Latin America

This is a placeholder for ideas to improve awareness of OSM in latin america as a whole.

Contents 1 Local Chapter 2 Physical meeting 3 Activities 3.1 Getting more GPS devices 3.2 Satellite imagery 3.3 Mapping tour 3.4 Slum mapping 3.5 Local Latin American server 3.6 Focused City Events 3.7 Promotions in the media

Local Chapter

A Latin American Chapter would be a legal entity entrusted with the promotion and coordination of all OSM activities.

Such a chapter should be based in a major latin american country, and have continental scope. There are already non-profits with such characteristics, so cloning the legal entity should not be too difficult.

Once OSM penetration in any given country is sufficient, a local chapter just for that country would be created.

Physical meeting

There are several options to physically meet a group of OSMers in LA to coordinate things:

• Seminario Construcción Colaborativa del Conocimiento - a Venezuela-based videoconference; theme is free knowledge.
• 30/sep-2/oct/2009 1as Jornadas de Latinoamérica y Caribe de usuarios de gvSIG - an Argentina-based meeting; people from NMAs will attend; theme is FLOSS GIS software.
• 5-9/oct/2009 Octava semana LINUX de la Universidad Distrital Francisco Jose de Caldas
  • Talks about Free and Open Tools=Experiences are needed
  • They cover all expenses for speakers!!!!!!!!. Contact person: Daniel Beltrán
• 22-24/oct/2009 Latinoware 2009 1st Latin American Free Software Conference – Latinoware, an event aimed at discussions on the development and spread of free software in Latin American countries.
  • accomodation with breakefast since 30€ per person per night [1]
• 9-11/nov/2009 Reunión CYTED IDEDES - a Panama-based meeting; people from NMAs will attend; Spatial Data Infrastructures is the theme.
  • 15% discount flying in Copa AirLines
    • HAV-PAN-HAV $668.00-15%(if discount code from Tatiana)
  • contact for accomodation matters: Ana Paula Berrojalvis Mundo Unlimited Travel Agency
    • $66.00 per person per night in All-Inclusive Plan (price from Mundo Unlimited)
  • Hotel Royal Decamerón Playa Blanca Panamá (proposed by the organizers) = $161.50 (average) double room in All-Inclusive Plan. Maybe can find some cheaper
    • Accomodation for PB from Cuba and Freddy from Colombia is covered by the organizers

Please expand in order to add travel cost estimates for people wanting to attend any of those.

Activities

Please add a cost estimate to any of these.

Getting more GPS devices

A GPS2Go program managed by the latin american chapter

Satellite imagery

Buy some imagery from mapping agencies.

• Which country has more priority/availability?
• Cost estimates?
  • $12.50 per square kilometer GeoEye-1 Pricing

Mapping tour

Akin to the Free Map India mapping tour, the idea is to visit send some people to visit lots of cities and countries in quick succession, having mapping parties and/or quick conferences in each.

A possible route would be the Pan-American Highway, which is already established and covers most of central and south america.

Two options come to mind:

• Buy a car/van in the US, and drive aaaaaall the way down
  • How to enlist?
• Do not use cars at all: just follow the city list and hop on trains, planes and boats

Slum mapping

Use aerial imagery plus walking papers to map slums (Brazilian favelas would be kind of a priority). Strike deals with NGOs operating in the slums, and use the knowledge of the people already working there.

How to do a tour of slum mapping parties?

• Due to safety reasons, mapping in the favelas should be undertaken by Brazilians as the safety risk involved for foreigners is too big. Check if NGOs can assist as they might have established thrust in the various favelas.

Local Latin American server

Devote resources to setting up a latin america rendering server, with localised (spanish, brazilian, etc) feature names, and customised rendering (to match up the existing maps of the countries).

Focused City Events

(Please add any cities needing attention)

Promotions in the media

(Please add any media promotion opportunities)