This presentation gives an overview of the Geo for All initiative. This was presented at the FOSS4G UK 2016 conference at Ordnance Survey, Southampton UK

1. GeoforAll- Empowering communities for a better
world
Suchith Anand
University of Nottingham
Open Geospatial Labs are being established worldwide to scale up
research and teaching globally as part of the ICA-OSGeo MoU

2. Geo for All - Making Geospatial education
and opportunities accessible to all
Image Credit: NOAA/NASA GOES Project

3. Starting from Nothing is powerful

4. June 2010
“Geo for All” started from very humble beginnings
Aim – Build research and teaching infrastructure worldwide
Problem – No initial funding!
Biggest Strength – amazing support from colleagues and students
Open Source Geospatial Lab founding meeting at UoN

5. Why - Social Responsibility
Making resources including software and
data openly available offers an opportunity
for knowledge to be shared widely so as to
increase learning opportunities.
Example – Collaborating with educational initiatives like gvSIG Batoví
For details contact:
Sergio Acosta y Lara
sacosta@dntopografia.gub.uy
Alvaro Anguix
aanguix@gvsig.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orwN9K07XPo

6. GLOBAL URBAN PROBLEMS:GLOBAL URBAN PROBLEMS:
access to water, sanitation, trafficaccess to water, sanitation, traffic
congestions, economic sustainability,congestions, economic sustainability,
citizenscitizens’ health, impact on’ health, impact on
environment …environment …
Mapping is a critical component to
help understand and develop
solutions for urban growth problems
Proprietary software tools are very
expensive (hence unavailable) for
economically poor countries and
communities worldwide
Why is Geoeducation
important?
Kibera , Kenya
Dharavi, Mumbai
http://www.flickr.com/photos/56685562@N00/2340042701
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8485582@N07/7365580810
GIS tools play a key role in helping find solutions to
global societal challenges

7. There are many dimensions to “Open”
• Open source software.
• Open data.
• Open standards.
• Open access to research publications.
• Open education resources
But fundamentally it is based on Open Principles

8. An example of the impact of Openness - GODAN
Impact is the positive changes to the lives of people

9. Hunger
Poverty
Innovation
www.godan.info

10. Hunger
• For the first time in human history, the knowledge to end hunger exists on Earth
• 800 million people struggle with debilitating hunger and malnutrition
• We need to find solutions beyond MORE food. Nutritionally sensitive agriculture is essential
for global public health and wellbeing
• We are convinced that the solution to closing this unacceptable hunger gap lies
within harnessing and opening agriculture and nutrition data
• “location” relevant data plays an important role

11. Science is NOT a Black Box

12. Who are we?
Government organisations, academia, industry, startups,
NGOs , teachers, students, …
FOSS4G 2013 @Nottingham

13. We are Global community

14. “Geo for All” Team
ICA-OSGeo MoU in Sep 2011
Over 100 labs established
worldwide as of today
North America – over 20 labs
Europe – over 40 labs
South America – 9 labs
Africa – 4 labs
Asia – 15 labs
Australia - 2 lab
Will be establishing over 1000 labs in
universities worldwide by 2018

17. It is all about learning and sharing

18. Open GIS Summer School in Girona

19. We are Multi disciplinary

20. We are all passionate about Research and Education

21. And empowering the next generation

22. Thanks to Elżbieta Wołoszyńska-Wiśniewska and colleagues at
UNEP-GRID), Warsaw

23. Empowering the
next generation
gvSIG Batovi in
Action

24. http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/open-innovation-open-science-open-to-the-world-pbKI0416263/
Big picture

25. EU Science 2013 @
European Parliament:
Global Challenges,
Global collaborations

26. Open Geospatial Science builds upon the idea
of Open science that scientific knowledge of all
kinds are able to be develop more rapidly and in
a more productive manner if openly shared (as
early as is practical in the discovery process).
The key ingredients to make Open Geospatial
Science possible is Open Principles (open
source geospatial software, open data, open
standards and open access to research
publications) .

27. RDA Geospatial IG and
Geo4All ThinkTank
meeting on 8th
June 2016
for starting the process of
Open Geospatial Science
Vision 2030

28. Vision 2030
Science should always be open
Geospatial Science should be fully build on Open Principles
Transparency of research is fundamental (no black boxes or proprietary barriers).
Geospatial Science = Open Geospatial Science
Open Geospatial Labs are being established worldwide to scale up research and
teaching globally as part of the ICA-OSGeo MoU

29. We welcome the global community to contribute for Vision 2030
for Open Geospatial Science
https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Open_geospatial_science_-_vision_2030
Open Geospatial Labs are being established worldwide to scale up research and
teaching globally as part of the ICA-OSGeo MoU

30. How do we reach here? We need
your help
Contribute your ideas to
https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Open_geospatial_science_-_vision_2030

31. Open software
Open data
and
Open standard
Providing to an open geospatial ecosystem for education,
research and business

32. Aim – Establish a
new discipline for
Open Geospatial
Science

33. Geospatial
Standards (for
ex. OGC spec.)
Maturity of open
source software (for
ex. OSGeo stack)
Open Data
Ability for showing the
operation of general laws
is fundamental for
scientific research
Unique convergence of many key developments
that made Open Geospatial Science possible

34. “Geo for All”
OpenCitySmart - The Open Platform for Smart
Cities
Patrick Hogan , Brandt Melick, Maria Antonia Brovelli, Charles Schweik, Jim
Miller, Sven Schade, Chris Pettit, Ant Beck, Doreen Boyd, Darren Robinson,
Suchith Anand

35. GLOBAL URBAN PROBLEMS:GLOBAL URBAN PROBLEMS:
access to water, sanitation, trafficaccess to water, sanitation, traffic
congestions, economic sustainability,congestions, economic sustainability,
citizenscitizens’ health, impact on’ health, impact on
environment …environment …
Mapping is a critical component to
help understand and develop
solutions for urban growth problems
Proprietary software tools are very
expensive (hence unavailable) for
economically poor countries and
communities worldwide
Why is OpenCitySmart
important?
Kibera , Kenya
Dharavi, Mumbai
http://www.flickr.com/photos/56685562@N00/2340042701
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8485582@N07/7365580810
GIS tools play a key role in helping find solutions to
global societal challenges

36. Resources at our disposal to enable
OpenCitySmart
•NASA Worldwind Platform
•What if Platform
•Open Source Geospatial Foundation’s software tools
More importantly we got an amazing global “Geo for All”
team working on our mission
See preview at https://youtu.be/7NaX9b6F05c

37. Why Open Geo Science?
 helps in empowerment of staff and
students
 capacity building
 developing creative and open minds in
students which is critical for building open
innovation
 contributes to building up Open Knowledge
for the benefit of the whole society and for
our future generations.

38. Why - It will create real impact by
positively changing the lives of some
of our poorest brothers and sisters
Example – Collaborating with educational initiatives like gvSIG Batoví
For details contact:
Sergio Acosta y Lara
sacosta@dntopografia.gub.uy
Alvaro Anguix
aanguix@gvsig.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orwN9K07XPo

39. Thanks to all colleagues in the “Geo for All”
initiative
http://www.geoforall.org

40. Synergies of joining minds and communities on a common
mission makes the seemingly “impossible” possible
Let us all join to eradicate extreme poverty and
enable shared prosperity for all
Geo for All – Empowering people
and communities for a better world