FOSS4G Oceania conference seeks presentation proposals

By Daniel Bishton on 20 June, 2018

The organisers of the Free Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) and State of the Map (SotM) Oceania Conference is seeking presenters, papers and workshop concepts for their event, which will take place in Melbourne this November.

The event co-locates FOSS4G, the conference for open Source geospatial software, and State of the Map, which brings together the Open Street Map community.

The 2018 event will be the first time in nine years that these communities have been brought together in a single Australian conference, and the event will feature a full day of workshops, two days of presentations, a community day and program of social events in Melbourne.

The organisers are now calling for presentation and workshop proposals for the November event. And like the proper data geeks they are, they’ve produced surveyed their audience to produce this chart on interest in proposed topics.

Presentations can take three forms: lightning (very short), regular (turn up and present) and academic (write a paper and get it peer reviewed). The organisers have full presentation guidelines available, along with workshop guidelines for those interested in putting together a workshop for up to 20 people.

Submitted proposals will be voted on by the community, and the organisers will assemble a program based on this feedback. Conference co-chair Alex Leith is excited about the upcoming event and what it means for users of open source geospatial software and hardware in the region.

“From its beginning, the FOSS4G conference has been the gathering of the spatial community and has a reputation of being a melting pot for great ideas in the spatial industry and a catalyst for many successful geospatial products, standards and protocols,” he said.

“It’s great to bring this conference back to Australia. Last time it was here was in 2009.”

Registrations for the 2018 event open on June 25, and the Free Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) and State of the Map (SotM) Oceania Conference will take place on November 20-23 at the University of Melbourne.