Conference Program - Wednesday Program Highlights
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Welcome & Keynote Address
URISA President, Kathrine Cargo, GISP and Conference Chair, Danielle Ayan, GISP, set the stage for GIS-Pro 2010: URISA's 48th Annual Conference for GIS Professionals.
Chapter Roll Call
A new activity at the annual conference this year involved URISA Chapters. A representative from each Chapter brought forward the most important issues being faced by the members of the Chapter in the course of their daily work. What are local Chapter members talking about? The biggest issues brought forward concerned:
- Training
- Data Management & Quality
- Workforce Issues
- GIS Funding
- Executive Support
- Communicating the Value of GIS
Watch for lots of activity surrounding these focus areas in the months and years ahead.
Keynote Address
URISA was honored to welcome Stan Meiburg as our distinguished keynote speaker! Stan spoke about"From Environmental Information to Environmental Action: Challenges in Using GIS for Environmental Protection" and received rave reviews.
Ayan, Meiburg, Cargo
Easy Access to Exhibits - The opportunity to meet with conference exhibitors was an important part of the GIS-Pro Conference. This year, the Exhibits were integrated into the General Session meeting room where all keynote addresses, lunches, plenary sessions and the Awards Breakfast took place. This allowed attendees easy access to the companies that supported the conference through their participation as an exhibitor.
Breakout Sessions are concurrent educational sessions that took place during the conference. Each day included a number of breakout sessions on a range of topics including:
- GIS Capability Maturity Models
- Stand and Deliver: Presentation Skills for GIS Professionals
- How You Can Use the Draft Addressing Standard
- Using GIS Technology to Encourage Participation
- Good Government Through Geospatial Knowledge
- Defining the GIS Profession
Presentation Luncheon
A frequent response from conference attendees when asked for suggestions to improve the URISA Annual Conference is 'more time to interact with the speakers and the opportunity to discuss topics further with them'. To answer that request, we introduced dozens of small group presentations, over lunch. They were a big hit among the presenters and attendees and we'll certainly offer this presentation format again in Indy next year! Thank you to all who participated to make this a success!
A few of the topics presented in this manner included:
- A Quantitative Assessment of 2 and 4 feet Sea Level Rise on the Broward County, FL Landuse Using GIS
Ugur Dagkilic - Florida Atlantic University - GIS As A Tool For Land Use and Transit Planning
Keith Smith, East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, Altamonte Springs, FL - Land Use Conflict Identification Strategy: Using GIS Post Processing Tools for Automatic Allocation of Future Population
Iris Patten - University of Florida
- Analysis and Profiling of the Potential for Regional Development in Jordan
Rania Qutieshat, Balqa Applied University, Jordan
- Scaling Down: Non-Profit Community Organizations Supporting Sustainable Farming Through Social Media and Interactive Mapping Technology
Jennie Brant, Vertices LLC, New Brunswick, NJ - Spatial Analysis of New Jersey School Survey on Health and Physical Education
Bomin Koh, State University of New York at Stony Brook
- Universal Street Address Systems
Fawzi Kubbara, University of Damman, Saudi Arabia
- Campus Crime Analysis: Rutgers University
Gretchen Grajo, Rutgers University, Holmdel, NJ - AMME - Asset Management Made Easy or Is It?
Donna Phillips, GISP, City of Hayden, ID
- Using GIS to Support Solving Central Florida’s Traffic Congestion Problems
Douglas Lynch, GISP, TranSystems, Maitland, FL - Moving Beyond the Technical: Skills Needed to be a GIS Manager
Tripp Corbin, GISP, Keck & Wood Inc, Duluth, GA
- Using Doppler Radar to Help Foresters Find Damage from Storms
Randal Hale, GISP, North River Geographic Systems Inc., Chattanooga, TN
Exhibit Hall Networking Reception
Always a 'golden opportunity' to network with fellow attendees, exhibitors, URISA leadership and invited guests.
