After a nice Summer break, we're back. Expect the catching up of geonews aggregation to occur over the next 2 weeks or so.

You can now submit content - stories (geonews), press releases and comments. Cheers -- Alex for Slashgeo

It's our Summer break! The site will be silent for the coming weeks. Geonews aggregation will resume at the end of August. As usual, I'll share every major geospatial news at my return and you won't miss anything major. Comments and story submissions have been temporarily disabled to reduce spam. Thank you for your comprehension. Cheers! -- Alex for Slashgeo

Slashgeo is glad to announce we'll be media partners of the “Geo-Empower Middle East Summit” from 16-18th September to be held in Dubai.

The event's overview: "The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is going through a period of unprecedented change. In the‚ Arab Spring‘ countries, political transition, pressing social demands, and an adverse external environment have combined to increase the near-term risks to macroeconomic stability. A multi-sectoral and cross-industry approach is needed at the national and regional level. With this background, Fleming Gulf is proud to present “Geo-Empower Middle East Summit” which would provide a connecting platform to bridge the gap between the geospatial and the economic community. With the theme “Geospatial technology for strengthening economy and Advancing National Priorities”, the 3 day conference would bring to light the role of geospatial technologies in empowering various user segments and pave way for economic development."

We informed you a few times already about the upcoming FOSS4G-NA conference in Minneapolis in May 22-24, what's new is Slashgeo is going to be a proud media partner of the event!

Reminder: "FOSS4G brings together public and private-sector stakeholders, innovators and developers who are at the forefront of free and open source software for geospatial applications. FOSS4G-NA will offer a broad program to discuss and build tools to help solve some of the world’s most pressing problems and business needs. FOSS4G-NA follows on the success of the conference held in Washington, DC.  This regional event complements the larger FOSS4G International Conference, the leading global conference organized by OSGeo focusing on Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial."

Thanks to Cube Cities for their major donation to Slashgeo, making it to the 6th spot of our top donors list (right-hand side column). Thanks Cube Cities!

From the CubeCities website: "Cube Cities allows you to search for properties like never before. Fly over any city, see everything you’re looking for at once, and with a click, view listings inside and out. Welcome to a world where business owners anywhere can find the perfect property across the globe in record time. Building owners and managers can add listings, connect to new clients, and create “magic carpet ride” 3D Tours. Brokers can present their properties in the best light, allowing prospective clients to access visual market analysis, as well as detailed building, floor and suite level information."

I also used this opportunity to update our Open Budget. Slashgeo is managed by a registered non-profit organization and we've always been fond of transparency.

I am extremely happy to report that Effigis Geo Solutions gave a major donation to Slashgeo. This propels them to the third spot of our Top Slashgeo Donors' list (right-hand side column) and will help pay for the hosting bills. Thank you Effigis! There are several ways to contribute to Slashgeo.

About Effigis: "Recognized as a leader in the geomatics sector, Effigis (formerly VIASAT GeoTechnologies [in Canada], VGI Solutions in the US) has been providing innovative geospatial solutions since 1991. Earth Observation services, infrastructure inventory, telecommunications network monitoring, GNSS software, geological studies: we are a one stop source for all our customers’ geoinformation needs.

Flexible and professional, we can adapt to every customer’s specific challenges whatever its sector or the size of its project. Our commitment is simple: maximize all our resources, both technical and human, to exceed our customers’ expectations. Systematically.

We are also a preferred employer and care about our employees’ personal development and well-being. Behind the company is a multidisciplinary team of over 100 professionals and qualified technicians. Geomatics experts, engineers, IT specialists, surveyors, geographers and geologists—their talent and passion are the key to Effigis’ success."

Actually you could already, but it's now easier than ever: the omnipresent "Follow Slashgeo" and "Like Slashgeo" buttons suddenly appeared top right of Slashgeo's website. Until further notice, you won't generally see content on Slashgeo's Twitter and Facebook feeds that isn't already published on this site. The objective is rather simple, making it easy for you to get geospatial news if you use one of those social networks.

According to Google Feedburner, there's currently 9,412 people subscribed to our news in RSS, but you can also get the same news from our Twitter feed and Facebook page. If interested, follow the white rabbit (or the links top right). Anyone interested in contributing to Slashgeo's Facebook page (e.g. its look, content)? Let me know!

I am glad to announce that Slashgeo is a proud media partner of FOSS4G, to be held in Nottingham, UK, on September 17-21, one of the dominant geospatial conferences.

Here's what it is: "FOSS4G is the global conference for Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial, organized by the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). In, FOSS4G will be held in in the United Kingdom for the first time, at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham, from 17th to 21st September. FOSS4G will follow on from the Association for Geospatial Information (AGI) annual GeoCommunity Event at the same venue, and delegates will have an opportunity to attend both events for a full week of Geo-Goodness!

Expect a vibrant mix of workshops, papers, seminars, birds-of-a-feather meetings, and great social events, in a fantastic location. Key dates and travel information will be published shortly, from early September, so check back for updates, follow us on twitter, or sign up to our mailing list for more information."

We'll try to have one or two Slashgeo Editors on the site at FOSS4G. Slashgeo had the chance to be active and cover 4 recent OSGeo FOSS4G events.

It's November 13th already, and what happens on November 13th? Like previous years, it's the 'Make Slashgeo Known to the Community Day'! :-) Today's mission has not changed:

If you like the site and find it useful, you must tell one of your colleagues about Slashgeo.. With enough missions accomplished, you'll gain experience, level up and be able to develop new geospatial skills ;-)

Things you most probably already know: we're managed by a registered non-profit organization and powered by passion for the geospatial community. Your contributions are more than welcomed.

Thanks for your participation & take care - Alex aka Satri

Most of you already know I'm fond of transparency. Since the beginning in, we're pretty open within the registered non-profit organization behind Slashgeo, and one of those symptoms of openness is our Open Budget which has just been updated. A link to it is permanently available at the bottom of the 'Top Donors' section in the right-hand side column. It's the first update for over 1.5 year... In order to respect Google's terms of service for AdSense, you won't find some details such as Flattr, AdSense and other similar revenues.

We're still about $3,000 in the red, but the last year has been much more balanced thanks to numerous donations, including a major one from Safe Software that propelled them at the top of our top donors list. Being financially in the red doesn't matter that much (that's still a relatively tiny amount) compared to the thousands of hours of geonews aggregation and site maintenance (it's all voluntary work). What is more important is you contributing, the way of your choosing, to Slashgeo. We're also always open to suggestions :-) Enjoy!