives to make sure that they fairly consider open source solutions.<br /> * The [[Core Curriculum Project]] page contains the initial brainstorming data.</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=EduCom_Meeting_1_March_2007&diff=12002 2007-03-02T22:55:18Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Meeting minutes */</p> <hr /> <div>'''Minutes'''<br /> <br /> == edu committee meeting on IRC ==<br /> === Mar 1, 2007 ===<br /> <br /> * Present<br /> Tyler (TylerM), Gary (Gary_Watry), Perry (pnaciona), Markus (markus_N), Puneet (punkish), Aaron Racicot (racicot), Frank (FrankW) and Michael Gerlek (mpg) were present.<br /> * By email<br /> Ned Horning<br /> <br /> * Agenda<br /> Discuss hosting edu material on OSGeo servers vs. linking to them on the wiki. Perry and Tyler were of the opinion that linking and hosting are not mutually exclusive.<br /> <br /> The meeting started at 4p UTC.<br /> <br /> Ned Horning sent his comments by email. Ned favors the &quot;links&quot; approach, but also supports the possibility of hosting content on OSGeo servers. He suggests organizing the wiki a bit to make finding the materials easier. <br /> <br /> Puneet expressed reservations about opening OSGeo hosting to content created by individuals outside of OSGeo, however, it seems from Frank's comments in his email that the concerns are unfounded, so that is settled as well.<br /> <br /> Gary asked what if someone without their own server network puts together a good lesson, where does he store it? if it meets all the requirements and specs and is a acceptable product, where does it go for people to access it. Tyler rephrased it as _should_ OSGeo store if for him? Tyler responded that as long as we aren't putting OSGeo &quot;stamp&quot; and just anything that needs a home, he doesn't have any reservations about hosting material. Frank suggested http://download.osgeo.org as a possible location.<br /> <br /> Tyler expressed the need for a good Drupal-based file management utility, but it will come in time. Perry emphasized that managing the files was really the meat of discussion.<br /> <br /> Gary asked if we want to host a page with both links and uploads on it similiar to GeoNetwork Open Source software application. Puneet said that we can still organize the wiki into some loose categories... perhaps even separate from the existing education space on the wiki (Ned's suggestion).<br /> <br /> Tyler said that the osgeo CMS could be used to accepting contributions like this.. we are needing something like this for our visibility committee 'library' of presentations and such. It would provide a form for entering in metadata, info and uploading a file. It also becomes searchable through www.osgeo.org/search<br /> <br /> Frank said that if Tyler could write up a good decription of what you want, this is something that Gupteshwar or KK could likely take on.<br /> <br /> Puneet asked if someone &quot;official&quot; would have to vet the file for relevance, etc. before it became public? Tyler suggested that only people from the committee can post items and that we'd discuss it first.<br /> <br /> Gary said that it would be nice to go to one place and gettutorials regardless if it is Umass, ISU, UNC, FSU instead of having to google it. Tyler mentioned that the form for uploading content could also have  a field for a URL that points to external sources. So it becomes a directory of tutorials. Puneet suggest that yes, all submitted material can be linked off of a wiki page on &quot;externally submitted tutorials&quot; or some such. Tyler pointed out http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Library as the part of the &quot;library&quot; he was talking about:<br /> <br /> Gary suggested that someone else on educom should vet his stuff. Perry and Puneet suggested that there should be a few people who could do that within EduCom and WebCom, just announce it on the edu_discuss list and ask for someone to look at the work.<br /> <br /> Gary hoped that he could put UDig, MapWindow, and Quantum up by the end of the School year, i.e. May 1st, and add OSSIM, OpenJump, and gvSIg by the fall i.e. Sept 1st<br /> <br /> Puneet took the opportunity to commend Gary, for doing this. His active contribution in this is much appreciated and welcome.<br /> <br /> Puneet mentioned that the processing of &quot;vetting&quot; from OSGeo side is only to ensure relevance to OSGeo's goal. That is not doubted at all in the case of your products, but that is just desired as a part of the process for any product.<br /> <br /> Summary: TylerM to set up the forms/templates for tutorial submissions, that would likely be available from download.osgeo.org and also linked from the OSGeo library under a separate section (I will set up that section).<br /> <br /> Tyler clarified that he will file a ticket for WebCom to help build the forms we need (via http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo) then I will work with whoever is available to see how it goes<br /> <br /> Puneet said that the submitted material will be vetted by OSGeo/Educom colleagues before it is actually made available for public consumption. Call for doing this vetting can be made on the edu_discuss list.<br /> <br /> Perry expressed the desire to see see EduCom be more active here (IRC). Puneet mentioned that we can go back to our monthly meetings, but there were many reasons that trickled off. Puneet suggested reviving monthly meetings as well as increasing regular presence at the IRC.<br /> <br /> Michael asked about contributing a piece fo the GeoConnextions column? Puneet said that he is aware of it, and will respond to it along with anyone else who might want to contribute.<br /> <br /> Gary asked if anyone was going to Geotools as he is presenting there. Aaron mentioned that he will be there presenting as well. Puneet mentioned that one of his collegaues will be there presenting on a joint project.<br /> <br /> The meeting ended at 5p UTC.</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=GeoForAll_History&diff=12001 2007-03-02T22:52:26Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Meetings */</p> <hr /> <div>Markus Neteler moved that a &quot;[https://edu.osgeo.org/ Education and Curriculum Committee]&quot; be designated to create and promote educational and curriculum material. This motion was accepted at the [[Fifth Board Meeting]]. See [[Education Contributors]] page for a list of contributors.<br /> <br /> == Mission ==<br /> <br /> The project aims at creating and promoting educational and curriculum material that supports the goals of the Foundation. The intent is to provide appropriately licensed material that is accessible by a broad audience including academia, professionals, and the general public. Material supported through this project should directly or indirectly build and strengthen the open source geospatial user and developer communities. This can be accomplished by integrating the use of FOSS4G tools in curricula that teach geospatial concepts and applications as well as the creating curricula to teach skills necessary for people to actively participate in FOSS4G and free geospatial data projects. The committee also seeks cooperation with academic research projects to promote the use of FOSS4G in research projects, to get FOSS4G used as a platform for research, and to present FOSS4G as a research subject.<br /> <br /> == Meetings ==<br /> <br /> * Meeting dates are available via iCal-compatible calendar. You can access it using any iCal-compatible client (Apple iCal on Mac OSX, or Sunbird/Lightning/Mozilla calendar extension on any platform, or any other suitable client) by subscribing to the [http://punkish.eidesis.org/cal_public/conferences.ics iCal URL].<br /> * [https://edu.osgeo.org/meetings.html Minutes of previous meetings]<br /> * [http://logs.qgis.org/osgeo/%23osgeo.2006-09-08.log Sep 9]<br /> * [[FOSS4G2006 minutes]]<br /> * [[March 1, 2007 meeting via IRC]]<br /> <br /> == Work program ==<br /> <br /> [[Education Committee Work Program]]<br /> <br /> == Existing open educational geospatial materials ==<br /> <br /> * [http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/giscc/ The NCGIA Core Curriculum in GIScience]<br /> * [http://www.gitta.info/website/en/html/index.html GITTA - Geographic Information Technology Training Alliance] with material under Creative Commons license<br /> * [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia]<br /> * [[Open Source Training Providers]]</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Teaching_Material_Evaluation_Criteria&diff=7127 2006-08-29T13:43:46Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>''This is a thought experiment''<br /> <br /> = Purpose =<br /> <br /> The purpose of this document is to outline the criteria to be used for endorsing teaching material developed by OSGeo members and offered through the OSGeo site.<br /> <br /> The edu Committee would be expected to either develop course material (in which case, it would be automatically &quot;evaluated&quot;) or evaluate course material developed by others and submitted for evaluation. Once evaluated, the edu Committee would submit the course material to the [[Certification_Committee]] with a recommendation for recognition.<br /> <br /> Different levels of recognition are possible -- &quot;recognized,&quot; &quot;certified,&quot; &quot;endorsed.&quot;<br /> <br /> = Criteria =<br /> <br /> <br /> == Required ==<br /> <br /> # Open-source-ness<br /> ## Software covered in the course is under an OSI approved license <br /> ## Material and data are available under an open content license (cf [http://def.okfn.org/ Open Knowledge Definition]) <br /> # Peer-review-ness<br /> ## The material has been reviewed and admired by at least 2 people on the Edu committee<br /> ## Course-material has been available on the edu/OSGeo wiki for at least &lt;time period&gt;<br /> # Content quality<br /> ## Level of instruction<br /> ## Expected knowledge/training acquired after the course (what will the participant be able to do after going through the course)<br /> ## Length of course<br /> ## Physical presence required, or online (distance learning) course<br /> ## Kind of recognition given (certificate, diploma, degree)<br /> ## Breadth of course (how much ground do the various course components cover)<br /> ## Depth of course (how much in detail each course component is taught)<br /> ## Tutorial comes with metadata identifying author, date, length/timespan, audience type<br /> <br /> == Desirable ==<br /> <br /> # At least software from one OSGeo Software project is used<br /> <br /> = Levels of Recognition =<br /> <br /> # Recognized<br /> The edu Committee recognizes the course work to be of a certain quality (typically given to courses not prepared by the Committee, but submitted to it for recognition).<br /> # Endorsed<br /> The edu Committee endorses the course work for inclusion in some broader course.<br /> # Certified<br /> The edu Committee has been involved in, and certifies the course to be of a certain quality, intended to achieve a certain purpose (the highest level of recognition)</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Teaching_Material_Evaluation_Criteria&diff=7121 2006-08-29T13:33:07Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Purpose */</p> <hr /> <div>''This is a thought experiment''<br /> <br /> = Purpose =<br /> <br /> The purpose of this document is to outline the criteria to be used for endorsing teaching material developed by OSGeo members and offered through the OSGeo site.<br /> <br /> The edu Committee would be expected to either develop course material (in which case, it would be automatically &quot;evaluated&quot;) or evaluate course material developed by others and submitted for evaluation. Once evaluated, the edu Committee would submit the course material to the [[Certification_Committee]] with a recommendation for recognition.<br /> <br /> Different levels of recognition are possible -- &quot;recognized,&quot; &quot;certified,&quot; &quot;endorsed.&quot;<br /> <br /> = Criteria =<br /> <br /> <br /> == Required ==<br /> <br /> # Open-source-ness<br /> ## Software covered in the course is under an OSI approved license <br /> ## Material and data are available under an open content license (cf [http://def.okfn.org/ Open Knowledge Definition]) <br /> # Peer-review-ness<br /> ## The material has been reviewed and admired by at least 2 people on the Edu committee<br /> ## Course-material has been available on the edu/OSGeo wiki for at least &lt;time period&gt;<br /> # Content quality<br /> ## Level of instruction<br /> ## Expected knowledge/training acquired after the course (what will the participant be able to do after going through the course)<br /> ## Length of course<br /> ## Physical presence required, or online (distance learning) course<br /> ## Kind of recognition given (certificate, diploma, degree)<br /> ## Breadth of course (how much ground do the various course components cover)<br /> ## Depth of course (how much in detail each course component is taught)<br /> ## Tutorial comes with metadata identifying author, date, length/timespan, audience type<br /> <br /> == Desirable ==<br /> <br /> # At least software from one OSGeo Software project is used</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Teaching_Material_Evaluation_Criteria&diff=7112 2006-08-29T05:17:55Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Required */</p> <hr /> <div>''This is a thought experiment''<br /> <br /> = Purpose =<br /> <br /> The purpose of this document is to outline the criteria to be used for endorsing teaching material developed by OSGeo members and offered through the OSGeo site. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> = Criteria =<br /> <br /> <br /> == Required ==<br /> <br /> # Open-source-ness<br /> ## Software covered in the course is under an OSI approved license <br /> ## Material and data are available under an open content license (cf [http://def.okfn.org/ Open Knowledge Definition]) <br /> # Peer-review-ness<br /> ## The material has been reviewed and admired by at least 2 people on the Edu committee<br /> ## Course-material has been available on the edu/OSGeo wiki for at least &lt;time period&gt;<br /> # Content quality<br /> ## Level of instruction<br /> ## Expected knowledge/training acquired after the course (what will the participant be able to do after going through the course)<br /> ## Length of course<br /> ## Physical presence required, or online (distance learning) course<br /> ## Kind of recognition given (certificate, diploma, degree)<br /> ## Breadth of course (how much ground do the various course components cover)<br /> ## Depth of course (how much in detail each course component is taught)<br /> ## Tutorial comes with metadata identifying author, date, length/timespan, audience type<br /> <br /> == Desirable ==<br /> <br /> # At least software from one OSGeo Software project is used</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=OSGeo_Education_Projects&diff=6477 2006-08-11T13:10:15Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Status */</p> <hr /> <div>Working groups are loosely coupled groups of individuals focusing on certain parts of the [[Education and Curriculum Committee]] mandate.<br /> <br /> If you want a particular group, add it to the list and provide a goal for the group. When it comes time for reporting back to the membership and board, we can all briefly update the activities/status of the working group.<br /> <br /> == Data Package Group ==<br /> * Detail page [[Edu Data Package]]<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Produce a data package for common use in tutorials<br /> <br /> === Method ===<br /> * Work with [[Public Geospatial Data Committee]] where needed<br /> * Work with software projects to provide data package in meaningful format for their tool<br /> * Use data package as a reference in writing tutorials<br /> <br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting<br /> === Results ===<br /> * Nothing yet<br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * [[User:Tmitchel | Tyler Mitchell]]<br /> * [[User:JoWalsh | Jo Walsh]]<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Perry Nacionales]]<br /> * [[User:Neteler|Markus Neteler]]<br /> * [[User:Charlie|Charlie Schweik]]<br /> <br /> == Education Resources Group ==<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Collect links to and describe educational resources<br /> * Develop an &quot;Introduction to GIS&quot; course and courseware<br /> * Support educators in their usage of GFOSS<br /> === Method ===<br /> * Find people to test use what we will develop<br /> * Promote GFOSS to colleagues<br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting<br /> === Results ===<br /> See the [[Educational Resources]] page.<br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * [[User:ajolma | Ari Jolma]]<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Perry Nacionales]]<br /> <br /> == Research Outreach Group ==<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Link to research projects using and developing GFOSS<br /> * Support researchers in their usage of GFOSS<br /> * Start and support research projects that develop GFOSS<br /> * Start and support research projects that help GFOSS developers<br /> === Method ===<br /> * Promote GFOSS to colleagues<br /> * Work with developers to identify research needs<br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting<br /> === Results ===<br /> See the [[OSGeo in Research]] page.<br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * [[User:ajolma | Ari Jolma]]<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Perry Nacionales]]<br /> <br /> == FreeGISBook Group ==<br /> * Detail page [[Free GIS Book]]<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Produce and maintain the Free GIS Book started by EOGEO <br /> <br /> === Method ===<br /> * ??<br /> <br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting. [[User:Adoyle| Allan Doyle]] will investigate the logistics of moving the project from EOGEO to OSGeo.<br /> <br /> update: we are waiting for mediawiki to be installed on telascience's server, and then wikibooks.osgeo.org will point to that. At that point, the content will be moved from eogeo.org to the new space.<br /> <br /> === Results ===<br /> * Nothing yet<br /> <br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * [[User:JoWalsh|Jo Walsh]] - modulo some [[Talk:Free_GIS_Book|answers to some questions]]</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=PGL_English_translation&diff=6463 2006-08-11T02:18:21Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>[http://dl.maptools.org/dl/omsug/osgis2004/licenses.pdf see original]. Reproduced here only because PDFs are a pain to read.<br /> <br /> PUBLIC GEODATA LICENSE Version 0.1, juin 2004 Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.<br /> <br /> These licence applies to geographical data, attributes, and associated metadata. It applies to any derivated work, too. It's purpose is to facilitate production, exchange, and distribution of geographical data, in respect of author rights and users rights to benefit of the same liberties. It's according to these rules that any section of the licence should be interpreted. In the following text, « You » mean « any data user », « License » mean these release of the « Public Geodata License », except if written « this licence and any later version », and « data » mean geographical data, attributes, and metadata. Permission is hereby granted to you by the author (s) to use the data for any purpose, to study, adapt to your needs, copy, distribute, enhance, and publish enhancements under thefollowing terms:<br /> <br /> You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the data as you receive it, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients of the data a copy of this licence included as metadata.<br /> <br /> You may modify your copy or copies of the data, and distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions: 2.1) Metadata or at least an associated file must carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files, what you changed, the date of any changes, and every other informations required for data use. <br /> 2.2) Every part of the data, every work issued from the data, is licensed under the terms of this license. <br /> 2.3) You must do the necessary to inform the users about their rights as they are defined in this license.<br /> <br /> You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the data, or parts of them, or a derived work on a crypted form, included in a software or in a website, or by the mean of any media which limit access, only if you reach at the same time one of the three following conditions: <br /> 3.1) Accompany it with the complete corresponding data under the trems of sections 1 and 2 above in a format and on a support customarily used for geographical data sharing. <br /> 3.2) Or accompany these distribution or publication with an offer valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding data, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for geographical data interchange. <br /> 3.3) Or accompany these distribution or publication with the information you received as to the offer to distribute corresponding data according to subsection 3.2. This last choice is allowed, by derogation, only for non-profit publications or distributions.<br /> <br /> You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the data except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the data is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.<br /> <br /> You are not required to accept this License. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or distribute the data or its derivative works. Therefore, by modifying or distributing the data (or any work based on the data), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying the data or works based on it.<br /> <br /> Each time you redistribute the data (or any work based on the data), the recipient automatically receives a license from the original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the data subject to these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipient's exercise of the rights granted herein. You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to this License.<br /> <br /> If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute the data at all.<br /> <br /> If the distribution and/or use of the data is restricted in certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the original copyright holder who places the data under this License may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of this License.<br /> <br /> This is the 0.1 version of the « PUBLIC GEODATA LICENSE ». New versions will be released to incorporate contributions, keeping the idea of free geographical data, transposed from software and from art. We aim to produce a widely accepted version as soon as possible.<br /> No exception could be accepted for the data use, except by all the authors according to section 2. Such an exception could not limit the rights granted by this licence to copy, modify, and distribute the data.<br /> <br /> NO WARRANTY BECAUSE THE DATA IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE DATA, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE DATA &quot;AS IS&quot; WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND ACCURACY OF THE DATA IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE DATA PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.<br /> IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE DATA AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Geodata_Licensing_Working_Group&diff=6462 2006-08-11T02:12:24Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Public Geodata Licence */</p> <hr /> <div>This is a project started by the [[Public Geospatial Data Committee]]<br /> <br /> The right to reuse and redistribute publically accessible bodies of data needs to be clear. This group can help provide guidelines for public geodata licensing, both of community-contributed and state-collected bodies of data.<br /> <br /> == Focus ==<br /> <br /> * Provision of clear guidelines for licenses, and the implications of their uses, for people contributing data to geospatial web / GSDI efforts.<br /> * Potential work on a draft LPGL license to complement the draft [http://cemml.carleton.ca:8080/OGUG/pgl/ PGL].<br /> <br /> [[Image:Cc_license_smaller.png]]<br /> <br /> == Participants ==<br /> <br /> * [[User:JoWalsh|Jo Walsh]]<br /> * [[User:SchuylerErle|Schuyler Erle]]<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Perry Nacionales]] (Jo and Schuyler need company :)<br /> * [[User:dF|Daniel FAIVRE]]<br /> * [[User:fbiasi|Frank Biasi]]<br /> * [[User:cholmes|Chries Holmes]]<br /> * [[User:Dsampson|Dave Sampson]]<br /> * [[User:punkish|Puneet Kishor]]<br /> * ''your name here''<br /> <br /> == Existing and related projects ==<br /> <br /> * [http://geodatacommons.umaine.edu/ Geodata Commons] <br /> * [http://www.okfn.org/wiki/OpenKnowledgeDefinition Open Knowledge Definition] survey of open license stances, a superset of this effort.<br /> <br /> == Geodata Licenses ==<br /> <br /> === Public Geodata Licence ===<br /> <br /> * original [http://sig.cwriter.org/index.php/PGL Public Geodata License] (French/English)<br /> ** [[PGL English translation]] (because PDFs are a pain to read)<br /> * [http://cemml.carleton.ca:8080/OGUG/pgl Group PGL-Canada (OLD. See Ottawa-OSGEO PGL)]<br /> * [https://ottawa.osgeo.org/servlets/ForumMessageList?forumID=19 Ottawa-OSGEO PGL]<br /> <br /> === Canadian Unrestricted Use Licence ===<br /> * [http://www.geobase.ca/geobase/en/licence.jsp Geobase Unrestricted Use Licence Agreement] - BSD style license <br /> * [http://www.cits.rncan.gc.ca/cit/servlet/CIT/site_id=01&amp;page_id=1-021-001-007.html same license at Natural Resources Canada]<br /> <br /> === Creative Commons ===<br /> <br /> * [http://creativecommons.org/ Creative Commons] is not a data-specific license, but Open<br /> <br /> [[Image:Osm_license_small.png]]<br /> <br /> == References ==<br /> <br /> * [http://cemml.carleton.ca:8080/OGUG/pgl/ Public Geodata License] - [http://sig.cwriter.org/index.php/PGL French version, and cooperative website for license writing]<br /> * [http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Legal_FAQ OpenStreetmap Legal FAQ]<br /> * [http://www.spatial.maine.edu/geodatacommons/PubCommonsSNGL.pdf Public Commons of Geographic Data - Research and Development Challenges (PDF)] - discusses IP issues<br /> * [http://fermat.nap.edu/catalog/11079.html Licensing Geographic Data and Services] - book with some sample PDFs - cf [http://www.nap.edu/books/0309092671/html/213.htm Section 3, Chapter 9]<br /> * [http://sciencecommons.org/data The Science Commons Data project] - explores ways to assure broad access to scientific data<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * [[Geodata Packaging Working Group]]<br /> * [[Geodata Discovery Working Group]]</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=Geodata_Licensing_Working_Group&diff=6461 2006-08-11T01:46:06Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Participants */</p> <hr /> <div>This is a project started by the [[Public Geospatial Data Committee]]<br /> <br /> The right to reuse and redistribute publically accessible bodies of data needs to be clear. This group can help provide guidelines for public geodata licensing, both of community-contributed and state-collected bodies of data.<br /> <br /> == Focus ==<br /> <br /> * Provision of clear guidelines for licenses, and the implications of their uses, for people contributing data to geospatial web / GSDI efforts.<br /> * Potential work on a draft LPGL license to complement the draft [http://cemml.carleton.ca:8080/OGUG/pgl/ PGL].<br /> <br /> [[Image:Cc_license_smaller.png]]<br /> <br /> == Participants ==<br /> <br /> * [[User:JoWalsh|Jo Walsh]]<br /> * [[User:SchuylerErle|Schuyler Erle]]<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Perry Nacionales]] (Jo and Schuyler need company :)<br /> * [[User:dF|Daniel FAIVRE]]<br /> * [[User:fbiasi|Frank Biasi]]<br /> * [[User:cholmes|Chries Holmes]]<br /> * [[User:Dsampson|Dave Sampson]]<br /> * [[User:punkish|Puneet Kishor]]<br /> * ''your name here''<br /> <br /> == Existing and related projects ==<br /> <br /> * [http://geodatacommons.umaine.edu/ Geodata Commons] <br /> * [http://www.okfn.org/wiki/OpenKnowledgeDefinition Open Knowledge Definition] survey of open license stances, a superset of this effort.<br /> <br /> == Geodata Licenses ==<br /> <br /> === Public Geodata Licence ===<br /> <br /> * original [http://sig.cwriter.org/index.php/PGL Public Geodata License] (French/English)<br /> * [http://cemml.carleton.ca:8080/OGUG/pgl Group PGL-Canada (OLD. See Ottawa-OSGEO PGL)]<br /> * [https://ottawa.osgeo.org/servlets/ForumMessageList?forumID=19 Ottawa-OSGEO PGL]<br /> <br /> === Canadian Unrestricted Use Licence ===<br /> * [http://www.geobase.ca/geobase/en/licence.jsp Geobase Unrestricted Use Licence Agreement] - BSD style license <br /> * [http://www.cits.rncan.gc.ca/cit/servlet/CIT/site_id=01&amp;page_id=1-021-001-007.html same license at Natural Resources Canada]<br /> <br /> === Creative Commons ===<br /> <br /> * [http://creativecommons.org/ Creative Commons] is not a data-specific license, but Open<br /> <br /> [[Image:Osm_license_small.png]]<br /> <br /> == References ==<br /> <br /> * [http://cemml.carleton.ca:8080/OGUG/pgl/ Public Geodata License] - [http://sig.cwriter.org/index.php/PGL French version, and cooperative website for license writing]<br /> * [http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Legal_FAQ OpenStreetmap Legal FAQ]<br /> * [http://www.spatial.maine.edu/geodatacommons/PubCommonsSNGL.pdf Public Commons of Geographic Data - Research and Development Challenges (PDF)] - discusses IP issues<br /> * [http://fermat.nap.edu/catalog/11079.html Licensing Geographic Data and Services] - book with some sample PDFs - cf [http://www.nap.edu/books/0309092671/html/213.htm Section 3, Chapter 9]<br /> * [http://sciencecommons.org/data The Science Commons Data project] - explores ways to assure broad access to scientific data<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * [[Geodata Packaging Working Group]]<br /> * [[Geodata Discovery Working Group]]</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=OSGeo_Education_Projects&diff=5663 2006-07-10T14:51:13Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Status */</p> <hr /> <div>Working groups are loosely coupled groups of individuals focusing on certain parts of the [[Education and Curriculum Committee]] mandate.<br /> <br /> If you want a particular group, add it to the list and provide a goal for the group. When it comes time for reporting back to the membership and board, we can all briefly update the activities/status of the working group.<br /> <br /> == Data Package Group ==<br /> * Detail page [[Edu Data Package]]<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Produce a data package for common use in tutorials<br /> <br /> === Method ===<br /> * Work with [[Public Geospatial Data Committee]] where needed<br /> * Work with software projects to provide data package in meaningful format for their tool<br /> * Use data package as a reference in writing tutorials<br /> <br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting<br /> === Results ===<br /> * Nothing yet<br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * [[User:Tmitchel | Tyler Mitchell]]<br /> * [[User:JoWalsh | Jo Walsh]]<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Perry Nacionales]]<br /> * [[User:Neteler|Markus Neteler]]<br /> * [[User:Charlie|Charlie Schweik]]<br /> <br /> == Education Resources Group ==<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Collect links to and describe educational resources<br /> * Develop an &quot;Introduction to GIS&quot; course and courseware<br /> * Support educators in their usage of GFOSS<br /> === Method ===<br /> * Find people to test use what we will develop<br /> * Promote GFOSS to colleagues<br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting<br /> === Results ===<br /> See the [[Educational Resources]] page.<br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * [[User:ajolma | Ari Jolma]]<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Perry Nacionales]]<br /> <br /> == Research Outreach Group ==<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Link to research projects using and developing GFOSS<br /> * Support researchers in their usage of GFOSS<br /> * Start and support research projects that develop GFOSS<br /> * Start and support research projects that help GFOSS developers<br /> === Method ===<br /> * Promote GFOSS to colleagues<br /> * Work with developers to identify research needs<br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting<br /> === Results ===<br /> See the [[OSGeo in Research]] page.<br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * [[User:ajolma | Ari Jolma]]<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Perry Nacionales]]<br /> <br /> == FreeGISBook Group ==<br /> * Detail page [[Free GIS Book]]<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Produce and maintain the Free GIS Book started by EOGEO <br /> <br /> === Method ===<br /> * ??<br /> <br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting. [[User:Adoyle| Allan Doyle]] will investigate the logistics of moving the project from EOGEO to OSGeo.<br /> <br /> === Results ===<br /> * Nothing yet<br /> <br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * sign-up here</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=OSGeo_Education_Projects&diff=5662 2006-07-10T14:49:55Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Status */</p> <hr /> <div>Working groups are loosely coupled groups of individuals focusing on certain parts of the [[Education and Curriculum Committee]] mandate.<br /> <br /> If you want a particular group, add it to the list and provide a goal for the group. When it comes time for reporting back to the membership and board, we can all briefly update the activities/status of the working group.<br /> <br /> == Data Package Group ==<br /> * Detail page [[Edu Data Package]]<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Produce a data package for common use in tutorials<br /> <br /> === Method ===<br /> * Work with [[Public Geospatial Data Committee]] where needed<br /> * Work with software projects to provide data package in meaningful format for their tool<br /> * Use data package as a reference in writing tutorials<br /> <br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting<br /> === Results ===<br /> * Nothing yet<br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * [[User:Tmitchel | Tyler Mitchell]]<br /> * [[User:JoWalsh | Jo Walsh]]<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Perry Nacionales]]<br /> * [[User:Neteler|Markus Neteler]]<br /> * [[User:Charlie|Charlie Schweik]]<br /> <br /> == Education Resources Group ==<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Collect links to and describe educational resources<br /> * Develop an &quot;Introduction to GIS&quot; course and courseware<br /> * Support educators in their usage of GFOSS<br /> === Method ===<br /> * Find people to test use what we will develop<br /> * Promote GFOSS to colleagues<br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting<br /> === Results ===<br /> See the [[Educational Resources]] page.<br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * [[User:ajolma | Ari Jolma]]<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Perry Nacionales]]<br /> <br /> == Research Outreach Group ==<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Link to research projects using and developing GFOSS<br /> * Support researchers in their usage of GFOSS<br /> * Start and support research projects that develop GFOSS<br /> * Start and support research projects that help GFOSS developers<br /> === Method ===<br /> * Promote GFOSS to colleagues<br /> * Work with developers to identify research needs<br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting<br /> === Results ===<br /> See the [[OSGeo in Research]] page.<br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * [[User:ajolma | Ari Jolma]]<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Perry Nacionales]]<br /> <br /> == FreeGISBook Group ==<br /> * Detail page [[Free GIS Book]]<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Produce and maintain the Free GIS Book started by EOGEO <br /> <br /> === Method ===<br /> * ??<br /> <br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting. [[User:Adoyle| A Doyle]] will investigate the logistics of moving the project from EOGEO to OSGeo.<br /> <br /> === Results ===<br /> * Nothing yet<br /> <br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * sign-up here</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=OSGeo_Education_Projects&diff=5661 2006-07-10T14:49:03Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Status */</p> <hr /> <div>Working groups are loosely coupled groups of individuals focusing on certain parts of the [[Education and Curriculum Committee]] mandate.<br /> <br /> If you want a particular group, add it to the list and provide a goal for the group. When it comes time for reporting back to the membership and board, we can all briefly update the activities/status of the working group.<br /> <br /> == Data Package Group ==<br /> * Detail page [[Edu Data Package]]<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Produce a data package for common use in tutorials<br /> <br /> === Method ===<br /> * Work with [[Public Geospatial Data Committee]] where needed<br /> * Work with software projects to provide data package in meaningful format for their tool<br /> * Use data package as a reference in writing tutorials<br /> <br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting<br /> === Results ===<br /> * Nothing yet<br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * [[User:Tmitchel | Tyler Mitchell]]<br /> * [[User:JoWalsh | Jo Walsh]]<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Perry Nacionales]]<br /> * [[User:Neteler|Markus Neteler]]<br /> * [[User:Charlie|Charlie Schweik]]<br /> <br /> == Education Resources Group ==<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Collect links to and describe educational resources<br /> * Develop an &quot;Introduction to GIS&quot; course and courseware<br /> * Support educators in their usage of GFOSS<br /> === Method ===<br /> * Find people to test use what we will develop<br /> * Promote GFOSS to colleagues<br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting<br /> === Results ===<br /> See the [[Educational Resources]] page.<br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * [[User:ajolma | Ari Jolma]]<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Perry Nacionales]]<br /> <br /> == Research Outreach Group ==<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Link to research projects using and developing GFOSS<br /> * Support researchers in their usage of GFOSS<br /> * Start and support research projects that develop GFOSS<br /> * Start and support research projects that help GFOSS developers<br /> === Method ===<br /> * Promote GFOSS to colleagues<br /> * Work with developers to identify research needs<br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting<br /> === Results ===<br /> See the [[OSGeo in Research]] page.<br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * [[User:ajolma | Ari Jolma]]<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Perry Nacionales]]<br /> <br /> == FreeGISBook Group ==<br /> * Detail page [[Free GIS Book]]<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Produce and maintain the Free GIS Book started by EOGEO <br /> <br /> === Method ===<br /> * ??<br /> <br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting. [[Adoyle]] will investigate the logistics of moving the project from EOGEO to OSGeo.<br /> <br /> === Results ===<br /> * Nothing yet<br /> <br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * sign-up here</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=OSGeo_Education_Projects&diff=5659 2006-07-09T17:05:47Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>Working groups are loosely coupled groups of individuals focusing on certain parts of the [[Education and Curriculum Committee]] mandate.<br /> <br /> If you want a particular group, add it to the list and provide a goal for the group. When it comes time for reporting back to the membership and board, we can all briefly update the activities/status of the working group.<br /> <br /> == Data Package Group ==<br /> * Detail page [[Edu Data Package]]<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Produce a data package for common use in tutorials<br /> <br /> === Method ===<br /> * Work with [[Public Geospatial Data Committee]] where needed<br /> * Work with software projects to provide data package in meaningful format for their tool<br /> * Use data package as a reference in writing tutorials<br /> <br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting<br /> === Results ===<br /> * Nothing yet<br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * [[User:Tmitchel | Tyler Mitchell]]<br /> * [[User:JoWalsh | Jo Walsh]]<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Perry Nacionales]]<br /> * [[User:Neteler|Markus Neteler]]<br /> * [[User:Charlie|Charlie Schweik]]<br /> <br /> == Education Resources Group ==<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Collect links to and describe educational resources<br /> * Develop an &quot;Introduction to GIS&quot; course and courseware<br /> * Support educators in their usage of GFOSS<br /> === Method ===<br /> * Find people to test use what we will develop<br /> * Promote GFOSS to colleagues<br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting<br /> === Results ===<br /> See the [[Educational Resources]] page.<br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * [[User:ajolma | Ari Jolma]]<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Perry Nacionales]]<br /> <br /> == Research Outreach Group ==<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Link to research projects using and developing GFOSS<br /> * Support researchers in their usage of GFOSS<br /> * Start and support research projects that develop GFOSS<br /> * Start and support research projects that help GFOSS developers<br /> === Method ===<br /> * Promote GFOSS to colleagues<br /> * Work with developers to identify research needs<br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting<br /> === Results ===<br /> See the [[OSGeo in Research]] page.<br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * [[User:ajolma | Ari Jolma]]<br /> * [[User:Pnaciona|Perry Nacionales]]<br /> <br /> == FreeGISBook Group ==<br /> * Detail page [[Free GIS Book]]<br /> === Goal ===<br /> * Produce and maintain the Free GIS Book started by EOGEO <br /> <br /> === Method ===<br /> * ??<br /> <br /> === Status ===<br /> * Just starting. Adoyle will investigate the logistics of moving the project from EOGEO to OSGeo.<br /> <br /> === Results ===<br /> * Nothing yet<br /> <br /> === Contributors ===<br /> * sign-up here</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=GeoForAll_History&diff=3710 2006-04-23T07:28:21Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Do */</p> <hr /> <div>Markus Neteler moved that a &quot;Education and Curriculum Committee&quot; be designated to create and promote educational and curriculum material. This motion was accepted at the [[Fifth Board Meeting]]. See [[Education Contributors]] page for a list of contributors.<br /> <br /> == Mission ==<br /> <br /> The project aims at creating and promoting educational and curriculum material that supports the goals of the Foundation. The intent is to provide appropriately licensed material that is accessible by a broad audience including academia, professionals, and the general public. Material supported through this project should directly or indirectly build and strengthen the open source geospatial user and developer communities. This can be accomplished by integrating the use of OSGeo endorsed tools in curricula that teach geospatial concepts and applications as well as the creating curricula to teach skills necessary for people to actively participate in supported OSGeo software and data projects. The committee seeks strong cooperation with academic research projects.<br /> <br /> * The [[Education Working Groups]] page lists focus areas for the committee.<br /> * The [[Educational Resources]] page will list and describe materials for educators.<br /> * The [[OSGeo in Research]] page discusses the research outreach.<br /> * The [[Core Curriculum Project]] page contains the initial brainstorming data.<br /> <br /> == Work program ==<br /> <br /> === Do ===<br /> ==== Data ====<br /> * Develop free educational geospatial datasets. Work with [[Geodata Packaging Working Group]].<br /> ==== Education ====<br /> * Promote the free and open source alternatives in education. Communicate educational needs to other OSGeo groups, such as [[Public Geospatial Data Committee]] and [[Promotion and Visibility Committee]].<br /> * Develop the appropriate pages in [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia].<br /> * Develop an '''Intro to open source GIS''' course that could be offered as a distance-learning class.<br /> * Collect links to free educational materials that advance the goals of OSGeo.<br /> * Create installation packages for class-room teaching and distance learning courses. Work with [[Distribution Special Interest Groups]]<br /> * Develop teaching materials (labs, tutorials, datasets, self-learning packages) that are aligned with existing curricula and courses.<br /> * Develop HOWTO's for educators and students, e.g., &quot;This task can be performed with GRASS this way, this one with mapserver this way&quot;, etc.<br /> * Develop pre-prepared curricula utilizing open coursework and tools that could be used by teachers in their own classes.<br /> * Compile a FAQ with answers for educators.<br /> ==== Research ====<br /> * Link to research projects using and developing GFOSS<br /> * Support researchers in their usage of GFOSS<br /> * Start and support research projects that develop GFOSS<br /> * Start and support research projects that help GFOSS developers <br /> ==== Common goals ====<br /> * Get involved in existing initiatives to make sure that they fairly consider open source solutions.<br /> <br /> === Possibly Do ===<br /> * Develop required know-how for an OSGEO-CE (OSGEO Certified Engineer). Note the work being done by [http://www.gisci.org/ The GIS Certification Institute]. Work with [[Certification_Committee]]<br /> * Develop phased coursework (short, medium, and long term). Note the work done by, e.g. [http://www.geo-consortium.de Geo-Consortium] and [http://www.gdf-hannover.de/literature GDF Hannover]<br /> <br /> == Existing materials ==<br /> <br /> * [http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/giscc/ The NCGIA Core Curriculum in GIScience]<br /> * [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia]</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=GeoForAll_History&diff=3709 2006-04-23T05:12:38Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Mission */</p> <hr /> <div>Markus Neteler moved that a &quot;Education and Curriculum Committee&quot; be designated to create and promote educational and curriculum material. This motion was accepted at the [[Fifth Board Meeting]]. See [[Education Contributors]] page for a list of contributors.<br /> <br /> == Mission ==<br /> <br /> The project aims at creating and promoting educational and curriculum material that supports the goals of the Foundation. The intent is to provide appropriately licensed material that is accessible by a broad audience including academia, professionals, and the general public. Material supported through this project should directly or indirectly build and strengthen the open source geospatial user and developer communities. This can be accomplished by integrating the use of OSGeo endorsed tools in curricula that teach geospatial concepts and applications as well as the creating curricula to teach skills necessary for people to actively participate in supported OSGeo software and data projects. The committee seeks strong cooperation with academic research projects.<br /> <br /> * The [[Education Working Groups]] page lists focus areas for the committee.<br /> * The [[Educational Resources]] page will list and describe materials for educators.<br /> * The [[OSGeo in Research]] page discusses the research outreach.<br /> * The [[Core Curriculum Project]] page contains the initial brainstorming data.<br /> <br /> == Work program ==<br /> <br /> === Do ===<br /> * Link/match these do's to the agendas of the working groups<br /> * Promote the free and open source alternatives in education. Communicate educational needs to other OSGeo groups, such as [[Public Geospatial Data Committee]] and [[Promotion and Visibility Committee]].<br /> * Develop the appropriate pages in [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia].<br /> * Develop an &quot;Intro to open source GIS&quot; course that could be offered as a distance-learning class.<br /> * Collect links to free educational materials that advance the goals of OSGeo.<br /> * Create installation packages for class-room teaching and distance learning courses. Work with [[Distribution Special Interest Groups]]<br /> * Develop free educational geospatial datasets. Work with [[Geodata Packaging Working Group]].<br /> * Develop teaching materials (labs, tutorials, datasets, self-learning packages) that are aligned with existing curricula and courses.<br /> * Develop HOWTO's for educators and students, e.g., &quot;This task can be performed with GRASS this way, this one with mapserver this way&quot;, etc.<br /> * Get involved in existing initiatives to make sure that they fairly consider open source solutions.<br /> * Develop pre-prepared curricula utilizing open coursework and tools that could be used by teachers in their own classes.<br /> * Compile a FAQ with answers for educators.<br /> <br /> === Possibly Do ===<br /> * Develop required know-how for an OSGEO-CE (OSGEO Certified Engineer). Note the work being done by [http://www.gisci.org/ The GIS Certification Institute]. Work with [[Certification_Committee]]<br /> * Develop phased coursework (short, medium, and long term). Note the work done by, e.g. [http://www.geo-consortium.de Geo-Consortium] and [http://www.gdf-hannover.de/literature GDF Hannover]<br /> <br /> == Existing materials ==<br /> <br /> * [http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/giscc/ The NCGIA Core Curriculum in GIScience]<br /> * [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia]</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=OSGeo_in_Research&diff=3516 2006-04-18T04:12:59Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Free and Open Source Geospatial Software in research projects */</p> <hr /> <div>== Free and Open Source Geospatial Software in research projects ==<br /> <br /> The education and curriculum project aims at developing strong cooperation with academic research projects. The cooperation can benefit both FOSS4G projects and research projects. We are looking for discussion about and links to<br /> <br /> * Research projects using FOSS4G<br /> * Research projects developing FOSS4G<br /> * Research needs<br /> * Research about and on FOSS4G. (This is a &quot;meta&quot; level topic)<br /> * Research on FOSS4G in participatory GIS</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=OSGeo_in_Research&diff=3515 2006-04-18T04:12:09Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Free and Open Source Geospatial Software in research projects */</p> <hr /> <div>== Free and Open Source Geospatial Software in research projects ==<br /> <br /> The education and curriculum project aims at developing strong cooperation with academic research projects. The cooperation can benefit both FOSS4G projects and research projects. We are looking for discussion about and links to<br /> <br /> * Research projects using FOSS4G<br /> * Research projects developing FOSS4G<br /> * Research needs<br /> * Research about and on FOSS4G. This is a &quot;meta&quot; level topic that I am particularly interested in<br /> * Research on FOSS4G in participatory GIS</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=OSGeo_education_interested_participants&diff=2749 2006-03-27T15:30:13Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>See the [[Education_and_Curriculum_Committee]] page for the list of initial committee members.<br /> <br /> == Contributors by Interest ==<br /> The following are individuals who have self-identified themselves as interested in contributing or assisting with [[Education_and_Curriculum_Committee]] projects. You are welcome to add yourself to the list and identify areas that you are particular familiar with or interested in contributing to.<br /> <br /> * [[User:Punkish | Puneet Kishor]] (chair) (TZ GMT-6)<br /> * Ari Jolma (TZ GMT-2)<br /> * [[User:Neteler | Markus Neteler ]] (TZ GMT-1) (general training/education materials; educational datasets)<br /> * Venkatesh Raghavan<br /> * Charlie Schweik (undergraduate and graduate level education; academic research on open source collaboration, public sector information technology, natural resource management)<br /> * Pericles Nacionales (general training/education materials; conservation and natural resource management) <br /> * Ned Horning<br /> * [[User:Tmitchel | Tyler Mitchell]] (TZ GMT-8) (interested in workshop material and curriculum development for high school through to university)<br /> * Gary Watry (TZ GMT-5)(Interested in using Free Open Source Software (FOSS) to replace teaching Commercial Off The Shelf Software (COTS)in education, Preparing material for course work at the Graduate and Under-Grad level and then moving down into the High School level through AP and Honors courses.)<br /> * [[User:Arnulf Christl]] (TZ GMT-1) (Experience as GIS instructor for fulltime workshops, trainings and courses. Organization of commercial training courses with Open Source Geospatial Software. Preparation of course and presentation material, tutorials). (Interest in enhancing presentation material, publishing under Free license, in time hardcopy production, maintenance and update of content just as any OS dev project)<br /> <br /> == Contributors by Time Zones ==<br /> This should help in planning meetings. If you are not here yet, please add your info, or let me know and I will do so. Going from East to West, we have --<br /> * TZ GMT-1<br /> ** Arnulf Christl<br /> ** Markus Neteler<br /> * TZ GMT-2<br /> ** Ari Jolma<br /> * TZ GMT-5<br /> ** Gary Watry<br /> * TZ GMT-6<br /> ** Puneet Kishor<br /> ** Pericles Nacionales<br /> * TZ GMT-8<br /> ** Tyler Mitchell</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=OSGeo_education_interested_participants&diff=2748 2006-03-27T15:23:52Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>See the [[Education_and_Curriculum_Committee]] page for the list of initial committee members.<br /> <br /> The following are individuals who have self-identified themselves as interested in contributing or assisting with [[Education_and_Curriculum_Committee]] projects. You are welcome to add yourself to the list and identify areas that you are particular familiar with or interested in contributing to.<br /> <br /> * [[User:Punkish | Puneet Kishor]] (chair) (TZ GMT-6)<br /> * Ari Jolma (TZ GMT-2)<br /> * [[User:Neteler | Markus Neteler ]] (TZ GMT-1) (general training/education materials; educational datasets)<br /> * Venkatesh Raghavan<br /> * Charlie Schweik (undergraduate and graduate level education; academic research on open source collaboration, public sector information technology, natural resource management)<br /> * Pericles Nacionales (general training/education materials; conservation and natural resource management) <br /> * Ned Horning<br /> * [[User:Tmitchel | Tyler Mitchell]] (TZ GMT-8) (interested in workshop material and curriculum development for high school through to university)<br /> * Gary Watry (TZ GMT-5)(Interested in using Free Open Source Software (FOSS) to replace teaching Commercial Off The Shelf Software (COTS)in education, Preparing material for course work at the Graduate and Under-Grad level and then moving down into the High School level through AP and Honors courses.)<br /> * [[User:Arnulf Christl]] (TZ GMT-1) (Experience as GIS instructor for fulltime workshops, trainings and courses. Organization of commercial training courses with Open Source Geospatial Software. Preparation of course and presentation material, tutorials). (Interest in enhancing presentation material, publishing under Free license, in time hardcopy production, maintenance and update of content just as any OS dev project)<br /> <br /> == Contributor's by Time Zones ==<br /> This should help in planning meetings. If you are not here yet, please add your info, or let me know and I will do so. Going from East to West, we have --<br /> * TZ GMT-1<br /> ** Arnulf Christl<br /> ** Markus Neteler<br /> * TZ GMT-2<br /> ** Ari Jolma<br /> * TZ GMT-5<br /> ** Gary Watry<br /> * TZ GMT-6<br /> ** Puneet Kishor<br /> ** Pericles Nacionales<br /> * TZ GMT-8<br /> ** Tyler Mitchell</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=GeoForAll_History&diff=2747 2006-03-27T15:16:43Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Possibly Do */</p> <hr /> <div>I, Markus Neteler, move that a &quot;Education and Curriculum Committee&quot; be designated to create and promote educational and curriculum material. The initial committee membership shall include:<br /> <br /> * [[User:Punkish | Puneet Kishor]] (chair)<br /> * Ari Jolma (graduate level education MS, PhD; academic research; primary school education)<br /> * Markus Neteler<br /> * Venkatesh Raghavan<br /> * Charlie Schweik (undergraduate and graduate level education; academic research on open source collaboration, public sector information technology, natural resource management)<br /> * Pericles Nacionales (general training/education materials; conservation and natural resource management) <br /> * Ned Horning<br /> * See [[Education Contributors]] page for others who are helping/interested<br /> <br /> ----<br /> This motion was accepted at the [[Fifth Board Meeting]].<br /> <br /> == Mission ==<br /> <br /> The project aims at creating and promoting educational and curriculum material that supports the goals of the Foundation. The intent is to provide appropriately licensed material that is accessible by a broad audience including academia, professionals, and the general public. Material supported through this project should directly or indirectly build and strengthen the open source geospatial user and developer communities. This can be accomplished by integrating the use of OSGeo endorsed tools in curricula that teach geospatial concepts and applications as well as the creating curricula to teach skills necessary for people to actively participate in supported OSGeo software and data projects. The committee seeks strong cooperation with academic research projects.<br /> <br /> The [[Core Curriculum Project]] page discusses the educational outreach.<br /> <br /> The [[OSGeo in Research]] page discusses the research outreach.<br /> <br /> == Objective ==<br /> <br /> === Don't ===<br /> * Don't create a &quot;core curriculum&quot; as OSGEO is not in a position to do so.<br /> * Don't duplicate NCGIA's effort.<br /> * Don't promote open source or GIS by itself as there is potential to be misunderstood. Instead, promote the role of open source in GIS.<br /> <br /> === Do ===<br /> * Create free tools in distance learning so students can install the software without any restrictions. <br /> * Create installation packages for the more difficult to install software.<br /> * Develop teaching materials (labs, tutorials, datasets) that are aligned with existing curricula.<br /> * Document connections between the general knowledge and OS technical solutions (e.g., &quot;This skill can be performed with GRASS, this one with mapserver&quot;)<br /> * Get involved in existing initiatives to make sure that they fairly consider open source solutions.<br /> * Develop an &quot;Intro to open source GIS&quot; course that could be offered as a distance-learning class.<br /> * Develop pre-prepared curricula utilizing open coursework and tools that could be used by teachers in their own classes.<br /> * Compile FAQ and their answers.<br /> * Provide a solid foundation on Geoinformatics technology using OSGEO tools as a means of education and self-learning.<br /> * Develop a database of education material, so an instructor could make some selections and be presented with a list of materials and links.<br /> * Promote the role of open source in GIS.<br /> <br /> === Possibly Do ===<br /> * An OSGEO-CE (OSGEO- Certified Engineer). Although, this might conflict with some of the &quot;Don'ts&quot; above, and might be best left alone for [http://www.gisci.org/ The GIS Certification Institute].<br /> * Develop phased coursework (short, medium, and long term). Once again, how much do we want to seem like we are doing the academia's job?<br /> <br /> == Concerns ==<br /> <br /> Several of us felt that that &quot;Core Curriculum&quot; might be confusing. &quot;Education and Outreach&quot; or &quot;Educational Outreach&quot; were deemed more appropriate.<br /> <br /> Leave certification to [http://www.gisci.org/ The GIS Certification Institute]<br /> <br /> == Collaboration ==<br /> <br /> There is overlap between this committee and the [[Promotion and Visibility Committee]] and we ought to collaborate with that group in the areas where our aims meet. <br /> <br /> We should also promote the use of open geospatial data and should work with the [[Public Geospatial Data Committee]] for our data needs.<br /> <br /> Link with the [[Geodata Packaging Working Group]] to work on educational datasets.<br /> <br /> Need input from commercial organizations, such as [http://www.geo-consortium.de Geo-Consortium], as some of them may have already developed curriculum material.</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=GeoForAll_History&diff=2746 2006-03-27T15:11:26Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: /* Collaboration */</p> <hr /> <div>I, Markus Neteler, move that a &quot;Education and Curriculum Committee&quot; be designated to create and promote educational and curriculum material. The initial committee membership shall include:<br /> <br /> * [[User:Punkish | Puneet Kishor]] (chair)<br /> * Ari Jolma (graduate level education MS, PhD; academic research; primary school education)<br /> * Markus Neteler<br /> * Venkatesh Raghavan<br /> * Charlie Schweik (undergraduate and graduate level education; academic research on open source collaboration, public sector information technology, natural resource management)<br /> * Pericles Nacionales (general training/education materials; conservation and natural resource management) <br /> * Ned Horning<br /> * See [[Education Contributors]] page for others who are helping/interested<br /> <br /> ----<br /> This motion was accepted at the [[Fifth Board Meeting]].<br /> <br /> == Mission ==<br /> <br /> The project aims at creating and promoting educational and curriculum material that supports the goals of the Foundation. The intent is to provide appropriately licensed material that is accessible by a broad audience including academia, professionals, and the general public. Material supported through this project should directly or indirectly build and strengthen the open source geospatial user and developer communities. This can be accomplished by integrating the use of OSGeo endorsed tools in curricula that teach geospatial concepts and applications as well as the creating curricula to teach skills necessary for people to actively participate in supported OSGeo software and data projects. The committee seeks strong cooperation with academic research projects.<br /> <br /> The [[Core Curriculum Project]] page discusses the educational outreach.<br /> <br /> The [[OSGeo in Research]] page discusses the research outreach.<br /> <br /> == Objective ==<br /> <br /> === Don't ===<br /> * Don't create a &quot;core curriculum&quot; as OSGEO is not in a position to do so.<br /> * Don't duplicate NCGIA's effort.<br /> * Don't promote open source or GIS by itself as there is potential to be misunderstood. Instead, promote the role of open source in GIS.<br /> <br /> === Do ===<br /> * Create free tools in distance learning so students can install the software without any restrictions. <br /> * Create installation packages for the more difficult to install software.<br /> * Develop teaching materials (labs, tutorials, datasets) that are aligned with existing curricula.<br /> * Document connections between the general knowledge and OS technical solutions (e.g., &quot;This skill can be performed with GRASS, this one with mapserver&quot;)<br /> * Get involved in existing initiatives to make sure that they fairly consider open source solutions.<br /> * Develop an &quot;Intro to open source GIS&quot; course that could be offered as a distance-learning class.<br /> * Develop pre-prepared curricula utilizing open coursework and tools that could be used by teachers in their own classes.<br /> * Compile FAQ and their answers.<br /> * Provide a solid foundation on Geoinformatics technology using OSGEO tools as a means of education and self-learning.<br /> * Develop a database of education material, so an instructor could make some selections and be presented with a list of materials and links.<br /> * Promote the role of open source in GIS.<br /> <br /> === Possibly Do ===<br /> * An OSGEO-CE (OSGEO- Certified Engineer). Although, this might conflict with some of the &quot;Don'ts&quot; above.<br /> * Develop phased coursework (short, medium, and long term). Once again, how much do we want to seem like we are doing the academia's job?<br /> <br /> == Concerns ==<br /> <br /> Several of us felt that that &quot;Core Curriculum&quot; might be confusing. &quot;Education and Outreach&quot; or &quot;Educational Outreach&quot; were deemed more appropriate.<br /> <br /> Leave certification to [http://www.gisci.org/ The GIS Certification Institute]<br /> <br /> == Collaboration ==<br /> <br /> There is overlap between this committee and the [[Promotion and Visibility Committee]] and we ought to collaborate with that group in the areas where our aims meet. <br /> <br /> We should also promote the use of open geospatial data and should work with the [[Public Geospatial Data Committee]] for our data needs.<br /> <br /> Link with the [[Geodata Packaging Working Group]] to work on educational datasets.<br /> <br /> Need input from commercial organizations, such as [http://www.geo-consortium.de Geo-Consortium], as some of them may have already developed curriculum material.</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=GeoForAll_History&diff=2745 2006-03-27T15:11:03Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>I, Markus Neteler, move that a &quot;Education and Curriculum Committee&quot; be designated to create and promote educational and curriculum material. The initial committee membership shall include:<br /> <br /> * [[User:Punkish | Puneet Kishor]] (chair)<br /> * Ari Jolma (graduate level education MS, PhD; academic research; primary school education)<br /> * Markus Neteler<br /> * Venkatesh Raghavan<br /> * Charlie Schweik (undergraduate and graduate level education; academic research on open source collaboration, public sector information technology, natural resource management)<br /> * Pericles Nacionales (general training/education materials; conservation and natural resource management) <br /> * Ned Horning<br /> * See [[Education Contributors]] page for others who are helping/interested<br /> <br /> ----<br /> This motion was accepted at the [[Fifth Board Meeting]].<br /> <br /> == Mission ==<br /> <br /> The project aims at creating and promoting educational and curriculum material that supports the goals of the Foundation. The intent is to provide appropriately licensed material that is accessible by a broad audience including academia, professionals, and the general public. Material supported through this project should directly or indirectly build and strengthen the open source geospatial user and developer communities. This can be accomplished by integrating the use of OSGeo endorsed tools in curricula that teach geospatial concepts and applications as well as the creating curricula to teach skills necessary for people to actively participate in supported OSGeo software and data projects. The committee seeks strong cooperation with academic research projects.<br /> <br /> The [[Core Curriculum Project]] page discusses the educational outreach.<br /> <br /> The [[OSGeo in Research]] page discusses the research outreach.<br /> <br /> == Objective ==<br /> <br /> === Don't ===<br /> * Don't create a &quot;core curriculum&quot; as OSGEO is not in a position to do so.<br /> * Don't duplicate NCGIA's effort.<br /> * Don't promote open source or GIS by itself as there is potential to be misunderstood. Instead, promote the role of open source in GIS.<br /> <br /> === Do ===<br /> * Create free tools in distance learning so students can install the software without any restrictions. <br /> * Create installation packages for the more difficult to install software.<br /> * Develop teaching materials (labs, tutorials, datasets) that are aligned with existing curricula.<br /> * Document connections between the general knowledge and OS technical solutions (e.g., &quot;This skill can be performed with GRASS, this one with mapserver&quot;)<br /> * Get involved in existing initiatives to make sure that they fairly consider open source solutions.<br /> * Develop an &quot;Intro to open source GIS&quot; course that could be offered as a distance-learning class.<br /> * Develop pre-prepared curricula utilizing open coursework and tools that could be used by teachers in their own classes.<br /> * Compile FAQ and their answers.<br /> * Provide a solid foundation on Geoinformatics technology using OSGEO tools as a means of education and self-learning.<br /> * Develop a database of education material, so an instructor could make some selections and be presented with a list of materials and links.<br /> * Promote the role of open source in GIS.<br /> <br /> === Possibly Do ===<br /> * An OSGEO-CE (OSGEO- Certified Engineer). Although, this might conflict with some of the &quot;Don'ts&quot; above.<br /> * Develop phased coursework (short, medium, and long term). Once again, how much do we want to seem like we are doing the academia's job?<br /> <br /> == Concerns ==<br /> <br /> Several of us felt that that &quot;Core Curriculum&quot; might be confusing. &quot;Education and Outreach&quot; or &quot;Educational Outreach&quot; were deemed more appropriate.<br /> <br /> Leave certification to [http://www.gisci.org/ The GIS Certification Institute]<br /> <br /> == Collaboration ==<br /> <br /> There is overlap between this committee and the [[Promotion and Visibility Committee] and we ought to collaborate with that group in the areas where our aims meet. <br /> <br /> We should also promote the use of open geospatial data and should work with the [[Public Geospatial Data Committee]] for our data needs.<br /> <br /> Link with the [[Geodata Packaging Working Group]] to work on educational datasets.<br /> <br /> Need input from commercial organizations, such as [http://www.geo-consortium.de Geo-Consortium], as some of them may have already developed curriculum material.</div>

Wiki-Punkish https://wiki.osgeo.org/w/index.php?title=User:Punkish&diff=2734 2006-03-27T07:05:51Z

<p>Wiki-Punkish: </p> <hr /> <div>I am in TZ GMT-6<br /> <br /> for more details, see<br /> * [http://www.eidesis.org/punkish punkish]<br /> * [http://www.wearymappers.org/ wearymappers]<br /> <br /> Research interests --<br /> * open source (e)<br /> * GIS (e)<br /> * social computing<br /> * collective decision-making (participatory GIS in this context)<br /> * traditional knowledge<br /> * rural (international) development (e)<br /> * diffusion of technology (e)<br /> <br /> (e) includes professional experience<br /> <br /> Worked in (alphabetically) --<br /> * Bolivia (World Bank project)<br /> * India (rural dev NGO, WB projects)<br /> * Trinidad and Tobago (ECLAC/Land Tenure project, WB project)<br /> * USA (WB, private GIS company)<br /> <br /> Visited on work (besides the above, of course) --<br /> * Ireland (IDI, Trinity College)<br /> * Italy (FAO)<br /> * Netherlands (ITC, TOOL, TU Delft)<br /> * UK (WCMC)</div>

Wiki-Punkish