David A. Hastings Award 수상

 

오늘 폐막한 FOSS4G-Asia 2026 Nashik 대회에서 David A. Hastings Award를 수상하였습니다. 이 상은 FOSS4G-Asia 커뮤니티가 아시아 지역의 오픈소스GIS 발전에 기여한 이에게 2년마다 수여하는 뜻깊은 상입니다.

개인적으로 큰 영광이자 자랑스러운 순간이지만 이 상은 저 개인이 아닌 OSGeo 한국어 지부를 포함한 한국 오픈소스GIS 커뮤니티 전체에 주어졌다고 생각합니다. 한국 커뮤니티의 열정적이고 헌신적인 활동이 없었다면 오픈소스GIS 분야에서 우리나라가 전 세계적으로 이렇게 도드라지기는 쉽지 않았기 때문입니다. 

원래 FOSS4G-Asia 대회에 참석해 직접 상을 받으려 했으나, 급한 일정으로 출발 이틀 전에 모든 항공편과 숙박을 취소하고 온라인으로 수상하게 되어 아쉬움이 남습니다.

오늘 수상 기념 연설에서도 말씀드렸듯이 앞으로도 한국을 넘어 아시아 전체의 오픈소스GIS 발전을 위해 계속 노력하고 기여하겠습니다. 함께해 주신 모든 분들께 진심으로 감사드립니다.

I am deeply honored to share the great news that I have received the David A. Hastings Award at the FOSS4G-Asia 2026 Nashik conference, which concluded today. This meaningful award is presented every two years by the FOSS4G-Asia community to individuals who have significantly contributed to the development of open source GIS in the Asian region.

While this is a profound personal honor and a proud moment for me, I believe this award also belongs to the entire Korean open source GIS community, including the OSGeo Korean Chapter. Without the passionate and dedicated activities of our local community, it would not have been possible for Korea to achieve such a prominent standing on the global stage in the field of open source GIS.

I had originally planned to attend the conference in person to receive the award. However, due to an urgent last minute schedule, I had to cancel all my flights and accommodations just two days before departure. Although I am disappointed that I could only participate and accept the award online, the weight of this honor remains the same.

As I promised in my acceptance speech, I will share my experiences and lessons even more deeply with our friends across Asia in the future . Let’s continue to share, collaborate, and grow the spirit of FOSS4G-Asia together. My deepest gratitude goes out to everyone who has been part of this journey.

 

 

 ** David Hastings Award Acceptance Speech **

 

Dear friends, members of the FOSS4G-Asia organizing committee, and my fellow open-source community across Asia,

It is a tremendous honor to me to receive the David Hastings Award today. First of all I’m very sorry for my not being there due to my personal matters. Although I am joining you online today, my heart is truly with you there in Nashik, India. I hope you have enjoyed the event already and I am quite jealous of you now. 

My journey with FOSS4G began in 2007 at FOSS4G Victoria, Canada. It was my very first FOSS4G, and it opened an entirely new world to me. That was where I first met Professor Venka and Professor Maria as well. I still clearly remember the moment we shared cigarettes and smoked together outside of the venue. It was a brief moment, but it marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship and our shared mission.

Inspired by that experience, I co-stablished the OSGeo Korean Chapter in 2008. Since then, our community has hosted FOSS4G Korea every single year. We skipped it only twice: once in 2015, when OSGeo Korean Chapter hosted the International FOSS4G Seoul for the first time in Asia, and again in 2023, when Korea hosted FOSS4G-Asia.

I would like to share a short but very interesting story from Korea. Recently I heard that ESRI Korea is struggling to expand its business because it cannot find enough ArcGIS engineers. The reason is simple: almost every student who learns GIS in Korea starts with QGIS instead of ArcGIS. 

As a result, more than 80% of public-sector GIS projects in Korea are now powered by open-source GIS, including PostGIS, QGIS, GeoServer, OpenLayers, and others. This remarkable transformation did not happen by chance. It is the direct outcome of years of dedication by the OSGeo Korean Chapter and our passionate community.

Through these years, I have learned one fundamental truth: open source is a non-zero-um game. If I exchange a piece of gold or a watch with you, it is just a zero-sum trade — there is still only one gold or one watch left. But if I share my knowledge and ideas with you, our collective wisdom multiplies infinitely. This is the magic of open source and our community. We grow together by giving together!

I would like to share this great honor with the late BJ Jang. I hope many of you remember him. He was my brother and a pillar of the open-source community in Korea. Although he is no longer with us, his spirit continues to be the foundation of everything we have achieved.

Looking ahead, I promise I will share my experiences and lessons even more deeply with our friends across Asia in the future. 

Let’s continue to share, collaborate, and grow the spirit of FOSS4G-Asia together. 

 

Thank you very much!

 

 

2026년 1월 25일
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