Anita Graser receives the 2020 Sol Katz Award

We are honoured to announce that Anita Graser is the recipient of the Sol Katz Award 2020.

Anita Graser is a spatial data scientist and an open source GIS advocate. She is doing mobility research. She is encouraging people to get involved through social media, blog posts, presentations, podcasts & courses at university.

Anita has served on the OSGeo board of directors.

She best known for being involved in QGIS which is one of the most successful OSGeo projects. Anita has served in the QGIS steering commitee since 2013 and authored not less than 7 books on it! Anita also developed the QGIS Time Manager plugin. She lives in Austria and is well known on social media as underdarkGIS.

On behalf of the OSGeo communities we congratulate and thank Anita Graser for all of her contributions.

Thank you Anita, you deserve this.

Read more about Anita Graser in her blog https://anitagraser.com/about/

About the award

The Sol Katz Award for Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) is awarded annually by OSGeo to individuals who have demonstrated leadership in the FOSS4G community. Recipients of the award have contributed significantly through their activities to advance open source ideals in the geospatial realm. The award acknowledges both the work of community members, and pay tribute to one of its founders, for years to come.

https://twitter.com/OSGeo/status/1304084585765109762

You can watch the Sol Katz Award 2020 here.

Anita Graser’s speech after receiving the Sol Katz Award

“As people working in open source projects, we are constantly reminded that we are all standing on the shoulders of giants.

However, particularly this year, we also see just how important small personal connections are. For me, my involvement with open source communities really took off when I joined the QGIS hackfest in Vienna in 2009 and I felt that my participation was really appreciated and welcome. I couldn’t imagine being without these connections anymore.

Thank you to the whole QGIS community, particularly my fellow PSC members both current and former: Tim, Andreas, Jürgen, Richard, Paolo, Otto, Marco Hugentobler, Alessandro, our new chair Marco Bernasocchi, and of course QGIS founder Gary Sherman for starting this awesome project and for still being around and actively promoting geospatial open source by publishing so many great books covering multiple different OSGeo projects.

I’d also like to thank my partner and my family for being incredibly understanding whenever I’m spend my time geeking out over a new programming project, data analysis, forum question, or conference talk.

Thank you also to my friends, colleagues and fellow members of the larger OSGeo community for sharing ideas, providing valuable feedback, and spreading the word about all the great work that’s going on all around us.

I’m constantly amazed by all the innovation happening to nourish and grow our community. And I’m looking forward to continue being a part of these efforts.

Thank you! “