The Community is a really important part of the gvSIG project. We want the Community to be the leader of this free software project's growth. The Community will decide its future and the work that has to be done. We understand the gvSIG Community in a broad and iclusive sense, with different profiles of collaboration from different geographical areas concerned on various topics, in order to reach every corner of our planet.

When we speak about the concept of community, do we refer to users or developers who voluntary invest their time by improving gvSIG? Be aware taht invest does not mean to donate!! Of course, we are refering to all those people who follow and defend the gvSIG project, but not only to them. It is well known that there is a big ecosystem composed of Public Administrations, companies, Universities, Institutes, Laboratories, NGOs and many more that uses, customizes and adds functionalities to gvSIG. All these groups are a substantial part of the gvSIG Community and all the work done for each of them will revert to the profit of the others.

We are convinced that the common interest is the motor that will make possible the coordination between public and private institutions and collaborators in general, in order to work with the geographical information in a more fair way. This conviction follows one of our premisses: “convert acquired knowledge into shared knowledge”. This transformation needs others components to reach a good point. For instance, the respect for the diversity, because there is not any human group equal to the other. Each of them will have its own needs, knowledges, organization structure, etc.

From the gvSIG's viewpoint we understand that the people who live, work, suffer and enjoy its environment, are the key to identify which are their needs and also decide in which way transformations should be. This is the way we want to be able to accompany the process of expansion and transformation through people organized in groups leading the gvSIG Project in their environment.

We consider that the active participation of the people interested in gvSIG is essential. But not any type of participation; to achieve a common goal is necessary first to define this goal, the ways and tools to get it and furthermore effort, time and dedication.

For us, the groups of communities are seen as the change agents of the gvSIG project, from each according to its capacity to resolve the problems related to the management of the geographic information in their environment. We believe that transformation will come from groups of real organized persons (in opposite to virtual people on the net) with common interests. Each person could develop itself as a part of a group, being each group an important part of what we are calling gvSIG Community.

We believe that the reward is great and worths the risk (because any kind of bet involves a risk) and effort towards setting up a solid, open and organized community. If you feel identified with this approach, we invite you to:

1. to participate in already created community groups ( geographical o thematic groups: list_groups_comm) by contacting any of their coordinators.
2. to think about creating a new group to join our community. The first step is to put in contact with the Community Manager ( Professional_Estructure_of_gvSIG), who will give you information to start with (To_start_with). In case you are a coordinator who is looking for more information about the organization of groups of communities, please have a look to this link (Information_for_Coordinators)