Where 2.0 Conference June 13-14, 2006 - San Jose, California

Sign up before April 24 and save $400!

Greetings! Welcome to another Where 2.0 update. I’ve spent a busy two months finding the issues, technology, and people to put on stage at Where 2.0. We’ve just opened registration, so you can see the first wave now, and we’ll be announcing the rest of the program in waves over the coming weeks and months.

Where 2.0 is the new world of location technology, a world of grassroots developers, startups, and disruptive innovations. Geospatial technology was developed and owned by military and government departments and their suppliers, but between open platforms like Google Maps and open source software like MapServer, any developer can now add location to their applications.

Since Google Maps released their mapping API, thousands of developers have built public applications on top of it. Yahoo! and Microsoft released their own mapping platforms, each with distinguishing features (geocoding from Yahoo!, 45-degree aerial photography from Microsoft) and the race is on. We’ll be unveiling the latest APIs that bring GIS tools to the masses.

A number of startups are attempting to build an architecture of participation for mobile and location data. We’ll look to companies like Platial to see where the technology’s going and the lessons they’ve learned in getting there. You’ll see startups, art projects, mash-ups, open source, and more on show at our special hands-on evening event, the Where Fair.

Open source has a role to play in the opening up of geospatial. By providing a low barrier to entry and a minimum set of features, they draw in new developers as they raise the bar for commercial offerings. We’ll look at some of the big names and new players in open source geospatial technology, such as MapServer and GDAL, and show what they make possible.

The format for Where 2.0 will be the same fast-paced plenary format we pioneered last year. When you’re not networking with business contacts in the exhibit hall or schmoozing with innovators at the Where Fair, you’ll be learning from our unique series of rapid-fire presentations from the likes of Mike Liebhold (Institute for the Future), Perry Evans (LocalMatters), Felix Peterson (Plazes), Stewart Butterfield (Yahoo! Inc.), Steve Lombardi (Microsoft), Di-Ann Eisnor (Platial), and Schuyler Erle (MetaCarta).

I’m interested in any companies or projects that you think indicate the future of the Where 2.0 space. There’s still time for you to suggest a speaker or topic, or nominate for the Where Fair. Send me your thoughts.

Join me and the developers, innovators, and business people behind the new era of geospatial software as we come together for Where 2.0, happening June 13-14 at the Fairmont Hotel San Jose - because everything happens somewhere, and it’s all happening here.

Nat Torkington O’Reilly Where 2.0 Conference Program Chair

P.S. Again, don’t miss the April 24 deadline to save $400. Register!

• For news, blogs, and photos from the 2005 edition of Where 2.0.

• For information on exhibition and sponsorship opportunities at O’Reilly conferences, contact Andrew Calvo at (707) 827-7176, or  andrewc at oreilly.com
• To become a media sponsor, contact Yvonne Romaine at (707) 827-7198, or  yromaine at oreilly.com or Margi Levin at (707) 827-7184, or