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Camping Geowanking style

From Wherecamp 2008

This weekend the geowankers camped out at the Googleplex for the second Wherecamp.

What has become an annual event the weekend after Where 2.0, Wherecamp is an unconference, a self organised event which starts without an agenda, and features talks, hacking sessions and debates suggested by the people who turn up. As Andrew Turner captured so successfully on twitter, “#wherecamp is Where2.0 2009 beta, 2010 alpha”, or maybe the other way round ?

The camp featured many excellent presentations and discussions, The value of 3D data (aka “Is 3D shit ?” ), building 3D displays, cartography for the web, geosearch, data licensing, micro formats etc., and because of the nature of the event plenty of opportunity for practical demonstrations, including the creation of gigipan images by Rich Gibson.

Gigiapan
click to see gigapan at work

And Jeff Johnson of PictEarth capturing aerial photography of the Googleplex using a Nokia N95, in an r/c model aircraft..

Googleplex from an airborne N95

As an old geezer I skipped the camping part, retreating to the comfort of my hotel room rather than a google tent for the night, but it was a great format and a great event. The contrast to the established GIS conferences in Europe is marked, the barcamp format, provides a great opportunity for more open debate and the presentation of ideas rather than products, and it’s just great fun.

EuroWherecamp Anyone ?

Written and submitted from the Googleplex, using the Google 802.11 network.

8 replies on “Camping Geowanking style”

Thanks Ed, looked like it was a blast! I appreciate the updates and images and yes indeed, I too am a fan of Pict’Earth… aerial photography for those with a tight budget. Wish I could have hung around after Where2.0 for this

EuroWhereCamp sounds like a great idea – I suspect a EuroWhereCamp could have a more strategic thread what with INSPIRE.
I wonder if OS would let us pitch camp outside their big shiny conference centre?

anyone have any links to Electric RC planes and Aerial Photography? As a remote sensing analyst, seems like a interesting hobby to take up.

@simon check out DIYDrones.org or contact Jeff Johnson of Pict’Earth – they’re very helpful.

Ed is also being modest and didn’t include how great the Google team was at hosting the event and discussing with all the attendees ideas and tools for the future.

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