shrug-l: FYI [OSGeo-Discuss] News on ESRI's Open Source activities

[Gary Watry]

some more news regarding 52n on the ESRI Germany homepage:
http://www.esri-germany.de/news/esri_news/articles/n061009.html

It reads like OSGeo with a special focus on SDI, the wording is 
practically exchangeable. 52N was registered 2004-10-21 11:36 as a 
project at SourceForge while the above news regards the foundation of 
the company 52n this September (just in time for the Intergeo).

Gunther Pichler (ex OGC Europe, now with ESRI Germany) at the Intergeo 
fair confirmed that ESRI is taking this project seriously and wants to 
especially tap on the academic and research potential of the folks 
involved with 52N. 52N had a booth at the OSGeo Open Source Park a week 
ago and they were also present and interested at FOSS4G. It will be 
interesting to follow this development as it is yet another tentative 
Open Source contact by a proprietary vendor.

Exploring horizons with 52°North Initiative for Geospatial Open Source 
Software GmbH
(09.10.2006)

On September 21, 2006, representatives from con terra GmbH Muenster, the 
Westfaelische Wilhelms Universitaet Muenster, the International 
Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) 
Enschede and ESRI Inc. Redlands, USA met in Muenster, Germany to 
establish the 52°North Initiative for Geospatial Open Source Software GmbH.

52°North is an open initiative which strives to advance the development 
of cutting edge open source technology for Spatial Data Infrastructures 
(SDI). The current focus of our open source technology development is 
Sensor Web Enablement (SWE), Security and Digital Rights Management. As 
an innovative node within the global open source network, it attracts 
leading research organizations in the field of Geoinformatics to 
participate in the development of open source innovations for SDIs and 
the transformation of these into practical technological solutions. It 
also provides network services to its shareholders and partners to 
support these activities.

Our products are published solely under the GNU General Public License 
(GPL), but are also available - via a dual licensing model - to 
commercial users.

The foundation of the 52°North Initiative for Geospatial Open Source 
Software GmbH was a logical step in order to ensure the sustainability 
of all partners' open source activities, to create legal security for 
developers and users of 52°North software and to support the initiative 
organizationally and financially. Although it is a company limited by 
shares (GmbH), it acts as a non-profit organization. The company's 
annual surplus may only be invested in the promotion of science and 
research, education and training in the field of Geoinformatics, the 
promotion of mutual transfer of knowledge between research and practical 
application and the improvement of the availability of geoinformation 
technology and technology competence in developing and transformation 
countries. The shareholders receive no profit shares, nor other payments 
from company funds.

*Contact:*
52°North Initiative for Geospatial Open Source Software GmbH
Martin-Luther-King-Weg 24
48155 Muenster, Germany
tel: +49 (0)251 - 4747 520
fax: +49 (0)251 - 4747 530
info at 52north.org <mailto:info at 52north.org>
www.52north.org <http://www.52north.org>

	
	
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	© ESRI Geoinformatik GmbH, 2006 	

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Gary L. Watry
GIS Coordinator
Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies
FSU / COAPS
Johnson Building, RM 215
2035 East Paul Dirac Drive
Tallahassee, Florida 32306-2840

Phone (850) 645-7457

E-Mail: watry at coaps.fsu.edu