FOSS4G 2025: A week of ideas, people, and open source geo
FOSS4G 2025 rocked Auckland this November. And yes, Metallica did too.
The festival of ideas, FOSS4G, didn't disappoint. Every conversation and every session reinforced why open-source geo moves at such a pace. The momentum comes from people. From collaboration. From a shared belief that open, transparent systems drive better outcomes for communities, individuals and the organisations that serve them.
For Terria, this year carried extra significance. It’s been one year since we spun out of CSIRO as an independent company, with an open-core business model. Our commitment to open source hasn’t diminished. So, we went all in: we ran a TerriaJS workshop, shared our State of TerriaJS update, and delivered a keynote on Scaling Impact: Enabling Open Source Adoption in Business and Government. The interest, questions, and stories people shared about how they’re using TerriaJS meant a great deal to our team.
Sessions and conversations that stood out
FOSS4G is always a place where perspectives collide in the best possible way. A few themes keep replaying in my mind.
Digital twins at every scale
Digital twins featured across sectors and continents. From the University of Canterbury’s FReDT flood-resilience twin, to the University of Melbourne’s work on tram accessibility, to Regione Emilia-Romagna’s regional digital twin. It was powerful to see TerriaJS surfacing in these use cases. Research groups and governments are choosing open, flexible tools that help them communicate clearly and make decisions with confidence.
Human-centred GeoAI
Dr Chayn Sun’s work struck a chord. Her exploration of street-level imagery, perception, and spatial equity grounded the conversation in lived experience. Cities are not understood from above. They are felt from the ground. Her talk brought that to life.
Open Source IP and the questions we all share
Jonah Sullivan sparked one of the busiest Q&A sessions of the week. His session surfaced a recurring theme. IP frameworks matter much more than most of us would like. They shape how open-source tools can be adopted, scaled, and supported. We shouldn’t shy away from diving deeper in understanding challenges, but also opportunities such as the EU’s stewardship model for open source maintainers.
Open source in government
Hearing from organisations like iPlan Malaysia, Digital Earth Australia, and the Romanian ROCS program was a highlight. Jeroen Ticheler shared that 85% of European INSPIRE projects now run on open-source catalogue solutions. This momentum is real. More governments and large organisations are standardising on open stacks because they need transparency, interoperability, and long-term resilience.
The bigger conversations we need to keep having
The European Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) came up everywhere. Understandably so. Many maintainers and contributors are still working through what it will mean for responsibility, compliance and sustainability. These are big questions, especially for teams building core geospatial infrastructure.
I appreciated the thoughtful discussions with Stephanie May, Jeroen Ticheler and Ryan Burley. Their insight into sustainability models and governance helped frame what the next chapter of open-source stewardship might look like.
A personal reflection
What I love most about FOSS4G is simple: It’s the people.Their honesty and dedication to impactful work is refreshing.
The organising team delivered a seamless event. Big thanks to the entire group behind the scenes.
And a special moment for me. Seeing community-built TerriaJS implementations in the wild. From regional digital twins to research prototypes. These projects show what’s possible when open tools are placed in the hands of capable, creative teams.
And yes. The Metallica concert was the unexpected highlight none of us will forget.
Looking ahead
Thank you, Auckland. And thank you to everyone who presented, organised, shared a coffee, or sparked a new idea.
Before signing off, a huge thank you to the project team: Ewen Hill, Dani Bramante, Nick Forbes-Smith and the Cartisan team led by Stella Blake-Kelly.
If you’d like to explore what’s next for TerriaJS, join Terria on Github and stay tuned on further product updates.
Here’s to another year of building open, scalable, spatially intelligent tools together.
See you all at FOSS4G 2026 in Hiroshima, Japan.
About Terria
Terria makes it easy to build advanced maps and digital twins, so you can see the bigger picture. Our digital maps and spatial digital twin technology make it easy for you to unlock the full potential of your data, enabling faster, smarter decision-making. We help you transform complex data into clear, actionable insights, so you can tackle real-world challenges with confidence and precision.
At Terria, we believe that data transparency has the power to transform how businesses operate, make decisions, and engage with stakeholders—ultimately leading to better outcomes for all. Find out more here https://terria.io/about
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