Mateusz Loskot

From time to time, Google helps me to find and get new treasures laying deep on the Internet. Today, it dug out OpenGeology.pl website. Apparently, it has been launched quite recently and Google reports very few references about it. Because it’s mostly in Polish language and English version is incomplete, I will give a short overview of it here. So, what is this website about?

The front page explains it very well:

The OpenGeology.pl is devoted to the applications of Open Source Software in Geology

Later, one can browse various resources organized by topic - reviews of Open Source Software, tutorials ie. on DEM processing and 3D technologies in geology as well as collection of free and public geodata. DEM of Poland based on the SRTM-3 is available through a friendly map-based interface in two alternative coordinate systems (WGS 84 and PUWG 92) and three grid formats. It’s worth to notice that holes in original DEM files have been patched. I’ve not played with this data myself but it sounds very promising.

Now, let’s get to the point - the software. And here, my eyes saw a nice list of FOSS packages, including OSGeo Foundation projects…and there was much rejoicing.

OpenGeology community (see below) has found following FOSS4G and OSGeo projects useful: GRASS, Open Source Software Image Map (OSSIM), Quantum GIS, GDAL/OGR and FWTools.

A couple of words about the OpenGeology.pl authors. If my understanding is correct, the website was founded by Polish Geological Institute and Maciej Tomaszczyk is the main author and content provider. Kudos to the OpenGeology.pl Community for their efforts to spread the FOSS4G in Poland.

This is a short post spreading the announcement about upcoming RMA 2008 conference. The RMA 2008 is the 2008 World Conference on Natural Resource Modeling. It will be held at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW), Warsaw, Poland, June 15-18, 2008.

The conference will provide a forum for the presentation of recent progress in the use of modeling techniques to help in the understanding and managing of complex natural resource systems

The call for papers has been opened very recently and not yet widely announced. As I’ve been told by organizers, it’s possible to present applications and software packages related to the conference matter. I’ve been wondering if there would be anyone from the OSGeo Community interested to present FOSS solutions for environmental related problems.

By the way, RMA 2008 is planned on the same week as Cascadoss symposium and workshop. So, there is some chance to visit both events.

It may be surprising, but some people still believe it is. Here is an interesting debate the Al-Fayhaa TV aired in 2007, during which astronomy researcher is arguing with physicist on this subject:

It’s been nearly 500 years since Nicolaus Copernicus and afterward Galileo Galilei proved with their researches that we do not leave on a plate but on a potato. Not to mention what we’ve learned from a number of space missions and explorations made with satellites. By the way of digression, how would the Global Navigation Satellite Systems work if the Earth was flat? Hmm…

In this post, I’m going to spread a word about the Cascados project. The project is founded by the European Commission in frame of the Sixth Framework Programme and is focused on development of a trans-national cascade training programme on Open Source GIS & Remote Sensing software for environmental applications. The Cascados project is formed by a number of partners from Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. More detailed information can be found on the project website (multilingual) recently launched at the http://cascadoss.eu/

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Following this link to the Starving Dog as Art- The Utter Outrage you can read a shocking story about pseudo-art exhibition given by pseudo-artist Guillermo Habacuc Vargas with starving dog as the subject.

The Petition

Boicot a la presencia de Guillermo Habacuc Vargas en la Bienal Centroamericana Honduras 2008

The answer is simple:

(…) like Letterman said yesterday, everything is wrong since they kicked Pluto out of the Solar System.

by leGeddy, yesterday, on the #gdal channel.

BBC announced today about rare discovery - a hybrid of grizzly and polar bear. Such hybrids were known from zoos or stories about coloured bears. I’m pretty surprised such hybrids have not been found till now.

Unfortunately, the bear was shot dead by an American big game hunter. Biologists said it was the offspring of a male grizzly bear and a female polar bear.

Full story is here: Hybrid bear shot dead in Canada