The Department of Geodesy and Geoinformatics of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Belgrade was actively using open source software in education of geodetic engineers at the undergraduate, graduate and PhD studies. A large number of bachelor, master's and doctoral thesis was created using open source software. Additionally, a significant number of scientific papers has also been published using open source software. The development of Laboratory for development of open source geospatial technologies - OSGL at the Department of Geodesy and Geoinformatics seemed like the logical next step in the process of promotion and cultivation of a non-commercial approach to the improvement of teaching and research at the University.

The scope and the research activities

As a part of educational and research process, the Laboratory for development of open source geospatial technologies is partly focused on bachelor, master and doctoral thesis, based on open source geospatial technologies, developed at the Department of Geodesy and Geoinformatics, at the Faculty of Civil Engineering. The source code written during BSc and MSc thesis development, and the adequate documentation will be presented on the laboratory’s web site and therefore will be available to the community for further development and use. That way the laboratory will contribute to the open source community and provide additional material sources for further education and research.

The list of activities covered in laboratory

• Further improvement of curriculum in the field of geoinformatics at the Department of Geodesy and Geoinformatics as well as other departments of the Faculty of Civil engineering and other faculties at the University of Belgrade.
• Participation in international research and scientific projects in collaboration with the laboratories of similar profile.
• Implementation and promotion of open source technologies in the domestic and international industry and the economy.