#whereberlin

We have less than 1 month to go until the program committee starts to analyze the subjects that will be presented in the first day, 26th of November, at WhereCamp Berlin 2015!

As WhereCamp Berlin is Berlin’s premier conference focusing on the latest trends and insights around digital mapping, navigation and local intelligence, we’ve asked for help from industry’s leaders and experts to evaluate the abstracts.

We don't want to make a hard assessment ( to avoid intend twice). We are looking forward to reading, we just intend to bring in front new topics, new ideas and new mapper enthusiasts.

Last February we announced our investment in SplashMaps. Since then the company has focused on moving from embryonic start-up to thriving digital business. And I'm very pleased to announce another major milestone - they have now launched internationally. From today you can purchase a custom SplashMap of anywhere in the world! This is a big step for the business, not least as it dramaticaly increases the potential customer base, and it was made possible by the amazing global OpenStreetMap community. It is yet another great validation that OpenStreetMap has moved from hobby project to business grade geodata solution. We've published an interview with David about some of the technical details over on the OpenCage blog. 

Many congrats to David, the team, and OSM mappers around the world for the international launch. Perhaps I'm biased, but this really is the idea Christmas gift for anyone who loves the outdoors or maps, you should order yours today!

Over the past year the product has won several awards from the cartographic community. To stay true to that spirit of geo-innovation SplashMaps has been a co-sponsor of our regular London geo event #geomob; at the end of each event the audience votes by show of hands for the best speaker and that person is awared a free SplashMap. Today to celebrate the international launch we're doing the same at WhereCamp.de a major geo-innovation conference in Berlin (BTW Friday at 10:00 I'll be speaking about the OpenCage geocoder). The audience will vote for three best speakers at the two day event and award them free custom SplashMaps.

Here's a picture of our former geotechnologist in residence Gary Gale admiring on of the new international SplashMaps. 

So what's next for SplashMaps? Right now the team is fully focused on the international launch and having a great Christmas sales season, but plans are brewing for partnership opportunities for 2015. Over the year many unexpected use cases for SplashMaps have appeared, and it seems there are more and more people who are (re)discovering the emotional appeal of printed maps, as a navigation tool but also as a unique souvenir or gift. The best way to stay informed is signing up for their newsletter and/or following @SplashMaps on twitter. Of course if you're in London you could also come along to the next #geomob on the 13th of January.