FOSS4G 2008 Conference - Register NOW

18 September 2008, 4:00pm

The Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) 2008 conference, is being hosted on the African continent for the first time, in Cape Town. It is the best opportunity this year for exposure to local and international delegates and networking for your organisation. It incorporates the GeoInformation Society of South Africa (GISSA) 2008 biennial conference, and the participation of the proprietary geo-informatics soft­ware community will create the perfect platform for lively debates and creative solutions in addressing the theme: "Open Source Geospa­tial: An Option for Developing Nations".

Approximately 500 GIS users, Government officials, business people and technology experts from over 50 countries will be attending. The conference is an opportunity for Geospatial users, developers, service and solution providers, mapping agencies, managers and decision makers, to mix with international delegates and should not be missed!

Why you should attend

Delegates arriving early have a chance to get into the mood with the pre-conference OpenStreetMap mapping party on Sunday the 28 September to map Cape Town's streets.

The core conference covers 3.5 days (Monday afternoon to Thursday afternoon inclusive) and features academic, presentation and poster tracks, a live demo theatre, opening and closing plenaries, an icebreaker function, an exhibition hall, wall-to-wall hands-on mini-workshops ('labs') and more! A fantastic Gala dinner at Moyo in Stellenbosch is an extra item that will be worth every cent.

Monday morning and Friday are dedicated to popular FOSS4G hands-on workshops giving delegates a chance to test drive and sharpen their skills with FOSS GIS programs including OpenLayers, MapServer, GeoServer, GRASS, PostGIS, MapGuide Open Source, gvSIG, MapBender, MapWindow and GeoNetwork and more.

Interesting technical visits and education outreach activities to schools and universities complement the workshop programme and there will be a code sprint on Saturday 4 October for software developers.

An application has been submitted to The South African Institute for Civil Engineering for CPD (Continued Professional Development) accreditation, and the provisional number will be put on the conference web site once it's available.

Keynote Address

Ed Parsons, chief of geospatial technology at Google and ex CTO of the UK Ordnance Survey will be keynote speaker at the opening plenary. The closing plenary will consist of a debate about the software options for developing nations with a panel of international experts.

Registration

Registration is still open so don't delay, for up-to-date information, registration fees and program details, please visit the conference website http://www.foss4g2008.org/: Registration will also be available at the conference. Students, teachers and full time academics working at teaching institutions qualify for a 50% discount. When you register, choose the 50% discount package and you will be asked for supporting paperwork.

FOSS4G 2008 conference

FOSS4G 2008 registration page

Geo: International