FOSS4G2006 Day 2
It’s a good thing overall.
Just sitting here at the lightning talks at the plenary session where camptocamp ran us through conference logistics. The conference is well organized and the EPFL/UNIL campus is a great location.
Schuyler Erle’s talk about “Neogeography” was interesting, and so true. Everyone is a mapmaker now, with cheap GPS solutions, Google maps, the Internet, etc. Schuyler also makes a good point about not taking things too seriously, and generally more maps (even if they’re “wrong”) is a good thing, even if they are not cartographically pristine, or insanely accurate.
Steve’s talk discussed what’s new, how you can expose geos through MapServer mapscript, GeoServer now supports KML/KMZ output, and there’s talk of a tiling WMS.
Happy 10th birthday GeoTools!
Also evident is the open source and business collaboration theme. Companies like MetaCarta, Autodesk, and Orkney have become involved in our community and with open source geospatial. Add to that DM Solutions‘ fresh announcement of a MapServer premium support plan, and you can say we are maturing.
Frank (OSGEO President) spoke about a call to action for folks to contribute and get involved in the new foundation. OSGEO looks to have alot of momentum thus far.
The feeling I get from today is that our community has grown, with some pains (like anything, really). In general, the barrier to entry is much lower. I’ll be the first to admit that some things make me nervous (KML, supporting the web mapping API of the week, etc.), but overall we have come along a long way.
So that’s my report thus far today. Note that the entire conference (including slides, workshops, event photos and live video) is on the conference website.
Gotta run, it’s lunchtime and we’re giving the MapServer OGC Web Services Workshop this afternoon. So off to find bottles of water, check for showstoppers in the package and room setup. Stuff like that. Wish me luck!! I’ll post again after the workshop.
It’s a good thing overall.
Update: the MapServer OGC Web Services Workshop went well and was well received. Over 40 participants. Much interest in the new Mapscript WxS services scripting exposure.
