State Of The Map 2008/Proposed Venues

SOTM08 Candidate venues

For completeness we list all the proposed venues for SOTM08.

Limerick, Ireland

The University of Limerick has a history of hosting OSS-themed tech talks and conferences such as Skycon and is not far (perhaps 20 minutes' drive) from Shannon airport (SNN), a Ryanair hub. Cork (ORK) and Dublin (DUB) airports are within about 2 and 4 hours' drive respectively.

There's also lots of mapping to be done in the area! Christian 10:57, 9 October 2007 (BST) 07:13, 10 October 2007 (BST)

I agree with Christian.

UL has the facilities for hosting a conference such as State of the Map, there is plenty of accommodation in the area which is easy to travel to, and there is plenty of mapping to be done in both the local and general areas surrounding UL. Kenguest 11:53, 9 October 2007 (BST)

Attended conference at UL, good facilities and plenty of mapping opportunities.. ewanoughton

Rome, Italy

I would like to candidate Rome, i have just created a page to coordinate the OSMers.. :) --EdoM (lets talk about it) 10:04, 9 October 2007 (BST)

I think hosting the conference outside Uk would be a good opportunity to rise the attention to the project in not-so-active countries like Italy... I like Greece or Bactic countries too.. :) --EdoM (lets talk about it) 12:29, 9 October 2007 (BST)

Gfoss.it group granted help.. :) --EdoM (lets talk about it) 17:51, 9 October 2007 (BST)

Durham, UK

I missed SotM07 so want 08 to be in the UK. I live here term time and so does another OSMer. We could get Durham University[1] involved which is a Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning (only one for Computer Science) and I think already likes to play with GPS. - LastGrape

Most of the colleges rent rooms out of term time so accomodation would be no problem.

Durham station has fast trains stopping on the London-York-Edingburgh mallard route. Newcastle is 10mins away by train and Teeside Airport is nearby.

If the uni is onboard they have fancy high tech lecture theatres, and maybe they'd let us play in one of their 'TechnoCafes'[2].

Spain

Madrid

We certainly can make use of the Medialab Madrid arts centre. They were sponsoring the first Madrid mapping party, and they have a space suitable for a (small) conference in the city centre. Ivansanchez 22:20, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Pros: - Madrid: Major airport. - Madrid city centre: good subway network, lots of hotels very near. - Already OSM friends: no problems to get the place - WiFi, 220V outlets, video projector, spare computers

Cons: - Smallish place: can accommodate around 70 people for a conference. No extra rooms for workshops or speakers. Definitevely no room for a buffet.

webpage: http://medialab-prado.es photos of the place: 1 2 3 4

Zaragoza

Major airport here, and depending on the people there and their connections with HispaLinux, we might secure a place. Ivansanchez 20:22, 9 October 2007 (BST)

Valencia

gvSIG conference next november. The gvSIG team seems very supportive of OSM, will see about the possibilities. Ivansanchez 20:22, 9 October 2007 (BST)

Hamburg, Germany

I propose the Technical University Hamburg-Harburg (virtual tour). The University itself has excellent facilities and is is located about 12 minutes outside Hamburg city center by a frequent driving suburban-railway.

Hamburg is a city with lots of attractions and plenty of water. It has a big lake called 'Alster' in its middle and is located at the river 'Elbe'. Hamburg is connected to the high speed railway system, provides good motorway connections and has a large airport, which should provide direct flight connections at affordable rates to many European and international airports.

Toronto, Canada

It's a long trip for our European contributors but there are many potential venues and an enthusiastic, if small, local community.

the Netherlands

The Netherlands will be data complete for about a year when SotM takes place. England is also maturing rapidly, as are densely populated parts of other countries. The past years, a lot of time and effort has been spent on acquiring the data. Now that we have it, we need to position OSM as mature player in the geo-data world.

Ever since AND donated their street data to OpenStreetMap, the geo industry in the Netherlands has been very interested in OSM. The SotM conference in the Netherlands could generate a lot of publicity in the (geo-)press.

Government agencies are also very interested in OSM. Not only to use it on public websites (as a "Google Maps without ads" implementation), but it also triggers the debate on releasing government owned (geo)data.

Awareness of the potential of OSM can create an impulse to get more people (all over the world) involved in OSM. Seeing is believing.

Within the OSM-NL community already 5 people have committed themselves to help organize the SotM in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands is community-wise seen a very centrally located country. It's comfortably located in the centre of Europe. The Netherlands has excellent infrastructure and connections to all of Europe. Affordable air fares are available to Amsterdam and other airports.

Amsterdam

The city is well know and doesn't need an introduction. Possible venues: The University of Amsterdam or the Vrije Universiteit.

With a major airport just around the corner, getting there shouldn't be a problem.

Delft

Famous about it's Delft Blue china. It's an old charming university city. Several OSM-ers are studying in Delft. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Rotterdam Airport are nearby.

Groningen

With an active OpenSource community, an ICT-oriented city, and lively citycentre the city of Groningen has a lot of potential. Possible venue: the Mediacentrale or the Rijksuniversiteit.

Groningen has a direct rail-connection with Amsterdam Airport (Schiphol). There is also a low-cost coachline between Groningen and Bremen Airport (a Ryanair hub).

Other discussion

UK or not UK

The page says "It doesn't have to be in the UK again", but most OSM contributors are in the UK right? There's quite a few in Germany (hence the Essen Developers Workshop was quite big) but when the UK gang gets together, it's automatically a big event. Anywhere else, it won't be so big. Some people are willing to travel a long way, but I'm talking about numbers of people

I hope I'm not coming across as a snooty self-centred englishman! Actually I'm seeing lots of wiki edits on pages like WikiProject Italy/SOTM 2008 and I'm just worried that we are setting people up for a disappointment, if it is enevitable that further down the line we are going to say "Sorry. Actually... realistically... it has to be in the UK".

Another question to think about first perhaps: Is it important that the conference should be as big, or bigger, than last time?

-- Harry Wood 14:21, 18 October 2007 (BST)

Yes, i know, italian contribution to OSM is little, but OSM in italy was never advertised. I discovered the project in /. no italian press talked about OSM until a couple of months ago. I'm trying to involve more people, talking about OSM in forums and ML.

I think OSM need to advertise herself outside the UK. You don't need to triple the OSM users in UK like we need to do in Italy or in Spain or in France...

Hosting the SOTM could be a big kick-in-the-ass to develop new user base in less active countries.

I think you don't have to think about the user base centre of gravity, but where the Conference will attract more press interest. In Italy we will have a wide press coverage, the same in Spain or in Poland... in Uk OSM is well known.. in our countries is a funny thing --EdoM (lets talk about it) 21:14, 18 October 2007 (BST)

I will not be disappointed if the decision will to host SOTM in UK again. I can understand the motivation behind the choice, but i hope to have the conference somewhere else, not necessary in Italy.. :) I think we have to spread the word about OSM in countries outside.

I personally want it in the UK, but maybe it's my fault for missing SOTM2007. - LastGrape

• Why not Calais ? OK, it's still on the Continent, but it has been English for long time and it's not too far south for most Britons. Lille is not bad either, with better infrastructure and connections to big cities (Paris 1h, London, Bruxelles 1h30, Köln 3h, Amsterdam 4h). The proximity of Belgium and the best beers in the world is a a good point. And no, I am not preaching for my church, being neither French, British, or from Belgium or living there Gummibaerli 22:56, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

• I think the 2008 SOTM should be outside UK. The biggest advantage of that would be to make an important point - that OSM is growing and not UK-centered. So when the SOTM takes place outside of UK, it shows that OSM wants to cover new ground and also it is a very good chance for advertising OSM.
  If it were my choice - I would like to see it take place in a country where OSM coverage is low (so far). RalfZ 11:24, 16 December 2007 (UTC)