URISA to Celebrate 50th Anniversary Conference in Fall 2012

The Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) is excited to announce its milestone 50th anniversary annual conference in 2012. GIS-Pro 2012 will take place from September 30 to October 4 in Portland, Oregon.

This year's conference will be cohosted by the Northwest GIS Users Group, greatly expanding the amount of knowledge sharing and connections during the event.

The first URISA conference was held in 1963 and was known as the Annual Conference on Urban Planning Information Systems and Programs. Anniversary conferences in 1977 (15th), 1987 (25th), 1992 (30th), and 2002 (40th) included plenary and special sessions to highlight benchmarking activities, and a number of papers were commissioned to create a written record of URISA's progress, achievements, challenges, and prospects. URISA's founding leaders are hard at work developing exciting ways to commemorate the occasion in Portland.

At the same time, the conference committee, led by Claudia Paskauskas, GISP, East Central Florida Regional Planning Commission, and Al Little, City of Hamilton, Ontario, has developed a not-to-be-missed agenda covering timely topics ranging from GIS return on investment and server technology/cloud computing to business process reengineering and effective map communication. Conference presenters from around the globe represent young professionals, midcareer managers, and the influencers and leaders in the field.

The conference will feature an improved attendee experience, with a mobile conference app and exciting networking events in the works. Ignite sessions, Dev Meet Ups, speed networking, and—perhaps—a microbrewery geocaching challenge will further celebrate this milestone URISA conference.

For regular updates and conference details, visit www.urisa.org and follow the conference on Twitter (#gispro2012). See you in Portland!