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Summary of Geo4LibCamp 2023 Meeting Notes

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The group notes Geo4LibCamp are dozens of pages long. Below is an AI generated summary.

Monday, July 24: Foundations and Introductions

The week began with lightning talks and workshops that set the stage for emerging trends in geospatial metadata and discovery tools:

  • Karen Majewicz introduced key concepts in the Aardvark metadata schema.
  • Eric Larson demonstrated a streamlined Aardvark workflow application for managing metadata.
  • Stace Maples and Eliot Jordan presented updates on IIIF extensions, including AllMaps and navPlace, for web-based georeferencing and spatial context.
  • The group previewed Machines Reading Maps, a new AI-driven approach to extracting text and features from historical maps.
  • A hands-on workshop introduced participants to geospatial raster and vector data in R.

Tuesday, July 25: Open Workflows and Mapping Politics

  • The morning included group attendance at the GIS Librarians for Open Workflows (GLOW) virtual forum, which focused on instructional design, professional roles, and sustainable GIS education.
  • In the afternoon, Michal Migurski gave a keynote on PlanScore.org, highlighting how geospatial analysis can help combat gerrymandering by scoring redistricting plans based on fairness metrics.
  • Unconference discussions explored Felt’s mapping tools, collaborative georeferencing project planning, and deeper applications of AllMaps within GeoBlacklight environments.

Wednesday, July 26: Metadata, Formats, and Community Tools

  • Brynn Kramer delivered a keynote on the Conrad Collection, revealing how digitization and cataloging workflows uncovered powerful narratives hidden in a historic engineering map collection.
  • Unconference sessions focused on metadata schema alignment (particularly Aardvark), cloud-optimized formats like COGs and PMTiles, and the use of serverless tools to reduce infrastructure complexity.
  • Topics included multispectral imagery workflows, derivative file management, and strategies for integrating georeferenced content into discovery platforms.

Thursday, July 27: Collaborative Working Sessions

The day was devoted to group work around shared technical interests. Focus areas included:

  • Enhancing workflows for Machines Reading Maps and understanding how AI can improve access and discovery of map content.
  • Implementing IIIF georeferencing workflows with AllMaps and expanding support for annotations and metadata linking.
  • Addressing governance, tooling, and sustainability for the GeoBlacklight and Geo4Lib communities.

Friday, July 28: GeoBlacklight Working Day

The final day continued with working sessions around GeoBlacklight development and community direction. Topics included:

  • Optimizing metadata pipelines for ingest and discovery.
  • Comparing cloud-native infrastructure with traditional GeoServer-based architectures.
  • Discussing long-term governance, sustainability, and the evolving scope of the Geo4Lib community.