We are pleased to announce the first year anniversary of our GeoforAll Newsletter (this is our twelfth issue). On behalf of the GeoforAll community, I would like to thank Nikos Lambrinos (Chief Editor) and our wonderful team of co-editors Rizwan Bulbul, Pavel Kikin, Alexey Kolesnikov, Rania Elsayed, Elżbieta Wołoszyńska-Wiśniewska, Antoni Perez Navaro, Emma Strong, Sergio Acosta Y Lara and production designer Nikos Voudrislis for their selfless dedication and volunteer efforts which made this possible. This newsletter has been an amazing instrument to share information and ideas with the wider geocommunity and also highlight and honour the contributions of our excellent colleagues from across the world. Details at http://www.geoforall.org/newsletters/
This newsletter is a community initiative run by the community for the community. We welcome all community members to contribute and share their updates to the newsletter for the benefit of the wider geo community.
We have made ‘Open Principles’ as the key guideline for all articles. Relevant updates and information on free and open software, open data, open standards, open education resources are all welcome for future editions. It has been a learning curve for all of us, and we request you all to help us on this initiative.
We have great pleasure in introducing Professor Georg Gartner as our GeoAmbassador for this first Anniversary edition of our Geo4All Newsletter. More information at https://opensourcegeospatial.icaci.org/2016/07/geoambassodor-professor-georg-gartner/
So how can you contribute to enable geospatial education opportunities to all ? Everyone who is interested in enabling geospatial education opportunities to all are our GeoAmbassadors. It is not just the thousands of OSGeo members but also thousands of colleagues in ICA, ISPRS, UCGIS, AGILE, GSDI, AGS who all work for Geoeducation opportunities for all who are our GeoAmbassadors. Geo for All is a world wide movement that provides immediate benefit to the world.
Share the free and open educational resources and software that are available from OSGeo Live to MapStory to Teacher Training resources (developed thanks to the contributions to thousands of volunteers) all available free and open to all at http://www.geoforall.org/training/ to colleagues globally and be our GeoAmbassadors.
Also it is our great pleasure to introduce our colleagues at SIGTE, University of Girona [1] , Spain, as our “Geo4All” lab of the month. One of the founder labs of the Geo for All initiative, SIGTE has been contributing immensely to our teaching, research, and service activities. SIGTE colleagues have been the pioneers of a very successful summer school program dedicated to free and open geographic information software and aimed at promoting the use and development of free geospatial solutions and empowering students. Details are available at https://opensourcegeospatial.icaci.org/2016/07/geo4all-lab-of-the-month-sigte-university-of-girona-spain/
We thank Gemma Boix, Lluís Vicens, Gemma Pons, Rosa Olivella, Ferran Orduña,Toni Hernandez, Alexandre Busquets, Josep Sitjar, Laura Olivas and all colleagues and students at SIGTE lab for their contributions to the Geo4All initiative and look forward to working and building more collaborations with all interested on this education mission.
Share the power of Geographic Information video that SIGTE developed https://vimeo.com/22069904 This is a wonderful introductory video that can be used by all colleagues globally to promote GIS at all levels . “In the not so distant future, it is hoped that GIS will help us build a better and more efficient society for all” – This is exactly why we are all working on Geo4All…
The contributions of SIGTE colleagues is a good example of our philosophy and why we are working on Geo4All at https://opensourcegeospatial.icaci.org/2016/07/sharing-is-caring-why-openness-is-key-for-true-empowerment-and-sustainability/
Let us work together to support open principles in education and enable Geo technologies in empowering communities and helping improving the Quality of Life and standards of living for everyone. Let us all work together to help create a world that is more accessible, equitable and full of innovation and opportunities for everyone.
Happy Anniversary to all.
Best wishes,
Suchith Anand
http://www.geoforall.org/