GITA Presents 27th Annual Conference in Seattle
GITA's 27
GITA's Conference 27, which will take place at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, will offer an exciting technical program that includes one-and-a-half days of in-depth seminars, followed by two-and-a-half days of educational sessions.
This year's conference theme, Information, Strategy, Vision…Building Performance for a New Age, is designed to address the boundless opportunities that geospatial information technology presents to organizations.
Topics to be addressed at the conference include mobile technologies, system integration, object-oriented programming, standards, methodologies and services, networks, communications and the Internet.
Preconference seminars will offer attendees the opportunity to concentrate on some key issues that are critical to successful project planning and implementation. Conference 27 will feature 15 seminars, beginning on Sunday morning and concluding on Monday.
The technical program, beginning on Monday afternoon and running through Wednesday, will feature more than 200 speakers who will present conference papers on a full spectrum of topics, from an introduction to the technology, to database design, to systems integration and to people issues.
The conference exhibition will provide a showcase for state-of-the-art information technology products and services. More than 80,000 sq ft (7432 sq m) of exhibit space will house more than 150 industry vendors. Exhibitors represent an array of software and hardware suppliers, consultants, conversion companies and other geospatial industry suppliers.
Full-conference attendees are invited to participate in scheduled social events: the President's Reception on Monday night, the Exhibitor Reception held on the exhibit floor on Tuesday, and the Closing Reception on Wednesday afternoon. Continental breakfasts and lunches are included on Tuesday and Wednesday. All social events are designed to promote networking while enhancing the overall educational experience. Full-conference attendees also will receive a complimentary copy of the conference proceedings.
The conference will feature:
Preconference “Knowledge Immersion” seminars. Experience one-and-a-half days of in-depth, hands-on learning on 15 of the hottest geospatial topics.
More than 85 power presentations. Get a balanced and impartial perspective from these real-world technical paper presentations.
A motivating and inspiring opening session. Our phenomenal keynote speaker defies description. You won't forget this performance, we promise.
An 80,000-sq-ft exhibition hall. See a virtual “who's who” in the geospatial solution provider arena.
Birds-of-a-Feather user forums. Speak what's on your mind in these informal users-only sessions.
Numerous networking opportunities. From power breakfasts to evening socials, you'll connect with experienced users and knowledgeable solution providers.
Informative panel discussions. Industry leaders will deliberate on what the future holds for geospatial technologies.
“The conference will feature updated technical tracks, including two new ones: Critical Infrastructure Protection — Damage Prevention and Emergency Response and Federal Geospatial Strategies — What's in It for You?” C. Douglas Leibbrandt, conference chairman, wrote in the program. “You won't want to miss our two new half-day seminars on critical infrastructure protection and e-government. We will present three new panels addressing public health, homeland security, and outsourcing strategies. We've also changed the format of GITA's ExecuNet Forum this year to give all attendees the opportunity to participate,” Leibbrandt said.
Knowledge Immersion Seminars
APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS (APP-DEV)
Chris Andrews, Idea Integration
Sunday, April 25, 2004, 8:00 a.m.-noon
Geospatial technology developers are embracing Web services as a mechanism for using mainstream IT software development standards. This seminar will provide examples of a spatial Web service serving data to both J2EE and .NET clients using spatial components provided by different GIS vendors. We will discuss the wide range of proprietary and open-source technologies that are available for developing geospatial Web services and the future applications of Web services to the state-full, high-volume requirements for the GIS world.
Presenter: Pedro Pacheco, GE Energy
CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION (CIP-MOD)
Dick Kuykendall, Geospatial Leadership Coalition
Sunday, April 25, 2004, 8:00 a.m.-noon
Because infrastructure involves geographically distributed networks, organizations that manage critical infrastructure must be able to share, analyze and display spatial information. Our presenters will discuss the premise, benefits and obstacles related to increased interdependence needed for diverse, reliable and secure real-time information, focusing on geospatial technology as an enabler. Through interactive dialogue, attendees will develop general methods and “best practices” for detecting, delaying and responding to emergencies and routine operational damage to infrastructure assets.
Presenters: J. Peter Gomez, Xcel Energy; William Kiger, Pennsylvania One Call Systems; and Alan Stevens, FGDC
FIELD FORCE AUTOMATION (FLD-AUT)
Stuart Sieg, MapFrame Corp.
Sunday, April 25, 2004, 8:00 a.m.-noon
Building an effective mobile program with measurable results requires a well-planned initiative, capable of leveraging your GIS investment, with careful consideration to integrating existing technology with new components. This seminar will focus on the laying the groundwork to ensure a successful mobile implementation. Discussions will encompass hardware, software and GPS developments; integration to back-office systems; managing communications and data flows between the field and office; deployment strategies; and gaining user acceptance.
Presenters: Walt Chantlos, USAT; Paul Hilton, Worksuite; Ron Howard, NW Natural; Art Macey, Florida Power & Light Co.; Cabot Wright, Conectiv
GIS X01 — NEXT STEPS (GIS-XO1)
BJ Raval, GIS Southwest Inc.
Sunday, April 25, 2004, 8:00 a.m.-noon
Ready to adopt geospatial technologies as a part of your organizational structure? This seminar will provide you with key tactics, an outline, and issues for consideration in creating a successful geospatial project. Discover how to implement a winning change management program that includes the who, what, when, where and how. You'll gain a broad understanding of the technology fundamentals and the challenges associated with GIS implementation and integration as you review a step-by-step plan for a successful implementation or integration project.
Presenters: Gabriel Bey, City of Phoenix WSD; Bill Masters, Bridge Canyon Geodata Migration Services
SCADA AND OTHER REAL-TIME SYSTEMS (SCADA)
Lee Margaret Ayers, OSI Soft
Sunday, April 25, 2004, 8:00 a.m.-noon
This seminar includes an overview of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and other real- and near-real-time technologies. You'll learn what it means to become a real-time organization and rethink the problem of integration in terms of real-time performance management. Presenters will review the Electric Power Research Institute's Common Information Model as it applies to GIS and Working Group 14. Special focus will be given to GIS and SCADA integration.
Presenters: Terry D. Nielsen, CES International; Greg Robinson, Xtensible Solutions; Daniel Rueckert, BearingPoint
CIS INTEGRATION (CIS-INT)
Christopher Stern, Spacient Technologies Inc.
Sunday, April 25, 2004, 1:30-5:30 p.m.
Integration is consistently identified as a top priority of utility CIOs. This seminar will explore the business value drivers for business process integration across key utility systems, focusing on processes that span GIS, customer information systems (CIS) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems. Presenters will discuss building a business case, key technology developments, project management, and measuring benefits. You'll learn how to manage the entire project lifecycle to achieve maximum value from your CIS, CRM and GIS.
Presenters: Randy Barnes, Systems & Software Inc.; Lawrence Brys, Anchorage Water/Wastewater Utility; Warren Causey, Warren B. Causey Ltd.; Art Macey, Florida Power & Light Co.; Diane Thompson, Resource Data
DATABASE TECHNOLOGY (DAT-TEC)
Mark Zangari, Spatial Info
Sunday, April 25, 2004, 1:30-5:30 p.m.
Modern enterprise applications utilize a tiered architecture, with distinct, independent layers responsible for data storage and retrieval, application logic, and user interface presentation. Relational databases that offer powerful spatial support are key to the applicability of this model for GIS implementations. In this seminar, we'll address current and future spatial database technologies, their distinct capabilities and approaches to modeling/mining spatial data in a relational environment, and the relevance of RDBMS technology in making geospatial information available across the enterprise.
Presenters: Susan French Smith, KEMA; Pierre Lemire, Autodesk Inc.; Xavier Lopez, Oracle Corp.; Robert T. MacOnie, City of Renton; David Maguire, ESRI
Field Data Acquisition (FLD-DAT)
Kevin Eaton, Sokkia Corp.
Sunday, April 25, 2004, 1:30-5:30 p.m.
Faced with the need to employ new technologies to collect valuable facility data and improve productivity? Presenters will investigate a wide variety of offerings, from the new digital aerial imagery to ground-based solutions utilizing GPS and laser rangefinders combined with wireless capabilities to enhance mobile and productive GIS. This seminar includes a hands-on, two-hour field lab that will allow you to test-drive the latest tools that can protect and enhance your most valuable enterprise assets.
Presenters: Michael Dana, MDMR LLC; Todd Miller, GE Oil & Gas
INTEGRATING GIS INTO THE IT PARADIGM (GIS-INT)
Emily McAnally, Worksuite
Sunday, April 25, 2004, 1:30-5:30 p.m.
This open and interactive seminar is designed to take a closer look at the business value and the benefits gained by using GIS as an enterprisewide tool. Various methods for providing strategic and operational benefits that provide value and efficiencies when sharing spatial data will be presented. Demonstrations of select systems integration will be explored, including how an integration broker communicates to these applications through adapter technology and how a XML translation engine facilitates the reading of arbitrary GML.
Presenter: Michael Moore, Advantica
PROJECT MANAGEMENT (MAN-PRO)
Eric Hughes, Byers Engineering
Sunday, April 25, 2004, 1:30-5:30 p.m.
Project scheduling and cost control is also known as the art of estimating, scheduling and tracking project progress. Once a project plan is created, it is put to the test through implementation. The challenge is to schedule resources, track progress and, of course, manage change. In this hands-on workshop, you'll learn to identify and quantify factors that impact the project schedule, estimate and baseline the project schedule, and use earned value analysis to measure your project's performance.
Presenters: Becky Dozier, Idea Integration; Joseph Hobbs, Marshall & Associates Inc.
BUSINESS CASE AND ROI: JUSTIFYING IT SPENDING (BUS-CAS)
Dave DiSera, EMA Inc.
Monday, April 26, 2004, 8:00 a.m.-noon
Elected/appointed officials, often armed with only a basic understanding of GIT, are tasked with making investment decisions. Their best tools for making these decisions are bottom-line cumulative costs and benefits, allowing the organization to determine the projected payback period, the break-even point, and the potential return on investment. This interactive workshop presents participants with the opportunity to experience a variety of ways benefit estimates can be developed, see how these methods instill management confidence, and ultimately determine the return on investment.
Presenters: Susan Ancel, EPCOR; Nancy Lerner, EMA Inc.
CONDUCTING GOVERNMENT BUSINESS ONLINE (E-GOV)
David W. Baraniak, HRG Technology Group
Monday, April 26, 2004, 8:00 a.m.-noon
This seminar will highlight how e-government practices, programs and services are being used to empower citizens and staff to communicate, coordinate activities, share information and conduct e-commerce. Discussion topics will include privacy and security of information, online transactions for permits and service requests, information sharing, and how to effectively disseminate information electronically. Professionals from the public and private sector will discuss how they are using e-government technologies to increase productivity and to stay in touch with their constituents. Presenters: Doug Brown, Howard R. Green Company; Michael Hasslinger, Waukesha County; Bob Gilbert, Microsoft, State & Local Government; Nancy Quirk, Waukesha Water Utility
ENTERPRISE APPLICATION INTEGRATION (EAI-MOD)
Jeffrey Meyers, Miner & Miner
Monday, April 26, 2004, 8:00 a.m.-noon
Integrating enterprise applications is one of the greatest challenges facing today's industries. This seminar will discuss the concepts of EAI, the tools and techniques that allow linkage to systems and applications using new development code, and different types of supporting middle-ware technologies. Our presenters will also discuss data distribution and the business drivers and benefits of a systematic integration infrastructure. A users presentation of a successful EAI implementation will help to provide a real-world example of EAI and its benefits.
Presenters: Steve Grise, ESRI; Greg Robinson, Xtensible Solutions; Robert Wright, Dominion
OPEN GIS — IMPROVING INTEROPERABILITY (OPN-GIS)
Nadine Alameh, Global Science & Technology
Monday, April 26, 2004, 8:00 a.m.-noon
The Open GIS Consortium (OGC) tackles the challenge of developing interface specifications and transport encodings that make integration easier for GIS implementations, new and existing alike. This seminar will cover the basics and current status of geospatial interoperability and standards, the motivation of commercial companies for building off-the-shelf products compliant with those standards, and how geospatial interoperability has effectively empowered organizations in their decision-making process.
Presenters: Joshua Lieberman, Syncline; Jennifer Marcus, Northrop Grumman; Ed Parsons, Ordnance Survey; Mark Reichardt, Open GIS Consortium Inc.
WORK MANAGEMENT (WRK-MAN)
Charles Drinnan, LogicaCMG
Monday, April 26, 2004, 8:00 a.m.-noon
Implementation of work maintenance management systems (WMMS) is one of the keys to ensuring efficient use of utility resources and capital. This seminar will provide an overview of the work management technologies available, including product directions, the business case for implementing WMMS, guidelines for successful projects, and presentations from two utilities who have completed WMMS projects. You'll take away a greater understanding of what work management systems do and what it takes to successfully implement them.
Presenters: Rick Nicholson, META Group Inc.; Dean Zastava, KEMA
Conference 27 Tracks and Sessions
NEW! CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION — DAMAGE PREVENTION AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE
From an international terrorist threat to a forgotten “call before you dig,” the protection of critical infrastructure is crucial to the numerous industry sectors. To collaborate on issues of joint concern, those involved in infrastructure management must be able to share geospatial information quickly and easily. Efforts are under way to enable the growth of connected, collaborative, distributed networks of critical infrastructure information sources and services. Join our presenters as they discuss collaboration and data sharing, security and privacy, subsurface and pipeline safety, real-time access, e-911 and interoperability.
DATA MANAGEMENT — BEYOND IT
Learn innovative ways to capture, acquire, create, and maintain geospatial data. We will explore solutions to the challenges presented by the integration of geo-based, tabular, and legacy data. Our presenters will share their experience with field data capture, high-resolution imagery, land base options, geo-coding, data migration and the acquisition of customer data. Specific topics include: using GPS to locate facilities; geospatial data repositories; leveraging commercially available, off-the-shelf data sets; using innovative approaches to joint data development efforts and data sharing among utilities, municipalities and other organizations.
E-BIZ — EVERYONE'S ONLINE
Explore the many ways in which the Web is providing new opportunities, such as: software procurement; geographic Web resources; Internet mapping services; Web-based virtual training; applications that distribute geospatial data across the enterprise; and service chaining. We'll discuss Internet/intranet applications that make the distribution of geospatial data across the enterprise more efficient as well as Web-based technologies that deploy enterprisewide, geospatially enabled applications to the desktop. Other topics will include the infrastructure requirements for support of internal and external Web applications, challenges that arise from deployment to a large number of end-users, and design methods for customer-facing applications.
NEW! FEDERAL GEOSPATIAL STRATEGIES — WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU?
They collect it, you pay for it, but whose data is it? Increasingly, national mapping agencies are realizing that the sharing of data and services is essential to proper planning, emergency response, and all forms of commerce. Now companies and local organizations are realizing that they can benefit from the work being done at the federal level. But is the quality of this data sufficient for nonfederal needs? What are the costs; licensing, update and maintenance requirements; security and releasability conditions; and cooperative data sharing arrangements necessary to make cooperative investments fruitful for nonfederal organizations? An expert group of speakers will examine these and other issues regarding federal geospatial strategies.
THE HUMAN FACTOR — MAXIMIZING THE RESOURCE
Discover the underlying power of user acceptance in the successful implementation of geospatial IT projects. These presentations will address highly critical but often-overlooked “soft” issues, including: team building; organizational development; change management; organizational impact; procedures development; usability testing; training; and cutover strategies. Our presenters will discuss management of expectations, planning user acceptance, risk assessment/mitigation, stakeholder analysis and represented employee issues.
MOBILE — DESKTOP OF THE FIELD
To ensure competitiveness, and profit, the efficient distribution of data to and from field personnel in various locations is critical. Mobile technologies give us the opportunity to communicate directly with customers while in the field to find solutions for wide range of customer service issues. This track will include hot topics such as acquisition of data through mobile data terminals, wireless communications, laser technology, GPS, pen-based computing, incorporation of data into geo-referenced solutions, and data compression and display strategies.
MUNICIPAL PERSPECTIVE — A NEW AGE OF INFORMATION
The challenges faced by governmental agencies when building a spatial infrastructure are often unique. Budget allocation and the support of elected and executive leaders are essential to any project implementation. Our presenters will discuss proven methods to help guide your project to success. This track will address funding, system maintenance, resources, critical administrative topics and case studies. Share valuable insights with your peers on the methodologies used to secure executive and political support, and learn about projects you can use as benchmark models in future project planning.
NETWORK OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT — DELIVERING THE POWER
Learn about ways to increase your organization's efficiency by using applications that provide operations support and improve customer service. Specific applications used in everyday work activities will be presented and discussed. These will include trouble call/outage management, dispatch, emergency response, network operations and maintenance, and the various considerations taken in to account when implementing such technologies. Presentations will detail how these applications are planned, developed, implemented, and the lessons learned throughout the efforts.
NEW TECHNOLOGY — EXPANDING THE OFFICE
Managing work effectively and profitably will always be a top priority for organizations. Spatial databases, Java scripts, enterprise application integration (EAI), component technology, document management, peer-to-peer, imagery and XML/GML are just a few of the new technologies available to IT departments in the evolution of computing methods. Our presenters will focus on innovative approaches to leveraging geospatial information technology to respond effectively to competitive pressures, develop new business initiatives and achieve strategic goals.
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE — BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
The underlying structure for geospatially enabled applications must provide support for flexible multitiered architectures and scalability. Other data management considerations include long transactions and versioned data, the impacts on network performance, and disaster recovery strategies. Explore the ways in which organizations are finding solutions that adhere to their business rules, address data standards, and provide solutions that result in faster performance, simplified management, and a common data structure to support transactional and highly interactive applications. Key architecture issues in this track will address design methodologies including: CASE tools; component technology; data warehousing; middleware; open GIS and interoperability; operating systems; spatial database technology; and system development.
SYSTEM INTEGRATION — ACHIEVING BALANCE
This track will explore successful approaches to integrating geospatial applications with legacy systems or other enterprise application solutions. These solutions optimize profitability, revenue, and customer satisfaction, which increase productivity, improve services, and provide cost savings to your organization. Topics will include automating and integrating work processes, improving business processes, establishing connections between enterprise solutions, determining data and process ownership among system components, and integrating old systems with new ones while keeping the infrastructure afloat. We will discuss how these aspects of system integration impact the entire organization, including organizational development and change management.
USER PRESENTATIONS — WORKING SMART FROM THE START
In a world of constant change, we are all challenged to use technology in the most proficient way possible. This track will present a blend of reports on successful projects that achieved results as well as projects that are in the planning stages. Our speakers will reveal not only the strategies that resulted in success, but also what they've learned based on approaches that were not as effective. Users will present methods and approaches to developing a sound business case, including project funding, development of financial models, and quantification of project costs and benefits.
WORK MANAGEMENT — CHOOSING THE TOOLS
Work management systems provide the features to schedule and track work activity; deploy labor resources; estimate and track costs; and manage assets, workflow, information, document flow, and inventory. This track will focus on the driving forces for implementing integrated work management solutions. Discover how mobile workforce dispatch, real-time vehicle routing, materials management, asset reporting, and the integration of these applications with work order management solutions and geospatial IT can translate to long-term savings for your organization.
Conference 27 Exhibitors
ABACO SRL
Accenture Business Services of B.C.
Advantica
American City & County magazine
Analytical Surveys Inc. (ASI)
Armilian Technologies Inc.
Avineon Inc.
Azteca Systems Inc.
BAE Systems ADR
Byers Engineering Co., Spatial Age Sltns.
Cable Constructors Inc.
CanMap Systems Inc.
Condor Earth Technologies Inc.
Cook-Hurlbert Inc.
DeLorme
DigitalGlobe
EarthData International
Electric Energy Publications
EMA Inc.
Enspiria Solutions Inc.
ESRI
Federal Geographic Data Committee
Field Consulting and Services Inc.
Field Data Services Inc.
GE Energy
Gamber-Johnson, LLC
Geographic Data Technology
Geonetics Inc.
GeoSearch Inc.
GeoSpatial Innovations Inc.
Geospatial Solutions
GEOTec Media
GeoVantage Inc.
GIS Education Services, LLC
GITC America Inc.
Government West
Graphic Technologies Inc.
Great Arc Technologies Inc.
har*GIS, LLC
Hewlett-Packard Corp.
Hitachi Software Global Technology
HRG Technology Group
Integral GIS - PJM Interconnection
Integrated Mapping Services Inc.
Intergraph
IONIC Enterprise Inc.
Itron
James W. Sewall Co.
JCMB Technology Inc.
KEMA
Korea geoSpatial Info & Comm. Co. Ltd.
Laser Atlanta LLC
LaserCraft Inc.
Laser Technology Inc.
Layton Graphics Inc.
Leica Geosystems GIS & Mapping, LLC
Lexmark International Inc.
LinearVision, LLC
LizardTech Inc.
LogicaCMG
MDSI Mobile Data Solutions Inc.
Manifold Net Ltd.
MapFrame Corp.
Maptech Inc.
MESA Solutions Inc.
Meteorlogix
Michael Baker Jr. Inc.
MicroSlate Inc.
Millennium International Technologies Inc.
Miner & Miner
MiniMax Corp.
M.J. Harden Associates Inc.
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
NMT Corp.
Open GIS Consortium Inc.
Optimal Geomatics Inc.
Origin GeoSystems Inc.
Osmose
Pacific Alliance Technologies
Pangaea CAD Solutions Inc.
Patni Computer Systems Inc.
PCI Geomatics
Platts
POWER Engineers Inc.
RADARSAT International
RAMTeCH Software Solutions Inc.
Red Planet Consulting Inc.
Rolta International
SHH GmbH SystemHaus Hemminger
Safe Software Inc.
Sanborn
SECONSYS
SRI Southeastern Reprographics Inc.
Spacient Technologies Inc.
Spatial Business Systems Inc.
SPATIALinfo
Spatial NetWorks Inc.
Surdex Corp.
Tadpole Cartesia Inc.
TAG The Asset Group
Tele Atlas
Tensing-SKS LLC
Terraprise Inc.
Tobin International Ltd.
Transmission & Distribution World magazine
Tripod Data Systems
Utility Automation & Engineering T&D
VARGIS LLC
WalkAbout Computers
Weston Solutions Inc.
W.I.R.E. Svcs., a division of Manitoba Hydro
Worksuite
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