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<TITLE>US SOTM Announcement and Call for Papers</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'><B>U.S. State of the Map National Conference: Call for Papers
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'>The OpenStreetMap-US National Chapter is proud to announce the first annual U.S. State of the Map Conference will be held August 14-15, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia. This fun-filled and informative two day event will showcase presentations from some of the best and brightest members of the US OSM community and provide a platform to introduce the world’s largest online collaborative open geodata project to a larger American audience.<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'><B><I>Location</I></B> <BR>
The conference will be held at the Georgia World Congress Center (<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://www.gwcc.com/">http://www.gwcc.com/</a></U></FONT>), located in the heart of Atlanta, Georgia; directly across the street from CNN World Headquarters and the Georgia Aquarium. <BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'><B><I>Call for Papers</I></B> <BR>
OpenStreetMap-US invites submissions from mappers, academics, policy makers, developers, geo-hackers, business leaders and open geodata supporters around the country. So, if you are involved in OpenStreetMap as a mapper, developer, community organizer – or if you use OSM in your business, research or other projects, we encourage you to submit your presentation. Submission is open to everyone in the community, no matter how new you are to the project. <BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'><B><I>Key Contacts</I> <BR>
</B>If you would like to submit a paper, please contact US-SOTM Speaker Committee chairwoman Kate Chapman at <FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="papers@maploser.com">papers@maploser.com</a><BR>
</U></FONT></SPAN></FONT><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'><FONT FACE="Helvetica, Verdana, Arial">Please note that the email for paper submissions will change as the State of the Map US website (</FONT><FONT FACE="Arial"><a href="http://stateofthemap.us/">http://stateofthemap.us/</a></FONT><FONT FACE="Helvetica, Verdana, Arial"> ) is completed. A notice will be posted to the talk-us list when that change occurs, likely towards the later part of this week.<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'><B><I>For More Information</I></B><I> </I> <BR>
To find out more information about the US State of the Map Conference, please visit us at <FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_United_States/US_SOTM">http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_United_States/US_SOTM</a></U></FONT></SPAN></FONT><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'><FONT FACE="Helvetica, Verdana, Arial"> <<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_United_States/US_SOTM">http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_United_States/US_SOTM</a></U></FONT>> </FONT><FONT FACE="Arial"> or <a href="http://stateofthemap.us/">http://stateofthemap.us/</a><BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'><B><I>To Get Involved</I></B> <BR>
And, as always, if you are interested in helping plan the event, secure sponsors, pick speakers or just want to find out more about how things are shaping up, please join us on our weekly conference calls. These calls are completely open. The call in details can be found on the wiki page listed above. <BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'>We look forward to seeing everyone in Atlanta, Georgia this August! Here’s to making our inaugural national OSM conference a success and the first of many more to come.<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'>Cheers,<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'>The US State of the Map Planning Committee</SPAN></FONT><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'><FONT FACE="Helvetica, Verdana, Arial"><BR>
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