MapTogether to present on nonprofit mapping at FOSS4G/Australia!

We're very pleased to announce that MapTogether.org's proposed nonprofit mapping session - "Maptivism: GIS for the People!" - has been selected for presentation at this year's Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial Conference to be held in Sydney, Australia this October.  FOSS4G is the annual international conference for developers and implementers of Free/Open Source GIS Software, and this is a great opportunity to share the awesome  neogeography work our communities are doing with the global GIS/mapping development community!

Here is the session proposal that we'll be covering:

From Snow's cholera map of 19th Century London to user-generated maps showing the real-time spread of North American flu in 2009, cartography has long played an important role in helping our societies understand the challenges we face – and the assets at our disposal. Geospatial software has come to the masses: individuals and communities now have access to a wealth of data and tools previously available only to corporations, academia, and governments. Participatory GIS enables community members to share their stories, relate to their homes and communities, and provides invaluable data from the “bottom-up.” The philosophies of open source, open standards, and open data enable these tools – and unprecedented amounts of data – to spread rapidly, resulting in “mashups” more valuable than their component parts. This presentation will explore innovative applications of participatory and analytical GIS tools by organizations working for positive social change in communities around the world.