Open Source Geospatial Foundation

Open Source Geospatial Foundation
Abbreviation	OSGeo
Formation	February 2006
Type	NGO
Purpose/focus	Open source geospatial software
President	Arnulf Christl
Staff	0
Website	http://www.osgeo.org/

The Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo), is a non-profit non-governmental organization whose mission is to support and promote the collaborative development of open geospatial technologies and data. The foundation was formed in February 2006 to provide financial, organizational and legal support to the broader Free and 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.

The foundation pursues goals beyond software development, such as promoting more open access to government produced geospatial data and completely free geodata, such as that created and maintained by the OpenStreetMap project. Education and training are also addressed. Various committees within the foundation work on implementing strategies.

Projects

Several OSGeo projects can communicate with each other and other geographical tools.

OSGeo projects include:

Geospatial Libraries

• FDO
• GDAL/OGR
• GeoTools
• GEOS
• MetaCRS
• PostGIS

Desktop Applications

• GRASS GIS
• OSSIM
• Quantum GIS
• gvSIG

Web Mapping

Server

• MapServer
• Deegree (but iGeoPortal is client)
• Geomajas
• GeoServer

Client

• Mapbender
• MapGuide Open Source
• OpenLayers

Metadata Catalog

• GeoNetwork opensource

Retired Projects

• Community MapBuilder

Governance

The OSGeo Foundation is thoroughly community driven and has a lightweight organizational overhead consisting of 45 initial members, 9 directors including the president Arnulf Christl. It is organized in more than 20 projects. Twelve of these (March 2007) focus on software development projects (see above) or organizational matters like board issues, web site, visibility, education, public geodata and promotion. The OSGeo community collaborates via a Wiki, Mailing Lists and IRC.

Events

OSGeo runs an annual international conference called FOSS4G - Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial. Starting as early as 2006, this event has drawn over 900 attendees (2011) and is expected to bring in even more each year. It is the main meeting place and educational outreach opportunity for OSGeo members, supporters and newcomers - to share and learn from one another in presentations, hands-on workshops and a conference exhibition.

Sol Katz Award

The Sol Katz Award for Geospatial Free and Open Source Software (GFOSS) is awarded annually by OSGeo to individuals who have demonstrated leadership in the GFOSS community. Recipients of the award will have contributed significantly through their activities to advance open source ideals in the geospatial realm.

See also

Free software portal

• List of GIS software
• Comparison of GIS software
• Free Software
• GIS Live DVD
• Open Source
• Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) – a standards organization
• OpenStreetMap

External links

• Open Source Geospatial Foundation Site
• OSGeo Wiki
• OSGeo Public Geodata Committee
• OSGeo Education Committee
• OSGeo Journal
• Open Source GIS History