Reasons for the Public Sector to Attend FOSS4G North America
When I talk to people in public service about open source GIS, I typically hear one of a few things:
They are avid users of FOSS GIS software already
They know about it, but are worried about hiring people or integrating with existing technology
They know about it, but are concerned about obtaining commercial support
They are curious about how it could add to the skill base they already have in the tools their organization already uses.
They have questions about how to migrate from their existing GIS solution.
Each of these groups, other than the avid users, often wants to hear from people already using the technology. They want to hear how open source software can integrate with their existing tools, and what open source tools make possible. This year’s conference has sessions and resources for every one of these groups!
FOSS4G NA brings together the developers of open source technology, the businesses that provide commercial offerings of the tools, and the users of the software. This mix provides the opportunity for attendees to discover possible applications for their needs. It is also a great environment to meet people they can hire to customize the products, provide help, and/or integrate the solutions into their existing workflows. For anyone interested in learning how free and open source tools can integrate with their work, it is a one-stop shop for getting your questions answered.
Even better, the conference is friendly and fun! It is big enough to bring people from around the world, but small enough to be approachable for those new to the conference or new to open source.
Extend your training and travel budgets
For Northern California public sector employees with limited travel and training budgets, the conference provides half-day training workshops for only $100, in addition to the numerous relevant sessions available without long-distance travel. The venue is two blocks from the Capitol, providing convenient access for those who already work in Sacramento, and an exciting environment for those coming from out of town.
Extend your software budget
Open-source geospatial tools such as QGIS, PostGIS, GeoServer, and GDAL carry no licensing fees. For budget-constrained agencies and educational institutions, learning to replace or supplement commercial GIS licenses with free and open-source software can free up budgets as well as growing staff skills.
Develop reproducible methods and tools
Open source software is a critical component of the reproducible data science movement. Deploying data pipelines with open source components allows governments to maintain capabilities over the long term. This also facilitates the transition from pilot projects to arbitrarily large projects on high performance computing assets using the same software stack.
Align with your mission
Plenaries and sessions have topical relevance, mission alignment, and directly applicable skills. The 2026 program themes are extremely relevant to today’s top issues - open data, water policy, wildfire and hazard applications, and environmental resilience - in addition to its focus on open source software, supporting public entity missions of transparency and openness.
The conference is approaching fast, so register today! For organizations wishing to pay by purchase order, you can choose options for that during registration.