FOSS4GNA 2026 Events
Monday - November 2
B2B Networking - 4:30-6pm
* This event requires a separate ticket from conference registration, available here or at the Registration desk on the day of the event.
Once a year, FOSS4G North America brings together an extraordinary cross-section of the geospatial community. The B2B Event takes that opportunity a step further, creating an exclusive setting for the decision-makers, business leaders, innovators and influencers shaping where the industry goes next.
This is bigger than open source. It is a rare opportunity to connect directly with leaders from across government, industry, technology, consulting and the broader geospatial ecosystem in a room specifically designed for meaningful business conversation.
This year's event will be highlighted by featured speaker Rishi Madhok, CEO & Co-Founder of TerraByte, whose career at the intersection of geospatial AI, computer vision, Earth observation and emerging technology provides the backdrop for a broader conversation about innovation, commercialization and the business of open source.
Come for the conversation. Stay for the connections. Explore partnerships, meet potential customers and collaborators, exchange ideas with industry leaders, and build relationships with people you may not have another opportunity to meet in one place this year.
There is only one FOSS4GNA B2B Event each year, and there is no substitute for being in the room.
Drinks and food will be provided, giving attendees additional time to connect in a relaxed setting before the broader FOSS4GNA community comes together for the evening.
Whether it is your first or fifteenth time attending a conference, walking into a room of strangers is intimidating. Instead of a nerve wracking networking event, join us for a casual “Backyard” BBQ complete with food, drinks, and games! We welcome back popular favorites from 2023’s Camp FOSS4GNA such as Giant Jenga and Cornhole, friendship bracelet crafts, and the ever popular conference puzzle!
Have a yard game to bring? Reach out here or on the Slack group community page and let us know!
Welcome Icebreaker - 6-8pm
Tuesday - November 3
Night In/Night Out - 6-8pm+
Night Out
Sacramento is America’s Farm to Fork Capital, and the downtown area around the conference is full of amazing restaurants of all varieties! Check out the local cuisine while catch up with old and new friends alike. Once the Whova app is available, set up groups for different restaurants on there.
If you are interested in organizing something that needs a little more planning, sign up below and we’ll work with organizers to get the word out!
Night In
A night out on the town isn’t for everyone, especially after 2 days of conference, so we welcome people to grab a quick dinner or take out and join us for a cozy game night in!
We’ll have puzzles, board games, video games, crafts, and even two informal workshops available!
Haven’t had a chance to see the posters yet? Check them out!
Have a game you’d love to play? Bring it with you!
Interested in getting a group together for a one-shot tabletop game night that might need additional planning before the night? Sign up below!
Drop In Workshops
~ OpenHistoricalMap
Minh Nguyễn & Jeff Meyer
OpenHistoricalMap is building an OpenStreetMap-like map of the world across time. Our coverage of Sacramento is woefully incomplete, almost blank. Learn how to consult a variety of sources to put features on the map, including old maps, directories, reports, and imagery. Get inspired about sources and methods you can use in other localities in North America.
Basic OpenStreetMap editing experience is recommended. Participants will get a brief rundown of differences between the two projects.
~ Hand Drawn Maps
Michele Tobias
Drawing maps by hand has a long history. Hand-drawn maps have applications as art, in designing board games, illustrating manuscripts, and helping plan professional geospatial projects, just to name a few. Today, we often rely on technology to create maps, but there are a number of reasons to work with good ol’ pencil and paper:
Understand an area in greater depth
Explore cartographic decisions before working with digital tools
Assess knowledge of an area, either by yourself or with a group
Create art
It’s fun!
Have a Night In /Night Out Activity Idea?
We’re looking for volunteers to organize informal Tuesday night activities for FOSS4G NA attendees for either the Night In or Night Out.
Have an idea for a group outing to a restaurant? Want to organize an election watch party? Get a group together for a night of table top games?
Reach out on Slack or here with your ideas, or make a post on Whova when available!
Wednesday - November 4
Birds of a Feather - 10:30am to 12pm
Never been to a Birds of a Feather session? A BOF is simply an informal gathering of people who share an interest and want a chance to talk about it together. There is no speaker and no formal agenda. We'll have several groups meeting at tables in the same room, including a QGIS BOF group.
Have something you want to talk about ? Once the Whova app is open to attendees, start your own BOF.
NASA Open Science Essentials - 1-4 pm
Fred Kepner
Free to attend, however RSVPs are being collected during registration to ensure placement in an appropriately sized meeting room.
A core tenet of a researcher's work is the careful collection, analysis, and storage of data. While there are many ways to accomplish this task, scientists at NASA approach the management of their data with openness as a priority.
At NASA, the phrase "open science" is defined as a collaborative culture enabled by technology that empowers the open sharing of data, information, and knowledge within the scientific community and the wider public to accelerate scientific research and understanding. This paradigm allows open science practitioners to foster a collaborative culture that promotes the free exchange of information across many different disciplines.
Practicing open science is not just about being courteous. When data is well-managed and accessible, it opens the door to a wealth of benefits for not only the owner but also their organization, other scientists, the public, and more. Open data, by nature of its ability to be found and used, has a greater chance of being cited and used to advance other scientific discoveries. Consistently improving upon the data, if shared early, also creates opportunities to strengthen its quality by mitigating potential errors and increasing its impact within the discipline.
In an ever-evolving scientific landscape, it is imperative for NASA scientists to make data open and accessible, especially at a government agency whose work is supported by the public. That's why the agency's Office of Data Science and Informatics developed free, self-paced online courses that are open to the global public. One of these courses is Open Science Essentials, which covers a foundational curriculum related to open data, open-source software, and collaborative research practices. The course provides a solid introduction to the world of open science principles and is perfect for students, PhD candidates, postdocs, and citizen scientists who are interested in practicing science at the NASA standard.
NASA's open science educators are looking forward to attending the 2026 FOSS4G NA conference, where attendees can look forward to gaining applicable knowledge through a live instruction of the course. The concepts and skills that participants will glean will not only aid them in their research environments but also in academic and professional settings. Attendees should come to the session prepared to ask questions, discuss how open science principles can be applied to their own real-world experiences, and collaborate with their fellow participants to ideate solutions for a more open, accessible research environment. They will come away from the session knowing how to tackle common hurdles related to adopting open science, build and maintain the standard framework for open science, use the core components of open research, and explore practical tools for licensing, versioning, identifiers, and artificial intelligence.
