New York, NY & Washington, DC – April 9, 2014 — Boundless, the leading provider of open source geospatial software and services, will host a meetup, Is Your Map Sexist? Why Women in Geospatial Matter, onThursday, April 10 at 6:30 pm at their offices in Arlington, VA. This free event is open to anyone interested in starting a dialogue and raising awareness of this important issue.
A panel of well-known women in geospatial — including Kate Chapman of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, Liz Lyon of the MapStory Foundation, Bonnie Bogle of MapBox and Alyssa Wright from Boundless — will discuss the importance of, and hurdles to, having diversity when creating representative geospatial applications.
“Diversity in geospatial is tremendously important, both to contribute the huge amount of data needed in creating maps and applications, and to overcome filters that individuals naturally possess, ” said Eddie Pickle, CEO of Boundless. “When inputs come from a broader and more inclusive group of contributors, the data created are better and less biased on many levels. Given the importance of maps and location data within government and business applications, we believe it’s important to promote diversity in tech in general, and in geospatial tech in particular.”
Event Details
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WHEN: Thursday, April 10, 2014, 6:30 – 9:00 PM
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WHERE: Boundless Offices, 1400 Key Blvd, A Level, Suite 1, Arlington, VA 22209
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WHAT: Food and drinks will be served during networking opportunities throughout the evening.
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RSVP: Registration is free but an RSVP is required
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CONTACT: Please send questions in advance for our panelists to David Dubovsky atddubovsky@boundlessgeo.com
“The harmonic convergence of important industry conferences across the country, including State of the Map, CalGIS and GEOINT, make it an ideal time to spotlight the need for women in geospatial,” said Alyssa Wright, VP at Boundless. “The dearth of women is just as problematic in geospatial as it is in all of technology.” Wright has been a vocal supporter of diversity in mapping, including her presentation last year at State of the Map, “The Threads of OSM Discussions: Are the Doors Really Open?”.
The Anita Borg Institute’s recent report The Case for Investing in Women provides data that concludes that diversity, both gender and racial, is linked to positive outcomes in business performance. Additionally, the report cites firms that promote women to senior management positions enjoy superior economic performance, especially organizations focused on innovation. These are statistics that Boundless seeks to promote and have employed across the geospatial industry, and it starts with the Women in Geospatial Meetup on April 10.