Tim Bowden wrote:
I believe the integration test bed didn't go quite as well as planned. Any thoughts as to why, and what could be done next time to improve the experience?
First, a bit of background..... -------------------------------------------------------------- http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/FOSS4G2007_IntegrationShowcase The original idea of the FOSS4G2007 Integration Showcase was that Sponsors and Exhibitors would cooperate to build a set of data and services, running on various platforms, that would show the integration at work. Each Sponsor/Exhibitor would have 'the Showcase Diagram' in their booth, but with highlights showing where their products/services/data fit into the overall Showcase. Refractions bootstrapped this process by providing a server, and, after some data was loaded and a PostGIS database setup, making it available on the Internet. The original plan was to use data from a variety of sources, but due to some issues with licensing, it was decided to go with the OSGeo Public Geospatial Data Committee's idea and use only publicly available geodata. Data from some Canadian sources was loaded onto the Refractions server. http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Canadian_Geodata There was a plan at one point for the Integration Showcase data/services to be made available for use by Workshop/Lab Instructors for use in their classes, but that was dropped due to performance concerns. As Tim noted, the Integration Showcase didn't move much beyond the initial server/data. -------------------------------------------------------------- The future..... ============================================================== Justin Deoliveira, of the Open Planning Project, was in charge of the Integration Showcase, and he loaded the Canadian geodata onto the Refractions server. During FOSS4G2007 I had a discussion with Justin and Chris Holmes, about the Integration Showcase. What came out of that was an idea of 'how to do it better in the future'. I then had subsequent discussions with some other people at the conference about this idea. Here is my interpretation of the general outline of what was discussed. The showcase consists of data and the products needed to process that data and make it available in a variety of ways. All OSGeo projects must contribute to the showcase, and keep maintaining their portion of the showcase. The showcase would initially be built using some known set of data. Preparation before FOSS4G might include adapting the showcase to use a set of 'local data'. OSGeo local chapters might also produce sets of 'local data' for use with the showcase. The building of 'the showcase' should be done by OSGeo, not as part of the preparation for a particular conference. There may be multiple 'versions' of the showcase over time, but there should be a stable version well in advance of FOSS4G. Each FOSS4G conference should have a 'track' that consists of starting with "the data" and working through the processing of that data and installation & configuration of all the showcase software. Because the showcase was already built before the conference, this 'track' can be setup as a set of distinct 'modules'. That provides the flexibility for different students to attend different parts of the 'track', as well as being able to start each module with a known working setup. Workshop/Lab Instructors, Presenters, Sponsors, and Exhibitors would be encouraged to make use of the showcase's capabilities. The showcase should be made available in various 'formats'. That might include having a version always running on the telascience servers, and having a LiveCD/DVD version available for download. A showcase such as this, along with some 'marketing materials', could be used by OSGeo evangelists in their activities. ============================================================== -- Dave Patton Degree Confluence Project: Canadian Coordinator Technical Coordinator http://www.confluence.org/ FOSS4G2007: Workshop Committee Conference Committee http://www.foss4g2007.org/ Personal website: Maps, GPS, etc. http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/ _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss