| Re: [location-iwg] Dave McIlhagga, DM Solutions Group |
| Hi, Paul has introduced himself from our company already - but I also wanted to put out a quick introduction to myself for those of you I haven't met before. As background - years ago I worked on establishing the Open Source Geospatial (OSGeo) Foundation, which in many ways has been a big success. However, one of my concerns has been the lack of a forum for businesses to work together at a strategic level to pro-actively move business forward through technology collaboration. In September I spoke to Andrew about my concerns, and that got the ball rolling on getting this opportunity moving at Eclipse, something we're really excited to see happening. I think there are a number of opportunities for us to work together. One specific area we would be keen to see developed is in the area of geocoding and routing -- technologies that have not yet blossomed as open source projects, but for many of us are commodity functions we require as components of our value added commercial products. In addition to the technology realm, I've recently undertaken the responsibility to lead-up the formation of a "Location Industry Association" which may be of interest to a number of the companies represented on this list. It's intent is to provide a forum for businesses across the Location spectrum (GIS, Paper Map Publishers, GPS, Analytics, Mobile/Navigation, Remote Sensing, etc...) to find opportunities to work together and address common industry issues. If this is of interest, feel free to contact me off-list, and I can provide you with more details on the initiative. Thanks, Dave Dave McIlhagga |