Looking forward to today events

Good morning FOSS4G attendees and followers!

After the codesprint and the workshops in the previous days we saw the first conference day yesterday. For us as Local Organizing Committee it was an exciting day because handing over badges and shirts in the early morning, and drinks and food during the breaks for over 900 people is not an easy task.
Apart from a few issues with the registrations, and the usual queues at the food supply all went pretty well. Due to the fact that almost 30 new attendees showed up yesterday morning we passed the 900-mark!

Our silver sponsors

Gala Event

Please don't forget your badge today, as it is not just your ticket for the conference, but also for the Gala Event this evening. If you want to bring your husband, wife, friend etc. along to the Gala Event you can by an additional ticket at the registration desk until 13.00h. Boarding will start at 18.15, and the ship will set sail at 18.45.

Program changes

Unfortunately we have to cancel 2 presentations: today's "Involving communities" (14:30h at the Rhine Lobby) and tomorrow's GeoJSON and the IETF (12.00h).

BoF sessions

We got some questions regarding BoF sessions. A Birds-of-a-feather (BoF) session is a session you can organize yourself. If you have a certain theme of issue you want to discuss with some of our attendees you can simply claim one of the rooms to use directly after the regular sessions (17.30). At the registration desk we have a announcement board were you can see which sessions are already planned and advertise your sessions. Make sure to end your session today at 18.15, in order to get in time aboard on the ship for the Gala Event.

Our bronze sponsors

AGM

In the afternoon we have OSGeo's Annual General Meeting. At the meeting the OSGeo foundantion presents their official annual report. Also the local and regional chapter give a short presentatin on their activities. Join us, at 17.30h, in the Plenary Chamber.

Session chairs

We still need 5 session chairs for today. Main task is to keep an eye on the clock, and to make sure that questions from the audience are orderly handled. Sign up at the info desk if you want to fill in one of these 5 places.

Certificate of participation

If you need a certificate of participation (because you're a student, or your employer asks for one) you can obtain one at the info desk neat the entrance.

Looking back

Well attended workshops

The workshops on Monday and Tuesday were well attended and well received. The WiFi capacity was at some points a bit on the low side, but went well overall.
A surprise was that one on the workshops was the attendance of a bird in one of the workshop rooms. Not an early bird, not a bird-of-a-feather, but a real one!

Successfull start of FOSS4G with Part 1 of FOSS4G 2016 OSGeo Code Sprint in Basecamp

Around 100 attendees came each day to the first part of the FOSS4G 2016 OSGeo Code Sprint to Basecamp. They met in the cool and releaxed atmosphere of the great place. There was enough space for the projects to sit together and hack - indoor or outdoor. Drinks, snacks and great food was served.

Some reactions:
6artvde "Great codesprint experience, well done!"
#Mapbender team: "Great event for indoor and outdoor hacking. Many bugs fixed. We enjoyed the place. Thanks."
Part II of FOSS4G 2016 OSGeo Code Sprint will be on Saturday and Sunday.
You are welcome to join: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_2016_Code_Sprint

In the media

Yesterday several media made a report on FOSS4G. Read an interview with Arnulf Christl at http://www.general-anzeiger-bonn.de/news/wirtschaft/region/Die-Weltvermesser-article3339769.html and listen to Till Adams at WDR radio athttp://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/rheinland/geo-it-experten-100.html

Video's online

Video's of yesterdays presentation are already online, you can find them at https://streaming.media.ccc.de/foss4g-2016/relive/

That's all for now, have fun today!

Our institutional sponsors

Dear FOSS4G followers,

The first attendees are probably already on their way to Bonn.
Therefore this newsletter is mainly about the last part of your journeys; travelling from the airport to Bonn, and in Bonn itself.
Besides that, in this newsletter you can read some info on the conference app,

Pre-Registration
In order to keep the run on our registration on Wednesday morning as small as possible, we offer on-site pre-registration on Sunday/Monday in BasecampBonn for Code Sprinters, on Monday& Tuesday 8-9 and 13-14h in both workshop venues, on the B2B meeting and also a pre-registration in the venue on Tuesday 14-16h. Please note, that due to problems with the layout of the printed version, the programmes will not be available for pre-registration. You can easily grab your program on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday during the day.

Programm-App
We have prepared a programme App (Android only), that always reads the actual programme including all spontaneous changes. Feel free to install that App through the Play Store (search for FOSS4G), or go directly to https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.metadude.android.foss4g.schedule

Our silver sponsors

Travelling to Bonn

Approaching Bonn from ...

Airport Cologne/Bonn
The best way from the Airport to Bonn is the direct Bus service with bus no. "SB60". Please consider, that your Public transport ticket, which was included in your Hotel Booking is not valid for this bus. You have to pay an extra fee (about 6.- Euros).
Find more details here:
http://www.koeln-bonn-airport.de/en/parking-arrival/bus-rail-services.html

The busride is approx. 25 minutes, the trip ends at the bus terminal in the center of Bonn right in front of the main station.

Airport Düsseldorf
The best way to follow the signs to the "Düsseldorf Airport Train Station" (there is another train station called "Düsseldorf Airport Terminal Train Station" - this is not your direction!). There are some regional trains, that might require a change in Duesseldorf or Cologne, but also some direct IC/EC/ICE trains. Please consider your train-type when buying your ticket, as the regional trains are cheaper but the tickets might not be valid for IC/EC/ICE. You can buy tickets at the station either on a counter or at one of the red ticket vending machines.Your destination is "Bonn Hauptbahnhof" (Bonn main station). Announcements at the station and in the trains are normally in German and English.
The train ride will last approx. 1 hour.

Find more details here:
https://www.dus.com/en/arrival-and-departure/bus-and-train/arriving-by-train

Airport Frankfurt
Please ensure, that you follow the signs to "Fernbahnhof", there is another train station for regional trains. If possible buy a ticket to "Bonn Hauptbahnhof" (main station), not to "Bonn/Siegburg". Although the trip to Bonn/Siegburg is quite fast, you have a 25 minute tram ride from this station to Bonn and you need an extra ticket for the tram. Going to Bonn directly is nearly as fast and definitely cheaper (and has magnificent views).
Buy your ticket either at the counter above the platforms or at the ticket vending machine. Both opportunities also will help you with the timetable.
The train ride to Bonn/Siegburg is about 45 Minutes, to Bonn about 75 Minutes. Announcements at the station and in the trains are normally in German and English.

Find more details here:
http://www.frankfurt-airport.com/content/airport-site/en/flights---more/flights.html#toandfromtheairportflights/tab=arrivaldeparture/aggregator=ag_2/ik=ik_2

In case you need further assistance with your travel, please contact: n.warnecke@bonn-region.de or call +49 (0)2 28/ 910 41 33. They will be delighted to help you along.

Moving around in Bonn

Public Transport
Depending on where your Hotel is located, you can walk or take the bus or tube. The official website of Bonn's public transport is:
http://en.swb-busundbahn.de/
Köln/Bonn region:
https://www.vrsinfo.de/fahrplan/fahrplanauskunft.html?L=1

Approaching Workshops and/or the conference venue:
If your Hotel is in the city center, you might take the tube no. 66 in direction "Ramersdorf/Bad Honnef" or 16/63 in direction "Bad Godesberg" and leave ...
...for WCCB and Deutsche Welle at station "Heussallee/Museumsmeile", leave the station to the left in direction of the train and walk approx. 200m, 90 degrees left. You can also take the direct bus no. 610 from the main bus terminal/main station, leave at stop "Bundeshaus/Deutsche Welle" which is directly in front.
... for Gustav Stresemann Institut at station "Max-Löbner-Straße" (not with tube no. 66!), see details here: http://www.gsi-bonn.de/en/contact/location-and-approach.html
... for BaseCamp stop at "Dt. Telekom / Ollenhauerstr." (ATTENTION: On the web-page www.bahn.de the stop is called „Bonn Gronau Ollenhauerstraße“). From the station you walk through the Ollenhauerstraße and pass by the Erich-Ollenhauer-Haus and the Restaurant Vapiano. After 200 meters cross the railways and then we are located on the left side. The hostel is inside a former warehouse, so it is hardly to be overlooked.

In Bonn - rent a bike
There are two bike rentals close to the main station. In front you can hire a bike via the Deutsche Bahn. Find details here: https://www.callabike-interaktiv.de/
(sorry, we are also surprised, that this website is in German only)

On the backside you can rent a bike from the "Radstation", which is a charitable institution, find details here: http://www.radstationbonn.de/formulare/index.php?form_id=2899

Survive with SIM cards, sockets and souvenirs

Useful shops
SIM-cards
You can buy SIM cards for your mobile nearly everywhere and the prepaid cards could be used in any SIM-unlocked mobile. In the city center there is the Telekom Shop, Friedensplatz 4 53111 Bonn, see OSM-link here:
http://www.openstreetmap.org/node/3213080299#map=19/50.73589/7.09824

Sockets, all kind of electric stuff
Check for your plug first: http://www.power-plugs-sockets.com/germany/
There is a phantastic shop, the shopkeepers are immortal legends in Bonn and if you don't get, what you are looking for, they will braze together anything for you. The shop is called "P&M Elektronik" and located in Budapester Str. 6, 53111 Bonn. If you have some time, don't step in the nearby "Media Market" although you might save some cents here.
OSM link: http://www.openstreetmap.org/node/3738264144

Souvenir Shop
Bonn Souvenirs (http://www.bonnshop.com), Bonngasse 25, 53111 Bonn
OSM link: http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/170941185

Haribo Store Bonn (https://www.haribo.com/deDE/shops/haribo-store-bonn.html), Am Neutor 3, 53113 Bonn
OSM link: http://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2844633196

Our bronze sponsors

Eat and drink

Restaurants
Bonn has restaurants from nearly every cuisine in the world. We won't point you to some single restaurants, find your own. You will find some hints from locals here:
https://www.welovepubs.de/bonn-nightlife-guide/
http://bonngehtessen.de/ (German only)
http://www.bonn-restaurant.de/ (German only)
http://www.opentable.de

Our pubs
If you feel lonely or just like "wannahaveabeer" we've choosen 5 so-called "Official FOSS4G Pubs", which are quite close to each other. The idea is, whenever you want to meet FOSs4G-people, go to one of these pubs, if not, choose another place. The pubs will be marked with a "Official FOSS4G pub"-sign near the main entrance. The locations are:

LUXX - the pub, where LOC met thousand times!
Heerstrasse 1, 53111 Bonn
OSM link: http://www.openstreetmap.org/node/1516349791

Cafe Pawlow - if you want to feel like a "real Bonner".
Heerstrasse 64, 53111 Bonn
OSM link: http://www.openstreetmap.org/node/225642197
Programm-App**
Bierhaus Machold - they brew their own stuff (and you can eat here as well), nice beergarden (closed on monday)
Heerstrasse 52, 53111 Bonn
OSM link: http://www.openstreetmap.org/node/252474810

Tresor - Hardrockers meeting point, but very nice pub-keeper. (closed sunday & monday)
Wolfstrasse 11, 53111 Bonn
OSM link: http://www.openstreetmap.org/node/30755554

Namenlos - Headquarter of FOSS4G 2016 in Bonn, a "must have been there". BTW: The place, where german FOSSGIS conference was founded.
Bornheimer Strasse 20-22, 53113 Bonn
OSM link: http://www.openstreetmap.org/node/1581262116

...or all FOSS4G pubs together here: http://2016.foss4g.org/home.html#map-51 (zoom & click on symbol for more infos about pub)

Geobeer
Very close to the conference center there is a kiosk very suitable for a fast "Geobeer" after the full conference days. Buy a bottle of beer and sit on the riverside and enjoy the forecasted 30°. Find the kiosk here: http://www.openstreetmap.org/node/568265129#map=17/50.71783/7.12979
Please note, that there is no possibility to pass between the UN buildings, find a small path between the buildings of the Deutsche Welle (out of the venue turn left).

Our institutional sponsors

Our favorite colour is green

"As green as possible event"
We try to have an "as green as possible event". For this, we cared, that our caterer does not offer disposable tableware, all soft-drinks are in deposit bottles, we requested the sponsors not to bring too many flyers and to renounce from offering useless plastic gimmicks and so on.
Of course you as an attendee can easily contribute to our idea just by avoiding to buy oneway cans, using public transport and many more. Also we kindly ask every attendee to consider flight compensation via organisations like atmosfair (https://www.atmosfair.de/en/home) or climatecare (http://www.climatecare.org/home.aspx).

Request: Bring your own beer!

Mapyourbeer
Shortly before the beginning of FOSS4G we can announce another special event. geOps will use FOSS4G to launch MAPYOUR.BEER, a worldwide map of beers and breweries.
The large number of participants from all over the world is the ideal starting point for the map because it will only show beers that have been tasted during meetings with the map makers.
So we invite everybody to bring one bottle of a favorite local beer to Bonn.
Take it to the geOps booth on Wednesday at 5:30 pm. If many of you will participate we will not only be able to fill the map but also to interchange and taste lots of international beers at the booth. As a kick-off geOps will have some beers in the fridge already. So also those who can't bring their own beer are invited to come and participate.
Check MAPYOUR.BEER to get a glimpse on the still empty map and read more about the idea behind it.

Dear FOSS4G followers,

FOSS4G 2016 Bonn is just around the corner. Here are some of the latest updates to help you navigate through the vast, colourful world of foss4g.

Extended registration: 19^th of August ! Register now!

Yes, not the most interesting of tasks, registering for a conference, but a necessary step to go through. You can register online until August 19^th, afterwards only on site. Don't forget though, registering online supports us in doing a better job in making FOSS4G run smooth as a silk. Click http://2016.foss4g.org.

Numbers and facts

Our latest numbers show us that for FOSS4G Bonn we have 780 registered participants from 53 countries and 160 more started the registration! This shall make the social networking layout prepared very animated.

We would like to thank once again OSGeo for the generous contribution of 7.5k EUR for the Code Sprint.

Travelling more than 100 km to Bonn by train within Germany? Apply for a free ticket!

Great news for German train travellers! FOSS4G silver sponsor Deutsche Bahn is sponsoring 30 train tickets. Anyone travelling by train within Germany, more than approximately 100 kilometers can apply for the a free ticket. The rule is first-come, first-served. The limit is of 30 tickets.

The full list of names and destinations will close this Wednesday.
Send a mail to info@foss4g2016.org to apply for a free ticket.

Social networking outside the World Conference Center Bonn

One pivotal aspect of all FOSS4G events around the world is keeping the discussions going even after exiting the conference room. At FOSS4G 2016, we are highly equipped to encourage such a behavior.

You have already heard of all social networking layout we have prepared for you, starting with the Icebreaker on the 24th, moving on to a classical social dinner a.k.a. gala event on the 25th, to the-not-so classical pub race. Small details to keep in mind: drinks are GENERALLY not included. Please note that payment is general in cash, so bring some Euros with you.

Icebreaker - 24th - Basecamp Bonn

• open for every FOSS4G participant, including partners and guests, regardless of ticket type;

• drinks and food not included;

• special surprise (?!) included;

1. see http://2016.foss4g.org/building-bridges.html#social-events for details.

Gala Dinner - 25th - At the "MS Rheinenergie" on the river Rhine

• boat tour;

• gala dinner buffet;

• concerts & DJ;

• see http://2016.foss4g.org/building-bridges.html#gala-event for details.

Circumstances in which you pay for the Gala Dinner:

• you do not have a full 3-day FOSS4G ticket;

• you would like to bring your partner as well;

• you are a student and participating to FOSS4G through some kind of program (travel grant, studentship program etc.).

Pub race - every evening - selected bars in Bonn

For the full program of the social network plans, please take a look at the overview of the schedule http://foss4g2016.org/programme.html#overview

OSGeo Live 10.0 live and kicking!

OSGeo Live is a self-contained bootable DVD, USB flash drive and Virtual Machine based upon Ubuntu Linux that is pre-configured with a wide variety of robust open source geospatial software. All applications can be used without installing anything on your computer, simply by booting the computer from the DVD or USB drive. OSGeo Live 10.0 will be used at the FOSS4G workshops.

Haven't registered for any ? Doesn't matter! OSGeo Live is an extremely useful tool in your every day working life. Check out this short introduction and pass it on to your colleagues. [http://cameronshorter.blogspot.ro/2016/08/osgeo-live-100-released.html].

OSGeo Annual General Meeting

OSGeo is all about community and one key aspect is keeping the members informed on the worldwide activities of OSGeo coupled with getting feedback and ideas and the Annual General Meeting is just the place for that. AGM is opened for everyone and has as a triple goal:

• give an overall status of the organization

• informing the members of previous and future activities from committees and local chapters

• discuss important issues and take decisions

In FOSS4G 2016, the AGM will start on Thursday, on the 25^th at 5.30 PM, in the plenary chamber. Do join us.

Acknowledging community leaders

The annual OSGeo conference is the best moment to celebrate the heroes of our community. Curious about this year's proposals and the selected one? Well, on the last day of the conference, on Friday, after the last keynote, the seventh, we all gather in the plenary chamber to honour the 2016 Sol Katz Award winner.

More on the Sol Katz Award here [http://www.osgeo.org/solkatz].

Hello FOSS44-2016 followers,

We now can count the days until the start of the 2016 edition of the FOSS4G conference. In 2 weeks from now (more precisely: at the 21st of August) the first Code Sprints already start!
While some members of the local organizing committee are enjoying a well-deserved short holiday break, the other members keep the organization going. In this newsletter we supply you with information on program updates and other practical stuff that will help to make you're visit to Bonn a succes!

Facts and figures: over 650 registrees

As of the 1st of August we had more than 650 people who fully completed their registration and thus will be present in Bonn. Over 150 others already started their registration but apparently required some more time to make their choice in the overwhelming offer of presentations, workshops and other sessions. We don't just hope these 150 to finalize their registration soon, but also expect some more FOSS4G developers, users and other stakeholders will return from their holiday resorts and decide to join us in Bonn. That would bring our attendance on a level that is comparable to FOSS4G conferences in Barcelona, Denver, Nottingham and Portland.

An introduction to four of our keynoters

In our previous newsletter we already introduced you to 3 keynote speakers (Andreas Veispak, Thomas Zerweck and Bianca Hoersch). Hereby we introduce you to the 4 remaining keynoters.

Being Lead Economist at the Development Research Group of the World Bank, Klaus Deiniger is involved in helping governments to use and develop open source solutions for better land management, in order to reduce poverty.

Peter Kusterer is not just heading Corporate Citizenship at IBM in Germany, but he is also steering committee member of the "Bundesnetzwerk Bürgerschaftliches Engagement" (German National Network for Civic Society). As such, currently the migration challenge and the contribution of business consume a large part of his activities.

With a background in technology and philosophy, Ton Zijlstra (consultant at The Green Land) is the right person to build bridges. At FOSS4G-2016 Ton will speak on the oportinities and effects of open data in general, and the way open data and open source software for geospatial influence and strengthen each other in particular.

Our seventh keynote speaker is Dirk Frigne. Besides being CEO at the Belgium company "Geosparc" Dirk is well-known for being vice president of the OSGeo.org foundation (since january 2016). At FOSS4G Dirk will tell us about the current state of the OSGeo.org foundation, and the plans for the next steps the OSgeo.org is planning, in Belgium, Europe and the rest of the world.

Keep an eye on the program (for last-minute changes)

With a program of approximately 180 presentation some last-minutes changes are inevitable. Please check the program page for the latest updates on the program schedule.

Some chairs wanted

No, we're not asking you to bring your own chair to Bonn, but -as you may have noticed in the program schedule- we are kindly asking you to contribute to FOSS4G-2016 by chairing a program session.
It's not difficult: it's mainly a matter of keeping an eye on the clock and making sure that questions to presenter are understandable. Check the program for the "Session chair: NA" text, and send us a mail which session you are willing to chair (info@foss4g2016.org).

In action at the codesprints!

The Codesprint Team is busy to prepare everything for the sprint. In the codesprint venue "Basecamp Bonn" a beach atmosphere and palm trees are ready and we got sufficient internet connection prepared. Fruits & snacks & drink are waiting for you. So only you are missing for a great code sprint to work on your project!
Many projects will come to work on great open source software! An opportunity to meet people from your project team face-to-face, and an opportunity for newbies to get involved.

Already nearly 100 delegates registered for the sprint. You can still register in the Wiki, but please hurry up: https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_2016_Code_Sprint

We are happy to have OSGeo and FOSSGIS e.V. as sponsors for the event.

Question regarding the codesprint can directly be sent to codesprint@foss4g2016.org

Some changes, and just a few spots left at the workshops

Of those 650 who already registered, more than 210 people booked over spots 500 spots at the workshops. 2 are fully booked:

• WS31 - Managing CityGML-based 3D city models in PostGIS and Cesium using the 3DCityDB Stack
• WS38 - Enterprise class deployment for GeoServer and GeoWebcache: Optimizing performances and robustness
  However, WS38 will be repeated on monday morning.

Almost sold-out (as of August 4th) are 3 workshops:

• WS29 - Creating a full featured spatial data infrastructure around QGIS and PostGIS (1 free spot)
• WS32 - GeoPython (will be repeated on Tuesday Noon) (2 free spots but 20 more on Tuesday)
• WS41 - Serve your GIS 3D data to the Web (3 free spots)

Unfortunately, 2 workshops have to be cancelled:

• WS02 - Desktop developer workshop: how to create plug ins using Java
• WS40 - Rapid deployment of complete open source geospatial infrastructure with GIS.lab

Those who admitted for the workshop already received a notification of this cancellation.
The good news is that we found replacements for them by repeating 2 poplar workshops:

• WS38 - Enterprise class deployment for GeoServer and GeoWebcache
• WS32 - GeoPython

Questions regarding the workshops? Send an email to workshops@foss4g2016.org

All FOSS4G locations on one map

For your convenience we've compiled all the relevant FOSS4G-2016 location on a map. You can find the event locations, taxi ranks, hotels, pubs and more at our homepage (http://2016.foss4g.org/home.html#map-51)

Not registered yet? Do so before August 12th!

If you're not yet among the 650+ people who already registered, we of course do hope you will do so soon. For several organisational aspects, such as catering, it makes our life easier to know as soon as possible how many people will show up. So point your browser to http://2016.foss4g.org and click that "register now" button. registration is possible until August 12th.

Although the core conference will start on the 24th of August 2016, many of us will have already arrived a few days earlier in Bonn, since the Business2Business meeting starts on Tuesday 23rd, the workshops take place on Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd and the Code Sprint on Sunday 21st of August!

In this newsletter we give you not only information on the schedule, side-events and workshops, but also tips on how to get to Bonn and what does this lovely town has to offer.

Some figures

At this point we have over 500 registrants, from all continents (OK ... except for Antarctica :-), from more than 50 different countries. That makes FOSS4G a unique chance to meet people from literary all over the world. And the city of Bonn is the perfect décor with its more than 180 nationalities!

An introduction to three of our keynoters

Andreas Veispak. (from Estonia), taking the stage on Wednesday morning (24th of August), is head of the Unit for Space Data for Societal Challenges and Growth at the European Commission. The mission of this unit is to maximize the uptake and use of the Copernicus program (and space data more generally) among different user groups so as to fully exploit the societal and economic potential it offers.

Thomas Zerweck of the Munich Re (Reinsurance company) is our keynoter on Thursday morning (25 Aug). He will tell us how to build a geospatial platform for Risks and Claims management based upon GIS and Remote Sensing information and software.

Bianca Hoersch (from Germany) faces the challenge to get you all back on track after Thursday's lunch. She is working at ESA. Until recently she was the Third Party Mission Manager responsible for ensuring access to ESA's Earth observation data by a broad range of partners (NASA, European governments, commercial data providers). Starting with 2015, Bianca is mission manager of Sentinel-2 Copernicus.

Conference Programme completely scheduled

(and chairs needed) As you may have seen on our homepage, our 180 presentations program is now put into place. Our programme committee did a great job in scheduling it in such a way that every session is a coherent set of 3 (sometimes 2) talks. That saves you the stress of having to run from one room to the other (although, of course, that's not forbidden!).

Since FOSS4G is a conference that we all organize together, we hereby encourage you to step up as a session chair. In the programme you can find out which session still needs one. We'd like to hear from you at info@foss4g2016.org.

Into the deep in our workshops

The workshop committee put together a fine set of workshops, to be held on Monday and Tuesday (22nd-23rd of August). Learn how to apply and develop open source software for geospatial applications, directly from the experts (and of course from your fellow workshop participants also). And all this just for 100 euros. Some workshops are already near their maximum of 30 participants, so don't wait too long. You can apply for workshops in the registration form that is used for the general subscription.

Speakers & demo corner

As an additional part of the program, we’ll be settings up a speakers & demo corner where anyone can take 5 minutes to give a short demo or talk about his/hers project or application. Thus, if you have something you want to share with the community, this is the place to do it!

Sponsorship deals

We are still open for sponsorship deals. In our kasba-exhibition placed in the middle of our venue, we have two booths left. Every sponsor can have a booth for net cost price, first-come, first-served. If you consider sponsorship, please contact us as soon as possible, as we have to finalize the art directions for the venue by 22nd of July. After that, your logo can't be printed on the banners inside the venue. Keep in mind that we still have two open slots on Friday afternoon, when sponsors can present their company. Also consider, that every sponsor can have a talk on our B2B meeting on the 23rd of August. Take the chance to present your business to the world of Open Source for Geospatial!

Practical tips: Traveling to and in Bonn

If you plan to fly to Germany, take note that besides the Köln (Cologne)-Bonn airport, the larger airport of Düsseldorf as well as the main hub of Frankfurt flights bring you within reasonable reach (by car as well as by public transport) of Bonn. For those of you who have the chance to leave a smaller CO2 footprint, please note that the Siegburg/Bonn railway station is directly connected to the high speed (ICE) train network. Besides that, Köln Central Station ("Hauptbahnhof") offers frequent connections to Bonn.

Those of you who have already registered must already have got a ticket for the public transport in Bonn and its surroundings. But the city is also well known for its widespread use of bicycles to get from A to B.

Not registered yet?

If you're not yet among the 500+ people who already registered, we of course do hope you will do so soon. For organizational aspects, such as catering, it makes our life much easier to know as soon as possible how many people will show up. So point your browser and click that "register now" button!

FOSS4G2016 is built from and for the community and in a community, we are kind to each other, opened to discussions and opinions that are different from our own, we constructively asses and examine. In a community, we help and support each other and this is exactly what the FOSS4G 2016 Bonn worked hard to do.

As we stated in February, the Bonn Local Organizing Committee had actively pursued the possibility of continuing the FOSS4G Travel Grant Programme initiated at former FOSS4G conferences. What is this all about? The Travel Grant represents a window of opportunity for FOSS4G enthusiasts that lack financial means to participate at the conference. The travel grant represents a waver of conference fee and accommodation support.

The selection process was composed by a ranking system taking into account 4 criteria -origin or residence, gender, student status and accepted paper - and a few words to highlight motivation. By reasons of diversity and openness, we considered special places for unique and outstanding letters of motivation.

Our 12 Travel Grants receivers come from all over the world, connected in different working cultures and environments: educational, start-ups, students. This diversity is exactly what we have searched for through the program and we hope this will become a well established tradition within OSGeo events. We will gladly welcome in Bonn, FOSS4G enthusiasts from: Nigeria, India, Zimbabwe, Nicaragua, Turkey, Ecuador, Rwanda and the list does not stop here.

We are honored to acknowledge OSGeo as the main supporter of the Travel Grants Programme. We give our gratitude for they generosity, openness and support.

The FOSS4G 2016 team is proud to present the full schedule of the biggest OSGeo annual global event! The Program Committee 2016 has been hard at work putting together in the best possible way the awesome 180 talks that were chosen, with your active help. Doing the impossible is not an easy task, so bear with us, small changes might occur. What impossible? The pleasing everyone kind.

As shaped by the OSGeo growing community, FOSS4G fosters a number of traditional subjects, such as web mapping development, community projects – GeoServer, MapServer, GRASS, PostGIS etc. - advancements, geoprocessing tools etc. As announced in our call for papers, this year, FOSS4G was set to build bridges towards communities with interests and works adjacent to ours. Thus, we have chosen 4 key stream: land information, open data, disaster management and Earth Observation. As expected, the conference program was built to offer a logical connection between talks and tracks, following the mentioned guidelines. The general construction for each conference day is of 7 tracks with an additional topic talk session.

FOSS4G 2016 will bring the community 7 keynote speakers, geospatial gurus sharing from their knowledge and experience. A quick look at our list of keynotes, will convince you that we have been true to our word, building bridges to take us all the way across communities and back. We will listen to Andreas Veispak, the Head of Unit for Space Data for Societal Challenges and Growth at the European Commission, Klaus Deininger, a Lead Economist at the Development Research Group of the World Bank investigating how advances in Earth Observation, computing power and connectivity could help reduce poverty, while Ton Zijlstra will initiate us in the complex world of Open data and what possible implications we can expect.

This year, the team is initiating a new kind of interaction, the topic talk. Within the conference days, the Lab will be the place to foster new ideas and encourage discussions around subjects such as: the intertwine between open source and open standards gently lead by Athina Trakas, Ingo Simonis from OGC or how to best couple land information and open source gently lead by Arnulf Christl from metaspatial and John Gitau from UN-Habitat - United Nations Human Settlements Programme. Markus Neteler from mundialis GmbH & Co and Christian Strobl from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) will engage in how open source and open data translates into the Copernicus Program.

Even more, in tune with the spirit of our community, we have prepared a special corner, the Speakers' Corner. Here, any FOSS4G participant is the absolute owner of 5 full minutes to share a project, to kindle an idea, to start a discussion to his audience. Of course, for informal lengthy talks the BoF is the place to go. Just pick a theme.

These are just glimpses of what FOSS4G 2016 has in store for you. It is time that, without any further ado, to kindly invite you to check the program and to map your own FOSS4G 2016 journey. http://2016.foss4g.org/programme.html#conference-programme

After the extensive and careful 2-staged selection process, the OSGeo community in collaboration with the FOSS4G 2016 Program Committee has succeed in selecting 180 talks from the 289 submitted! We are proud and honored to acknowledge the high to very high quality of all proposed talks. We just couldn't accept them all. Until we prevail in knitting the engaging, diverse and yet connected conference program, take a look at all accepted talks here! And since we are at the talks topic, let's talk about the Topic Talks! No, it's not just a word-play. The topic talk is a renewed invitation to you, the FOSS4G 2016 participant, to engage in fruitful conversation on the themes you care about. Time allows 8 topic talks, but 6 have already been established. Here are some ideas on what will be on the table: collaborative mapping in satellite tacked emergency response, open data and open applications for conflict mapping, response and peace building, hands on Sentinel 2 data with Open Source Software, an OSGeo Live presentation. Do you have an idea for a topic talk where you would love to go? Or better yet, would you like to lead a topic talk on your favorite subject? Then, pin your idea to our wall of ideas!

Talks, topic talks and now.. yes, workshops! FOSS4G has grown over time, but its spirit is the same, the OSGeo spirit. We come together to meet, laugh, exchange ideas, teach and learn. This year, the Program Committee had the almost impossible task to choose 42 workshops from 63 sent. Again, the decision was difficult, all were great, but time is no-one's friend. Which ones will you attend to ?

Curious though on this year's Scientific Track shape at FOSS4G? Just note down in your calendar: May 15th 2016.

Next on our list of done! is the FOSS4G Travel Grants Programme come true. We have been keen in setting up the programme and we are very glad to say that we have succeeded. The travel grant programme is currently sponsored exclusively by OSGeo and through private donations. As the demand for travel grant funds is always higher than the supply, we need your help to get as many applicants to Bonn as possible. We aim to fund at least one applicant by private donations. In order to reach this goal we need at least 1000 Euro. Please consider donating 25 EUR (or more) to this cause. We count on you! And so are the FOSS4G 2016 travel grants applicants. More here.

Now, that you have seen how FOSS4G 2016 schedule is gently unfolding and falling into place, it's time to draw your attention to how to get in. Early Bird Registration! Yes, you still have just a few more days to secure your place to FOSS4G 2016 with a nice discount of 160 EUR. For the sentimental ones out there though, we have a more attractive offer: a special 10 years FOSS4G T-shirt! 50 of the early birds will become a lucky owner of a special FOSS4G T-shirt.

Hurry up, the early bird registration closes on the 8th of May!

Oh, and one last thing! Do check the FOSS4G code sprint page. A lot of activity is going on there!

]]>http://2016.foss4g.org/news-entry/aprils-recap.htmlSun, 08 May 2016 07:27:00 +0000http://2016.foss4g.org/news-entry/aprils-recap.html

The final selection of the presentations for the FOSS4G used to be a controversy. Reviewing so many abstracts takes a lot of effort, so it's not possible to tell the rejected presenters in detail why their abstract wasn't accepted. Though it's possible to be transparent about the process that was applied. That's what this blog post is about. Let's start with some numbers. There were 281 abstracts submitted, 181 were accepted. There was a community review and a separate review by the program committee. Both reviews were blind, without knowing the author's name. Next the program committee met several times using a Google Docs spreadsheet which had the community rank, reviewer's rank and the submitted details in it. This time it was including the author's name.

The selection process


Step 1: Get rid of the lowest ranked ones

We were picking a number to eliminate the abstracts that had *both* a low rank (less thank 180) by the community and by the reviewers. This way we got the numbers down by 47 to 233.


Step 2: Go through highest ranked presentations and limit those by author and company

Only the abstracts where both the community as well as the program committee were ranking them above 180 were taken into account, that were 142 talks. We went trough them to limit the number of presentations to a maximum of two per person (with exceptions: some people are so active in the FOSS4G community, that they represent so many different projects, so that it make sense to have them give more than two talks. We also limited the number of talks by company. This wasn't a hard-number, but depending on how many different topics were covered. This reduced the total talks by 11 to around 222.


Step 3: Go through the "undecided" ones

Those presentations where the community and the program committee didn't agree on got special care. Those were about 90 talks. We sorted them by the community voting. Then everyone from the committee was able to argue for talks being in our out. This also included talks being excluded because of the limitations outlined in step 2. This was the most time consuming step which lead to a lot of good discussions. In the end it brought the total count down by 41 to the 181 we accepted.


Step 4: Group talks by topic

As we were meeting already twice, we decided to take the grouping offline. All members were working on the spreadsheet of the final selection and adding tags of what the talks are about. The program committee chair then took the time to do the final grouping for the website.


Impact of the community vote

If you compare the top 181 talks from the community voting with the final program the overlap is 77% (when taking the talks removed in step 2 into account it's even 80%). When the committee made decisions that were contrary to the community voting, it had numerous reasons. For example all OSGeo project should get a stage to present, whether they were voted highly by the community or not. Other considerations were to include non-developer centric talks like case studies, about business models or talks matching one of our four key topics: remote sensing for earth observation, disaster management, open data and land information.

]]>http://2016.foss4g.org/news-entry/abstract-review-process.htmlFri, 29 Apr 2016 07:10:00 +0000http://2016.foss4g.org/news-entry/abstract-review-process.html


After several months of preparations, today is the day we happily open the doors of FOSS4G 2016 Bonn, Germany! From the 24th to the 26th of August hundreds (perhaps even one thousand!) users, developers, policy makers, academics from all over the world will gather in the city of Bonn to grasp the state of the art of free and open source geospatial software, to be inspired by open source software study cases and data solutions that solve real life problems and, of course, to rejoin old friends and make new ones.

• Besides the key notes, the topic talks and the 180 presentations clustered into the core conference you can extend your own program by joining one or more of the 40 workshops or by contributing your pieces of code or documentation to one or more of the open source geospatial projects .
• Following the long working days of the conference, there is a a fine set of social events prepared for you to make sure your visit to the 2016 edition of the FOSS4G conference will be an unforgettable experience.
• Today is the day that registration starts. Early registration doesn't just mean you have secured your place at this remarkable event, it also helps us giving the conference its final shape. Therefore, if you register before 8th of May, we award you with a 160 euro discount. Maybe more importantly though, we have prepared a surprise for our early birds. You have the opportunity to win one of the 50 unique FOSS4G 2016 T-shirts! Will you be one of the lucky ones?
• Find all the details here or point your browser straight to the registration form here.
]]>http://2016.foss4g.org/news-entry/come-in-were-open.htmlFri, 15 Apr 2016 09:02:00 +0000http://2016.foss4g.org/news-entry/come-in-were-open.html
• Our call for papers closed on the 21St of March and we have some interesting numbers to show off with:
  • 61 proposed workshops
  • 289 proposed papers
  • 24 proposed papers for the FOSS4G scientific track
  • However, there is still one chance for you to actively get involved and prove your cARTographic skills by submitting a map for the FOSS4G gallery.
  
  
  • It's no piece of news that our community is of late bloomers as in the magical Monday, before midnight, our system was overwhelmed with submissions. Approximately 30 workshop proposals and 120 talks were sent as the dusk came upon Bonn. When did you sent yours?
  • Curious about this year's FOSS4G submission? You are a  click away from seeing all the talks sent. Be aware though, the community voting will close today, the 11th of April! We kindly invite you to hurry up and cast your vote. What and whom do you want to see this year? In the OSGeo's biggest annual event, you have a saying! As you are sharing your opinion with the community, we are reaching out for those people everyone wants to see: the keynote speakers! We are honored to have with us: from the European Commission, Mr. Andreas Veispak, the Head of Space Data for Societal Challenges and Growth Unit, from the World Bank, Mr. Klaus Deininger, Lead Economist in the agricultural and rural research unit of the Development Research Group and from the European Space Agency, Mrs. Bianca Hoersch, the Sentinel-2 Mission Manager, ESA's European Space Research Institute.
  • Crazy about working for your favorite project? Well, come and join the already over 30 signed up code sprinters at the FOSS4G 2016 Code Sprint improving our everyday software and documentations: GRASS GIS, QGIS, PyWPS, GIS.lab, Mapbender, MapServer, OpenLayers, EOxServer, LASzip for LAS 1.4, GDAL. We are proud to put at your disposal one of the greatest locations, if not the greatest, work and accommodation place in the world: the BaseCamp ! Not yet convinced? Maybe this list of software gurus coming will convince you. We offer food & fun in return for nothing else than your high-spirits and sense of responsibility when joining the working teams.
  • Are you a student and FOSS4G 2016 is a little bit out of your budget? Here's your ticket in: studentship program! In our attempt to reduce the impact of the conference expenses on an average student's budget and to welcome as many young academics as possible we are offering the possibility for students to join our local team. The deal is 50/50: half the time helping the team, half the time enjoying the conference as all the other attendees. Details here .
  • The FOSS4G 2016 has published the registration cheatsheet that gives you all the information you need to know, from fees to what the FOSS4G2016 bag has in store for you. We stay true to our word and we are hard at work in our pursuit of welcoming as many FOSS4G enthusiasts as possible, therefore we are keen in maintaining the FOSS4G Travel Grant Programme. We encourage you to contact us and to express your interest in being part of the Travel Grant Programme. We will release more information when available on our website, Twitter and Facebook.
  • Our list of dear supporters and sponsors is expanding. Our silver and bronze sponsors lists have expanded each with one more FOSS4G believer. We are grateful for helping us making FOSS4G 2016 great! We would also like to announce the endorsement of 4 new institutional partners: Open Geospatial Consortium, Deutscher Dachverband für Geoinformation e.V. ,Joint Research Center – European Commission and the World Bank.
  
  
  
  So, this is our FOSS4G 2016 March. Stay in touch with us, follow our developments and ask your questions
  • Till Adams, Chair of FOSS4G 2016 "Building Bridges...."
  • http://2016.foss4g.org
  • Twitter: @foss4g
  • Facebook: FOSS4G2016
  • email: info@foss4g2016.org
  ]]>http://2016.foss4g.org/news-entry/marchs-recap.htmlMon, 11 Apr 2016 09:25:00 +0000http://2016.foss4g.org/news-entry/marchs-recap.html
  • We launched the Call for Submissions! 21St of March is the day to remember because that is the last day to present your work. Why 'submissions' and not 'papers'? Because there are a lot of ways to come share your experience with the community: a presentation, a scientific paper, a poster, a map or a workshop. Because FOSS4G is an OSGeo community event, it is us all that will select the program of our core conference, through a voting mechanism. And if you are considering submitting a scientific paper, please expect the highest academic rigour from our reviewers. Furthermore, true to our word, we have started reaching out to our selected key streams communities by tailoring our call for submissions and, even though still a little secret, by searching for relevant, powerful, dedicated keynote speakers. So, stay tuned, maybe it is your very professional hero coming to FOSS4G2016 !
  • Our list of dear supporters and sponsors has extended. The OSGeo annual global event is all about bringing together geo-communities scattered around the world, providing the opportunity to take the pulse of the geospatial world, make new friends and re-confirm the old ones. None of this would be possible, without the trust and support of our sponsors. We are grateful to them: our institutional sponsors: the European Space Agency and FOSSGIS, to our silver sponsors: geOps, Boundless,Google, GeoCat; to our bronze sponsors: terrestris, wheregroup, Oslandia, camptocamp, 52north, GIS Cloud, CartoDB, GEO Solutions, ESRI; to our supporters: GeoPlace, EOX, Geobeyond , Gaia 3D , Intevation GmbH and to our institutional partners: United Nations Office for Outer Space , Bonn International Center for Conversion, The European Association of Remote Sensing Companies, geobusiness region bonn.
    And since we're addressing sponsorships … Yes! We had had a little surprise for you! Because we believe in special occasions, we have created one for you. A one-time first-Gold-sponsor-discount of 10%! You can show your support to your geospatial community by sponsoring its biggest event and if you hurry to be our first Gold sponsor then you will receive a 10% discount to your deal! Deal?
  • We are proud of our community and we stand by our beliefs, yet without companies and freelancers doing business with and around Open Source Software for Geospatial, we wouldn't be where we are today. Thus, we cherish, we encourage and we backup our developers and their business. With this in mind, we have prepared a little surprise, a B2B meeting! Curious what that might be? Here's a clue: 'Pecha Kucha'!
  • Free tickets! Actually, for the moment, just one :) OSGeo is celebrating 10 years of supporting the collaborative development of open source geospatial software and promoting its widespread use. So, as a gift to ourselves, as one of OSGeo directors introduced it, artistic minds in our community were invited to imagine the official seal for our foundation. The creator of the selected seal is the lucky winner of a FOSS4G free ticket. Curious of our new official seal? So, this is our FOSS4G 2016 February.
  
  Stay in touch with us, follow our developments and ask your questions
  • Till Adams, Chair of FOSS4G 2016 "Building Bridges...."
  • http://2016.foss4g.org
  • Twitter: @foss4g
  • Facebook: FOSS4G2016
  • email: info@foss4g2016.org
  ]]>http://2016.foss4g.org/news-entry/february.htmlWed, 09 Mar 2016 13:11:00 +0000http://2016.foss4g.org/news-entry/february.html

  Spring's gift

  A one-time first-Gold-sponsor-discount of 10%

  In the spirit of joyful spring that is approaching, we have prepared a little treat for all that believe in our work and want to support it. If you were still undecided what sponsorship package to choose, here's a nudge: A one-time first-Gold-sponsor-discount of 10%! Feel free to send us your questions or your request for sponsorship :)

  • http://2016.foss4g.org
  • Twitter: @foss4g
  • Facebook: FOSS4G2016
  • email: info@foss4g2016.org
  ]]>http://2016.foss4g.org/news-entry/10discount.htmlSat, 05 Mar 2016 11:21:00 +0000http://2016.foss4g.org/news-entry/10discount.html