In 2011 iCarto[1] is not a collaborator any more but a full member[2] of the gvSIG Association. After an incubation period during which both parties have developed some projects together, it has been confirmed in practice that they share the business model based on free software that the gvSIG Association interprets.
The incorporation of this new member is an event we hope it's not an isolated event and that eventually new members will become part of the Association gvSIG. Thereby we will advance the sustainability of the project while we remain faithful to our parameters of cooperation and solidarity in a new business ethics. iCarto is an enterprise initiative and an spin-off of CartoLab[3], the cartographic engineering laboratory at the University of Coruña. It's composed of seven people who had been working together in the geographic information technologies world for some time. iCarto was created with the aim of applying these technologies to the fields of civil engineering and cooperation for development. Furthermore, iCarto not only promotes the use of free software but it has adopted the free software philosophy. Due to this decision and its close collaboration with the gvSIG Association, some tools as NavTable[4] are already part of gvSIG and gvSIG-EIEL[5], the first official product of the Association specifically to one sector, has been created. iCarto works in projects related to development cooperation due to the experience of some of its members as volunteers and its firm belief that both the geographic information systems and free software are key ingredients for the success of many of these projects. gvSIG-Fonsagua[6] is a tool that helps cooperation projects to manage water and sanitation programs and it was created as result of those beliefs and the work carried out by CartoLab. [1] http://icarto.es/ [2] http://www.gvsig.com/association/members [3] http://www.cartolab.es/ [4] http://navtable.forge.osor.eu/index_en.html [5] http://www.cartolab.es/gvsig-eiel [6] http://www.cartolab.es/fonsagua
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