.. _QGIS-usergroups:

===========
User Groups
===========

Current list of QGIS user groups
--------------------------------

**Registered 2016 or earlier**

* `QGIS Brasil (Brazil) - contact: Arthur Nanni <http://qgisbrasil.org/>`_
* `QGIS Brugergruppe Danmark (Denmark) - contact: Jacob Arpe <http://qgis.dk/>`_
* `QGIS UK (England) - contact: Simon Miles <http://qgis.uk/>`_
* `QGIS Anwendergruppe Deutschland (Germany) - contact: Thomas Schüttenberg <http://qgis.de/>`_
* `Gruppo degli utenti italiani di QGIS (Italy) - contact: Matteo Ghetta <http://qgis.it/>`_
* `QGIS User Group Japan (OSGeo.JP) - contact: Kosuke ASAHI <http://qgis.jp/>`_
* `Lima Perú QGIS User Group (Peru) - contact: Anibal Alarcon <http://qgis.pe/>`_
* `Polska Grupa Użytkowników QGIS (Poland) - contact: Milena Nowotarska <http://qgis.pl/>`_
* `QGIS Portugal - contact: João Gaspar <http://qgis.pt/>`_
* `QGIS UK (Scotland) - contact: Ross McDonald <https://qgis.uk/>`_
* `QGIS user group Switzerland - contact: Hans-Jörg Stark <https://qgis.ch/>`_
* `QGIS UK (Wales/Cymru) - contact: Kevin Williams <http://qgis.uk/>`_
* `NIWA QGIS user group (New Zealand) - contact: Brent Wood --> REMOVED in 2018 <https://teamwork.niwa.co.nz/display/NQUG/NIWA+QGIS+Users+Group>`_


**Registered 2017**

* `QGIS Norge (Norway) - contact: Antonio Armas Diaz <http://qgis.no/>`_
* `QGIS ZA (South Africa) - contact: Admire Nyakudya <https://qgis.org.za/>`_
* `Groupe des Utilisateurs de QGIS - France (France) - contact: Harrissou Sant-anna <http://osgeo.asso.fr/content/project/qgis-user-fr/>`_
* `QGIS Sverige (Sweden) - contact: Karl-Magnus Jönsson <http://qgis.se/>`_
* `QGIS Kenya - contact: Benard Mitto <http://qgis.or.ke>`_
* `QGIS Australia - contact: Andrew Jeffrey <http://qgis-au.org>`_
* `QGIS USA - contact: Kurt Menke <http://qgis.us>`_
* `QGIS Mexico - contact: Hennessy Amor Becerra Ayala <http://qgis.mx>`_
* `QGIS Georgia - contact: Zurab Archvadze --> REMOVED in 2018 <https://qgis.org>`_

**Registered 2018**

* `Asociația Utilizatorilor QGIS (Romania) - contact: Tudor Bărăscu <http://qgis.ro/>`_
* `Association of QGIS users in Spain - contact: Carlos López Quintanilla <http://qgis.es/>`_
* `Grupo de Usuarios QGIS Colombia - contact: Germán Carrillo <http://qgisusers.co>`_

**Removed 2018**

* `NIWA QGIS user group (New Zealand) - contact: Brent Wood <https://teamwork.niwa.co.nz/display/NQUG/NIWA+QGIS+Users+Group>`_
* `QGIS Georgia - contact: Zurab Archvadze <https://qgis.org>`_ 

**Registered 2020**

* `QGIS gebruikersgroep (Netherlands) - contact: Raymond Nijssen <http://qgis.nl/>`_
* `Asociación QGIS México - contact: Hennessy Amor Becerra Ayala <http://qgis.mx/>`_
* `Komunitas Pengguna QGIS Indonesia - contact: Ismail Sunni <https://qgis-id.github.io/>`_

Goals of a user group
---------------------

* Organization of user meetings
* Coordination of development, taking into account regional/national standards and requirements
* QGIS information: meetings, articles in GIS magazines, QGIS information in social media, GIS discussion boards, etc.
* Collection of case studies of local QGIS usage
* Sponsoring: a local user group could collect reasonable annual membership fees (depending on the country). This collected funds could be used to pay development of certain features, to help with bug-fixing or as a donation to the international QGIS project.
* Establishment of interest groups, e.g. surveying, urban planning, server/web client, etc.
* Initialization/coordination of application modules, e.g. surveying, urban planning, server/web client, etc.
* Electing a representative to act as a :ref:`QGIS Country Voting Member <country-voting-members>`

General assumptions/recommendations
-----------------------------------

* stay vendor/company neutral
* establish democratic structures for the steering committee, voting and important decision
* stay transparent, esp. if you deal with membership-fees and how you spend it
* inform the international project from time to time about your local activities

Organization
------------

Depending on your country, a smaller legal entity, e.g. an association, could be established. Depending on local legislation such an entity implies that you meet at least once per year (general assembly), publish a yearly report and make the financial report available to your members. Often it also implies the creation of statutes.

Statutes of the Swiss QGIS user group as an example:

* german (master): http://www.qgis.ch/de/verein/statuten-der-qgis-anwendergruppe-schweiz
* english (translation): http://www.qgis.ch/en/association/statutes-of-the-swiss-qgis-user-group
* french (translation): http://www.qgis.ch/fr/association/statuts-du-groupe-d2019utilisateurs-qgis-suisse

Membership application forms:

* german: http://www.qgis.ch/de/verein/beitrittserklaerung
* english: http://www.qgis.ch/en/association/qgis-usergroup-switzerland-membership-application-form
* french: http://www.qgis.ch/fr/association/declaration-d2019adhesion

You can use these statutes and membership application forms as an idea
or reference and change them to your local situation.

Local Country domain qgis.xx
----------------------------

It is recommended to register your local country domains, e.g. qgis.ch or qgis.uk. If the domain is already taken by someone other organization, company or person please negotiate if you can transfer the owner to the local QGIS user group. The QGIS international project has registered QGIS as a trademark, which should help you during your negotations.