In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

The recent geonews in batch mode, covering a larger timespan than usual.

On the open source front:

• The OSGeo presented an Open Letter to OGC on the GeoServices REST API standard, and it's pretty well documented and informative
• Here's an interesting entry on comparing OpenLayers and Leaflet
• The schedule for FOSS4G-CEE 2013 is now known
• Sean pointed me to  Tom MacWright's online GeoJSON editor
• In releases, there was GeoServer 2.3.2 released and GeoTools 9.2 Released
• Getting closer to QGIS 2.0, here's nice examples of the alpha channel in QGIS color ramps
• If you did not see the press release, OpenGeo is not non-profit anymore

On the Google front:

• The influx of Google Glass stories continues, now Facial Recognition Comes to Google Glass
• Here's Kurt's list of maps-related videos from the Google I/O 2013 conference

On the Esri front:

• ABP reminds us of Esri's Severe Weather Map, including tornadoes...
• An entry on why Esri is excited about the Android Location APIs
• Data updates, World Topographic Map updated with content for the Middle East, North Africa, and the United States
• along with other updates, including Additional DigitalGlobe and community imagery added to the World Imagery map
• Also updated, ArcGIS for Windows Phone and ArcGIS API for JavaScript v3.5 Released

In the everything-else category:

• MapBox tells us they got a huge satellite update, now cloudless and with aerial imagery, but also interesting are the OpenStreetMap updates making they way to MapBox maps in only 5 minutes
• Here's a Make article on mapping buildings with a Kinect
• Some of you might be interested by the GiT4NMD conference, Geo-information Technologies for Natural Disaster Management
• Space Daily share an article named World's major development banks look closer at Earth observation
• Here's links regarding the history of apostrophes in place names
• Via SL, an article named China's Drone Program Appears To Be Moving Into Overdrive
• Those interested in the exciting MapBox work may also want to read about vector tiles of MapBox Streets
• While CAD and GIS have come closer, they remain distinct, here's an entry named Integrating geospatial into construction: the challenge
• Geoff also shares two other interesting entries, one named Economic value of big geospatial data could reach $700 billion/yr by 2020 and the other Estimating the economic and financial impact of poor data quality

Slashdot discussed a few minor geo-related stories:

• One involving GPS named Researchers Are Developing Ad Hoc Networks For Car-To-Car Data Exchange
• Privacy stories goes on, UK's 4G Network Selling Subscriber Tracking Data To Police, Private Parties and this one Congress Demands Answers From Google Over Google Glass Privacy Concerns
• Along with new challenges to locating North itself, Global Warming Shifts the Earth's Poles

In the maps category:

• Here's The Best Geographic Visualization I’ve Seen In Ages according to VerySpatial, basically a circle centered in Asia where over half of the world's population resides
• In Paris? Apple Maps for iOS Adds 3D Flyover Coverage in Paris
• MapBox shares a Q&A of the City Guides by National Geographic mobile app

New York, NY, May 15, 2013 — OpenGeo, the creators of the OpenGeo Suite, the world’s leading open source geospatial software platform, announced a $3 million Series A investment from Vanedge Capital of Vancouver, British Columbia. Simultaneous with the funding event, the company has spun out from its incubator parent, OpenPlans, and is boosting OpenGeo’s product and customer-support initiatives.

"We are thrilled to be working with Vanedge.” said Eddie Pickle, OpenGeo CEO. “The Vanedge team understands the huge opportunity in the geospatial software space. Their investment is very timely given the tremendous demand for open source, Spatial IT solutions among government and commercial enterprises worldwide."

The OpenGeo Suite is widely used for managing and sharing spatial data. OpenGeo has led the industry shift toward flexible, interoperable geospatial software infrastructures and will use this Series A funding to further enhance its industry-leading product and training offerings and reach a broader array of customers.

Moe Kermani, partner at Vanedge Capital, noted, "OpenGeo has developed an impressive customer roster who are using its product offerings in mission-critical software applications. The paradigm shift toward web and mobile geospatial services is well underway and is permanently altering the Spatial IT landscape. We believe this shift heavily favors open source and the OpenGeo Suite, which is ideally situated to become the de facto geospatial platform."

The Vanedge-led investment enables OpenGeo to complete its separation from tech incubator OpenPlans, which founded OpenGeo in 2002. "We are proud that our incubation with OpenPlans has been so successful," noted Chris Holmes, OpenGeo’s founder. "We look forward to growing our contributions to open source communities as a dedicated open source geospatial software company."

About Vanedge Capital

Vanedge Capital is a Vancouver, B.C. based venture capital fund focused on investments in interactive entertainment and digital media businesses. The fund managers have extensive experience and relationships in this sector and have built and led world-class companies in video games, computer animation and enterprise software, among others. For more information, visit www.vanedgecapital.com.

About OpenGeo

OpenGeo is the world leader for commercial open source geospatial software. Our global customer base uses the OpenGeo Suite, a complete open source geospatial web services stack, to deploy solutions for web mapping, transportation, telecommunications, open government and a huge range of other solutions. The OpenGeo Suite provides the best, continually updated geo web services platform along with maintenance agreements that include support and training. These agreements provide our customers with superior value and the growing functionality of continually enhanced open source geospatial software.

OpenGeo supports open source communities by employing key developers of PostGIS, GeoServer, and OpenLayers. We are committed to the ideals of open source and aim to bring the best practices of open source software to organizations around the world.

Media Contact

David Dubovsky
OpenGeo
+1 917-388-9077
med[email protected]

Introduction

OpenGeo has recently released OpenGeo Suite 3.0. Slashgeo sat down with Rolando Peñate, the Product Manager for the OpenGeo Suite, to discuss this new release. Here are the results of our interview:

Slashgeo: What are some of the most exciting features available in the OpenGeo Suite 3.0 release?

Rolando: We’re most excited about bringing spatial processing to the OpenGeo Suite. With processing, our customers can work with larger data and perform just-in-time analysis with fewer bottlenecks than with a desktop-based GIS workflow. We believe that exposing processing on the web will provide IT professionals the flexibility to solve unique problems in innovative ways—either by directly invoking existing WPS processes, writing new processes in common scripting languages, using rendering transformations to style data, or even in ways we haven’t yet considered.

OpenGeo Suite 3.0 adds the ability to perform spatial processes on the server and designates the server as the place where processes are defined. The OGC Web Processing Service (WPS) specification makes powerful processing tools available for broad consumption on the web. Combined with server-side scripting libraries, this makes it possible for web developers to create processes that perform complex analysis using familiar languages like Python or JavaScript. This enables IT professionals to build web applications that can run spatial processes on-the-fly against data from anywhere using standard web development practices.

One place we’ve implemented this is a prototype for the USGS National Hydrography Dataset that allows editing of data while validating against strict topology rules across multiple layers. Their current tools require up to six hours for a single edit, but our prototype drastically reduced the effort—down to about one minute—by using a web-based editor.

We are also working to make processing operations easier in browser-based visualizations. Rendering transformations enable just-in-time use of any WPS process as part of a layer’s style. The process is applied on-the-fly to transform the area being viewed, rather than the full data set (as it would with desktop based GIS), and provide immediate visual feedback. For example, NASA’s Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program leverages this feature for fast, dynamic presentation of interpolated surfaces derived from environmental measurements collected at schools around the world. Similarly, one could create topography maps in real-time by applying a process to a digital elevation model and defining a style for the resulting contour lines.

Slashgeo: How does OpenGeo Suite 3.0 measure up to comparable proprietary solutions?

Rolando: One of our goals for the OpenGeo Suite is to solve many of the same problems as proprietary solutions, though not necessarily by providing the same tools. Our product and proprietary solutions can both publish data from a variety of enterprise databases, including Oracle Spatial and Microsoft SQL Server. Both offer web services for querying and editing features, publishing and caching map tiles, and running processes on spatial data. Both provide tools for building web mapping applications or mobile applications.

The primary differences are in approach. While proprietary solutions use server-client architecture that’s been adapted to accommodate web services, the OpenGeo Suite was built for the web from the ground up and encompasses best practices from the IT field. Rather than build a kitchen sink product with many highly-specialized features, we focus on developing a powerful base of functionality and providing tools for building applications to solve specific problems. While traditional GIS requires ‘certified’ experts with extensive training to pull data into expensive desktop tools and provide derivative data, the OpenGeo Suite exposes similarly powerful functionality on the web in ways that are integrated with the tools that IT professionals use every day.

Slashgeo: How does cloud computing factor into OpenGeo’s plans for the future?

Rolando: Many of our customers already use our software in the cloud and we offer support for those who wish to deploy OpenGeo Suite on Amazon Web Services (AWS). As cloud computing steadily gains acceptance, we will continue to ensure that our products are reliable and scalable. We’re keen to expand these offerings so stay tuned and we’ll make sure to keep you updated on what we expect to do in the future.

Slashgeo: What major trends in the geospatial technology arena do you see developing in the next 5 years, and how will those trends impact OpenGeo?

Rolando: Much like how source code is managed with distributed version control, we anticipate a future where spatial data will live in a collaborative infrastructure that is able to track data’s origin and evolution. Although spatial data is really just one aspect of the greater information technology landscape for any given enterprise, it has traditionally been siloed and forced through specialized workflows. As with other types of ‘big data’, we foresee increased difficulty storing, managing, and maintaining spatial data across enterprises. Thanks in large part to the reactions to geospatial crowd-sourcing efforts like OpenStreetMap and Ushahidi, we see a significant shift in how geospatial data is conceived of, stored, and distributed.

Adopting the distributed version control model pioneered with source code will play a critical role in alleviating the difficulties that have historically plagued users of geospatial data. A distributed version control model can better address such problems as collaborating between users or organizations, maintaining authoritative data, and enabling offline, low-bandwidth, or intermittent connectivity. Just as access to source code enables a developer to change software by adding to or changing its functionality and appearance, access to underlying geospatial data enables cartographers and analysts to fix mistakes, conduct analysis and modeling, and update datasets. We foresee true collaboration around geospatial information having profound implications for users of geospatial data and have begun investing in solutions to support them.

Slashgeo: Is OpenGeo an example of a successful business model built around open source software? If so, what can other organizations learn from this business model?

Rolando: Given how much we’ve grown in the last several years we believe that a business built around open source software can not only succeed, but thrive. The appetite for open source software is growing; companies like RedHat and JBoss have proven that an open source development model does not inhibit growth, but can often enable it.

In a recent presentation at the Texas GIS forum, Paul Ramsey delivered a compelling introduction to open source and why it’s being adopted faster than ever. Among the many takeaways was the simple fact that startups love open source. Why? Because startups cannot afford artificial limits on their growth. While the cost of computing hardware falls every year, the cost of proprietary software licenses does not. If you’re using software licensed per CPU or core, the primary driver of scaling cost is software cost, and that math does not benefit the consumer. Larger enterprises are being strangled by the immense license costs they are being forced to pay year-over-year. Today we’re all expected to do more with less. With open source functionality meeting or exceeding proprietary solutions, license costs are quickly being targeted as an obvious way to cut costs.

While open source software lacks explicit license costs, all software has maintenance, operating and other related costs.  Unsupported open source software shifts these costs to the end user, which isn’t an issue if the end user or their enterprise has expertise in the relevant software and is willing to pay for support using staff time.  Commercial open source provides the option to save time and reduce direct labor costs by outsourcing maintenance and support to experts. OpenGeo steps in when enterprises lack the time, resources, or internal expertise to maintain open source software. OpenGeo’s mission is to lower costs while continually enhancing the functionality of open source, and our customers value that highly. We expand on these idea in our white paper, “The Value of the OpenGeo Suite”, which outlines our model and why it’s beneficial to all parties involved.

Conclusion

We appreciate the participation of OpenGeo, and of Rolando, in this interview. We hope you enjoyed reading it.

Here's the recent Directions Magazine articles I found interesting and that I wanted to share:

• Here's an excellent Q&A named Digging into the Open Source Geospatial Software and OpenGeo Suite 3.0, we're getting less and less good reasons not to consider open source geospatial solutions
• You have to deal with Oracle? Read this, Nokia, Oracle Create Tighter Integration between Nokia Location Platform (NLP) and Oracle Fusion Middleware
• Interesting if your into forest fires; Detection and Monitoring of Wildfires by a Constellation of Small Satellites with Infrared Sensor Systems
• An article on CityGML and The Netherlands’ Open 3D Modelling Standard: Building the Open 3D Information Infrastructure
• For US readers (and others), here's A Brief History of Red and Blue on U.S. Elections Maps

Newest version of the OpenGeo Suite has just been released and it comes with the following goodies.

• Server-side processing
  • OGC Web Processing Service (WPS) provides a standard for inputs and outputs (requests and responses) for geospatial processing services such as polygon overlays, buffers, or custom processes.
  • Rendering transformations make processing operations easier in browser-based visualizations by enabling just-in-time use of any WPS process as part of any layer’s style.
  • Server-side scripting in Python and JavaScript allows users to easily deploy their own server-side processes using concise and straightforward APIs.
  • PostGIS 2.0 brings vector and raster analysis into the database.
• GeoServer security now supports user groups as well as a number of new authentication mechanisms including LDAP, digest and X.509 certificate authentication.
• Virtual services allow GeoServer to support multi-tenancy, enabling a single GeoServer instance to publish multiple service endpoints.
• A new caching configuration interface in GeoServer includes the ability to define new grid sets, specify which layers to cache, seed or truncate the cache, and more.
• OGC Web Feature Service 2.0 (WFS) adds some interesting new capabilities, including paging, stored queries, and extended operators.
• Upgraded components, including the adoption of GeoServer 2.2, PostGIS 2.0, and GeoWebCache 1.3

Here's the recent open source-related geonews in batch mode.

In software updates:

• GeoServer 2.1.4 had been released
• And so was GeoTools 2.7.5 released

• Geopaparazzi 3 has been released too, more here
• And as an indirect user of it, I'm happy that GEOS 3.3.4 was released too
• The OpenGeo Suite 2.5 was released, with updated Linux packages

In other news:

• If you missed it, see this informative comment from the DB4GeO developers, including comparing it to PostGIS 2.0 3D capabilities
• Regarding QGIS, here's fixing invalid geometries with Quantum GIS, another entry named SLD Support and other QGIS 1.8 Style Features
• For GeoServer, Accurate datum shift and full transformation control in GeoServer
• Here,s a summary of the FOSS4G-CEE Conference in Prague

• Here's an entry named GeoWebCache Tweaks Checklist

• And we haven't mentioned OpenStreetMap yet, improving the OpenStreetMap Profile Page for more Social Interaction

Sponsor Day Programming Highlights OpenGeo’s Vision

New York, NY, April 18, 2012 — OpenGeo, successfully held the first OpenGeo User Meeting on April 12, 2012 during Sponsor Day at FOSS4G North America in Washington DC. As Eddie Pickle, OpenGeo CEO, mentioned: “FOSS4G North America and Sponsor Day would not have been possible without our fellow Gold Sponsor RadiantBlue and Venue Sponsor RedHat.”

Eddie Pickle began the day with an overview of OpenGeo, its clients, and a vision of its future. This was followed by a detailed look into the OpenGeo technical roadmap led by Tim Schaub, OpenGeo CTO. Building on the technical roadmap presentation, various OpenGeo developers gave technical demonstrations led by Juan Marin Otero, Senior Implementation Specialist: Justin Deoliveira presented on the future of web-based spatial processing in GeoServer, WPS, Geoscript; Paul Ramsey discussed the state of Spatial IT and how it differs from the conventional desktop-based GIS paradigm; Tim Schaub presented on building applications for web and mobile audiences using the latest features in OpenLayers and GeoExt/GXP; and Matt Priour announced the recent launch of MapStory, a platform for telling stories with maps based on GeoNode. These presentations provided users with an inside view of the latest existing and planned capabilities of OpenGeo technologies.

During the Sponsor Day lunch, a policy-focused panel comprising speakers from RedHat, the US Department of Defense, and the Institute for Defense Analysis discussed policy initiatives related to the acceptance and implementation of open source software within the federal government.

The afternoon sessions began when Dr. Christopher Tucker, a key advocate for open source and open standards within the US government, delivered an inspiring message on the “Open Future”. This was followed by panels highlighting successful deployments of OpenGeo technology that featured open source geospatial innovators and practitioners from over a dozen government agencies including the US Department of State, FCC, NOAA, NGA, Army Geospatial Center, and the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunication (DoITT).

Commenting on the OpenGeo User Meeting, Eddie Pickle noted, "OpenGeo is looking to provide the best possible educational opportunities for users of the OpenGeo Suite. Sponsor Day at FOSS4G North America allowed us to support both FOSS4G North America and our software users. The day proved to be an exciting and informative forum on the open source geospatial ecosystem and how OpenGeo fits into its future."

About OpenGeo

OpenGeo is a social enterprise working to build the best web-based geospatial technology. The company brings the best practices of open source software to geospatial organizations around the world by providing enterprises with supported, tested, and integrated open source solutions to build the Geospatial Web. OpenGeo also supports open source communities by employing key developers of PostGIS, GeoServer, and OpenLayers. Since 2002, the company has provided successful consulting services and products to clients like the World Bank, US Department of State, NYC DoITT, Ordnance Survey Great Britain, SFMTA, Portland TriMet, MassGIS, GeoScience Australia, NOAA and the Federal Communications Commission. OpenGeo is the geospatial division of OpenPlans, a New York-based 501(c)(3) non-profit that informs and engages communities through journalism and open source software. All of OpenGeo's revenue has been and will continue to be re-invested into innovative and useful software in support of the OpenPlans mission.

Media Contact

David Dubovsky
+1 917-388-9077
[email protected]

OpenGeo Announces Gold Level Sponsorship for 2012 FOSS4G-NA

FOSS4G North America Regional Conference to be Held in Washington, D.C.

New York, NY, January 26, 2011 — OpenGeo, the organization behind the OpenGeo Suite has announced their sponsorship of the 2012 FOSS4G-NA conference. The Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial - North America (FOSS4G-NA) conference will be hosted by OSGeo North America from April 10th to 12th, 2012 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Confirmed keynote speakers include Michael Byrne, CIO of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

OSGeo North America is the newly-formed North America chapter of OSGeo, an international not-for-profit whose mission is to support and promote the collaborative development of open geospatial technologies and data. OSGeo North America has scheduled this regional follow-up to focus on the North American open source geospatial community. Just as they did at the 2011 FOSS4G global conference in Denver, OpenGeo is once again committed to a gold level sponsorship, In addition, this year members of OpenGeo are also volunteering on the conference organizing committee.

Eddie Pickle, OpenGeo COO said "Supporting FOSS4G and OSGeo is a top priority for OpenGeo. FOSS4G is always a key forum for meeting with our friends, clients, and partners as well as for exchanging knowledge to improve open source geospatial software. A regional event in Washington, D.C. will allow us us to focus on the evolving landscape of open source geospatial in North America. We’re especially interested to see how government agencies have been adopting open source technology to address their needs." He continued "We’re also happy to announce that our own Paul Ramsey has volunteered to be the FOSS4G- NA 2012 conference chair; we know the conference will be a success with Paul at the helm."

About FOSS4G-NA 2012

FOSS4G is an annual global conference organized by OSGeo that focuses on bringing together individuals and organizations working with free and open source geospatial software; FOSS4G-NA is a regional event for North America and is being organized by the North American Regional chapter of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo), with additional support from members of a volunteer program and conference committee and the conference sponsors

About OpenGeo

OpenGeo is a social enterprise working to build the best web-based geospatial technology. The company brings the best practices of open source software to geospatial organizations around the world by providing enterprises with supported, tested, and integrated open source solutions to build the Geospatial Web. OpenGeo also supports open source communities by employing key developers of PostGIS, GeoServer, and OpenLayers. Since 2002, the company has provided successful consulting services and products to clients like the World Bank, Google, Ordnance Survey Great Britain, Portland TriMet, MassGIS, Landgate, and the Federal Communications Commission. OpenGeo is the geospatial division of OpenPlans, a New York-based 501(c)(3) non-profit that informs and engages communities through journalism and open source software. All of OpenGeo's revenue has been and will continue to be re-invested into innovative and useful software in support of the OpenPlans mission.

Related Links

FOSS4G-NA 2012 Conference - Washington, DC
FOSS4G 2012 - Beijing, China
OSGeo North America
Open Source Geospatial Foundation

Media Contact

David Dubovsky
+1 917-388-9077
[email protected]

Grontmij Joins OpenGeo’s International Partner Program

Grontmij to Provide Expert, Local Support of OpenGeo Suite to Scandinavia

Copenhagen, DK & New York, NY, December 19, 2011 — Grontmij, a leading European engineering consultancy and OpenGeo producer of the OpenGeo Suite, have announced a reseller agreement that will bring the OpenGeo Suite Enterprise Edition to Scandinavia.

OpenGeo is well known for its contributions and leadership in the development and evolution of powerful open source geospatial technologies. The OpenGeo Suite offers a fully integrated open source geospatial platform for serving maps and data through web applications, mobile devices, and desktop clients. The OpenGeo Suite Enterprise Edition is comprised of tested, integrated and supported geospatial components GeoServer, OpenLayers, GeoWebCache, PostGIS and GeoExt.

Grontmij will assume first line support of the OpenGeo Suite for local clientele in Scandinavia while having privileged access to OpenGeo for second line support. Upon making the announcement, Grontmij Director of GIS and IT, Nils Bo Wille-Jørgensen, said, "We are very pleased to offer our clients even better support and an even closer connection to the people behind these outstanding geospatial components."

Chris Holmes, OpenGeo president, added: "Grontmij is a well respected international organization that has joined a diverse group of businesses who see value in partnering with OpenGeo. Together we’re all able to offer our clients better service and support. What’s especially important is that we’re able to give back to the software projects that comprise the OpenGeo Suite. We’re very happy to be working with Grontmij and to have a local expert on the ground in Scandinavia."

About OpenGeo

OpenGeo is a social enterprise working to build the best web-based geospatial technology. The company brings the best practices of open source software to geospatial organizations around the world by providing enterprises with supported, tested, and integrated open source solutions to build the Geospatial Web. OpenGeo also supports open source communities by employing key developers of PostGIS, GeoServer, and OpenLayers. Since 2002, the company has provided successful consulting services and products to clients like the World Bank, Google, Ordnance Survey Great Britain, Portland TriMet, MassGIS, Landgate, and the Federal Communications Commission. OpenGeo is the geospatial division of OpenPlans, a New York-based 501(c)(3) non-profit that informs and engages communities through journalism and open source software. All of OpenGeo's revenue has been and will continue to be re-invested into innovative and useful software in support of the OpenPlans mission.

Media Contact

David Dubovsky

OpenGeo, a Division of OpenPlans

+1 917-388-9077

[email protected]

About Grontmij

Grontmij is the third largest engineering consultancy in Europe with nearly 10,000 professionals, almost 300 offices across the region, and a further 50 offices on other parts of the globe. The sustainability by design principle is at the heart of their business, and this leading value proposition for our customers is delivered via four business lines: planning/design, transportation/mobility, water/energy, and monitoring/testing.

Media Contact

Nils Bo Wille-Jørgensen

Grontmij, Denmark

+45 4348 6085

Open Source Geospatial Software Provides Web Mapping Front End for Innovative Parking Project

New York, NY & San Francisco, CA, November 29, 2011 — Today OpenGeo, the leader in open source geospatial technology, completed Phase II development for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s (SFMTA) SFpark project asset management system. SFpark uses geospatial and sensory technology to collect and distributes real-time parking availability information to drivers. It also uses this data to regularly update meter and garage pricing to ensure parking availability, providing for safer and clearer streets.

The OpenGeo Suite of open source technology supports SFpark by delivering assets to its robust web mapping application. The application integrates flexible asset management with business intelligence reports to deliver information-rich maps. These easy-to-use maps form the primary user interface, enabling the SFMTA to more easily select, group, and analyze parking management functions.

"OpenGeo’s geospatial and web mapping expertise was critical in helping SFMTA complete this project," said SFMTA Technology Innovations Lead Donovan Corliss. "We are very happy with the asset management tool’s ability to support our parking meter maintenance and pricing. OpenGeo has also created a new, more user-friendly map for SFpark.org, the public face of the project."

Ken Bossung, Senior Vice President of OpenGeo, added: "We are excited to be working with SFMTA on a nationally-recognized and innovative project. The success of SFpark is further proof of the strong feature functionality of open source software and the OpenGeo Suite. We’re continually contributing back to the open source projects we support and clients like the SFMTA make that possible."

About OpenGeo

OpenGeo is a social enterprise working to build the best web-based geospatial technology. The company brings the best practices of open source software to geospatial organizations around the world by providing enterprises with supported, tested, and integrated open source solutions to build the Geospatial Web. OpenGeo also supports open source communities by employing key developers of PostGIS, GeoServer, and OpenLayers. Since 2002, the company has provided successful consulting services and products to clients like the World Bank, Google, Ordnance Survey Great Britain, Portland TriMet, MassGIS, Landgate, and the Federal Communications Commission. OpenGeo is the geospatial division of OpenPlans, a New York-based 501(c)(3) non-profit that informs and engages communities through journalism and open source software. All of OpenGeo's revenue has been and will continue to be re-invested into innovative and useful software in support of the OpenPlans mission.

Media Contact

David Dubovsky
OpenGeo, a Division of OpenPlans
+1 917-388-9077
[email protected]

About SFMTA

Established by voter proposition in 1999, the SFMTA, a department of the City and County of San Francisco, oversees the Municipal Railway (Muni), parking and traffic and taxis. Over 35,000 additional vehicles enter San Francisco every business day, and all rely on the SFMTA to keep the flow of cars, transit vehicles, taxis, delivery trucks, pedestrians and bicycles moving smoothly through the streets.

About SFpark

The SFpark pilot covers 7,000 of San Francisco’s 28,800 metered spaces and 12,250 spaces in 15 of 20 SFMTA-managed parking garages. These garages and spaces are located in the following neighborhoods: Civic Center, Hayes Valley, the Financial District, SoMa, the Mission, Fisherman’s Wharf, the Fillmore and the Marina. The SFpark pilot is 80 percent funded by the United States Department of Transportation’s Urban Partnership Program and will run until summer 2012.