FOSS4G 2009 Call for Workshops and
Tutorials
Sydney, Australia. 2 February 2009.
The Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G)
conference is pleased to announce a Call for Workshops and Tutorials
for the 2009 conference, being held 20-23 October, 2009 in Sydney,
Australia.
FOSS4G is the international "gathering of tribes" for open
source geospatial communities. The theme for the FOSS4G 2009 conference
will be "User Driven". Users and developers are encouraged present
their latest projects and software to demonstrate the power of Open
Source for system integration through a series of workshop sessions and
tutorial presentations. Session participants should expect to see
presentations on both geospatial open source and propriety software
integration along with pure open source solutions.
Workshops
Workshops are expected to be a hands-on experience with participants
following along with the instructor, working directly with the
application under discussion. All workshop rooms will be equipped with
computers (two students sharing one system) to support this vision.
Workshop computers will pre-installed with a basic image containing
standard packages running in a Windows XP environment. A projector will
be provided for each computer room for use within a workshop.
Instructors will need to discuss pre-installation requirements with the
Conference Organising Committee if required.
Workshops are expected to require considerable effort to
create, with past experience showing that three days of preparation per
hour of presentation are required to produce a high quality workshop.
Additionally you will be expected to develop material for attendees to
take home with them, such as handouts, workbook, CD-ROMs etc. Due to
the effort involved in producing and presenting a workshop, instructors
will receive a single complementary registration to the conference for
delivering a workshop.
All workshop submissions will be considered, but particular interest
will be shown in the following topics:
Practical Introduction to
Integrating Open Source
Spatial Data Privacy and Security
Tutorials
Tutorial rooms will not be equipped with computers, however
presenters may optionally make use of delegate laptops and the FOSS4G
LiveDVD.
At least 80% of delegates are expected to be carrying a laptop and
FOSS4G LiveDVDs will be given to all delegates.
Preference will be given to hands-on tutorials.
Any hands-on aspects to a tutorial will be the responsibility of
the presenter and needs to be described in the tutorial description.
Presenters making use of the Live DVD or Climate Change Integration
Plugfest (CCIP) will be expected to contribute to testing pre-releases
to ensure material and software is properly installed. To discuss your
requirements for LiveDVD, please contact the organising committee: http://2009.foss4g.org/contacts/.
All tutorial submissions will be considered, but particular interest
will be shown in the following topics:
Practical introductions
Interoperability
Spatial data accuracy
Spatial data privacy
Spatial data security
System implementation
Data migration
Submission instructions and templates are available at http://2009.foss4g.org/workshops/
and http://2009.foss4g.org/tutorials/.
The deadline for workshop / tutorial submissions is March 2, 2009.
FOSS4G 2009 Highlights
The Climate Change Integration Plugfest (CCIP): FOSS4G will
launch the OGC's Climate Change Integration Plugfest (CCIP), which
demonstrates standards based interoperability between Open Source and
Proprietary geospatial applications. It consists of a server with
multiple virtual machines, each installed with geospatial applications
offering standards based web services. All web services will
demonstrate a common dataset, and will be accessed by a range of
geospatial client applications installed on client computers. http://external.opengis.org/twiki_public/bin/view/ClimateChallenge2009/WebHome
Presenters are encouraged (but not mandated) to make use of
scenarios and on-site data from the Climate Change Integration Plugfest
(CCIP). This is especially important as demand for access to data over
the internet is expected to be high, and Australia has notoriously slow
connections to the outside world.
FOSS4G Live DVD: LiveDVDs, based on the Xubuntu
operating system and including Geospatial Open Source Software, will be
given to all delegates. Users can boot a Live DVD on their computer and
trial the software without installing or effecting the existing system.
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_Disc
Installfest: The Installfest will give delegates the
opportunity to meet in a common area and install a wide variety of FOSS
software on their laptops, EEPC or any other system they care to bring
in. Community members will be around to assist with any troubles and
provide help and insight into the software. The install fest will take
place after workshops
