UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Geospatial information systems (GIS) and their impact on local government will be the focus of the Rural Geospatial Innovations in America (RGIS) Conference, Oct. 22-25 at Penn State's University Park campus.

Hosted by Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, RGIS Chesapeake, the Penn State Land Analysis Laboratory and the Penn State Cooperative Extension Geospatial Technology Program, the conference will be held at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel.

"The conference will address how local governments can best use advanced geospatial technologies to plan future growth in their community and manage environmental resources," says Rick Day, director of RGIS-Chesapeake Penn State.

"Attendees also will get insights into managing remote sensing and aerial photography resources," says Penn State Cooperative Extension associate Stewart Bruce. "Those less familiar with the technologies can learn about basic geospatial applications such as readdressing, parcel management and utility infrastructure management. We'll also consider ways of developing new e-government applications from these technologies."

The conference is intended for GIS users, local and regional planners, local government elected officials and decision makers, and representatives of conservation and environmental groups. Conference highlights include local government applications for GIS, e-government applications using Web-based GIS and remote sensing and aerial orthophotography issues.

Wednesday morning and afternoon sessions will be devoted to preconference technical workshops, including "Introduction to ArcView 8" GIS software, "Introduction to ArcIMS" and "Land Use Planning, Smart Growth and Data Access Using GIS." Thursday morning sessions include presentations by Ben Neimann, Jr., professor emeritus in the Institute for Environmental Studies and Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Erick Coolidge, Tioga County Commissioner and president of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, and Henry Garie, executive director of the U.S. Geological Survey's Geospatial One Stop.

Thursday afternoon concurrent sessions include "Boom or Bust: Modeling Land Use Change and Resource Development in a Small Rural Community," "County Level Buildout Forecasting and Impact Assessment," and PennSCAPES: Pennsylvania Strategies, Codes, and People Environments."

Friday morning's concurrent sessions include "County Urban Sprawl Analysis," "The Application of GIS to Achieve Reduced Fire Insurance Rates," "The County GIS: Tax Assessment Mapping and the Accuracy/Precision Dilemma -- Too Much of a Good Thing?" and "Managing Wastewater Infrastructure Using GIS."

Friday afternoon's concurrent sessions include "Community Planning Resource -- A Comprehensive Web Site to Support 'Smart Growth' Planning in Wisconsin," "The Use of Internet Mapping in Support of Rural Public Policy and Decision Support," and "PAMAP: A Seamless Digital Base Map of Pennsylvania at 1:24,000 Scale to Replace… Paper Topographic Maps."

Saturday's sessions will be given over to post-conference technical workshops, including a beginner's workshop on "GIS for Elected Officials, Managers, and Decision Makers." Intermediate/advanced workshops will include "GPS and Mobile Applications," "Making Your GIS-Based Land-Use Modeling Truly Participatory -- An Interactive and Participatory Workshop to Improve Your Understanding of What It Takes to Get Stakeholders Involved."

To request registration materials, a detailed schedule and information on registration fees, call the Office of Conferences and Short Courses toll-free (877) 778-2937, or visit the RGIS Web site at http://www.ruralgis.org. For more information on conference content, call Rick Day or Stewart Bruce at 814-865-7447. EDITORS: Contact Stewart Bruce at 814-865-7447 or at scb136@psu.edu.

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Contact:

Gary Abdullah gxa2@psu.edu 814-863-2708 814-863-9877 fax #255