Make maps better, together — collaborative mapping the GitHub Way

What if we treated geodata with the same respect that geeks treat code? What if we took the best aspects of open source and made mapping a team sport? Like Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap has already proven that open is better then closed, that crowds will beat out institutions, and that collaborative is better than proprietary, but can that philosophy be extended to curating open geographic data for decision making, not just the information underlying it?

We’ll discuss the impending open source revolution within the GIS sphere, and take a look at how collaborative forces from the open source world are shaping a more distributed geographic workflow, especially as it relates to government open data. How long will it be before you fork your city’s geographic data? Before you diff it? Brief talk focusing on specific case studies and challenges.