[Freegis-list] Announce: Forum on Open Geodata

[Jo Walsh]

A reminder, for those who have an interest in access to geographic
data and in open cartography projects, about the Open Knowledge Forum
on Open Geodata to be held in central London next Thursday evening. 


== Where and When ==
  * When: next Thursday April 14th 2005, 7-9pm
  * Where:  Stanhope Centre, Marble Arch, London.
  * [http://www.stanhopecentre.org/about/directions.shtml Directions]
  * Who can attend: public. Registration is optional but useful so
  * please notify us if you can via okforums-info at okfn.org.
  * Who is speaking:
   * Steve Coast ([http://openstreetmap.org openstreetmap])
   * Roger Longhorn ([http://i-dra.org geodata policy expert])
   * Giles Lane ([http://socialtapestries.net social tapestries])
   * Chris Lightfoot ([http://mysociety.org/] mysociety)
   * Gesche Schmid ([http://www.medway.gov.uk/maps/] medway)
   * Jo Walsh ([http://mappinghacks.com mapping hacks]) 
   

== Subject Matter ==

''One thing the projects in the civic information forum share, is a
dependency for spatial information in their service; even if that's as
simple as 'enter my postcode'...''

The Open Knowledge Forum on geo-data brings together those who wish to
use such data, for example in local government or at NGOs, with those
working to produce it (for example by creating free of copyright
maps).

The UK is one of the best-mapped surfaces on the planet, but our
national mapping resources are highly-priced and administered by a
semi-private company that acts as a monopoly based on Crown Copyright.

The Public Sector Information Directive emphasises the benefits and
importance of access to geographic information. But local governments
don't own the information they gather, and arguably millions are
wasted providing expensive "viewing" services which present pictures
of the data, instead of raw information.

This forum will be a discussion about different applications with a
civic society focus, such as participatory planning or problem
reporting, which could be initially built using free base maps and
geocoding facilities.

For more information please see:
  * http://www.okfn.org/geo/
  * http://okfn.org/wiki/OpenKnowledgeForums


The Open Knowledge Forums are organized by the Open Knowledge Foundation: 
http://www.openknowledgefoundation.org/