Des Plaines, IL (March 26, 2014) - Each year the four URISA chapters in California, along with the California Geographic Information Association, come together to present the California GIS Conference.  This year, the  conference will celebrate the milestone 20th annual event in Monterey, California, April 14-16, 2014.

The conference will kick off on Monday with preconference courses and meetings and then feature a full day (Tuesday) of important general sessions and keynote addresses:

• Mike Migurski, of Code for America, will deliver the opening keynote address discussing  "GIS: Leaders from Within".  He'll discuss Code for America’s work with hundreds of local city, county, and state governments, They have found that GIS departments and data are the unsung heroes of civic hacking and open data. Location data is first out of the gate with government data releases, and beautiful maps and visualizations are the poster children of accessible public data. What are the technologies that got us here, and what future skills and methods will help support the central role that GIS data plays in the civic tech ecosystem?
• Dylan Lorimer, product development manager for Enterprise Earth and Maps at Google, will discuss "The Changing Nature of Geo" during the mid-morning keynote.
• Just before a hosted lunch, a powerhouse panel discussion will focus on "The Future of GIS/Geospatial in California: Technology, Collaboration, Innovation". Panelists will include:

o   Scott Gregory – State of California GIO

o   Alex Barth – Developer, Open Data Expert - Mapbox

o   Dylan Lorimer – Google

o   Jeff Johnson - Boundless

o   Chris Thomas - Esri

o   Mark Greninger – County of Los Angeles GIO

The Tuesday afternoon line-up will feature a town hall session on "Geospatial Education, Career Development and Mentoring, where the conference will discuss some critical issues facing the development of the human element critical to GIS success with a goal of generating actionable tasks that can be used to support human resources across the state. A brief look-back at 20 year history of CalGIS conferences will precede Lightning Talks, always entertaining!

Wednesday's education will feature twelve breakout sessions on a wide range of topics from the environment and modeling to data sharing and Federal programs. The conference will conclude with a powerhouse closing session featuring Eric Gundersen of MapBox, who will discuss open source solutions followed by the closing keynote speaker, Jack Dangermond, President of Esri, dicussing  "GIS Technology Trends".

Always an important part of the conference is the opportunity to visit with exhibitors and sponsors and network with the California GIS community during a number of conference events.

In addition, Esri, gold conference sponsor, is hosting a GeoDev MeetUp on Sunday evening and a Story Map Competition on Monday.

Review the entire conference program online at www.calgis.org and register by April 11 in order to save $25.



Contact:

Wendy Nelson
Executive Director
URISA
847-824-6300
Email Contact  
www.urisa.org