Open Geospatial Labs are being established worldwide as part of an agreement between the International Cartographic Association and the Open Source Geospatial Foundation to expand geospatial research and education globally. Openness through open source software, open data, and open educational resources is fundamental to helping achieve the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The "Geo for All" initiative aims to establish over 1,000 open geospatial labs in universities and schools worldwide by 2018 to provide open education, research, and training opportunities through a global community of contributors from various sectors.

1. Open Principles in GeoEducation
Suchith Anand
EuroGeo 2017, Amsterdam
Open Geospatial Labs are being established worldwide to scale up research and
teaching globally as part of the ICA-OSGeo MoU

2. alt.ac.uk
Some reflections
Serendipity

3. alt.ac.uk
Over 12,000 schools
About 6 million students
About 200,000 teachers
Good example of impact of openness in Education
from my state in India

4. Geospatial Technology –
Why?

5. How can we all work
together to create global
citizens for the future?

6. ◊GLOBAL URBAN PROBLEMS: accessGLOBAL URBAN PROBLEMS: access
to water, sanitation, traffic congestions,to water, sanitation, traffic congestions,
economic sustainability, citizenseconomic sustainability, citizens’ health,’ health,
impact on environment …impact on 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. Why? Data needs to be easily understood by all to
make better informed decisions at all levels
Purpose - Using this layer to compare with health expenditures to see if there's a visual relationship
with the percent of forest area and health care costs. Looking to see if health care costs rise as forest
are percent lowers.

8. alt.ac.uk
Why is Openness Important?
Openness is fundamental in helping achieve SDG 2030
aims

9. ◊GLOBAL URBAN PROBLEMS: accessGLOBAL URBAN PROBLEMS: access
to water, sanitation, traffic congestions,to water, sanitation, traffic congestions,
economic sustainability, citizenseconomic sustainability, citizens’ health,’ health,
impact on environment …impact on 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

10. Making Geospatial
education and
opportunities
accessible to all
“Geo for All”

11. alt.ac.uk
Education + Empowerment =
GeoForAll

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

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

14. Hunger
Poverty
Innovation
www.godan.info

15. 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

16. How can we all work
together to create global
citizens for the future?

17. Nepal Earthquake 2015 – GeoForAll colleagues globally came
together to help with relief efforts
We are especially grateful for the work and relief efforts done after the terrible earthquakes by our colleagues in OSG
Kathmandu University lead by Dr Shashish Maharjan. Their whole team along with many students and volunteers
were key in helping the recovery efforts. They have been carrying out many activities from piloting of household

18. Nepal Earthquake 2015 – GeoForAll colleagues
globally came together to help with relief efforts

19. https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/presse/meldungen/2015/m20150505_emergency-route-
planner-for-nepal-on-the-internet.html
Nepal Earthquake 2015 – GeoForAll colleagues globally
came together to help with relief efforts

20. How can we all work
together to create global
citizens for the future?

21. alt.ac.uk
Education + Empowerment =
Geo4All
Acknowledgements: Silvana Comboim and colleagues at ICA
Commission on Open Source Geospatial Technologies

22. https://www.wired.com/2015/05/the-open-source-maps-
that-made-rescues-in-nepal-possible/

23. Example of an excellent Initiative led by
Prof. Maria Brovelli , Patrick Hogan and
colleagues
http://eurochallenge.como.polimi.it

25. http://aworldbridge.com/real-time-projects/nasa-europa-
challenge/nasa-europa-challenge-2016/
http://www.gofundme.com/ufgpg5n

26. Openness – Increasing quality through
peer review
Open Source Software
Source code remains in
the public domain
free for all to use,
change and
(re)distribute
Development done in
public usually by a
community
(distributed, informal
team of developers)

27. How can we all work
together to create global
citizens for the future?

28. 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

29. 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

30. Thanks to Elżbieta Wołoszyńska-

31. Open software
Open data
Open Educational Resources
Open standard
Providing to an open geospatial ecosystem for education,
research and business
Education + Empowerment = Geo4All
Access to quality education and opportunities is key for getting rid of
extreme poverty and enable broadly shared prosperity for all.

32. Open Geospatial Education &
Research
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

33. “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 and schools worldwide by
2018

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

35. We are Global community

38. It is all about learning and sharing

39. Open GIS Summer School in Girona

40. And empowering the next generation

41. Aim
Establishing open
education ,research
and training
opportunities

42. We are Multi disciplinary

43. We are all passionate about Research and Education

44. Science is NOT a Black Box

48. UN Global Service centre, Brindisi, Italy 7-11 March 2016

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

52. Represents the
individual content
creator on the World
Wide Web
Why- Open Geospatial 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.

53. Thanks to all colleagues in the “Geo for All”
initiative
Let us all join to eradicate extreme poverty and
enable shared prosperity for all
http://www.geoforall.org

54. 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