Google Summer of Code Projects: Open Source Geospatial 4 every student
Are you are university student who has solid programming skills, geospatial knowledge and is continuously aiming to become better at developing open source software? Then you are in for a great summer of coding.
[News] OSGeo is accepted as a mentor organization for GSoC 2017! https://t.co/2Upj5X4aFo #osgeo
— OSGeo (@OSGeo) February 28, 2017
This article is about the opportunity to become a better programmer while working on some really popular open source geospatial software. Does this sound interesting? Keep reading.
What is the Google Summer of Code?
In short, taken from the official website “Google Summer of Code is a global program focused on bringing more student developers into open source software development. Students work with an open source organization on a 3 month programming project during their break from school.”[1]
It might not specifically mention geospatial but there is more. As a student interested in the geospatial realm you should have heard of QGIS, GRASS GIS, gvSIG etc. because those are the people who might be your mentors during the summer.
If you want to learn facts and statistics, then you might as well check out their website. [2]
What do you mean by Open Source Geospatial?
In case you haven’t heard about it before, I’m talking The Open Source Geospatial Foundation, abbreviated as OSGeo, “an organisation whose mission is to foster global adoption of open geospatial technology by being an inclusive software foundation devoted to an open philosophy and participatory community driven development”. [3]
OSGeo, is a veteran organisation and through the Google Summer of Code program it offers the opportunity for students to opportunity to get into real open source software development under the mentorship of experienced software engineers.
This way a wonderful merge of geospatial, programming, and open source resulting into a better programmers, better mentors, and better open source software. While at it you will also receive an stipend from Google. I’ll leave it to you to sort out the details.
Above all, this is the chance to stand on the shoulder of giants and put forward your name as a contributor in the open source realm.
Keep in mind, that you should haven’t planned anything serious in the meantime because the rough estimate is about 30 hours for 12 weeks.
So before you actually commit to GSoC think very, very carefully.
You got me, what do I do now?
First, head over to OSGeo Summer of Code Ideas page. [4] Regardless of how good you are, don’t be that student that starts asking admins around for information that already exists. A smart student will check out the recommendations page on how to increase their chances of being selected. This is a great place to find the resources, tips, and channels to get in touch with the communities to discuss your ideas. [5]
It’s not too late sign up for the mailing list to get the latest information. You’ll need it eventually, so the sooner, the better! Another recommendation is to have in mind the deadline for application and so on, therefore make sure you check out the timeline. [6]
Also, remember that from 20th of March until 3rd of April you have to submit your application. Go get in touch with mentors listed about the ideas they are proposed if you haven’t already done that.
If you would like to know what to expect, feel free to read my next article about the experience I had last summer as a GSoC participant under OSGeo umbrella.
Happy coding,
(GSoC ‘16 participant and OSGeo GSoC Admin ‘17)
The power of open source geospatial solutions [Source]
References and useful links:
[1] https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/about/
[2] https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/resources/stats
[3] http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/about.html
[4] https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code_2017_Ideas
[6] https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/how-it-works/#timeline
