FOSS4G is the global conference focused on Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial, organized by OSGeo. In 2011, FOSS4G will be held in Denver, after being held in Barcelona, Sydney and Cape Town the past three years. The last North American FOSS4G event was in Victoria, BC, in 2007.

Recent years have seen substantial changes in the geospatial industry. One of those changes has been the growth in maturity and adoption of free and open source solutions. In many cases organizations are using a mixture of open and closed source solutions.

With the growth in interest in open source solutions, combined with the fact that FOSS4G has not been in North America since 2007, we anticipate a great audience for FOSS4G 2011, around 1000 people. We also expect strong media coverage. We have an experienced organizing committee and have teamed with GITA (the Geospatial Information and Technology Association), who have many years of experience organizing geospatial conferences. In addition to the well established core audience for FOSS4G, we will have a strong marketing program to reach out to newcomers to open source. Denver is a hub of geospatial activity and we expect good local attendance in addition to our nationwide and international audience. For many attendees it will be a new and different experience, not just the same old geospatial conference that they attend year after year in the US.