Sol Katz
Encyclopedia
Sol Katz was an early pioneer of geospatial
computer software
(a sub-category of GIS) and left behind a large body of work in the form of computer applications and format specifications while at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. This early archive provided both source code
and applications freely available to the community. Sol was also a frequent contributor to many geospatial list servers.
Sol Katz was born in Sweden
in 1947 and moved to New York
at the age of 1. Yiddish was his first language, but he learned both Hebrew and English
. After high school, he spent three years in the US Air Force, stationed in Germany
. Following his brief military career, he decided to go to Brooklyn College
in New York where he got his Bachelors in Geology
in 2.5 years. He then married his wife Hedy in 1969, and went back to Brooklyn College while teaching in New York Public Schools and got his masters degree, also in Geology. After several years working for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in several states, he settled down in Lakewood, CO and decided to go back to school at the University of Denver
in Computer Science
and earned a second Masters degree. At this time, he also had two children - Shanna and Risa. Sol died on April 23, 1999 from Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
Free and Open Source Software (GFOSS) is given to individuals who have demonstrated leadership in the GFOSS community.
Geospatial
Geospatial analysis is an approach to applying statistical analysis and other informational techniques to geographically based data. Such analysis employs spatial software and analytical methods with terrestrial or geographic datasets, including geographic information systems and...
computer software
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
(a sub-category of GIS) and left behind a large body of work in the form of computer applications and format specifications while at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. This early archive provided both source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
and applications freely available to the community. Sol was also a frequent contributor to many geospatial list servers.
Sol Katz was born in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
in 1947 and moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
at the age of 1. Yiddish was his first language, but he learned both Hebrew and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. After high school, he spent three years in the US Air Force, stationed in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Following his brief military career, he decided to go to Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
in New York where he got his Bachelors in Geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
in 2.5 years. He then married his wife Hedy in 1969, and went back to Brooklyn College while teaching in New York Public Schools and got his masters degree, also in Geology. After several years working for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in several states, he settled down in Lakewood, CO and decided to go back to school at the University of Denver
University of Denver
The University of Denver is currently ranked 82nd among all public and private "National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report in the 2012 rankings....
in Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
and earned a second Masters degree. At this time, he also had two children - Shanna and Risa. Sol died on April 23, 1999 from Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
GFOSS Award
The Sol Katz Award for GeospatialGeospatial
Geospatial analysis is an approach to applying statistical analysis and other informational techniques to geographically based data. Such analysis employs spatial software and analytical methods with terrestrial or geographic datasets, including geographic information systems and...
Free and Open Source Software (GFOSS) is given to individuals who have demonstrated leadership in the GFOSS community.
- 2005 - Frank WarmerdamFrank WarmerdamFrank Warmerdam is a software developer with a focus on remote sensing, geographic information system, cartography, and development of geospatial data translators. He is best known in the GIS community as the author of the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library or GDAL...
- Developer of the GDAL/OGR library - 2006 - Markus NetelerMarkus NetelerMarkus Neteler received his degree in Physical Geography and Landscape Ecology from the University of Hannover, Germany, in 1999 where he worked as a researcher and teaching assistent for two years....
- GRASS GISGRASS GISGRASS GIS is a free, open source geographical information system capable of handling raster, topological vector, image processing, and graphic data....
developer since 1998 and founding-member of Open Source Geospatial Foundation ( OSGeo ) - 2007 - Steve Lime - Leader of the MapServerMapServerMapServer is an open source development environment for building spatially-enabled internet applications. It can run as a CGI program or via MapScript which supports several programming languages . MapServer was developed by the University of Minnesota — so, it is often and more specifically...
Project - 2008 - Paul Ramsey - Leader of the PostGISPostGISPostGIS is an open source software program that adds support for geographic objects to the PostgreSQL object-relational database. PostGIS follows the Simple Features for SQL specification from the Open Geospatial Consortium .-Features:...
project - 2009 - Daniel Morissette - Co-leader of the MapServerMapServerMapServer is an open source development environment for building spatially-enabled internet applications. It can run as a CGI program or via MapScript which supports several programming languages . MapServer was developed by the University of Minnesota — so, it is often and more specifically...
project and PSC of the GDAL/OGR library - 2010 - Helena Mitasova - Contributor to GRASS, author, and promoter of FOSS4G in academia
- 2011 - Martin Davis - Developer of JTS, the Java Topology Suite.
External links
- Sol Katz picture
- OSGeo page about Sol Katz Award for Geospatial Free and Open Source Software (GFOSS)
- Sol Katz's collection of GIS utilities at the Bureau of Land ManagementBureau of Land ManagementThe Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...
(BLM), available at ftp://ftp.blm.gov/pub/gis/