% Replaced OSGEO with OSGeo throughout
% Replaced bullets with emph and short paragraphs instead
% Shortened title
%\title{North Carolinas OSGEO affiliated Open Source GIS user}
%\subtitle{...holds first meeting at the 2007 NC GIS Conference}
\title{North Carolina OSGeo User Group Meets}
\subtitle{Following the 2007 NC GIS Conference}
\author{by Julia Harrell}
\maketitle

Bi-annually, North Carolina GIS professionals hold a statewide GIS
conference to showcase their many exemplary projects and initiatives.
This year was the 20th anniversary of the NC GIS Conference, one of the nations oldest state-level GIS
events, and had over 950 attendees, 159 presenters, and 58 exhibitors

On March 1st, a small group of dedicated, open-minded
GIS professionals led by Dr. Helena Mitasova (of the renowned GRASS
project fame) held the first OSGeo affiliated NC Open Source GIS user group meeting at
the 2007 North Carolina GIS Conference in Winston Salem, NC, USA.

There were approximately 20 attendees, with a majority of the group
who signed up for a future listserve being of the University
persuasion. There were also a handful of Federal, State and Local
Government representatives.  Two staff members from an
enormous commercial GIS software provider also attended. 

%\setkeys{Gin}{width=1\textwidth}
\begin{figure}[htbp]
 \centering
  \includegraphics[width=1\textwidth]{events/harrell/helena_intro}
  \caption{Helena introduces OSGeo and gives a
tour of the OSGeo wiki site}
\end{figure}

\noindent The informal evening meeting was held after the main GIS conference,
and the agenda consisted of the following topics:

\noindent\textbf{Welcome} (\emph{Julia Harrell, GIS Coordinator, NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources - NC DENR})

\noindent\textbf{Short introduction to the OSGeo organization} and discussion of the NC Affiliated OSGeo user group and its mission (\emph{Dr. Helena Mitasova, Research Associate Professor with North Carolina State University Department of Marine Earth and Atmospheric Sciences})

\noindent\textbf{Short presentation and demo of QGIS and uDig} Open Source Desktop GIS Software (\emph{Doug Newcomb, System Administrator with the US Fish and Wildlife Services Raleigh, NC Office})

\noindent\textbf{Discussion of potential Open Source GIS Curriculum offerings} and a 1-day, hands-on Open Source GIS workshop later this summer (\emph{Rodney Jackson, Director of the Geospatial Technology Corporate and Continuing Education Program at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, NC})

\noindent\textbf{Briefing on upcoming 2nd Annual Open Source GIS Conference (OSG-SD)} at San Diego State University, and a recap of last years event (\emph{Dana Nibby, GIS Database Analyst with the NC Department of Transportation GIS Unit})

\noindent\textbf{Demo of GAIA3} for Incident Response, a free and interoperable application created with a 2006 FGDC CAP grant by The Carbon Project, NC DENR, the City of Charlotte, and Wake County GIS Departments (\emph{Jeff Harrison, President \& CEO, The Carbon Project})

\noindent\textbf{Announcement of the next day's Open Source enhanced GIS Conference presentations} (\emph{Julia Harrell, GIS Coordinator, NC DENR})

\noindent\textbf{Texas Mesonet:} Processing Large Datasets in Real Time (\emph{Gerry Creager, Texas A\&M University})

\noindent\textbf{Geospatial Web Services and Scientific Workflows} for Distributing and Modeling Marine Mammal Data (\emph{Dr. Patrick Halpin, Duke University})

\noindent\textbf{Developing the NCCOOS Coastal Data Viewer:} Challeges in Real Time Marine GIS (\emph{Jesse Cleary, UNC Chapel Hill})

\noindent\textbf{OpenGIS Web Services} and Service Oriented Architecture (\emph{Tobin Bradley, GISP, Mecklenburg County, NC})

%\setkeys{Gin}{width=1\textwidth}
\begin{figure}[htbp]
 \centering
  \includegraphics[width=1\textwidth]{events/harrell/attendees}
  \caption{NC OSGeo User Group Attendees}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Low Cost High Value Web Mapping}
\subsubsection{A Whirlwind Survey of Free and Open Source GIS Solutions}
\textbf{Panel of presenters:}

\bigskip
\noindent\textbf{PostgresSQL/PostGIS:} Spatially Enabled Relational Databases (\emph{Tobin Bradley, GISP, Mecklenburg County NC})

\noindent\textbf{PrimaGIS:} Collaborative mapping system for Plone CMS (\emph{Chris Calloway, UNC Chapel Hill})

\noindent\textbf{Web Clients:} Community MapBuilder \& MapBender (\emph{Julia Harrell, NC DENR})

\noindent\textbf{Minnesota Mapserver, Chameleon:} (\emph{Tom Melhuish, WebInsights})

\noindent\textbf{GRASS GIS:} (\emph{Dr. Helena Mitasova, North Carolina State University})

\noindent\textbf{Best of the Rest:} GDAL/OGR,CartoWeb, GeoServer, MapGuide Open Source (\emph{Doug Newcomb, US Fish \& Wildlife Service})

\noindent\textbf{Mashups:} The Non-Profit/Community Perspective (\emph{Wansoo Im, The Center for Community Mapping})

\noindent\textbf{Southeastern Gap Analysis:} Products and Accessibility (\emph{Todd Earnhardt and Jim White, NC State University})

\noindent\textbf{Econet:} NCs Environment and Climate Network for Real-time Weather Modeling (\emph{Ryan Boyles, North Carolina State Climatologist, NC State University})
\bigskip
\noindent Note: All 2007 NC GIS Conference Presentations will be available for
download from the NC GIS Conference website\footnote{NC GIS Conference website: \url{http://www.cgia.state.nc.us/ncgis2007}} within a few weeks.

\address{
Julia Harrell\\
GIS Coordinator, NC DENR\\
\email{julia.harrell AT Ncmail.net}}