Vasile Crăciunescu
Vasile Craciunescu is a researcher with more than 22 years experience, working for the Romanian National Meteorological Administration and Terrasigna, being in charge with the scientific and operational activities related to GIS database design and implementation, deployment of standardized web services, spatial enabled web interfaces, ETL, EO data processing, project management. He received his diploma in cartography and physical geography in 2001. He has a good experience in working and leading national, EU and ESA research projects. In 2006 Vasile started geo-spatial.org (http://geo-spatial.org), a collaborative effort by and for the Romanian community to facilitate the sharing of geospatial knowledge and the discovery and publishing of free geographic datasets and maps. Since 2011 he is the Romanian delegate in the Copernicus User Forum at the European Commission and the representative of Meteo Romania at Open Geospatial Consortium. In August 2014 he was elected to the Open Source Geospatial Foundation board of directors. For the last eight years he has been teaching FOSS4G-based techniques at the Faculty of Geography - University of Bucharest in the first Romanian ICA-OSGeo Lab. Vasile was the chair of the 2019 FOSS4G international conference.
Sessions
Europe's journey through the open-source domain is a narrative woven with contradictions, where ambitious policy frameworks and groundbreaking initiatives often clash with the realities of implementation and cultural resistance. This presentation embarks on an exploration of this land of paradoxes, where the drive for innovation in geospatial technologies meets the inertia of traditional practices. Amidst this backdrop, the EU's legislative endeavours, including Directive (EU) 2019/1024 on open data and the nascent Interoperable Europe Act, emerge as double-edged swords—championing progress yet ensnared by bureaucratic complexities.
With a discerning eye, we delve into the tangle of drivers and barriers shaping the adoption and development of open-source geospatial software within Europe. From the lofty aspirations of the European Green Deal to the pragmatic challenges posed by the Cyber Resilience Act, the presentation unpacks how the continent's policy landscape is moulding the ecosystem for open-source innovations. Yet, Europe's strength lies in its ability to navigate through its own contradictions. The Copernicus Programme, INSPIRE, and Destination Earth stand as testaments to Europe's commitment to open data and science, even as the spectre of the war in Ukraine casts long shadows over cybersecurity and data & software sovereignty concerns.
This dialogue extends to the technological frontiers of cloud migration, generative AI in geospatial realms, and the FAIR data principles, each reflecting the continent's struggle and success in marrying tradition with innovation. Europe's path is fraught with contradictions, yet therein lies its potential for equilibrium—finding balance amidst discord, innovation in the face of adversity.