[OSGeo-Discuss] Here comes the RAT (Radar Tools)
SlashGeo is carrying a worthwile piece of news: More G/FOSS (I hate that acronym), a SAR processing package! http://technology.slashgeo.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/19/1742251 http://www.cv.tu-berlin.de/rat/ -- Paulo Marcondes = PU1/PU2PIX -22.915 -42.224 = GG86jc Debian GNU/Linux = http://rj.debianbrasil.org = http://www.debian.org http://www.kombato.org - Seja seu próprio guarda-costas ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Reflections on the Jornadas gvSIG
Jo Walsh wrote: dear all, I got a lot out of the Jornadas gvSIG 3-day user/developer meeting last week, and wanted to share a few notes with la comunidad ingles-hablante. One thing that jumped out is the strength of positive language about software libre amongst the user community; not just acceptance, but promotion of free software and public data in general, at the highest levels of public administration. I wrote a little more about this on the OKFN blog: http://blog.okfn.org/2007/11/20/keeping-open-libre/ Another highlight was getting to sit in on the Libro SIG group meeting, concentrating the local OSGeo-istas. This is a hive of energetic and committed seeming people, with half a free GIS book written already, a lot on the mathematics behind analysis techniques contributed by Victor Olaya of the SEXTANTE project, which sounds like a sort of Java OSSIM. The whole question or marshalling a lot of different translators and contributors to a book in potentially many different languages is a fascinating one. http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Libro_SIG - a GIS book that is free rather than a book about free and open GIS tools specifically. gvSIG is on close terms with GeoNetwork and Jeroen was there giving a couple of talks. Metadatos are increasingly attended to, partly due to the pressure from the INSPIRE SDI Directive in Europe. The metadata plugin which Michael Gould's group has undere development will one day share state with and encourage contributions from other plugins. There's also a nice amount of connection from gvSIG to OpenStreetmap, both in terms of people like Ivan Sanchez and Miguel Montesinos, and in the software in terms of UI integration and data re-use. The talks at the Jornadas were mostly oriented towards the user community - policymakers, planners, researchers and educators - the technical depth and excitement seemed rather higher in the gvSIG talks at FOSS4G. One thing that stood out for me was the absense of visible commercial culture really hanging around the event. There were a few sponsored sessions (Eclipse, SGI) but no booths, some poster presentations but no promotional material on display. I cast my mind back to what so amazed me at FOSSGIS in Berlin last March; stalls and displays for a dozen, maybe two, open source and open hardware oriented commercial consultancies. I wonder why there's not more evidence of this sort of thing here. There seems no obvious impedance, there's so much apparent enthusiasm for tecnologia libre in the public authority market, which in its regionalism and municipality is not so different from how it looks in Germany. I wonder how (and if!) this sort of thing can be encouraged... In Germany a fair amount of ground work has been done educating people about Free and Open Source Software since the last millennium (starting in 1999 with intevation's work and later the start of freegis.org). This might arguably be one of the reasons why commercial backing for FOSSGIS is good. Later this effort was specifically focused at GIS service providers, spatial data providers and education (the last one being the hardest). In short, it takes a lot of work and a lot of time. I do not know of any recipe that works overnight. Jo, unfortunately I didn't make it to the Spain - good to know that OSGeo was well recepted and that the gvSIG folks are full of FOSS. You will have to explain to me why this works so well in Europe and is not so well accepted in NA, I don't understand it. One thing that I learned during the last years - and your report fully confirms this - is that the Free bit in Open Source has to be set to really get across the full message. Yes, it is harder to sell Free Software than to surprise people by saying You can have Open Source for free (gratis); But in the long run it pays off because then people really understand that you can make good money using FREE software. pays off can be taken by the word, quite a few companies in Germany live off dealing with FOSSGIS exclusively and that for several years already (be it the WhereGroup, lat/lon, terrestris, MapMedia and many others). This might even be a reason why in Germany none of the larger proprietary shops can actually ignore it completely anymore. There are all kinds of prop/free hybrids and with 52N also the only 100% Free and Open Source shop I know that is actually partly owned by ESRI. People tell me that I preach to the educated when I spread this kind of rhetoric on OSGeo discuss - but I am still in doubt. At least the interest in working on advocacy issues is really low: http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Category:Advocacy Gah. It seems like I am responsible for almost all articles in that category and even the category itself. I shouldn't have checked, this is depressing. This is not consensus but a single individual's opinion. We should consider to delete it. :-) When I come to think of this I really despise myself. I wanted to be a developer but wasn't good
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] packaging FOSS GIS for Ubuntu in education
Frank Warmerdam wrote: ... I am still not sure how to take the UbuntuGIS CD/DVD thing forward. I and Sarawut will willing to work on work-on this and hope others would join too. a) About what stack of software that could be offered, I think the initial stack that we have put up on the OSGeo wiki at http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/FOSS4G_Toolkit_for_Mandriva_2008 could be a fair start. b) about what is available and missing in DebianGIS and UnbutuGIS, we will try to find out and any feedback/info on this could be helpful. Hope we can have atleast the MandrivaGIS, DebianGIS, UnbuntuGIS CD/DVD available by the time we are at FOSS4G2008. Kind regards venka I'm not sure I have a lot to add to this thread, but it is a topic close to my heart, so I will chime in. I think Venka's idea of a standalone CD set for OSGeo software packages on Ubuntu is a great idea. I especially appreciate the fact that it builds on the existing great work of the DebianGIS team (ported to Ubuntu from the Debian source packages as I understand). I am sensitive to the issue that OSGeo can't very practically pick one Linux distribution and ignore all the rest. So I'm not sure that this effort will be the ultimate solution to OSGeo software for Linux, but it is practical and achievable in the short to medium term. Delivering a product CD based on Ubuntu builds on a popular distribution and is particularly sympatico with the conference given the south african origins of Ubuntu. It seems to me there are a few angles on which we can work this topic. 1) rough out a plan of the sort of stack of software we want to offer, potentially tied to the education material and use cases we are trying to support. 2) Review what is missing from this in DebianGIS and try to find volunteers to help the DebianGIS project package the appropriate software. There is a fair amount of expertise needed for Debian packaging (IMHO), but a few volunteers willing to invest 30-50 hours over the coming 6-7 months could make quite a difference. But we need to realize DebianGIS is a well established project with it's own culture and expectations and be prepared to work within this. It might be helpful for OSGeo to maintain a Debian system (as a VM or a whole blade) to provide a working and testing environment for folks who don't run Debian at home/work. 3) Find out what is needed to bring UbuntuGIS up to the appropriate packages. I don't know what people are involved in UbuntuGIS or how they operate. My understanding is that for major new Ubuntu releases the UbuntuGIS packages are built from the DebianGIS source packages. 4) Putting this together on CD/DVD is where the rubber hits the road. It would be great if Venka can lead this aspect, but I'm sure he would appreciate help. There is no reason that a first draft of this can't be prepared based on existing packages. One cool things is that Debian, and regular network based Ubuntu uses also all benefit from the upstream efforts. I love this sort of leverage! -- I'm not sure what OSGeo can do to facilitate this activity. We obviously can't direct volunteers, only encourage them. We don't have funding targeted for such an effort. However, if a modest amount of money could make a big difference I might be able to scare some up. I'm confident we can provide mailing lists, wiki space, server space, and bandwidth if these are helpful. I have cc:ed Frankie, the DebianGIS lead, in the hopes he could comment on how we can help support the DebianGIS effort. Best regards, ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Reflections on the Jornadas gvSIG
Arnulf Christl wrote: When I come to think of this I really despise myself. I wanted to be a developer but wasn't good enough so I started to do marketing and preach advocacy and now am just short of being a mean politician... hasta la vista, baby Arnulf, that phrase could boost your political career and help you get elected to a high public office soon :-) Venka ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Re: idea for an OSGeo project -- a new, open data format
On Tue, Nov 13, 2007 at 11:18:42PM -0800, Robert Bray wrote: Is it an open format? ABSOLUTELY (we just never wrote a spec, but I am willing to get it done) All this said, I'd really like to understand everyones requirements for this new format. If SDF fits thats great, if not thats ok too. We are always happy to contribute what we can to the community. I have an interest in seeing wider implementation of SDF. I have a user who is interested in using FeatureServer against SDF data -- but I don't have an environment in which I can build/use the FDO Python bindings (being a mac user), so I can't help the user out. It seems more likely that an alternative implementation to FDO's could be created if documentation on the format was available. Obviously, there's no guarenteee (and unfortunately, I'm not a very good coder, so I can't offer much), but I'd at least like to be able to investigate how difficult SDF might be to implement: not just for my own personal reasons, but because implementation-difficulty can affect uptake of a format as much as the technical benefits can (if not more). so in response to 'I am willing to get it done', I would strongly encourage you to do so! Regards, -- Christopher Schmidt Web Developer ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
