209 Perhaps no recent technological development has been more influential in the open source geospatial community than Google Earth. This amazing tool has had an energizing effect on developers with its "Cartographer's Eye Candy." Google Earth's open APIs have opened the developer community's eyes to the possibilities of working with even more robust code, such as the mapping open source code available today which could allow developers to host and publish compelling applications and have more control over their data. With open source code at its fingertips, the mapping development community is on the verge of explosive growth. Everything from map coordinates to electrical grid schematics will be on demand to project stakeholders in dynamic, easy to understand, and highly accurate images. In doing so, geospatial technology will continue to build off the amazing foundation laid by Google Earth and reach ever higher planes of innovation. Gary Lang, Vice President of Engineering, Infrastructure Solutions Division Autodesk, Inc. Gary Lang, the Vice President of Engineering for the Infrastructure Solutions Division of Autodesk, first joined the company as a programmer in 1989. After serving in a variety of roles including Director of Internet Technology, he left in 1996 to co-found a management consulting firm that focused on strategic consulting, product development, and business development. As a principal of the firm, Gary consulted with numerous technology companies including Intuit, Iomega, Giftcertificates.com, Thomson Financial Services and General Magic, helping to manage and fine tune their engineering and product development organizations. During this time Gary managed the start up of three companies as Vice President of Engineering. In 2003 Gary rejoined Autodesk in his current role in which he leads the engineering, quality assurance, technical publications, and product design teams for the Infrastructure Solutions Division. Most recently, Gary became a driving force behind Autodesk’s first open source product offering, MapGuide Open Source, and he is a founder and board member of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation. Gary has a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science from the University of California at Santa Cruz. FOSS4G2006 - Free And Open Source Software for Geoinformatics Welcome and Opening Conference Plenary Gary Lang gary.lang@autodesk.com Gary Lang gary.lang@autodesk.com <MaKaC.conference.ContributionType object at 0xb492f0ec>