GIS-Pro 2020: A Virtual Experience

With in-depth workshops on September 23 & 24 and October 6 & 7!

Welcome to URISA’s GIS-Pro 2020 — A special virtual edition for challenging times.

It was a great conference! Thanks to all sponsors, volunteers, and attendees!

We will distribute information about accessing the recorded sessions to full registrants in a week or so (after minor editing).

Thanks for attending GIS-Pro 2020!

VIEW COMPLETE AGENDA

View Program by Topic (Track Sheets)

Invitation from Conference Chair, Ashley Hitt, GISP

URISA was pleased to connect with you during GIS-Pro 2020, the association's 58th Annual Conference, presented virtually September 29-October 2 (with pre- and post conference instructor-led online workshops).

With the serious COVID-19 health and physical distancing concerns, hosting an in-person conference this year and putting members, presenters, and staff at risk was a non-starter. We missed the face-to-face interaction and did our best to recreate as much as possible virtually until it is safe to meet in-person again.

Though we cannot assist with home schooling your children or checking in on your senior parents, we did stay true to our mission to provide professional education and training and a vibrant and connected community – albeit virtually. Our dedicated volunteer leaders collaborated to provide content that we hope will be valuable to you and your organizations. We took the opportunity to re-envision the program to focus on some of the most important topics of the day: Public Health, Community Resilience, Equity & Social Justice, GIS Leadership, and Ethics.

Our keynote speakers were spectacular!

Tuesday, September 29: Martin O'Malley, Former Governor of Maryland
Wednesday, September 30: Chris Vaughan, Geographic Information Officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency
Friday, October 2: Juliana Blackwell, Director of the National Geodetic Survey

Featured panel discussions focused on Racial Equity & GIS, Contact Tracing, GIS Ethics, and Redistricting, and dozens of concurrent sessions were on the agenda with live Q&A. Sessions will be available on demand for GIS-Pro 2020 registrants after the conference, so you can catch up on the presentations you may have missed during the conference.

The workshop line-up was stellar and we sincerely thank all of the instructors who pivoted to live virtual instruction:

Wednesday, September 23

Best Practices for GIS Project Planning and Management
NG911 & the GIS Workflow
GIS in Emergency Management
Microsoft Project™ Software Tutorial

Thursday, September 24

Experimental Learning Techniques to be More Effective
Introduction to GIS for Equity and Social Justice

Tuesday, October 6

Building Community Using Geospatial Tools
Unpacking GIS Data for NG9-1-1
Changes Afoot After 2022: State Plane and the Death of the U.S. Survey Foot

Wednesday, October 7

Preparing for GISP Certification
Coordinate Systems and Projections

Hear about which workshop Rachel Rodriguez Marquez selected to attend at GIS-Pro 2020.

We can't thank our sponsors and partners enough for their generosity and willingness to share insights and solutions with our participants.

GIS-Pro 2020 Overview

Virtual networking opportunities were abundant and we even had a poker run, exploring Baltimore attractions online, in teams. (Thanks to Cyclomedia for making the event so much fun!) And thank you to the URISA Vanguard Cabinet for all of the activities to welcome students and young professionals.

Our community has always been resilient and eager to help each other through a crisis. We were pleased that so many members, experts, and friends were able to join us at GIS-Pro 2020 to engage, ask questions, explore solutions, earn GISP points, and make the most of this opportunity.

VIEW COMPLETE PROGRAM

Have specific interests? Consider the program by track/topic:

Community Resiliency and Sustainability

Geospatial Technology Innovations and Data Management & Analysis

Equity & Social Justice Implications of GIS

GIS Leadership & Management

GIS Supporting Health & Human Services

Inspiring the Future of GIS

NextGen 9-1-1

Schedule:

Virtual URISA workshops will take place on September 23 & 24 and October 6 & 7.
Keynote addresses, breakout sessions, partner-sponsored sessions, and special interest group meetings will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (September 29-October 2).
A Virtual Solutions Marketplace will provide access to our partners.
Networking at the Virtual "Hotel Lounge" and opportunities to connect, engage, and collaborate will be plentiful.

Event History

Click on the Image above for a Site History StoryMap created by Alyssa Randall and Ashley Hitt

Mark your calendar!

Baltimore was the intended host city for 2020. We will be back in Baltimore in 2021!

GIS-Pro 2019 took place September 28-October 2, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Huge thank you to the conference committee (led by John Nolte, Ashley Hitt, and Judy Colby-George), our sponsors, exhibitors, speakers, instructors and all of the participants who collectively made #GISPro2019 a memorable and valuable conference.

We cannot thank Louisiana URISA enough for their enthusiasm and commitment to making #GISPro2019 an incredible event. We'll come back anytime you want us!!! Truly!

URISA was thrilled to partner with the California Geographic Information Association (CGIA) and the four California URISA Chapters - SoCal, NorCal, CentralCal and BayGEO - to present GIS-Pro & CalGIS 2018 in Palm Springs! Those five California-based geospatial organizations typically collaborate to present CalGIS each spring, an event that has a long history (nearly 25 years!) of educational and community-building excellence.

Instead of two separate meetings, we collaborated on one geospatial super-event and it was fantastic!

GIS-Pro & CalGIS 2018 Program Details - check out the full program to see what you missed!
Peruse event images
Learn about CalGIS 2019 in Fresno

Online Program
Conference program brochure

Thank you to our Southeast Chapters (Florida, Georgia and Carolina URISA) for their support!

Conference program brochure, click here.
Online Program

Thank you to our Canadian Chapters (URISA Ontario, URISA Alberta, and URISA British Columbia) for their support!

URISA and the Northwest GIS User Group were proud to present GIS-Pro & NWGIS 2015, October 18-22, 2015 in Spokane, Washington, in cooperation with the Northern Rockies and Washington URISA Chapters. Nearly 450 GIS professionals attended the conference. There was a lot of interaction and discussion and excellent reviews of the educational program. A very positive conference experience! What a fabulous conference! See what you missed: Online Conference Program