The annual GeoWeb Conference won’t take place this year. This technical conference about information sharing and collaboration in a geospatial context has had a great run in Vancouver, BC, Canada since 2002, starting as GML Dev Days. The focus on the Geography Markup Language (GML) continued as integral element, even though the event officially changed its name to GeoWeb in 2006. The focus with GML and other technical underpinnings of the “infrastructure” of the geospatial Web have set the event apart, with a broad international attendance.
The 2011 conference theme was planned to address “Smart World Applications” of a “system of systems” approach to respond to a changing world. The event has incorporated 3D city modeling, CityGML and other infrastructure elements over the past few years. This evolution would have continued with a focus on the networks of sensors that connect the physical world with the Web planned for this year’s event.
I’ve received no specific words about why this event was canceled for this year, or if this is just a temporary break. The down economy, the maturity of Web development platforms, and the availability of other technically centered events such as Where 2.0, and the FOSS4G event likely all have a role. The late July timeframe has also been problematic for some with such a short follow-on to the typical Esri User Conferencedates, and a busy Summer schedule. I’ve always enjoyed the event, but have been unable to attend the past two years due to family weddings that directly aligned.
The event lives on through the GeoWeb Conference channel on YouTube, and past proceeding that are available for purchase. The event certainly had a good run. The annual boat cruise with fireworks over the beautiful city of Vancouver was certainly a highlight of the geospatial conference circuit, and the technical content and tackling of real-world problems through the application of collaborative geospatial online tools has certainly paved the way to a bright future.
