Sol Katz Award 2005MUM3Program - Revision history

Jmckenna at 13:20, 22 August 2020

2020-08-22T13:20:21Z

Jmckenna at 18:44, 16 August 2006

2006-08-16T18:44:33Z

Jmckenna at 18:44, 16 August 2006

2006-08-16T18:44:00Z

Jmckenna at 18:40, 16 August 2006

2006-08-16T18:40:57Z

Jmckenna at 18:40, 16 August 2006

2006-08-16T18:40:20Z

New page

The Sol Katz Award for Geospatial Free and Open Source Software (GFOSS) will be given
annually to individuals who have demonstrated leadership in the GFOSS community. Recipients
of the award will have contributed significantly through their activities to advance
open source ideals in the geospatial realm. The hope is that the award will both
acknowledge the work of community members, and pay tribute to one of its founders,
for years to come.

Solomon Stuart Katz aka Sol 1947-1999
*************************************

Background
----------

Sol Katz was born in Sweden and moved to NY at the age of 1. Yiddish was
his first language, but he was amazingly bright, and learned both Hebrew
and English quickly. After high school, he spent three years in the US
Air Force, stationed in Germany, where he picked up yet another language.
Following his brief military career, he decided to go to Brooklyn College
in NY where he got his Bachelors in Geology in 2.5 years. He then married
his wife Hedy in 1969, and went back to Brooklyn College while teaching in
NY Public Schools and got his MA, also in Geology. After several years
working for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in several states, he settled down
in Lakewood, CO and decided to go back to school at the University of Denver in
Computer Science and earned a second masters. At this time, he also had two
children - Shanna and Risa. He was well loved in his office, at his
children's school, and at home. Always full of laughter and good humor,
Sol could easily be recognized by his flamboyant Hawaiian shirts and toucan
or propeller hats. Sadly, after fighting Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma for
almost a decade, Sol died April 23, 1999 in bed.

Open Source
-----------

Sol Katz was an early pioneer of GFOSS and left behind a large body of work in
the form of applications, format specifications, and utilities. In the early 80's,
Sol assisted in the development of a public domain GIS package called MOSS
(Map Overlay and Statistical System). This software was arguably the first open
source GIS software in the world. Sol would later go on to release and
maintain PC MOSS. He was also one of the first involved in public data translator
utilities. Utilities that he developed for converting DEMs and reading SDTS files
were contributed back to the geospatial community, and are still available today.
Sol was also a frequent contributor to many geospatial list servers, providing much
guidance to the geospatial community at large. Sol Katz's informative Web site at the
BLM is still available at http://www.blm.gov/gis/nsdi.html. His legacy still lives on
in the GFOSS world.

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:20, 22 August 2020
Line 43:		Line 43:
	BLM is still available at http://www.blm.gov/gis/nsdi.html. His legacy still lives on		BLM is still available at http://www.blm.gov/gis/nsdi.html. His legacy still lives on
	in the GFOSS world.		in the GFOSS world.
		+
		+	[[Category:FOSS4G]]
		+	[[Category: Awards]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:44, 16 August 2006
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	~~return~~ to [[Sol_Katz_Award \| Sol Katz Award]]	+	back to [[Sol_Katz_Award \| Sol Katz Award]]

	The Sol Katz Award for Geospatial Free and Open Source Software (GFOSS) will be given		The Sol Katz Award for Geospatial Free and Open Source Software (GFOSS) will be given

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:44, 16 August 2006
Line 1:		Line 1:
		+	return to [[Sol_Katz_Award \| Sol Katz Award]]
		+
	The Sol Katz Award for Geospatial Free and Open Source Software (GFOSS) will be given		The Sol Katz Award for Geospatial Free and Open Source Software (GFOSS) will be given
	annually to individuals who have demonstrated leadership in the GFOSS community. Recipients		annually to individuals who have demonstrated leadership in the GFOSS community. Recipients

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 for years to come.
-Solomon Stuart Katz aka Sol 1947-1999
+==Solomon Stuart Katz aka Sol 1947-1999==
-Background
+==Background==
 Sol Katz was born in Sweden and moved to NY at the age of 1.  Yiddish was
@@ Line 29: / Line 27: @@
 almost a decade, Sol died April 23, 1999 in bed.
-Open Source
+==Open Source==
 Sol Katz was an early pioneer of GFOSS and left behind a large body of work in