Timeline

All deadlines are preliminary and are subject to change. We are working hard to stay on schedule as much as possible, but sometimes issues may occur. If anything changes we will communicate it on the FOSS4G Europe 2025 public channels and update timings here.

Description

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Europe is the European flagship event of OSGeo - an open, grassroots and dynamic community. We are looking for novel and original submissions on development, use, and advocacy for FOSS4G over a wider array of topics ranging from state-of-software to specific use cases, from building and sustaining an inclusive community to running a successful business around FOSS4G technology, from software technical details to democratic processes and policy making.

Whether you are a seasoned FOSS4Ger or it is your first time presenting, we welcome all contributions - the conference and the FOSS4G community at large flourishes on knowledge and experience shared by diverse voices.

As this is the European regional OSGeo event we are in particular seeking to create dialogue and discussion on developments, opportunities and challenges for the European OSGeo community. As we live in an interconnected world, we are also eager to give space to learning from global perspectives and foster exchange going beyond European borders.

Please keep in mind this is a Free and Open Source Software conference. Submissions promoting restricted license / closed source software will not be accepted.

Session types

A regular talk is allocated to a 30 minute slot:

• 20 minutes for the talk,
• 5 minutes for questions and answers, and
• 5 minutes for the participants to change rooms and next speaker setup.

A lightning talk is a 5 minute speaker slot, with

• 4 minutes for the talk, and
• 1 minute for the next speaker setup.

Submitting a proposal

General topics

When submitting your talk, you will be asked to select one general topic that best defines your contribution. This will help us group similar-themed talks into tracks.

State of software

Recent developments in Free and Open Source Software projects. Maybe tease the audience with a sneak-peek of what’s to come in a release later in the year? Also use this opportunity to inform fellow maintainers about changes to come.

Open Data

Open source software often goes hand-in-hand with open data. Are you using Open Data to build something? Or better yet, are you producing Open Data? A dataset we haven’t heard about? A solution to accessing, storing or archiving open data? Excellent! We are all eager to find out about it, to make decision making processes more transparent and democratic.

Open standards and interoperability across geospatial

Open standards and best-practices help us to be interoperable. They help us share and consume data and integrate software solutions. What are emerging best-practices that could be integrated into a standard? How did you improve interoperability across geospatial computing, i.e. Julia, Python, R or other projects? Or maybe you have thoughts on implementing INSPIRE services? Or maybe you are building something pan-European on top of INSPIRE? Updates on the European Union Location Framework ( EULF) Blueprint?

FOSS4G “Made in Europe”

A special track co-organized with the European Commission to investigate and introduce the many Free and Open Source software tools, data capture and collection and sharing projects carried out at the European Commission, European institutions or funded by them.

Open community

How do you engage people? What project governance models have helped you foster an inclusive community? What makes people want to contribute, and be part of the community. Maybe your local OSGeo chapter? A software user-group? Or maybe you’ve participated in a mapathon and want to share your thoughts. This is most suitable for sharing experiences so we could all grow as individuals and build and sustain our communities better. Sharing is caring.

FOSS4G in education and research

Are you an educator? And you are making your students use Free and Open Source Software? Perfect! We’d like to hear from you how you have managed that. What is the reaction of students? How do you engage them and how do you introduce them to the wonderful world of Free and Open Source Software and the communities that surround them?

Building a business with FOSS4G

You have built a business around supporting and maintaining a FOSS4G solution. This approach shifts the focus to collaboration, transparency and community-driven innovation, setting it apart from the traditional closed-source business model. How do you manage that? What challenges have you faced? What unique advantages has this path brought to your business and your clients?

Transition to FOSS4G

Do you have a success story to share about transitioning a system or workflow to FOSS4G technology? Maybe some lessons-learnt? We would like to hear about it, and have you share your experiences with the rest of the community.

Use cases and applications

You have a very specific use case of doing things with Free and Open Source Software. Maybe you’re leveraging it for spatial or urban planning, optimizing land use and improving spatial decision-making processes? Maybe you work with FOSS4G for AI to do Earth Observation? Or maybe routing? Farming a flock of drones? Making sense of a gazillion points in space and time? Something completely different that we didn’t even imagine Free and Open Source Software could be used for? Maybe you have a successful use case aiding this year’s host country? We are all eager to find novel and interesting ways of solving geospatial puzzles, and to make existing workflows smoother. Something will click in the audience’s heads after hearing your talk.

General theme

In addition you’ll be asked to provide at least one general theme (think of this as a keyword) to describe your submission. You can choose between the following:

• Data access, collection & sharing
• Data processing and analysis
• Spatial machine learning
• Data visualization
• State of software, or new features
• Business & FOSS4G
• FOSS4G at governmental institutions
• FOSS4G and sustainable development goals (SDG)
• FOSS4G for movement, transport, and networks. In space and time, by any subject (water, asphalt, people, birds, animals, air, or even cosmos)
• FOSS4G for crisis / disaster response, civil defence
• FOSS4G for land use planning, land management, monitoring, smart cities, population mapping
• FOSS4G for ocean / marine monitoring
• Drones, sensors, lasers, and remote sensing
• FOSS4G for agriculture
• FOSS4G and environmental observations
• IoT, indoor mapping
• Standards, SDI, INSPIRE, interoperability
• Education
• Community building and participatory FOSS4G

Technical complexity

And finally we would like to ask you to identify the level of technical complexity of your presentation in a 3-point scale ranging from “no previous knowledge needed” to “must be a superexpert to understand”.

Guidelines

There are no formal indications when preparing your contribution for the conference, but please consider the following suggestions:

• FOSS4G is - first and foremost - about open source, so make sure you clearly indicate which projects are essential in your talk
• If your talk is about developments in or a completely new project, please point to the appropriate repository (or repositories)
• Your talk would not be about development of software? Yes! Although software development is in the heart of FOSS4G it is not the only purpose of the conference. The goal is to bring together developers and users, policy makers and open community advocates over the broad sphere of geospatial to share experiences and showcase the power and reach of free and open source software.
• Although we expect many different languages to be present at the conference, the working language for the event is English.
• The more suitable the selection of topic, theme and technical complexity are, the better shaped the final program will be. So, please, help us optimize your time and make the best out of the conference.
• Although we are working hard to provide you with good internet connectivity at the venue, please don’t rely solely on it during your presentation. Things tend to break exactly at the moment of live demonstrations.
• We believe in equality, therefore please keep in mind the talk slot lengths when preparing your presentation. But at the same time be prepared that the hallway discussions on your presentation might continue until the early hours of the morning.
• FOSS4G is an open community of people from various, diverse backgrounds and lived experiences. This is what makes us strong and we care for each other’s well-being. Please keep in mind that a derogatory attitude towards other people or their work is not welcome.
• We are working on making streaming of presentations a reality, however the conference presenters would be expected to be on-site
• And lastly, the success of this event lies in the responsible actions of all participants and organizers alike. If you have confirmed your participation but later on you or none of the co-authors are no longer able to present, please let us know as soon as possible.

Selection process

FOSS4G Europe is a community event and therefore the selection of talks will be predominantly based on an open community voting process. The highest-scoring talks will automatically be included in the program, while others will be reviewed by the volunteer Program Committee.

We will make sure that the conference program will be well-balanced and diverse. Moreover, the Program Committee will work hard to ensure that every OSGeo project has its proper representation. If you are part of some FOSS4G project and want to propose a special session, contact us at info-europe@foss4g.org to make sure we consider the proposal carefully.