“FOSS4G” was a term coined in 2004 by Dr. Venkatesh Raghavan of Osaka
City University, Japan,.and at the Conference inauguration at AIT, he
expressed his happiness that the concept is vibrant in its tenth
year.
Inaugurating the Conference, Prof. Kanchana Kanchanasut, Vice
President for Resource Development, AIT stressed the need for a
stronger combination of networking technologies and mapping. Citing the
case of the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, Prof. Kanchana
stated that the cyclone had caused immense destruction and had
obliterated landforms, and this led to an urgent need to create new
maps. She also quoted an example from intERLab’s ad-hoc network using
elephants to run a social network, as she invited the Conference
participants to try similar exercises.
Conference Chair, Prof. Nitin K Tripathi of AIT highlighted how open
source solutions were growing and possess an enormous potential to
benefit people in Asia.
The Conference proceedings were jointly released by Dr. Venkatesh of
Osaka City University, Japan; and Prof. Kanchana, Prof. Tripathi, and
Dr. Sarawut Ninsawat, all from AIT.
Dr. Piyawut Srichaikul, Director, Thailand National Electronics and
Computer Technology Center (NECTEC), while delivering his opening
remarks on “Lesson learn of Open Source R&D and implementation in
NECTEC, Thailand” highlighted the journey of open source software in
the region. He listed five major open source milestones in Thailand,
including the creation of Thai-language extensions, local linux
distributions, office suites, capacity building in open source
software, and open source policy formulation.
“From Digital Earth to the Internet of Places” was the theme of the
opening remarks by Prof. Maria Brovelli of Politecnico di Milano,
Italy. She stated that since 1957, at least 26,000 space objects were
orbiting the Earth, and at this time 3000 space objects are
operational. Sensors abound everywhere on earth and form a virtual
“earth skin,” while satellites have reached a resolution of 31 cms.
Elaborating on “Internet of Things,” Prof. Maria spoke about “Internet
of People” and “Internet of Places” being two critical elements.
The four-day conference which began on 2 December 2014 concludes on 5
December 2014.
A detailed photogallery from the Conference is available at this link:
http://www.foss4g-asia.org/2014/gallery3/
Other Conference details are available at this link: http://www.foss4g-asia.org/2014/
