Open Source Geospatial Foundation Selects Tyler Mitchell, Open Source Advocate, as Executive Director
Oct 19th, 15:21 UTC
Mitchell to Assist OSGeo in the Collaborative Development of Open Source
Geospatial Technologies and Data
Seattle, Washington, Oct. 19, 2006- The Open Source Geospatial Foundation, or
OSGeo, today announced that Tyler Mitchell has been hired as its new executive
director. Mitchell-who has a decade of Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
experience as an Analyst, Manager, open source advocate and author-will be
responsible for the Foundation's day-to-day operations, supporting development
and promotion.
An independent not-for-profit legal entity established to support the needs of
the open source geospatial community, OSGeo serves as an outreach and advocacy
organization. Since its inception in February 2006, OSGeo has met with
encouraging success with local chapters forming around the world.
"We are extremely pleased to welcome Tyler Mitchell as our new Executive
Director," said the Foundation's President Frank Warmerdam. "His early vision
was instrumental in the formation of the Foundation, and with his extensive
background in open source and GIS he is highly qualified to help this
organization achieve its mission."
"It is a distinct honor to be asked to help the Open Source Geospatial
Foundation," Mitchell said. "This is an exciting time for the OSGeo. I look
forward with great enthusiasm to working more closely with OSGeo's dedicated
members, the Board, and its partners as we strive to meet the goals of the
Foundation."
GIS Professional, Author and Open Source Advocate
Mitchell began his GIS career in British Columbia forestry in 1996, where he
performed GIS analysis and research for natural resource management. He has been
using open source software for nearly a decade, with a particular focus on the
Linux operating system and geospatial tools including MapServer, PostGIS, and
other applications and libraries. In 2005, Mitchell wrote Web Mapping
Illustrated: Using Open Source GIS Toolkits which was published by O'Reilly
Media. Tyler is a well known international speaker and open source advocate-in
2004 he began proposing an independent foundation for open source geospatial
technologies and has been a dedicated volunteer ever since.
About OSGeo
The Open Source Geospatial Foundation (http://www.osgeo.org/) is a not-for-
profit organization whose mission is to support and promote the collaborative
development of open geospatial technologies and data. The Foundation provides
financial, organizational and legal support to the broader open source
geospatial community. It also serves as an independent legal entity to which
community members can contribute code, funding and other resources, secure in
the knowledge that their contributions will be maintained for public benefit.
OSGeo also serves as an outreach and advocacy organization for the open source
geospatial community, and provides a common forum and shared infrastructure for
improving cross-project collaboration. The foundation's projects are all freely
available and usable under OSI-certified open source licenses.
(Submitted by Open Source Geospatial Foundation of OSGeo)
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