OpenGeo, successfully held the first OpenGeo User Meeting on April 12, 2012 during Sponsor Day at FOSS4G North America in Washington DC. As Eddie Pickle, OpenGeo CEO, mentioned: “FOSS4G North America and Sponsor Day would not have been possible without our fellow Gold Sponsor RadiantBlue and Venue Sponsor RedHat.”
Eddie Pickle began the day with an overview of OpenGeo, its clients, and a vision of its future. This was followed by a detailed look into the OpenGeo technical roadmap led by Tim Schaub, OpenGeo CTO. Building on the technical roadmap presentation, various OpenGeo developers gave technical demonstrations led by Juan Marin Otero, Senior Implementation Specialist: Justin Deoliveira presented on the future of web-based spatial processing in GeoServer, WPS, Geoscript; Paul Ramsey discussed the state of Spatial IT and how it differs from the conventional desktop-based GIS paradigm; Tim Schaub presented on building applications for web and mobile audiences using the latest features in OpenLayers and GeoExt/GXP; and Matt Priour announced the recent launch of MapStory, a platform for telling stories with maps based on GeoNode. These presentations provided users with an inside view of the latest existing and planned capabilities of OpenGeo technologies.
During the Sponsor Day lunch, a policy-focused panel comprising speakers from RedHat, the US Department of Defense, and the Institute for Defense Analysis discussed policy initiatives related to the acceptance and implementation of open source software within the federal government.
The afternoon sessions began when Dr. Christopher Tucker, a key advocate for open source and open standards within the US government, delivered an inspiring message on the “Open Future”. This was followed by panels highlighting successful deployments of OpenGeo technology that featured open source geospatial innovators and practitioners from over a dozen government agencies including the US Department of State, FCC, NOAA, NGA, Army Geospatial Center, and the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunication (DoITT).
Commenting on the OpenGeo User Meeting, Eddie Pickle noted, “OpenGeo is looking to provide the best possible educational opportunities for users of the OpenGeo Suite. Sponsor Day at FOSS4G North America allowed us to support both FOSS4G North America and our software users. The day proved to be an exciting and informative forum on the open source geospatial ecosystem and how OpenGeo fits into its future.”
About OpenGeo
OpenGeo is a social enterprise working to build the best web-based geospatial technology. The company brings the best practices of open source software to geospatial organizations around the world by providing enterprises with supported, tested, and integrated open source solutions to build the Geospatial Web. OpenGeo also supports open source communities by employing key developers of PostGIS, GeoServer, and OpenLayers. Since 2002, the company has provided successful consulting services and products to clients like the World Bank, US Department of State, NYC DoITT, Ordnance Survey Great Britain, SFMTA, Portland TriMet, MassGIS, GeoScience Australia, NOAA and the Federal Communications Commission. OpenGeo is the geospatial division of OpenPlans, a New York-based 501(c)(3) non-profit that informs and engages communities through journalism and open source software. All of OpenGeo’s revenue has been and will continue to be re-invested into innovative and useful software in support of the OpenPlans mission.
