Gavin is a Professional GISc Practitioner (PGP 1234), has an MSc in Genetics, is a charter member of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo), is on the advisory committee for geoinformatics programs and the advisory board of the CGIS at the University of Pretoria and was on the national council of GISSA for over fifteen years. He started in the GIS industry in 1996 and his experience includes thirteen years with the full suite of ESRI software and since 2002 with a wide range of FOSS GIS tools. He worked at GIMS (now ESRI South Africa), CSIR, Mintek and SAEON before starting AfriSpatial in 2010 and then Kartoza in 2014 with Tim Sutton. He is passionate about Open Source Software, Open Data and other Open philosophies that lead to interoperability, empower people and help maximise economic benefits. He is an advocate for Free and Open Source GIS software integrating with or replacing existing expensive, privative alternatives, in line with Government Open Source policy. After bringing FOSS4G 2008 to South Africa and working almost exclusively with FOSS since then he has responded to the surge in demand and usage of FOSS GIS in all sectors in South Africa and globally and coupled with that, a growing base of service providers and related resources.

Gavin lives with his wife near Hermanus, has two sons at university and enjoys playing squash, cycling, hiking and sailing.

Tim started his career by working in Nature Conservation in South Africa. Some years later, around 1998, an opening in the newly formed GIS group in the organisation where he worked presented an opportunity to combine his love of the environment with his enthusiasm for computers. What followed quickly became a deep dive into GIS (including obtaining a Master's Degree in GIS and Environmental Studies) and Open Source. He discovered Linux, also around 1998, and became an ardent fan of using and creating Open Source software. The announcement of the first release of QGIS in 2002 was another key milestone, with Tim quickly becoming deeply involved in the development of QGIS, as well as helping to build the community platforms and governance structures around the project. Formerly the QGIS.org Board Chair, Tim was awarded perpetual Honorary QGIS PSC Member status in 2018 and continues to play an active role in many aspects of the QGIS project. Tim is also engaged in the broader Open Source GIS ecosystem, including having the honour of being an OSGEO Charter Member and promoting the wide array of world-changing Open Source GIS tools provided under the OSGEO umbrella (and beyond) to pretty much anyone who will listen.

Recognising the need for professional services around the Open Source GIS ecosystem, Tim started his own company, Linfiniti, in 2008. Through a merger with Afrispatial, Tim co-founded Kartoza (https://kartoza.com) in 2014. The company helps Tim to achieve his personal vision of making spatial decision-making tools broadly available to everyone so that we can responsibly manage our precious earth and properly serve the societies that inhabit it. Today Tim's work at Kartoza focuses mainly on humanitarian, social upliftment, and environmental projects. Kartoza as a whole uses its skills in software development, consulting, training, and applied GIS to support customers in a broad range of disciplines from creating the building blocks of cloud-native GIS, smart farming, infrastructure management, energy planning and provision, national metadata initiatives, and many more interesting applications.

Here is what Chat-GPT has to say about Tim: "Tim Sutton is a notable contributor to QGIS, an open-source geographic information system. His extensive contributions include leadership roles and technical enhancements that significantly impact the software's development. Sutton's prior work spans diverse areas, from core functionalities to plugins, fostering QGIS's growth into a versatile and powerful tool. His commitment to the community is evident through advocacy, mentorship, and fostering collaboration. Sutton's efforts have played a pivotal role in QGIS's evolution, making it an influential platform in the geospatial domain. His dedication highlights the collaborative spirit driving the success and continuous improvement of QGIS as a robust GIS solution."

Today Tim lives on a smallholding in the Alentejo region of Portugal where he works remotely on his nice Linux PC collaborating with customers and his teammates over his amazing Starlink satellite internet connection.

A self-motivated and hardworking Project Manager with 13 plus years’ management experience. An inspiring leader with the ability to think laterally, provide solutions and exercise independent judgment in the resolution of problems. Successful track record in making significant contributions to business growth. Energetic performer with an upbeat, positive attitude. Able to interact with people at all levels in the organisation and from diverse backgrounds. Creative, proactive and innovative.

Irwan is a highly competent and innovative full stack web application developer with additional experience building Android applications. He thrives on buildings modern, human centered user experiences for our clients. Problem solving is one of Irwan’s favourite work activities, where he uses his knowledge and insight to f ind novel and efficient ways to deal with technical challenges.

Irwan has been working in a commercial environment since 2011 with a deep knowledge of Python and Java based applicationdevelopment. Irwan is highly competent in building applications using Open Source technologies (PostgreSQL/Python/Django and various Javascript libraries) and is the lead developer of the Open Source Healthsites.io project.

Zakki is one of our developers from Indonesia and is based in Purworejo, a small town in Central Java. He studied Information System in Universitas Indonesia. His journey with Python and Django started when he first worked as a web developer. After discovering the simplicity and power of Python he has stuck to it. You know what people say, “Once you go Python, you’ll never move on!”. His interest in GIS stemmed from his activities exploring random things in the digital map. He looks for cities, interesting places, even following street view from one place to another, imagining he was there physically. Zakki is a volunteer in kids learning centre, where he and his team run fun activities every Sunday. When he is not dating his computer, he spends his time sleeping or watching documentary and fantasy movies. Give him more free time, and he will ride his motorbike to someplace far away. He enjoys watching cultural shows and learning about people, places, and cultures. He also loves singing and dancing, but that doesn’t mean he is good at it.

Samweli is an multi-disciplinary problem solver who is able to quickly grasp new technologies and use his problem solving skills to understand problems at a high level and then dig into the technical details to solve them. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science with Statistics. He has been working in a production environment since 2015, building web applications and plugins for QGIS. He has been an active contributor to OpenStreetMap and has published or participated in various geospatially related Open Source projects. He uses his natural leadership skills to bring out the best in his teams. He loves playing board games, especially a Tanzanian version of checkers and loves watching sci-fi movies.

I ensure the smooth and efficient running of ‘virtual’ offices, organising logistics, travel operations, and convening our regular training courses. My goal at Kartoza is to make the interface between our clients and our staff as seamless as possible. I am always happy to assist anyone with queries and provide support services where needed. I have good organizational skills, I am reliable, dedicated, dependable, work independently, show initiative, a team player and have the ability to multitask! I have excellent interpersonal skills and enjoy communicating with our various staff members, clients and suppliers from executives to junior office workers.

Suzanne has many years of experience in the administration arena having fulfilled various roles with substantial responsibility in this regard but has been part of the Kartoza team since 2016 where she is specifically responsible for the accounts payable, accounts receivable and payroll. She prides herself on an efficient and effective, yet friendly, work ethos. She also has a BA English Psychology degree from UNISA.

Seabilwe has an MSc in GIS and Remote Sensing from the University of the Witwatersrand. She has an Honours degree in Geography and a BSc in Geological Science, both from the University of the Witwatersrand. Seabilwe is the Head of Training at Kartoza, passionate about the application of open-source software and open data to solve complex problems in the area of agroclimatology. And also explore various open-source software which can be used to map factors affecting crops on arable land. Her geological background made her wonder what tool can be used to make field data collection precise, effective and simple. After joining Kartoza, she discovered great mobile field data capture applications that have revolutionised how data is collected, analysed and viewed in the field, and cannot wait to explore more. Spreading knowledge is the main mandate. She enjoys training on open-source software such as QGIS, in particular for high school students and teachers. The teaching of practical GIS at the secondary level has helped her to realise that more sustainable methods of teaching GIS need to be implemented in all sectors of the educational sphere. She has taken up photography as her hobby, mostly taking shots of flowers. She enjoys baking, listening to music and watching animé or cartoons with her little sister.

Dimas is an exceptionally well organised and productive software developer with deep coding skills and problem solving abilities who strives for the highest levels of perfection and quality in his work. He is a graduate in Informatics Engineering, holding dual Bachelors degrees in this feld. He has been working working in a production environment since 2013, building mobile (both iOS and Android) and web applications. He loves building beautiful and functional user-facing applications and is equally happy to dive into the technical details of an application backend. He has been an active contributor to various Open Source projects since 2015. Dimas is a passionate gamer - he built several mobile games and also won a number of ‘hackathons’ with game concepts he developed during his student days.

Amy is a Graduate Environmental scientist. She has an Honours degree from the University of Pretoria and a Masters in Environmental Science from The University of the Witwatersrand. She Works at Kartoza as a Junior GIS specialist and GIS Technician. Amy is passionate about the environment and using GIS to solve complex ecological and environmental issues. She is also creative and enjoys nothing more then making beautiful and functional maps using open source technology. She also enjoys creating and editing videos and other multimedia projects for education and inspiration. She loves creating social media content and interacting with the vibrant QGIS and open source community through Open days and other initiatives.In her spare time Amy can be found hiking, camping, birding or on almost any outdoor adventure. When she is not hiking up a mountain, she enjoys slowing down with a number of creative pursuits, including drawing, embroidery, and laser engraving / cutting her latest designs.

Faneva is from Madagascar. She graduated with a Masters in Information Technology – Mobiquity, Database and System Integration from the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in 2017. She had the opportunity to work on the OpenDRI project in Madagascar. Thanks to this project, she could attend training on how to create data on OpenStreetMap, QGIS, InaSAFE, and GeoNode. From this, Faneva became interested in the GIS field. Other than gaining knowledge from this, she has been self-taught using online resources such as OSGeo forums and mailing lists. She then developed a QGIS Plugin while working for a GIS company in Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Faneva has been inspired by people she has met during conferences and summits she has attended. She has made a small contribution to the QGIS project. Due to her fluency in French, she has contributed to correcting linguistic errors on Geonode.

Faneva is very happy to be a permanent member of the Kartoza Team after the GIS training she conducted as a Contractor to Kartoza, part of her GIS journey.

Living in Antananarivo Madagascar, she likes walking in small villages around the city. In her free time, Faneva enjoys reading and also tries to practice yoga and meditation.

Victoria is a Junior Developer based in Nairobi, Kenya. She completed her BA of Engineering (Geospatial Engineering) in 2022. Her passion for using open source GIS and Remote Sensing software stemmed from her undergraduate research project to develop a method to map paddy rice in Kenya at low cost. Her journey with Python began when she took the Applied Data Science course offered by World Quant University, and she hasn’t looked back. In her free time, Victoria enjoys trying new recipes in the kitchen and listening to fantasy and mystery podcasts.

Lin-Mari started her career as a data capturer before joining a family business. She started as a Sales Representative and climed the ladder to a Personal Assistand and then Warehouse Manager. Lin-Mari completed a certificate in Bookkeeping to Trial Balance as well as courses in Pastel and an ICDL course. In 2023 Lin-Mari got her Diploma in Labour Laws and Statutory Compliances for HR's as well as numerous other certificates in the fields of bookeeper and HR. Lin-Mari is a team player and always strives for success and the top. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family or just some quiet time.

With a degree in environmental science, Lindsay Walker has always been interested in helping communities with the biggest challenges they face. With a background in GIS specific to utilities and architecture/engineering/ Before long, Lindsay transitioned into her role as the GIS Director for an engineering firm, implementing diverse GIS solutions from fiber-optic network modeling in GIS to robust field collection solutions allowing for form-based data to come directly into the company’s central GIS. This central enterprise GIS was one of Lindsay’s major projects in this role – an implementation of Esri’s ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Portal in a cloud environment via Amazon Web Services (AWS). Lindsay roadmapped, managed, and consulted as the technical lead on this project from start to finish. Continuing to move further into cutting-edge GIS technologies, Lindsay received an offer to be the Director of Managed Services for a cloud-based managed services firm specialising in Enterprise GIS deployments in the cloud. As a Technical Manager at Kartoza, Lindsay brings advanced technical experience with proprietary GIS software, making her an excellent bridge between it and open source GIS technologies. With expertise in geospatial workflow optimization, Lindsay can speak intelligently to both proprietary and open source solutions, while also understanding the complex IT components of today’s enterprise-level GIS. Lindsay holds a GIS Professional (GISP) certificate, AWS Certified Solutions Architect certificate, and is certified by Esri in Enterprise Administration and Geodata Management. Lindsay hopes to improve people’s lives through the responsible use of technology and continues to learn about the newest technologies in the field to accomplish this goal. Lindsay is located on the east coast of the United States.

Thiasha is a BSc Geography graduate from the University of Pretoria with a passion for the environment as well as sustainable living and rural development. This inspired her to get her Diploma in Energy Efficiency and Sustainability through UCT. She is now a Junior GIS Specialist for Kartoza.

Thiasha enjoys expressing herself through the creative arts and spends her leisure time in the pottery studio. She also enjoys hiking and being out in nature.

Thiasha is an adventurous soul whose love for the outdoors and art inspires all aspects of her life including her work and her drive to make the world a better place.

Jeremy is a BSc Geoinformatics graduate from the University of Pretoria. He first discovered a passion for Geography, and in turn GIS, when he was still in school. This passion led him to study Geoinformatics. He is now a Junior GIS Specialist for Kartoza. Jeremy enjoys making maps using open source technology but particularly enjoys the conversion of raw data into useful visual interpretations. He mostly enjoys the cartography and visual side of GIS but does enjoy the problem solving associated with the coding/scripting side of things too. Ideally, one day, Jeremy would like to have a farm where he can grow his own food and work on various projects with his hands from wood working to tinkering with engines. For now, he contents himself with getting out of the city (to go fishing, hiking, and dabbling in water sports) and practicing escapism with books and games.

Tharanath is based in India. He lives in a small village in Kerala popularly known as God's Own Country.

He graduated from Cochin University of Science and Technology with a BTech in Electronics and Communication Engineering. After that he started a career as a Linux System Administrator and then gradually shifted to DevOps. He is always eager to learn new technologies and loves to use them effectively in day to day activities. He is a highly motivated and enjoys to take on responsibility.

In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his family, listening to music or travelling to new places.

Leon is an IT specialist with over two decades of experience in the IT industry. He has experience in development, systems administration, database administration, DevOps, solutions architecture, and management.

In 2013 he started his DevOps career and was a team member and lead on several DevOps projects for a multinational company.

Eli started off his career as a Sales Representative and was later promoted to a Warehouse Manager role. Eli has always had an interest in coding and in 2013 he completed two courses; Computers and the Networking part of it but his interests lay in coding. Thus in his free time he spent most of his time learning various aspects around development and coding. As time progressed he landed an internship in 2022 where he gained knowledge and skills in GIS and learned more about open source software. He realised that he would grow further by doing more hands on work and gain experience and skills and started looking for a vacancy in development which landed him a position at Kartoza where he looks forward to grow and widen his knowledge. In his spare time Eli enjoys learning and spending some quiet time with his family.

Danang is a Software Developer from Indonesia> He has 8 years experience in building various applications. He is passionate about coding and is quick to learn which enables him to work as full stack developer. He is constantly seeking new challenges so that he can expand his knowledge and experience.

Skilled and dedicated person with extensive experience in Project Management (since 2006) with the successful completion and delivery of multiple projects within the ICT Infrastructure / Software Technologies environment. Amid the ever changing Industry standards in Scoping, Planning, Management of Risk, Finance, Resources, Budgeting, Coordination and successful roll-out of numerous Clients needs and requirements, one should always be one step ahead of every risk or change in the Scope and Plan, be it in traditional methodologies such as PMBOK, or the trendsetting Prince2, Agile or just lately Scrumban.

I am a passionate coder who is always curious about how things work. I love to learn new things and am constantly exploring ways to better myself. I have a strong belief that everyone has the potential to be great at something. I will always share my knowledge and experiences with others, in hopes of helping them grow as individuals

Bhaskar Pandranki is based out of Vizag City which is located at Andhra Pradesh in India. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics & Communication Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Kakinada. Bhaskar is an enthusiastic DevOps Engineer, eager to contribute to team success through hard work, attention to detail and excellent organizational skills. Clear understanding of Cloud Services, Application Monitoring and DevOps tools. Motivated to learn, grow, and excel in the IT Industry. He usually spends his leisure time playing video games, spending time with his family & friends, listening to music and watching movies.

Jeff is from Nairob, Kenya. He holds a BSc in Geospatial Information Science, and his passion for programming ignited a few years ago while exploring C programming and Linux. His expertise now prominently revolves around programming in python to solve problems. He also excels in leveraging open-source tools to extract valuable insights from geospatial data, enabling him to craft solutions that seamlessly bridge the worlds of technology and geography. With a commitment to active learning and a drive to push the boundaries of what's possible in the realm of programming, Jeff is dedicated to making a meaningful impact through his work in this dynamic field. In his free time, he plays touch rugby.

Ketan is from Indore, India. He has 6+ years of experience in Python and Django along with Javascript. He has been involved in many projects during his developer career. Ketan is passionate about using technology to solve real-world problems.

Selma is from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She studied Geography and Urban Planning at the Faculty of Science, University of Sarajevo. As a child and teenager, she spent most of her time in nature, which sparked her interest in Geography. She has a great passion for protecting nature and making our cities greener and more sustainable, which is why Urban Planning was the perfect choice for her. During her time at university, she started learning GIS and fell in love with cartography. Her main interest lies in doing something that will be beneficial for all those who strive to make a positive impact on our planet using GIS open source technologies. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and cooking meals from different cultures. And when it snows in Sarajevo, she will definitely make use of it by going skiing.

Enthusiastic about Programming. Clear understanding of coding languages and easily learning new ones. Motivated to learn, grow and change the world through programming. I don’t code for the purpose of work to be done but rather I code to make a difference.

Lova is a passionate Web GIS Developer based in Antananarivo, Madagascar. He thrives on blending the power of open-source technologies with his creative mapping skills. With a strong foundation in self-taught GIS expertise, Lova has dedicated himself to developing dynamic web-based GIS applications and crafting visually captivating maps using QGIS. Complementing his GIS skills, Lova is well-versed in web development. He harnesses the power of Python, Django, and JavaScript to create robust web-based GIS applications that provide users with seamless access to spatial data and interactive. He is specialized in leveraging these capabilities as decisive tools in humanitarian initiatives, reflecting a commitment to driving positive change through innovative geospatial strategies. Beyond his digital world, Lova is an avid hiker. He finds solace in exploring the great outdoors, which not only recharges his creativity but also deepens his understanding of the landscapes he represents in his maps.

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