Colleagues,

It was just by coincidence while i was working on getting data for a research paper  on "How to quantify the economic impact of Open Source Geospatial software "  that i came across  Randal Hale's email's on the difficulties faced by one high school in the USA for Proprietary software updates [1]. It was a clear wake up call on the consequences of Proprietary GIS agenda for schools and education. It was then i decided to send an Open request to  AAG  [2]and humbly request AAG to specifically include Open Education principles firmly in the new Advanced Placement course in Geographic Information Science and Technology (GIS&T).

But on 22nd June 2015 when i read Dave Murray's (GIS Coordinator, City of Westminster, USA ) reply email on this [3] ,i realised that this is a much wider problem  and we need to make all colleagues globally aware of the dangers of falling into some Proprietary vendor's very clever marketing trap.  Dave has kindly given me permission to share his email with the wider geo community  so the wider community is aware of these kind of very clever marketing  and vendor lock-in tactics. It will help others realise the costs of being silent  as it is affecting not just government departments such as City of Westminister in USA and hundreds of other organisations worldwide  but our future generations education opportunities. I am determined to do my best to make sure education is not at the dictates of any vendor.

Dave and  City of Westminster, USA are  just one of thousands who fall in the marketing gimmicks of various proprietary vendor's trap. Unfortunately many are very scared even to discuss this in public.

In fact, the questions i asked AAG is also valid for all other educational initiatives worldwide to avoid them falling into these kind of marketing strategies of some Proprietary GIS vendors. I request all governments, universities in their education policy  worldwide  to look into the following important criteria :

*  What is the guarantee that the proprietary GIS vendor will keep providing free services/software for the long term?
*  If the Proprietary GIS vendor decides to change the costs and other conditions in say 5 or 10 years time what will happen to these hundreds of thousands of students? Can  anyone give us any guarantee.?
*  If so, Who will be paying for this changed conditions later in say 5 or 10 years time?  Will it be the schools who have to pay or the government will give them funding for any changed conditions by the proprietary GIS vendor?
*  If so, How much will be the yearly costs for the whole program  ?
 * What will then be total costs be to transition this to Open Platforms later?

I really hope these thousands of schools and teachers (affecting hundreds of thousands of students) will not fall into this proprietary vendor's marketing trap and be at the mercy of vendor dictates later (in just 3-5 year's time) .  Randal Hale's email has been eye opener for me and i decided to do my best so these schools do not have to suffer when they change their conditions later and the schools are unable or forced to pay these ridiculous costs later (as Dave's organisation City of Westminister have realised later).

It is a wider education problem that as educators we need to be aware of.  It will really be a missed opportunity for a generation and we  should not allow that (esp as we now know the background marketing gimmicks and vendor lock-in tactics and experiences from those affected previously). The schools should be investing precious resources on other important things (getting more teachers, investing in more teaching and learning facilities etc)  NOT being forced to pay   to some Proprietary GIS  vendors for access to their software in the future.

Please don't be fooled by any  1 Billion or 10 or 100 Billion dollar  blah ...blah... "software donation"  clever marketing from any properitery GIS vendor!  

Also organisations like AAG has a difficult dilemma on  will they support Open Principles in Education or will they knowingly lead hundreds of thousands of schools to  Proprietary vendor's trap because of strong sponsorship pressure.  .If a particular proprietary GIS vendor wants their software to be the ONLY one to used for any education program that is not real education but  just a software training program designed to building their user base and agenda in the name of widening geoeducation. I am hopeful AAG and others in similar situation worldwide will choose the right path which is in the interests of educators and students in the long term.

Education means empowerment of educators and students and that is very important to keep in mind. That is why it is important to have open discussions and debates on this (some of my emails on this issue are not even allowed discussion in some mail lists for fear of upsetting sponsor)   .

I am clear that as Educators we have to keep focus on Open Principles in education. For us, who are supporting Open Principles in Education , we do not have the money or power as the vendors, so it is educators like you all who have to make sure the right choices are made as it affects hundreds of thousands of students not only today but our future generations also.Students instead of being developed as creative innovative minds and future innovators and job creators in geospatial will turn to be just mere users of a particular proprietary GIS software. I think this is big moral question for educators and policy makers. The missed economic and innovation opportunities are too big to be quantified. It is not right  to just put properitory vendor interests in education.
 
The aim of "Geo for All"  is to develop on a global basis collaboration opportunities for academia, industry and government organisations  for enabling open education opportunities for all by empowering academics and universities worldwide by using Open Principles in Geo Education . What is the point of teaching GIS to students  and taking away the tools from them after the course and telling them that now you need to buy these expensive Proprietary  software licenses if you want to continue using them after their course (which is what some proprietary GIS vendors would like!)

The key message from all this is there are now many Open alternatives  available for educators to make use of as per their needs. The focus of Geo education should be on the Science and understanding of the geospatial concepts and principles NOT on any particular software only. Open Principles are key for enabling this . Open Principles in Geoeducation will  ensure that our future generations are not at the mercy and dictates of any proprietary  GIS vendor.

Let me make this very clear, we are not  interested in any proprietary GIS vs open  debates BUT it is very important that we keep our eyes open on any developments that undermine Open Principles in education and make sure that is corrected . Other wise it will have long term implications. That is exactly why we had to take action when we realised that there was efforts to undermine Open Standards in LiDAR [4].  Any direct or indirect efforts for creation of monopolies is not good for the wider economy or consumers and it is essential that there is always healthy competition.

I have been advised  by some colleagues to ignore this development as there will be consequences  as the proprietary GIS vendor is very powerful and influential and opposing thier wrong actions and policies are not "adviceable".   But i had to take action  on this key geoeducation initiative as it is the future of thousands of schools and our future generations and we just cannot afford to close our eyes and be silent.

I strongly believe access of good quality education is everyone's birthright and now we are for first time in history getting opportunity to make this possible. We will not accept putting artificial barriers like high cost Proprietary software which will continue denying quality education opportunities for millions of students globally (both in developed and developing countries).

So why should i care ? Because i learned one of the most important lessons in my life in my childhood from my grandmother (who though did not get the opportunity of "proper education" herself taught me the importance of the values of  sharing and about  "Vasudeva Kudumbam" which means "We all belong to one large Universal family" and " Geo for All" is for my Universal family and i will do everything in my abilities to make sure education opportunities are open to all. I do not have the money or power to even dream of matching any proprietary vendor but i have God on my side and that is my greatest strength.

Thank you for your support on this important matter. Together we can help enable good quality education opportunities of all our future generations.

Best wishes,

Suchith Anand
http://www.geoforall.org

[1] http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2015-June/014310.html
[2] http://opensourcegeospatial.icaci.org/2015/06/open-gis-academics-and-educators-please-apply-to-aag-call-before-june-15th-2015/
[3] http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/ica-osgeo-labs/2015-June/001825.html
[4]  http://www.osgeo.org/node/1518




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