FOSS4G - India
FOSS4G-India 2012, is the First in a series of National Conferences on Free and Open Source Software for Geoinformatics (FOSS4G) that are planned to be held every year with a mission to foster the development and promote the widespread use of Open Source Geospatial Technologies including support for software development and publicly available Geo-data. The proposed theme of the Conference is "Open Source Geospatial Resources to Spearhead Development and Growth". It will be organised jointly by OSGeo-India and IIIT, Hyderabad.
Open Source Geospatial tools are not just driving the use of the feature rich tools but also propelling the development of new and applied technologies for the use of the Geospatial technology in a range of fields - from agriculture, forestry to sustainable use of resources; from disaster management to urban planning; from location based services on web and mobile/tablet platforms to many e-governance initiatives. The access to FOSS4G tools and its cost advantages have contributed to the immense growth of Geoinformatics
This conference, is expected to become a platform for India and its neighbourhood to bring together the developers and users of FOSS4G tools - academicians, researchers, technologists, companies and entrepreneurs to share, discuss and collaborate towards faster adoption and use of the geospatial tools across the country/region.
As part of the Conference and to provide for wide-ranging discussions on a range of thematic areas, parallel sessions are planned during the two days. Papers are invited in areas covering, but not limited to, the following:
- FOSS Roots, philosophy, open standards, open data, copyrights and others
- FOSS technology which includes development of new tools, customization, databases, language localization, coding and improvements to existing tools
- Use of FOSS4G in applications like forestry, agriculture, ecological sciences, conservation, environment, geology, soil sciences , rural and urban development, water resources, coastal and marine, disaster management, education and e-governance,
- FOSS4G that includes desktop, web and mobile GIS, Capacity building, and societal use like Village/ Panchayat GIS
HANDS-ON WORKSHOP
In addition, the Conference will also hold a range of hands on workshops to help familiarize specific FOSS4G tools. Participants can learn and see for themselves the potential of free software tools in their respective areas of thematic interest. The workshop topics may include tools from Desktop GIS, Image Processing, WebGIS, Geo-Databases and integration of GDAL.
OSGeo-India
OSGeo-India is the India Chapter of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo.org), launched in Jan 2007 as a not-for-profit Society with a pan India focus. The goal of the Society is to provide support and help in building up of open source tools and applications related to the field of geospatial technologies and its allied sciences in this part of the world. It is working towards developing a community of both the users of such products and the developers who can contribute in developing high quality open source software. The Society and its activities are tuned towards achieving these goals, both in the context of software development, e-governance, localization (Indian language support) and building of awareness & outreach of such software systems.
Hyderabad - Host City
Hyderabad, known as the Pearl City and the Capital of the state of Andhra Pradesh, is also well-known as a global IT-destination. It is perched on the top of the Deccan Plateau, 536m above sea level and sprawls over 650 Sq. Km. The city is nearly 400 years old and is noted for its natural beauty, mosques and minarets, bazaars and bridges, hills and lakes. Its palaces and buildings, houses and tenements, gardens and streets have a history and an architectural individuality of their own, which makes Hyderabad a city of enchantment.