Whoever said life was easy. My understanding is Kenya requires visas
for many African countries so perhaps ease of obtaining visas etc should
go on the list.
I sympathise with the idea of holding one in Africa or elsewhere I just
naturally look for any problems that might arise.
Running a successful conference takes expertise, and attention to
details, experience helps so perhaps some central organisation might
help or give guidance.
HOT held a conference in Ottawa a year or two ago. It was held jointly
with Statistics Canada, but I seem to recall it was held in term time.
There was an open data conference held here some years ago that had a
lot of OpenStreetMap clients and mappers present, including HOT I think
that one was run by External Affairs. A number of attendees stayed at
Ottawa University.
I think we need to focus on what we'd like to see. For example Ottawa
OpenStreetMap group has probably done the most comprehensive imports of
Open Data into OSM of any city. Is there a tale to tell to other cities
on how to make their data available and what are the advantages? Yes I
understand many mappers feel that real mapping is done with physical
mappers but sometimes getting a complete set of bus stops with the code
to call for bus times has value.
Has anyone done any financial analysis of Open Data and can we improve
the map in Africa by using it and thus outcomes.
Ireland might work well, Dublin has good air connections.
Is there a danger that SotM US or SotM EU might become larger than SotM
so it becomes less relevant?
I might suggest that alternate years somewhere more exotic is chosen
than the EU.
Cheerio John
Frederik Ramm wrote on 8/16/2023 3:43 PM:
Hi,
On 8/16/23 20:01, John Whelan wrote:
If it was in the EU or the USA a higher proportion of members would
not need a passport or visa.
... but almost all visitors from Africa would, and more importantly,
many would have a very hard time obtaining it. Whereas the average
"westerner" wanting to go to Nairobi simply fills out an online form
and gets their visa within a couple of days.
For future SotMs I might suggest starting with accommodation, many
universities have halls of residence available during the summer months.
These are good ideas but remember that SotM is not centrally
organised. The SotM team puts out a call for location, and local
groups can then apply. An application from a local group who have
thought about these things, and who say "we've talked to our local
university and there's affordable accommodation there" will certainly
be looked upon favourably, but that's about all - the OSMF SotM team
will not scout the world for locations with affordable accommodation,
simple visa rules and cheap travel, all they can do is evaluate the
bids that have been submitted.
Ottawa for example has halls with double beds and ensuites plus there
are lecture halls etc available. Meal plans can be purchased which
means that you're eating in the cafeterias true but many
conversations at SotM will take place outside the conference rooms
and over a meal is a useful place to talk.
I would love to go to a SotM in Canada, however there has only ever
been one bid from a Canadian team and that was withdrawn over the
announcement of SotM US being at the UN in New York that year! If you
can get a few Canadians to submit a bid for a SotM in one of the
coming years, I'm sure that would be very attractive.
The EU might be easier than the UK since britexit the UK is no longer
a free travel zone for EU citizens and the EU has trains which means
a lower average carbon footprint per attendee.
The OSMF has been criticized for having run the last three in-person
SotM conferences in Europe (two in Italy, one in Germany) so you can't
blame them for looking elsewhere! Which doesn't rule out future
European SotMs - after all, that's the continent where OSM was
invented - but it's certainly good to go elsewhere once in a while,
even if that is outside of the comfort zone for the average European
or American traveller.
Bye
Frederik
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