Letter from the Conference Chair
FOSS4G is the global conference focused on Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial, organized by OSGeo. In 2014, FOSS4G will be held in Portland, Oregon, after being held in Nottingham, Denver, Barcelona, Sydney and Cape Town in past years.The most recent international FOSS4G event held in North America was in Denver, Colorado, in 2011.
FOSS4G gathers developers and users of open source geospatial software as well as managers and decision-makers from around the world to discuss new directions, exciting implementations, and growing business opportunities in this space. Recent years have seen substantial changes in the geospatial industry. One of those changes has been the growth in maturity and adoption of free and open source solutions. In many cases organizations are using a mixture of open and closed source solutions.
We anticipate a great audience for FOSS4G 2014 with as many as 1000 attendees. We also expect strong media coverage. We have an experienced organizing committee and have teamed with VTM Group, who provide professional event management services for technical conferences and workshops. In addition to the well established core audience for FOSS4G, we will have a strong marketing program and specific program content to reach out to newcomers to open source.
Portland is a hub of both open source and geospatial activity and we expect good local attendance in addition to our nationwide and international audience. For many attendees it will be a new and different experience, not just the same old geospatial conference that they attend year after year in the US. As a sponsor of FOSS4G, you will be associated with what I believe will be one of the outstanding geospatial events of 2014.
I encourage you to consider sponsorship, and please let me know if you have any questions, or suggestions for the conference.
Please visit the Sponsorship Packages page for details.
Darrell Fuhriman,
FOSS4G 2014 Conference Chair
