Open Source Geospatial Foundation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo), is a non-governmental organization whose mission is to support and promote the collaborative development of open geospatial technologies and data. The foundation was formed to provide financial, organizational and legal support to the broader Free and open source geospatial community. It will also serve as an independent legal entity to which community members can contribute code, funding and other resources, secure in the knowledge that their contributions will be maintained for public benefit.
The foundation was formed in February 2006 to provide financial, organizational and legal support to the broader open source geospatial community. It also serves as an independent legal entity to which community members can contribute code, funding and other resources, secure in the knowledge that their contributions will be maintained for public benefit.
OSGeo draws governance inspiration from several aspects of the Apache Foundation, including a membership composed of individuals drawn from foundation projects who are selected for membership status based on their active contribution to foundation projects and governance.
Initial OSGeo projects are
- Community MapBuilder [1]
- GeoTools [2]
- Mapbender [3]
- MapGuide Open Source [4]
- MapServer [5]
- GDAL/OGR [6]
- GRASS GIS [7]
- OSSIM GIS [8]
The foundation is pursuing goals beyond software development, such as promoting more open access to government produced geospatial data, which is a major problem outside of North America. Also education and training are addressed. Various committees within the foundation work on implementing the strategy.
[edit] Governance
The OSGeo is thoroughly community driven and has a lightweight organizational overhead consisting of 45 initial members and 9 directors. It is organized in more than 20 projects. Eight of these focus on software development projects (see above) or organizational matters like board issues, web site, visibility and promotion. Another main focus lies on furthering freedom and openness of access to Public Geodata and Education. All content is developed with the help of a Wiki, Mailing Lists and IRC.
