[Chameleon] ANNOUNCE: Update on 2nd MapServer User Meeting and OSGIS 2004

[Dave McIlhagga]

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the cross-postings, but I wanted to make sure we got this
message to as many people as possible. Please feel free to distribute.



For those of you who have not heard yet, the Ottawa MapServer Users
Group is very busy preparing for this year's 2nd Annual MapServer User
Meeting scheduled for June 9-11, 2004 at Carleton University, Ottawa,
Canada.

The early bird registration is available only until April 30th, so
please register soon. Not only does this save you some money, it also
helps us plan for the numbers that we may expect for the big event.

As you will see on the conference website (http://www.omsug.ca), some
new additions have now been included:

- Online Registration is now Available!

- We have a number of workshops and presenters committed -- take a look
at the conferece program for details
(http://www.omsug.ca/osgis2004/program.html). This is tentative, but
should give you an idea of the kinds of presenters and topics that will
be covered.

- Our program is not full -- so we're looking to you to give us your
suggestions on presentations that you are interested in giving. See the 
call for presentations for more details. We also want to hear from you 
about the about the workshops we have lined up with any suggestions for 
others you may be interested in.

- Thank you to our initial sponsors - Tydac, GIS Monitor and DM
Solutions Group. Anyone who is interested in sponsoring and/or
exhibiting, please contact us. There is also a bonus for early-bird
sponsors before April 30th.


Some additional notes:

In addition to the MapServer User meeting, a parallel Open Source GIS
Conference will be taking place. In this event, there will be a lot of
general discussion about the open source movement within the GIS
community, exposure to many technologies such as OpenEV and Grass, and a
stream focussed on management issues for incorporating Open Source in
your organization. I encourage all of you to look into participating in
this event and help us to get the word out to the other open source gis 
communities who may be interested in attending.

Also - I should mention that the hotel rooms and conference rates are 
only guaranteed through May 9th, so book your accomodations as soon as
possible, as we cannot provide any guarantees beyond this date. Tourist 
season in Ottawa starts in May/June so booking a hotel late can be tricky.


We are eager for any feedback or comments you may have so don't hesitate
to contact me directly or provide feedback through the conference website.

Only 2 months to go! Looking forward to seeing you all soon here in Ottawa!

Dave

Dave McIlhagga
dmcilhagga at dmsolutions.ca
OSGIS 2004 and 2nd Annual MUM Planning Committee
http://www.omsug.ca