I started seeing the announcements show up at some point last week on linkedin and then I think a few tweets. I probably knew osmplus was a “thing”. It has a great three point splash page:
- You’re Professional – Professional users of OSM have different priorities to the Free and Open communities. You have expectations to meet and deadlines to make. You need a degree of certainty. Join us April 14th to learn how OSM can support professional use cases. Learn how others use it today in professional settings and discuss the future of OSM in your world.
- You’re focused – You appreciate the community’s Open Data mission, but you need answers and facts. OSM PLUS is a forum for a select group of professional users to come together. It is a space for professionals to have open conversations about how to move the state of the art forward in open mapping. Space is limited!
- You’re not alone – People like you will attend. Professional users of OSM data and tools are now everywhere. They have similar concerns, similar questions and a similar mindset. Come and meet them. Find out what they’re doing and look for areas of collaboration.
I like the title of the third bullet – You’re not alone.
I’ve been dealing with OSM for a while. To the point I’m more concerned with adding to the map than I am with interacting with the community. We did that a while back and essentially caused enough strife and grief on both ends to – well – It leaves me finding the idea of OSMPlus is be rather humorous.
Everyone it seems is looking for a way to make money off OpenStreetMap. I could recite a list longer than my arm on why OSM is a great thing. I could recite another on why it’s no worse or better than anyone else. It actually reminds me of the “year of the linux desktop” articles that you see every year.
It would be interesting to go to see what gets promised and who who shows up….It’s hard to make promises with a volunteer army.
Anyway – June 30th 2014 is the date. San Francisco is the place.