WhereCamp 2008 Planning Gets Underway

WhereCamp is a great geo un-conference that Where 2.0 attendees have started organizing. The first one was the weekend after Where 2.0 2007. It was perfect for me because I was able to get feedback for Where 2.0 from our most passionate attendees.

The organizers, Anselm Hook and Ryan Sarver, have started the formal planning process for WhereCamp 2008. If you want to help or sponsor you can contact them via the mailing list. If you want to learn more about WhereCamp check out the wiki or read this write-up from the BAAMA (bay Area Automated Mapping Association) Journal (pdf):

As an “unconference,” there was no planned program for WhereCamp. Rather, the attendees gathered at a morning organizing session, presented their interests to the group, and if there were other like-minded folks, a session was named and scheduled by pinning a sheet of paper to a grid.



The program ultimately ran the gamut from philosophical discussions of global food production networks, to demonstrations of applications and projects, to real-time hacking labs. open street map http://www.openstreetmap.org/, a wiki-style street centerline data collection project, was presented which led to a repeat presentation of that project at BAAmA’s may educational session.

Another session was Hacking Google streetView. This involved one geohacker presenting another’s insights on the then-unpublished streetView APi, the group then building on that knowledge base over the next 24 continuous hours, and ultimately writing hacks and processes such as scraping the panorama tile imagery from Google maps. Useless, possibly straying from Terms and Conditions of use, and fun? Absolutely! see http://wherecamp.pbwiki.com/Hacking+Google+street+View for further details on these hijinks.

Where 2.0 2008 is going to be at the SFO Marriott on May 12-14. If you are interested in participating submit a proposal through the CFP (open till 11/26).

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