WhereCamp EU, an annual unconference (like a conference but with loads of opportunities for participation and flexible scheduling – you can show up and add your own session to the programme on the day!) took place in Berlin at the end of May and several of the JISC geo projects were able to make it along.

WhereCamp EU has a fairly strong focus on “neogeo” – new types of geo technologies and ideas from specialist tools to volunteered geographic information (e.g. OpenStreetMap) and the types of ubiquitous geo usage we see in social media and phone apps like FourSquare. 

The JISC G3 project, which is building an interactive online mapping tool for non geo specialists, used their experience of WhereCamp EU to reflect on how the project team has been making decisions and interesting comparisons between using Google Maps and OpenLayers for their tool. The team have also just returned from the International Summer School in GIS at the University of Malta and their post on whether students need to learn about map projections early in their experience of GIS is well worth a read – and I’m sure Kate and Claire would love to hear your thoughts on their conclusions.

Meanwhile the GEMMA team, who are building a Geospatial Engine for Mass Mapping Applications, went along to WhereCamp to give a sneaky preview of the application but also found the comparison of mapping options a compelling topic so have posted their own experience of selecting between different mapping APIs. Incidentally GEMMA will be showing off more functionality at State of the Map EU in Vienna in July.

To find out more about WhereCamp EU have a look at the official website (or follow them on Twitter – @wherecampeu – for news on forthcoming events), there are also some great write ups on the event by Pedant.dk,  V1 magazine and Oliver O’Brian (on his Suprageography blog).