We are pleased to announce the establishment of Open Source Geospatial
Laboratory at the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick,
United Kingdom. The laboratory is one of the members of a worldwide
network developed under the auspices of the ICA-OSGeo Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU).
In 2011, the International Cartographic Association (ICA) signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Open Source Geospatial
Foundation (OSGeo) with the aim to develop global collaboration
opportunities for academia, industry and government organisations in
the field of open source GIS software and data. The MoU aims to provide
expertise and support for the establishment of Open Source Geospatial
Laboratories and Research Centres across the world to support the
development of open source geospatial software technologies, training
and expertise.
Responding through research to global challenges, the University of
Warwick introduced the Global Research Priorities strategy, which aims
to focus Warwick's world-class, multidisciplinary research on key areas
of international significance, by bringing together scholarly expertise
from across faculties and departments. Themes for the GRPs were
approved by Research Committee in September 2011: Connecting Cultures,
Energy, Food, Global Governance, Innovative Manufacturing,
International Development, Materials, Science and Technology for Health
and Sustainable Cities. These will seek to combine areas of research
strength in the University, across departmental boundaries, in order to
enhance the ability to respond to funding bodies'priorities.
The establishment of dedicated open geospatial lab within the School of
Life Sciences will help to accelerate opportunities in research and
teaching for stimulating knowledge and information exchange for
creative thinking withing and across GRP groups. This integrated
research strategy applies multiple technologies to the study of a wide
range of connected systems to generate fundamental knowledge as well as
a range of impacts of direct relevance to the wider community.
Prof. Liz Dowler of Warwick University said "Hurrah for this: everyone
loves 'maps' and 'visualisations' - they speak volumes and are
invaluable for making key points."
The website of the new lab is at
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/lifesci/research/facilities/geolab/
OSGeo is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2006 whose mission is
to support and promote the collaborative development of open source
geospatial technologies and data.
ICA is the world authoritative body for cartography, the discipline
dealing with the conception, production, dissemination and study of
maps.