The incumbent is pro GIS having invested in it quite a bit. The Gary Post-Tribune describes it as "a computer mapping system similar to Google Earth that can put large amounts of information into an interactive map."

Two others want to cut back on the GIS budget. One candidate wants "to "slash" spending on the GIS, and build it with free software, rather than the proprietary software used by the county's consultants."

Another wants the focus to be on flooding thus he said, "I don't think (GIS) should be a priority."

It says quite a lot about the state of geospatial that such issues should be raised to the public during a local election.

Andrew Ross at Ingres passed on this event invitation. This sounds great - and I think it's time to have such meetings in other locations... any takers?

I would like to announce a free ($0) geospatial event on June 2nd and 3rd in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. This event hosted at the campus of Carleton University. It is an outreach event to showcase the best of open source geospatial software and give attendees the opportunity to listen to industry speakers.

The event is being organized by OSGeo, Ingres, and Carleton University. It is known as Geocamp2008 (also known as osbootcamp6). More information can be found at the osbootcamp web site under osbootcamp6. It can also be found under OSGeo's events calendar for June. This event takes place the day before the Geotec conference in Ottawa.