September 12th, 2013
Call for Expressions of Interest in Hosting GSDI 15 and GSDI 16 Conferences

Ideally GSDI 15 should be held within the time frame of November 2014 to May 2015 and GSDI 16 would be held approximately 12 to 18 months after that.

The GSDI Association is inviting expressions of interest to host either of these conferences. Affiliation with the GSDI World conference can bring international and global attention to a national or regional geospatial conference or Spatial Data Infrastructure initiatives, attract substantial international participation and sponsorship, and increase numbers of attendees overall.

While the GSDI Association can provide substantial support services, we try to work with a competent local organizing committee that is committed to working with broad geospatial stakeholder communities and which has a proven track record of supporting large geospatial events. Many tasks must be accomplished in preparing for a successful conference. The major conference planning and implementation tasks to be accomplished by the parties are open for negotiation. The specification of these tasks is typically set forth in a written agreement between the GSDI Association and a local legal entity such as a local hosting organization or government agency.

Because revenue from the GSDI World Conferences is an important contributor to the Association’s overall budget, organizations proposing to host the next conference(s) should also provide a business case to support their proposal, indicating expected income, expenses and the cost- and revenue-sharing proposal.

Organizations or agencies interested in hosting the 15th or 16th GSDI World Conference should submit a written expression of interest of a maximum of four pages that must include:

• the name of the organization(s) or government agency(s) to serve as the local organizer for the conference,
• the name of the national, regional or global conference with which the GSDI World Conference would be affiliated (if any),
• the country, city and venue proposed for the conference (if known),
• the proposed approximate date for the conference,
• a short statement concerning the resources the local organizers would be able to contribute to the conference and past record in providing such resources,
• the facilities available for the event,
• the benefits to GSDI of affiliating with the organisation and/or event,
• other pertinent information bearing on the success of the conference, and
• the name and contact details for further communications.

Please send your expressions of interest to mgallant@gsdi.org no later than 17 October 2013.

Proposers will have the opportunity to briefly present their expression of interest orally to the GSDI Council at its meeting on Sunday 3 November 2013 in Addis Ababa. A physical spokesperson is not required but highly recommended. Council members will vote on the proposals and thereby indicate the preferred options with which the GSDI officers should negotiate to select the organizers and locations for GSDI 15 and GSDI 16.