Technical Steering Committee

   The Technical Steering Committee (TSC) of gvSIG is a group of more than 20 people who are all experts in the different technical areas of the project (SDI, GIS, 3D, mobile devices, documentation, internationalization...). Most of them have been working in the gvSIG project for some years and they belong to different entities, both universities, private companies and public administrations.

Objetives of the TSC

   The Technical Steering Committee is the highest technical authority of the project and it decides on important aspects such as:

• New functionalities to develop
• Software engineering (architecture, methodologies, etc.)
• Project documentation
• Collaborative infrastructure

The Board of Directors 

   This group is composed of the technical leaders of the project. All they are part of the TSC and they have the responsibility to make the most important technical decisions, always based on proposals prepared by the TSC. Therefore, all the members of this group have the highest degree of commitment to the gvSIG project. One member of the Board acts as the coordinator of the entire committee and his main responsibility is to ensure fluid communication both within the group and with the rest of the project.

   The first Board was established as a result of a proposal by the Regional Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport of Valencia region (Spain).

Working Groups of the TSC

   The TSC works through working groups. A new working group is created to manage a new proposal or a new task of some complexity and a member of the Board is appointed as responsible person for it. That person reports to the Board at regular meetings on the progress that his working group is making. Moreover, a working group is not composed exclusively of members of the TSC, any expert on the subject who belongs to the Community can participate.

   These working groups are organized into communication spaces in which they communicate, edit documents collaboratively, and so on. Some of these working groups have one aim in the medium to long term and they prepare proposals to the Board, whereas other working groups are born with a clear objective and therefore they are dissolved when they obtain their objective.

Changes in the membership of the TSC

   The first group of members of the TSC was selected by the Board in an initial round. The members of this group were chosen owing to both its technical capabilities and the role which each member had in the different production areas of the project.

   Now, after this initial testing phase, the TSC can elect its new members. Any member can propose the incorporation of a new member from the gvSIG community and the TSC in full must vote.

   Any member can retire from the TSC voluntarily. Other times, it's necessary to propose the exclusion of a member of the TSC because of different reasons (thoughtless behaviour with other members, incompatibility between his work and being a member of the TSC…). In that case, the Board has to make the final decision.