foss4gna

FOSS4GNA 2018 – May 14-16 2018

rjhale · Oct 27, 2017 ·

FOSS4GNA is happening May 14-16 2018 in St Louis Missouri. Speaking of – I’ve only accidentally driven in to Missouri once so this should be fun.

They also put out the call for Papers and I won’t bore you with a rehash of what papers they are looking for – I will only bore you with the dates:

October 13, 2017: Submissions open
January 15, 2018: Workshop submission deadline
January 16 – 22, 2018: Community review for workshops
January 26, 2018: Workshops announced
February 8, 2018: Talk submission deadline
February 9 – 20, 2018: Community review for talks
February 28, 2018: Talks announced

Why the dates? Because that’s the one thing I’ll forget but I’ll see this post until I make about 6 more and it will force me to submit something.

If you haven’t been to one of these things I’ll make my case here – you need to go.

It’s not a sales conference. You get a chance to talk to people – not talked at by people. demos tend to go horribly wrong which is awesome. Developers are also users so they have to eat what they make.
You get a chance to talk to the developers and users about anything. It’s not one ecosystem of products. It’s everything from LIDAR to Desktop GIS to Server side things.
Even if you are an ESRI only shop – there is something here for you. I will even hazard a bet you’ll walk away going “I think we could use <insert idea here>……” and you might change your life.
You aren’t a customer – your part of a community.
It’s a nice change of pace. Interactions are pleasant. People are fun. A good time is had by all.

So show up. Toss this into your budget and go – you’ll learn something I swear.

FOSS4GNA 2016 – First Post

rjhale · May 8, 2016 ·

It’s over.

As one friend pointed out there are something like 4 stages of conference attendance:

Go for the Tech
Go for the Friends
Go for Free Beer
You Stop Going

On most everything I’m at 4. It takes a lot to drag me to a conference these days. I think my most attended conference is the Georgia URISA Conference. I’ve made three FOSS4G Conferences. For FOSS4G events I’m still at a 1 and 2.

There’s going to be several blog posts over the next few days on the conference. I can’t cram all my thoughts into one post. Plus my posts have been getting longer and longer and I really want to shorten them up a bit.

I’ve made the conferences in 2013, 2015, and 2016. Each one gets a little bit bigger…..BUT – each one has the same community feel I’ve missed elsewhere and enjoy. It really doesn’t matter who is the super star rolling into this conference – you’re going to have the same good group of people finely arrayed from business casual to “Well Day 3 for these Cargo pants”. You have people who really get don’t enjoy crowds and then you have the people who can command a room full of people. This conference accepts all kinds and it’s nice. It’s refreshing. It’s the way GIS should be.

We were somewhere around 550 strong for FOSS4GNA – which if you noticed there was also the ESRI SERUG or whatever conference running at the same time during this event. Overall – didn’t hurt us a bit. In fact – ESRI – please plan competing ones from here on out. It actually may have helped.

If you haven’t been to a FOSS4G Event you should go. This is coming from a guy who is at a 4 for everything. You will meet friends, you’ll learn something, you will walk away refreshed (and a little tired).

Like I said – more posts coming shortly. This was my get up and “stretch and warm up” post for the rest of this week.

Just in case you’re debating going to something:

North Carolina Problems

rjhale · Mar 25, 2016 ·

Oh my sweet Carolina – What compels me to go?

For those of you who have done nothing else but show up here from time to time and read my ramblings. Prepare for more rambling. Rambling with a point. Probably the two things I joke about the most but never bring up in business life is religion and politics. Why? Because those two things will get you in trouble quicker than anything you could talk about.

Growing up I spent a lot of time in Church. It’s what you do in most of the south. Twice a day on Sunday and once on Wednesday night. I did a string of denominations from Southern Methodist to Presbyterian (PCA) an even a few years ago was convinced to go to a Unitarian church for a few meetings. I gave up my Unitarian leanings when everyone started dancing and handing out flowers…my comments post dancing probably helped get me fired by the then current girlfriend. I haven’t made organized religion a part of life for quite some time. Why? Politics. I was tired of people dancing a fine line of separation of church and state. BUT WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE? It’s not important. It would horrify most of you if we got into that discussion.

Same things with Politics – I tend to vote Democratic for about everything. When I started a business everyone told me “YOU GOTTA BE A REPUBLICAN TO OWN A BUSINESS”. They were dead serious about it and in general – no. I don’t.

So when I woke up and saw North Carolina had imposed a law that more or less allowed discrimination – I pretty much beat my head against my desk for a minute or three. I lobbied hard to get FOSS4GNA to North Carolina. GIS people are some of the most inclusive people around (at least for me). I’ve got the pick of gay/straight/TG/Lesbian whatever in this group. Do I care who you are and how you self identify? Nope – as long as you aren’t mean to other people. I know church people. I get it. I can see where something like this would gain traction and the best way to combat it? Vote everyone in public office out for mixing church and politics. Then teach the church people to quit misreading their book.

FOSS4GNA released a statement asking people to still come and it will be a safe environment. It will be. No kidding. I lobbied hard to get it there and so I’ll work to make it safe and happy. You will be happy if I have to make you be happy and cheerful at this event dammit.

Of course my next problem – QGIS. I was just asked to teach a class at a local community college in North Carolina. I have no idea if I’ll get through the red tape or if they’ve dropped the idea. I’m waiting for more emails and phone calls. The problem I have now as me – Randy – they guy with a business is “Do I do it?”. Teaching QGIS relies on students. I want people to come to the class – everyone – Blue/Green/TG/Lesbian/gay/straight/weird to come to the class. I want you to learn about the software….BUT – I’ve survived up until now not teaching at a college. I want everyone happy and safe. If I can’t guarantee that due to a bunch of politicians…..ugh. So I’ve got some decisions to make. I’ve got to make money as a business – BUT………….

So anyway – the class may or may not happen. I have no idea now. “It’s nothing personal it’s just business” rules my life these days…but as someone else told me “It’s all personal”.

Come to Raleigh. The good people outside the politicians that voted on this mean you no harm. You can almost fill your car up at the border and not have to get out again until you hit Raleigh if you are worried. If you are flying in and I’m there I’ll come get you at the airport if you’re worried. Come to the QGIS Class at the Conference – we’re going to tell a lot of lies during those 4 hours. The worst thing you will endure is me.

FOSS4GNA vs Southeast User Conference Battle to the Death

rjhale · Feb 8, 2016 ·

I always wanted to use Battle to the Death.

So last week I saw the first email I’d been expecting for a while. It went something like:

WHICH ONE??!!11!!

In case the pics don’t translate it’s FOSS4GNA vs ESRI . Aaaaaaaand you’re more than likely going to go “OMG IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE ONE OR THE OTHER STOP CAUSING PROBLEMS”. Well Actually it does have to be one or the other. Both are the same week (May 2-5). I know – I love it when a plan comes together.

So here’s my pitch. I’ve been to both. Granted it’s been a while since I’ve been to an ESRI function. Why no ESRI for a while? It’s not been exceedingly relevant to my work life. I’ve been to the three FOSS4GNA events and they’ve been more relevant and more recent. So I’m going to state my case (but this is all pro foss4gna so you can stop here if you want).

Where are both: Raleigh NC for FOSS4GNA and Charlotte NC for ESRI. I know – Planning.

When: Both May. Both start on the 2nd. FOSS4GNA makes it to the 5th and ESRI stops on the 4th.

Why do both exist:

Southeast Users Group (stolen from the site): Esri Southeast User Conference (UC) is where GIS professionals from across the south gather to map better, smarter, and faster. Spend three days learning, connecting, and getting training on the geospatial solutions that move your organization forward. Discover what’s new with in-depth tech sessions on ArcGIS Pro and sharpen your skills in the Esri Hands-on Learning Lab. Plus, hear from top innovators from Esri and your community who are using GIS to solve today’s complex challenges to design a better future.

FOSS4GNA (stolen from the site): FOSS4G is all about community. Contributors, adopters, users, extenders, teachers, service providers, consumers and business and research organizations gather to share their expertise and learn from each other. FOSS4G delivers camaraderie and networking opportunities that lead to synergies in the community, as well as opportunities to give and receive help on specific technical issues or to generate business opportunities.

So here’s my take on it. If you’re all ESRI All Day and you are never going to do anything not ESRI related. Go to Charlotte. You have to. You need to. Learn about ArcGISOnline and ArcGISPro and why you need to get certified as a ArcGIS <Something> user and why you need an online account to run your software. Disclaimer: I was one of the certified somethings.

If you aren’t All ESRI All Day or even if you are…..and you want to do something maybe a little different……Take a look at FOSS4GNA.

Here’s why…..I’ve done a lot of ESRI events. They are polished. They are nice. They are clean. Demos will work. Software will be shown off. People will ooooh and aaaaah with the things they are shown. It’s a software company selling software and services – and there’s nothing wrong with that.

FOSS4GNA has two groups involved: Location Tech and OSGEO. They have nothing to sell. What we do have though is a community of people. A group of like minded individuals….and you may go “But ESRI has that…” and I could say yes but I’m going to add it’s not like it used to be for me. I miss the community – I stopped feeling the communal aspect of ESRI a while back. Does it exist still? Probably. Disclaimer: I love everyone.

I’m on the FOSS4GNA 2016 conference committee and I’ve been reviewing papers and workshops most of yesterday. The presentations are all over the place and pretty awesome and relevant. From Cartography to Programming. From Web Mapping to On the Ground Sensors. From LIDAR to Satellites. It’s not what you are possibly thinking – it’s not a group of people who crawled out of the basement to talk about something so complicated only three people can pronounce it and one person uses it. We have Government Presentations. State and Local presenters. Workshops. Companies presenting open source and hybrid solutions. Someone’s even talking about FGDC Metadata. Talks on GIS Problems and GIS Solutions. This is a conference on Geo. One thing I’ve never done – walk away going “Oh dear deity in the sky – I’ve got to tell my clients they have to upgrade software/hardware”. I have walked away going “I NEED TO LOOK AT THIS <FILL IN THE BLANK> THING. We talk. We have fun. We cheer the demos that work and don’t work. We learn from each other and we learn about all this Free and Open Source Software for GIS. For me it makes GIS fun again. No one is going to mention ArcGISOnline Credits – but there are going to be a lot of 3D presentations. Disclaimer – I generally make fun of 3D.

So if you’re wondering which one…do something different. Come to Raleigh. Learn about some different software and different processes…..the best thing is – Even if you are an All ESRI All Day Shop – you’re going to learn something useful in Raleigh. We will all still love you. We might even buy you a beer and or tofu and give you a high five and or help you do yoga. Come see us. Yeah the planning sucks because you have to pick….but picking makes it more fun because you have to commit. Disclaimer – I don’t own Yoga Pants.

Track me down and I’ll even install QGIS for you and give you the 15 minute walk though if you don’t have it installed. With any luck I might crash your computer.

FOSS4GNA 2016 Call for Proposals is now open

rjhale · Oct 29, 2015 ·

Ladies and Germs, The call for proposals for the Free and Open Source Software For GIS – North America is now open.

So what does that mean – submit something! Come to Raleigh NC.

I’ve been to two conferences – this will be number 3. To be honest this is one of the last few conferences I’m making room for currently. I’m slowly getting back into the swing of things but I like this one – it’s innovative, there are a lot of smart people here, and everyone is friendly. No one is going to talk down to you at this conference.

Submit Talks. Submit Workshops. Come to a Great outing. I was going to copy and paste something from the official website but there’s no need to – you can read and decide for yourself

Show up and enjoy the innovation. Enjoy the Geospatial Science of things.

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