David McDermott (MPhys Geog PGCE (Cantab)) is a proud Yorkshireman who has a keen interest in science fiction and Rugby League, as well as in GIS.

He studied at the University of Hull, where he acquired a 2:1 master's degree in Physical Geography. During his 4 years at university, he developed an interest in GIS, subsequently gaining his highest marks in GIS-related modules. He went on to use GIS to analyze remote sensing data as part of his master's level dissertation.

Following on his master's degree, he qualified as a secondary school geography teacher at the University of Cambridge. He spent 6 months teaching before embarking on a career in GIS.

His first GIS position was for a UK-based unaddressed mail company. He spent 18 months working with address data, promoting the use of GIS, redesigning delivery maps, and creating Python scripts to automate common repetitive tasks.

He currently works in the GIS team for a local authority in the UK. Along with working in GIS, he is the Local Land and Property Gazetteer Custodian and Street Naming and Numbering Officer. In this role, he has expanded his knowledge of database management, programming, and web GIS. He has also presented at the QGIS South East user group, and was part of the panel at GeoUtilities London 2014.

Pablo Pardo is a geographist from Spain. He has studied MSc in GIS, and specialized in natural risk assessment, focusing his MSc thesis on open data quality. He also received a certificate of higher education in software development.

After several years of working as a GIS technician, he is now starting his freelance career, mixing GIS consulting with data analysis and programming.

This is the first book he has helped review. He likes open data, free software, and geo stuff. You can find more about him at www.pablopardo.es.

Heegu Park began his career at an IT company as a software engineer, and developed some web programs for a famous Korean fashion company. After a short period of time as a software engineer, he moved to the gaming industry, which was booming at that time in South Korea, and he experienced technical producing and coordinating of several online games at leading online game companies.

A five-year work experience drove him to get a higher degree in business and management, so he went to the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology for his MBA (Master's degree in Business Administration), and to the University of Southern California for his MSBA (Master of Science in Business Administration). During his time at two graduate schools, KAIST and USC, he mainly focused on IT and the creative industry. His studies have given him great opportunities to enhance his cooperation and management skills of various teams and people, and his knowledge, along with this work experience, has driven him to pursue successful IT business and efficient marketing strategies.

Now, he works at Gaia3D, a geospatial company based in South Korea, and is in charge of marketing and business development. Gaia3D is actively using many open source GIS to develop systems or services for clients. Also, Gaia3D participates in open source GIS activities such as FOSS4G, open source GIS training, and so on. He has conducted several lectures on open source GIS for many people from all over the world, and also participated in translating open source GIS software such as QGIS. His goal at Gaia3D is to make Gaia3D become a global open source GIS company.

Christopher Wesson is a cartographic design consultant at Ordnance Survey. Qualified with a master's degree, he studied a wide range of disciplines at the University of Southampton, including oceanography, engineering, management, and finance. He has authored and presented papers domestically and internationally, and makes time to share a blog on cartographic design (http://christopherwesson.azurewebsites.net/).

A member of the British Cartographic Society and a contributor to International Cartographic Association activities and several multi-organization projects, he has a keen interest in partnering modern technology with traditional cartographic excellence. Most of his recent work has been in automated cartography and the visualization of geographic data across different platforms.