Reston, Virginia, June 11, 2012 - MAPPS (www.mapps.org), the national association for private sector geospatial firms, announces a first-class business, technical, education and market opportunity program for its 30th anniversary Summer Conference, to be held July 10-14 at the Viceroy Snowmass Resort in Snowmass, CO.

For the first time, MAPPS will host concurrent tracks during one day of the conference. Attendees will have the option to attend a track on emerging technologies focused on Lidar, MEMS, Server-based APS; FAA Part 135-Implications for Aerial Missions and Insurance; Proposed Regulation on Licensing Small Civil Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and cloud computing solutions. The parallel track will focus on recruitment and staffing including leadership succession, workforce development and training.

Other session topics at the conference will include:

A discussion on Enhanced View; the history and current issues affecting Qualifications Based Selection (QBS); Federal and State Government Agency updates; the Ability for Firms to Engage with the Geospatial Media and Trade Press; A User Fee for Geospatial Activities; The Art of Teaming Between Large and Small Firms to Win Contracts; and An Overview of the State of the Surveying and Mapping Profession. The conference will also include an update on the current political environment and the role geospatial firms can play, and the association's annual business meeting and elections.

"For 30 years MAPPS has focused on the business of the geospatial profession. The program committee has once again developed a program addressing topics that impact the business aspects of private firms at the management level from workforce development and training to using new tools such as UAVs and cloud computing," said John Palatiello, MAPPS Executive Director. "In addition, MAPPS meetings provide unmatched networking opportunities."

MAPPS is offering a special membership promotion for firms that are not current members. The association invites principals of firms to attend the Summer Conference at the non-member rate, but if the firm joins MAPPS prior to the end of the conference on Saturday, July 14, 2012, the firm will be credited with the difference between the member and non-member rate, a 56 percent savings, with the credit applied to the firm's 2012 membership dues in MAPPS.

For program, registration and other information, visit the MAPPS website www.mapps.org.

Formed in 1982, MAPPS is the only national association exclusively comprised of private firms in the remote sensing, spatial data and geographic information systems field in the United States. The MAPPS membership spans the entire spectrum of the geospatial community, including Member Firms engaged in satellite and airborne remote sensing, surveying, photogrammetry, aerial photography, LIDAR, hydrography, bathymetry, charting, aerial and satellite image processing, GPS, and GIS data collection and conversion services. MAPPS also includes Associate Member Firms, which are companies that provide hardware, software, products and services to the geospatial profession in the United States and other firms from around the world. Independent Consultant Members are sole proprietors engaged in consulting in or to the geospatial profession, or provides a consulting service of interest to the geospatial profession.

MAPPS provides its 160+ member firms opportunities for networking and developing business-to-business relationships, information sharing, education, public policy advocacy, market growth, and professional development and image enhancement.

For more information on MAPPS, please visit www.MAPPS.org.