The Latest Update

There has been a bit of confusion about the upcoming WhereCampAfrica. Early in 2009 we collectively made a decision to hold the event in West Africa.

Having spent some time in West Africa in the last few years our team found a very active but very disconnected GIS and mapping community in Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana. Everyone involved thought it would be a great idea to hold an event like WhereCamp to help energize this community collectively. There have been several examples of very successful BarCamps for the more general technology community but none that focus on geospatial technology.

But as the date got closer we started to realize the costs of traveling to West Africa (not just from the US and Europe but from other parts of Africa) we're quite high. Finding an appropriate venue was difficult. My own lack of ability to speak French or pay for translation certainly did not help.

At the same time the annual CGIAR-CSI meeting was also moved from West Africa to East Africa and the 2010 edition of BarCamp Nairobi was in the works. With the odds stacked against us in Mali and with the great opportunity to combine efforts in Nairobi our chances of having a successful event we're much higher in East Africa.

If there is still interest in a West African event we will try again in late 2010 or early 2011.