GFOSS Mentorship

Training Geospatial Professionals & Users

Tyler Mitchell, Executive Director

Open Source Geospatial Foundation

My Background

Geographer
GIS Professional - Manager, User, R&D, Advocate
Author, Web Mapping Illustrated (O'Reilly, 2005)
Executive Director,
Charter Member of OSGeo

What Is OSGeo?

The leading voice for open source geospatial tools

An umbrella
A community of communities
Marketing advocate
Non-profit legal entity (charity)

Providing:

Project support tools
Community meeting place
Increased visibility & trust

Benefits of FOSS & GFOSS

= Free

and Open Source

Helps to Unite Us
Provides Inspiration
Gives Tools, Removes Barriers
Pervasive

Benefits of FOSS & GFOSS

GFOSS

= Geospatial FOSS

= SIG Libre/Free GIS

= FOSS4G

= Open Source Geospatial

GFOSS Unites Different Types of People:

Programmers
Governments
Business
Charities
You!

GFOSS & SIG Libre - Uniting People

GFOSS & SIG Libre - Uniting Projects

Projects:

Mapping - Web/Desktop
Remote Sensing
Enterprise Data Management
Community

The OSGeo Software Stack

Data access libraries
Data processing libraries
Desktop GIS & image analysis
Web mapping frameworks
Metadata catalogues

= ~5 Million lines of code
= 200+ developers

Open standards (OGC)
Non-software projects

Local Groups, Geodata, Book, Education, Journal, Installer...

Opportunities

Local and international events: FOSS4G2008.org
Collaborating with others:
- local conferences & workshops
- online support, hiring consultants
- feedback and code contributions
- share your story and application
Membership
Sponsors

?

The Real Benefits

GFOSS Atmosphere is Inspiring:

Meeting others - support
Seeing success - case studies, similar problems
Working together
Improving skills :-)
Professional development - investing in employees

Delivered online:

Mailing lists
Tutorials / Articles
Forum web sites, instant messaging
By volunteers & consultants

Long Term Training Needs

Some limitations:

Focused on specific questions
Limited volunteer time available
Educational options are few (but growing)
Informal relationships

Difficult to plan skill development

Proprietary: "use our package"
GFOSS: "select the parts you need"

(but which ones?)

A Proposed Mentorship Solution

"Mentor: an experienced and trusted adviser"

Develop a semi-formal mentor network:

Pupil outlines goals, applies to the programme
Experienced mentor volunteers
Both commit to a personalised time period
Mentor helps define a plan
Mentor identifies projects to build experience
Pupil uses normal support networks, but also mentor as needed
Mentor and pupil review progress regularly
Could be part of an academic or professional programme

Benefits of Building a Guild...

"Guild: a medieval association of craftsmen ... for mutual aid or the pursuit of a common goal"

Mentor and pupil build a long term relationship
Pupil has portfolio of experience/contributions
Pupil learns at own pace
Pupil graduates and begins helping others
Mentor can recommend the pupil

Interested? Would it be helpful for you?

Your input is welcome!
Basic ideas are posted at mapguild.org
Google Summer of Code – project ideas, pupils and mentors needed

Contact

Mindmap

Open Source Geospatial Foundation