Gis-Pro 2010 Urisa's 48th Annual Conference
Do not miss: JMAP GEOSPATIAL HUB presentation, on Wednesday, September 29, 2010 in the Partner sessions from 10:30 to noon.
JMap: A Spatial HUB for Municipalities and Local Governments
Jean Robert Desbiens-Haddad, K2 Geospatial, Montreal, QC Canada
The conference program follows these themes, developed through interactive discussions with the participants at URISA's 2009 Annual Conference in Anaheim, online survey responses, and input from Dr. Barry Wellar, 2009 Keynote speaker:
• Value of GIS - The value of GIS can theoretically be quantified in terms of Return on Investment (ROI), but the methodology for determining ROI for GIS has not been standardized. Sessions in this theme include information on measured return on investment (as opposed to estimated cost/benefit analysis performed prior to implementation); various methods for funding and justifying funding for GIS implementation; and ways to articulate the financial/liability, economic, social or environmental impact of GIS for a jurisdiction, region or organization.
• One Government - This concept is about multiple jurisdictions and overlapping levels of government (federal, state/provincial, regional, local) acting collaboratively. Sessions include data sharing challenges and approaches; standardization and integration of data, applications and services; collaboration and communication that leads to a "one government" approach, and activities that promote government transparency and accountability.
• Business of GIS - GIS as a profession and an industry is coming of age. Presentations will focus on the work to define the geospatial technology industry and associated occupations, curriculum needs to support current and future GIS technicians and analysts, how we conduct ourselves in terms of duty and standard of care, and learning to present our work in an effective manner.
• Stewardship - The notion of stewardship is one of service and support to a community of data users. Often, the steward has a vested interest in maintaining particular data set(s) for his/her organization, but no mandate (or funding) to maintain it for the rest of the community. Sessions focus on data management, maintenance and integration topics, metadata issues and processes, data governance approaches, and methods for treating data as an infrastructure, or other, asset.
• Place-based Decisions - This is a hot topic in 2010 at every level. U.S. Congressional Hearings are even focusing on ways to drive decisions based on data and "place". At last year's Annual Conference, Dr. Wellar's keynote focused on the need to manage various interrelated information infrastructures to make well-informed, accurate decisions, and the categorical need for GIS technology and geospatial sciences in that endeavor. Find out about Web 2.0 and social networking tools as a means of bringing information together and presenting it appropriately to everyone; how to promote GIS use to decision makers; better ways to visualize change spatially and temporally; and how to manage interdependent information infrastructures with geospatial tools and techniques.
A conference not to miss!
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