GIS/SIG 27th Annual Conference
April 10, 2018 8:00 AM – 4:00PM
Keynote:
We are excited to welcome our keynote speaker Brian Tomaszewski Ph.D., Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Geographic Information Science and Technology at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Dr. Tomaszewski will be presenting on his travels around the world focused on enabling GIS for diverse groups in his talk “From Rochester to Rwanda: Enabling GIS Around the World.”
Although the GIS industry continues to proliferate world-wide, there are still vast numbers of people who are not able to take advantage of the analytical, representational and problem solving capacities of GIS due to educational, resource and a variety of other issues. Furthermore, the need for GIS to tackle pressing global issues such as natural disasters and forced displacement that cause refugee situations is greater than ever. In this talk, Dr. Tomaszewski will reflect on cases studies from his field research focused on enabling GIS around the world to address these challenges. Specifically, he will discuss his work on building spatial thinking skills and GIS educational capacity with refugees and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Rwanda, building a GIS program for Syrian refugees in Jordan, scientific research on GIS and disaster risk reduction in Germany, and gamification of GIS for disaster resilience spatial thinking . The talk will conclude with specific ideas that GIS professionals, students and others can take away with how to get involved with GIS globally and a discussion of future GIS trends such as machine learning and artificial intelligence that are poised to shape the future of the GIS industry.
About The Speaker:
Brian Tomaszewski PhD is a geographic information scientist with research interests in the domains of geographic information science and technology, geographic visualization, spatial thinking, disaster management, and refugee affairs. His published research on geographic information systems (GIS) and disaster management related topics has appeared in top scientific journals and conferences such as Information Visualization, Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, Computers and Geosciences, the IEEE Conference on Visual Analytics Science and Technology, the IEEE Conference on Global Humanitarian Technology, and The Cartographic Journal. He also regularly publishes in popular GIS trade magazines such as ArcUser and ArcNews. He is the author of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Disaster Management published 2014 by CRC Press and which is one of the first book‐length treatments on the topic. He is actively involved in international disaster management and refugee affairs research with research projects funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) in Germany and Jordan as well as collaborations with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Rwanda and Jordan. He is an adjunct professor with the Centre for Disaster Management and Mitigation at the Vellore Institute of Technology, India and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technologies at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY USA.
For more information, see:
https://www.rit.edu/gccis/geoinfosciencecenter
Registration Link
Call for Papers
Agenda – Abstracts
Thanks to our Sponsors:
The Conference also features geospatial industry expert presentations, technical workshops, great networking opportunities, and our famous GeoJeopardy competition.
- Attending our conference is a great way to earn GISP points, and connect with local GIS professionals!
- We will have a map contest featuring two categories: Professional map and Student map. The winner of the Professional category will receive a prize. The winner of the Student category will receive a $100 scholarship award.
We will also give away a some other awesome prizes at the end of the conference! You must be present to win.
Conference Location:
Burgundy Basin
1361 Marsh Road
Pittsford, New York 14534
Note: The one lane bridge will be CLOSED due to bridge repair by the NYSDOT.
Nearest Hotel:
Hilton Garden Inn
800 Pittsford-Victor Rd
Pittsford, New York 14534
TEL: +1-585-248-9000