Origin

   The gvSIG project was born in 2004 within a project that consisted in a full migration of the information technology systems of the Regional Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport of Valencia (Spain), henceforth CIT, to free software. Initially, It was born with some objectives according to CIT needs. These objectives were expanded rapidly because of two reasons principally: on the one hand, the nature of free software, which greatly enables the expansion of technology, knowledge, and lays down the bases on which to establish a community, and, on the other hand, a project vision embodied in some guidelines and a plan appropriate to implement it.

Vision and Mission

   The vision of the gvSIG project was born in response to a series of questions we posed at the beginning of the project: 

• How do we interpret the model of free software?
• What can we do to be a lasting and sustainable in the time project?
• How can we build a strong community?

   It's necessary to place the answers to these questions in the prevailing situation in FOSS4G in 2004. We began a project of free software in a moment where the solutions in the field of FOSS4G were not as mature as they are today and where there were, and remain, different ways of interpreting the model of free software. It was an environment where we were very used to seeing free software projects which almost ended before starting because of different causes, or which perpetuated with a residual impact without causing significant changes in the prevailing system. In this environment, the only relevant actors were a handful of proprietary software multinational companies.                      

   Structurally, we believe the way in which the development of knowledge advances can be classified into two major categories:

• Making different groups rival around a specific theme or problem and they use the acquired knowledge as the main argument and they speculate with it.
• Turning the gained knowledge into shared knowledge, in order that the more groups can participate, the better the problem will be solved and the better the topic in question will be developed.

   The main aim of the gvSIG project is to change the currently dominant model, based on speculation of the acquired knowledge to advance individually, to a model based on shared knowledge and collaboration to advance together. Definitively, working from the field of Geomatics for a better and more fair model.

Interpreting the model of free software 

   The gvSIG project differs from other free projects in which its interpretation goes beyond the purely technical and it establishes relation with economic and ideological aspects. It applies free technology to Economy and Ideology and each of which interacts with the others two.

   Free software must be something more than just sharing source code or binary ones, rather than sharing knowledge. Sharing knowledge should not be an end in itself but a means to an end, one way of achieving some aims, the mission of the gvSIG project.

Values

   The conviction that the advancement and technological progress will always be more efficient if the results of R&D projects, discoveries and their documentation are shared, than if they are hidden and kept outside the knowledge of the community.

  Based on the principle of efficiency in technological and scientific progress, the gvSIG project claims to work making R&D projects and implementing technological solutions according to social needs. Always guaranteeing the freedom of choice through the technological independence aspect of the free software.

Collaboration, shared knowledge, solidarity, trust, democratic functioning and loyalty are among the necessary and essential values to carry out successfully the mission of the gvSIG project.

gvSIG Community

  The gvSIG Community includes all people and entities that cooperate with each other in various areas related to the gvSIG project. These people can be users, developers, testers, translators… The gvSIG Community seeks the continuous improvement and dissemination of the gvSIG project and FOSS4G, always with a collaborative spirit.

Professional Structure of gvSIG

  The Professional Structure of the gvSIG project includes the team that performs all tasks related to the maintenance of the project. This team is responsible for maintaining the following areas in constant contact with the Community:

• Strategy
• Commercial
• Architecture, Development and Publishing
• Technical Collaborations
• Documentation
• Testing
• Internationalization
• Communities
• Product
• Infrastructure and Web spaces

Consult members of the gvSIG Professional Structure.

gvSIG Association

   The final objective of the “Association for the promotion of FOSS4G and the development of gvSIG", gvSIG Association, is the sustainability of the gvSIG project .
   Around democratic values and values of solidarity of the free software, the gvSIG Association promotes the development of a new business model based on cooperation and shared knowledge. Part of the benefits from these business activities will back into the gvSIG project.
  The sustainability of the gvSIG Project is based on maintaining the professional structure of gvSIG and the necessary infrastructures of the gvSIG Community.

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.

The regulations include the following sections:

• Meetings of the Technical Steering Committee
• Changes in the membership of the TSC
• Changes in the membership of the Board of Directors

Meetings of the Technical Steering Committee

   In general, any meeting must always be reflected in the private area of the Technical Steering Committee (TSC), creating a folder for that purpose. The TSC has two main folders, one for the TSC in full and another for the Board.

Regular meetings

• Frequency and schedule: Regular meetings will be held the first and third Monday of each month or the next working day if that day is a public holiday. Meetings will take place from 9.30 to 11.30 am (GTM+1 in winter, GTM+2 in summer).
• Preparing the Agenda: The agenda for each meeting will be prepared the previous week and the coordinator will have the responsibility of preparing a document and an initial proposal for the meeting. After creating the document, the coordinator shall notify all Board members that they can propose new issues for discussion at the meeting as well as changes to the order of the issues because all issues probably may not be discussed at one meeting. Those agenda items that may not be discussed at one meeting, won't be removed. They will be proposed for the next meeting.

Structure of a meeting

  A regular meeting of the Board will have some fixed issues and there will be time limit to discuss each of those issues to ensure that the meeting is productive and aimed at solving problems.

• Review scheduled tasks (10 minutes): Those members who have some scheduled task will report on the state of that task. If they want to present some kind of documentation, it's better they put that documentation on the agenda of the meeting directly or as related content.
• Review of the status of the working groups of TSC (2-3 minutes per group): Each leader of a working group will give a brief summary of the tasks that his/her working group is carrying out.
• Core of the meeting (1h 30minutes): The issues that have been included in the agenda of the meeting will be discussed one by one with the aim of tackling most of them.
• Next meeting (5 minutes): Review items on the agenda for the next meeting.
• Pending matters (5 minutes): Allocation of tasks for the next meeting.

 Minutes

   Each meeting will have a minute which will summarize the issues discussed and the decisions and activities which have been agreed.

Changes in the membership of the TSC

Votes

   In general, the changes in the membership of the TSC shall be approved by a qualified majority of 50% of the votes cast and the quorum of that meeting shall be at least two third (2/3) of the voting membership.

Acceptance of new members

   Any member of the TSC(including the Board) can propose the incorporation of a new member from the gvSIG community and the TSC in full must vote. It is desirable that the acceptance of a new member is properly justified to provide elements for discussion if necessary. Specifically, the procedure will be:

1. Any member of the TSC may contact the nominee to confirm that that person wants to belong to the TSC. This is an informal preliminary contact, but it's necessary to avoid making an unnecessary proposal.
2. Any member of the TSC (or the coordinator on behalf of that candidate) may make a nomination, that basically consists of the following steps:
   
   1. Create a new folder with a descriptive title, for example "Acceptance of (nominee's name) in the TSC”.
   2. Create a text document with the same title in that folder.
   3. Copy the template “template of acceptance of a new member in the TSC” in that document and complete it.
   4. Include the members of the TSC as collaborators of the document.
   5. Add a comment to inform the members of the TSC about this nomination for discussion.
3. The coordinator is responsible for opening and closing the voting period.
4. If the nominee is accepted:
   
   1. A new ticket will be opened in the Trac of activities to notify there is a new member in the portal group.
   2. That person will be included as collaborator in the forum and the other members will welcome him and say to him where the relevant documentation is.
5. If the nominee is not accepted, the nominee will be also notified.

 The Board of the TSC can't accept new members in the TSC unilaterally, the nominations only can be approved by the TSC in full.

Exclusion of members

   At any time, a member of TSC may request his voluntary exclusion of the TSC. That person only needs to communicate it formally to the coordinator, who will inform the other members of the TSC through the forum.

On the other hand, the following situations will cause the irrevocable exclusion of a member:

• Gross misconduct with other members of the TSC.
• Criticize in public gvSIG or the gvSIG Association.
• Lack of continued activity in the TSC (participation in voting, in working teams, etc.).
• Incompatibility with his duties in the TSC owing to:
  
  • A conflict of interests between the TSC and the entity with which that member has a professional relationship.
  • Lack of time to carry out his duties in the TSC.

 The procedure to handle a non-voluntary exclusion from the TSC is as follows:

1. Any member of the TSC communicates the coordinator about any of the above situations.
2. The coordinator includes that issue in the agenda of the next regular meeting of the Board to discuss it.
3. The Board discusses the issue in a meeting, although it can be discussed on more than one meeting or off-line through the portal. The Board may request additional information from the informant or from the member involved to determine if that member must be excluded from the TSC.
4. The Board votes and decides if that member is excluded.

When the exclusion of a member from the TSC is approved, the coordinator must:

1. Request the exclusion of that user from the Plone group of the TSC.
2. Inform the other members of the TSC about the exclusion of that member through the forum and ask them to remove the member of any document in which he was a collaborator.
3. Exclude that user from the general forum of the TSC.

 Moreover, if that member gives up the project completely, the coordinator will follow the general procedure to request the exclusion of that member from the rest of the services (SVN, trackers, etc.).

Changes in the membership of the Board of Directors

Votes

   In general, the changes in the membership of the Board shall be approved by a qualified majority of 50% of the votes cast and the quorum of that meeting shall be at least two third (2/3) of the voting membership.

Acceptance of new members

 To become a member of the Board of the TSC, it's necessary to fulfil the following requirements:

• Have belonged to the TSC for at least a year.
• Have collaborated actively in at least two working groups.

 These requirements aim to ensure that nominees already have some experience about how the TSC works internally and knowledge in-depth of the gvSIG project and its technical management institutions.

   Both the nominee and any member of the Board can propose the incorporation of a new member in the Board. In any case the nominee (or the person who has nominated him) must submit an application to the Board stating the reasons for wishing to belong to that group. Then, the Board may ask the candidate the questions that the Board deems appropriate.

 Specifically, the procedure will be:

1. Any member of the Board may contact the nominee to confirm that that person wants to belong to the Board. This is an informal preliminary contact, but it's necessary to avoid making an unnecessary proposal.
2. Any member of the Board (or the coordinator on behalf of that candidate) may make a nomination, that basically consists of the following steps:
   
   1. Create a new folder with a descriptive title, for example "Acceptance of (nominee's name) in the Board” in the private area of the Board.
   2. Create a text document with the same title in that folder.
   3. Copy the template “template of acceptance of a new member in the TSC” in that document and complete it.
   4. Include the members of the Board as collaborators of the document.
   5. Add a comment to inform the members of the Board about this nomination so that they can include their comments in that text document.
3. The coordinator is responsible for opening and closing the voting period.
4. If the nominee is accepted:
   1. A new ticket will be opened in the Trac of activities to notify there is a new member in the portal group.
   2. That person will be included as collaborator in the forum.
5. If the nominee is not accepted, the nominee will be also notified. 

Exclusion of members

   A member of the Board and any other member of the TSC are excluded by the same reasons and following the same procedure of exclusion. The only difference is the seriousness of the situation, since the Board is the highest technical authority of the project.

   At any time, a member of the Board may request his voluntary exclusion of the Board. That person only needs to communicate it formally to the coordinator, who will inform the other members of the Board through the forum.

 On the other hand, the following situations will cause the irrevocable exclusion of a member from the Board:

• Gross misconduct with other members of the TSC.
• Criticize in public gvSIG or the gvSIG Association.
• Lack of continued activity in the Board (participation in voting, in working teams, etc.).
• Incompatibility with his duties in the Board or in the TSC owing to:
  
  • A conflict of interests between the TSC and the entity with which that member has a professional relationship.
  • Lack of time to carry out his duties in the Board.

 The procedure to handle a non-voluntary exclusion from the Board is as follows:

1. Any member of the group communicates the coordinator about any of the above situations.
2. The coordinator includes that issue in the agenda of the next regular meeting of the Board to discuss it.
3. The Board discusses the issue in a meeting, although it can be discussed on more than one meeting or off-line through the portal. The Board may request additional information from the informant or from the member involved to determine if that member must be excluded from the Board.
4. The Board votes and decides if that member is excluded.

 When the exclusion of a member from the Board is approved, the coordinator must:

1. Request the exclusion of that user from the Plone group of the TSC.
2. Inform the other members of the TSC about the exclusion of that member through the forum and ask them to remove the member of any document in which he was a collaborator.
3. Exclude that user from the general forum of the TSC.

Moreover, if that member gives up the project completely, the coordinator will follow the general procedure to request the exclusion of that member from the rest of the services (SVN, trackers, etc.).

The gvSIG Professional Structure is formed by the following members:

How to get support for gvSIG?

• Community services

  
  
  • Free access to documentation.  If you need answers to your questions or to know technical aspects of the gvSIG products, you can access the documentation area of the project, where you'll find both the official documentation which the Professional Structure of gvSIG has developed and maintained and the contributions made by the Community.
  • Community Support. The gvSIG Association gives support to users as well as developers through a series of distribution lists.

• Professional services

  
  

   The gvSIG Association includes the companies who are the main driving forces of the gvSIG project and its aim is to guarantee the sustainability of the gvSIG project. Considering the democratic and the solidarity values of the free software, the gvSIG Association promotes the development of a new business model based on cooperation and knowledge sharing. Part of the benefits generated will be returned to the gvSIG project for its strengthening and growing.

   The gvSIG Association has experts in various technologies and FOSS4G projects.

  Our services:

  • Consulting and software development
  • Technical support
  • Training

 More information and contact details: http://www.gvsig.com

   The News Office aims to search new places where spreading its communication and diffusion strategies so that the Community can know and assess the work of the gvSIG project.

Events

Access to the events and meetings organized by the gvSIG community.

News

Access to the news related with gvSIG.

Press releases

Access to the press releases related with gvSIG.

Media Plan

 The media plan includes a series of media of different kinds (journals, websites, blogs, social networks) to which the News Office sends out press releases related to the gvSIG project.

 If you want to be part of the media plan, please contact us through: press@gvsig.com [ Specify "New media" in the Subject line]

 If you want to send a story to the News Office of gvSIG, please contact us through: press@gvsig.com [ Specify "News" in the Subject line]

Contact Information

Contact us through: press@gvsig.com

• La Asociación gvSIG nominada a los premios ‘LLGA|Cities Pilot the Future’ por la ciudad de San Francisco (tercerainformacion.es - 23/03/2013) ( 96KB)
• Inauguran maestría de “Geomática Libre” en Bolivia (eldiario.net - 22/03/2013) ( 48KB)
• Programa Cartografía Comunitaria está presente en Caroní (nuevaprensa.com.ve - 28/02/2013) ( 121KB)

• La Junta de Castilla-La Mancha inicia la elaboración de un Mapa de Suelo Industrial para ofertarlo a grupos empresariales (vocesdecuenca.com - 08/12/2012) ( 90KB)
• Embrapa Rondônia apresenta dados sobre a cultura de eucalipto (rondoniadinamica.com - 13/11/2012) ( 37KB)
• Fomento prepara un mapa de suelo industrial mediante capas gvSIG que facilitará la búsqueda de terrenos (europapress.es - 12/11/2012) ( 334KB)
• MTOP lanza programa educativo de georreferenciación para computadoras del Plan Ceibal (presidencia.gub.uy - 30/08/2012) ( 22KB)
• Software que cambiará la forma de aprender geografía en Uruguay (subrayado.com.uy - 29/8/2012)
• La 'app' que crea rutas para cultivar (El Mundo de Valencia - 23/7/2012) ( 300KB)
• 'Software' libre para el campo (floridauniversitariatic.files.wordpress.com - 7/06/2012) ( 230KB)
• 'España virtual', un puente para unir la geografía e internet (elmundo.es - 27/05/2012) ( 1MB)
• Alumnado de Jaén colabora con Florida Universitària en la creación de tecnología agrícola (http://noticias.tusestudios.com) ( 202KB)
• La Comunidad presenta una aplicación informática para el seguimiento de la flora protegida de la Región de Murcia (20minutos.es - 19/02/12) ( 103KB)
• Vieira do Minho implementou Sistema de Informação Geográfica (correiodominho.com - 18/02/12) ( 88KB)
• Patrimonio pone en marcha una nueva aplicación informática para la gestión de yacimientos arqueológicos (que.es - 30/01/12)( 231KB)

• Bonig: “Las ventajas del sofware libre de la Generalitat facilitan la labor de los Registradores de la Propiedad” (El Periodic.com - 17/11/11)
• Senplades capacita sobre software libre a entidades (El Telégrafo - 12/05/11)
• Nuevos Servicios de Cartografía Digital y Asistencia Tecnológica en el Ministerio de Producción, Trabajo y Turismo (Suplemento Agropecuario - 21/03/11)
• Una asociación española desarrollará software libre para el Plan Ceibal uruguayo (Qué.es - 22/03/11) (Diario Vasco - 21/03/11) (ABC - 21/03/11) (Info7.mx - 21/03/11)
• La misión comercial correntina en Europa formalizó convenios para el sector forestal (Sietepuntas Digital - 18/03/11) (Diario El Litoral - 20/03/11)
• El Futuro del Software Libre en España (Computing.es - 07/03/11)
• Instituciones públicas venezolanas migrarán a Software Libre sus Sistemas de Información Geográfica (Gaceta Tecnológica - 29/01/11)
• La UMH, miembro de Honor de una asociación nacional que promociona el uso de un software libre en los estudios geográficos (El Periodic.com - 27/01/11)

• La Asociación gvSIG nombra socio de honor a la UJI por su difusión de la geomática libre (La Plana al día - 17/12/10)
• Capacitación avanzada en catastro - Sistema gvSIG (Curso) (Radio Municipal 92.9-93.3 (La Rioja- Argentina)- 19/11/10) (Delinteriorpuntocom (La Rioja- Argentina)- 19/11/10) (La Rioja es Noticia (La Rioja- Argentina)- 19/11/10)
• Información geospacial (Curso) (elperiódico Jujuy - 17/11/10)
• Curso general de gvSIG en el Col·legi Oficial de Biòlegs (Levante-El Mercantil Valenciano - 28/10/10)
• Nuevo sistema para mejorar la calidad del aceite de oliva (DiarioJaen - 08/10/10) (247 KB)
• Las imágenes y datos satelitales muestran un avance de cosecha de caña del 56,9% del área plantada (La Gaceta - 27/08/10)
• Soberanía informática será debatida en Caracas (CiudadCCS - 10/07/10)
• Sistemas de Información Geográfica libres son mejores que los privativos (Agencia Venezolana de Noticias (AVN) - 08/07/10)
• 700 personas inscritas en 2das Jornadas gvSIG (YVKE Radio Mundial) - 08/07/10)
• 2as Jornadas de Latinoamérica y Caribe de gvSIG (CiudadCCS - 07/06/2010) ( 63 KB)
• CCPA: une formation aux logiciels libres pour les élus et secrétaires des communes; (La Voix du Nord - 30/04/2010) ( 69 KB)
• Odprt program za odkrivanje narave (Primorski Dnevnik - 14/04/2010) ( 1.7 MB)
• Paz Olmos: “El I Congreso de Arqueología ha sido un éxito” (elperiodic.com - 15/01/2010) ( 162 KB)

• Ambiente: Controllo territorio, nuovo programma informatico (regione.fvg.it - 27/11/2009) ( 42 KB)
• III jornadas Regionales geográficas y ordenamiento territorial en Rio Gallegos (Elperiodicoaustral.com - 30/10/2009) ( 212 KB)
• 'Software' libre valenciano con recorrido internacional (Elpais.com - 08/01/2009) ( 55.1 KB)
• Crean un sistema informático de apoyo para aprender geografía (Lasprovincias.es - 07/01/2009) ( 55.1 KB)
• La Conselleria de Infraestructuras y Transporte está trabajando en las pruebas de un prototipo de instalación de seguimiento de flotas en una máquina quitanieves (Europapress.es - 07-01-2009) ( 55.8 KB)

• El software valenciano conquista el mundo (Elmundo.es - 03-12-2008) ( 44.8 KB)
• Valencia acoge en diciembre las jornadas de gvSIG sobre las novedades de la herramienta de gestión territorial (Europapress.es - 11-11-2008) ( 44.8 KB)

• Paterna y la Coordinadora acuerdan un plan para evitar el deterioro de la Vallesa (Levante-emv.com - 12/11/2007) ( 130.2 KB)